What was your first SLR?

I'm dating myself, but an Exacta VX. Most have not heard of it but it was one of the 1st. From there a Beseler Topcon Super D (same mount as the Exacta). They never progressed much and it was mostly Nikon from then on. Just got rid of all my Nikon Gear recently. I did dabble with Olympus and still have an OM2n and OM4 and some lenses, but I think that will go soon. Haven't used it in awhile.
Sticking with RF cameras and trying to keep it simple.
First RF was a Leica M3 as a present from my Dad a very long time ago. After I mastered a Kodak Brownie, it was my reward. I had to produce images with the Brownie that he thought were good. He was a working Photographer and I was the darkroom slave, but wouldn't trade it for the world
 
When I was a kid my dad would let me use his Spotmatic F, and I learned a lot on that. I'd try to steal the LX when I could, but he was a lot more strict with where that one could go 🙁

Then when I got older I adopted my mom's old OM-1. Used it throughout high school... Kept the 50/1.4, but added a 28/2, 35/2, 85/2 and 180/2.8 to the kit. It's still around here, and I use it every so often. A fresh CLA from Camtech with the battery conversion and foam rot removal means it's ready to work for a long, long time.
 
A Yashica TL Electro with 1.9 Yashinon lens. It was early 1974 and my brother Ted was going to Hongkong for a holiday and I asked him to buy me a camera duty free. I'd actually talked to a wedding photog. several months before and had asked him what was a good camera to buy. His response in a word Leica "I've been using them for 30 years and they've never let me down." Well somehow either Ted or I had got Leica and Yashica mixed up and I ended up with the latter even though I wouldn't have been able to afford the Leica anyway and also I wouldn't have wanted a reto technology rangefinder when slr's were all the go. The Yashica spent the next 7 years travelling with me all around the world but shutter and battery drain problems saw it replaced in 1985 with a new Nikon FA. But I'll never forget the day when I opened the box on my first real camera.
 
Mine was a Praktica MTL3 with 50/2.8 Zeiss lens, I still have it and occasionaly use it...

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The first SLR I bought myself was a Minolta 7000i. It was auto-everything and I remember being frustrated by taking roll after roll of terrible pictures. It then occurred to me that I probably needed to slow down and think before I shot, so I sold it and bought a used Nikkormat FTN with an 85/2. Many other cameras have come and gone since, but the FTN is still here.
 
'91 - Canon EOS 10s / 35-135 USM, with a 58mm B&W Skylight filter and the RC-1 remote, bought from B&H over the phone for over $800 USD! [ Canon EOS 10s, European Camera of the Year '90-91]

I still have the camera, it still works, but I do not use it.

Cheers

MArk
UIO
 
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Used/junker Topcon something in 1969. Self-destructed by 1973.

#2 - Nikon F for $95 at an auction in '81. CLA'd; still shooting well when traded in 1990...
 
Nikkormat FT2 (black) with the 50/2 Nikkor, purchased new (gift from my dad) in January 1977. A late Christmas present, or maybe I contributed some to it; I don't recall. We got burgled in about '96 or '97 and they were stolen. For sentimental reasons I wish I still had that set.

I remember being a little bummed out because my college buddy Al had an OM-1 with the 50/1.8; I thought f2 was darn slow for a normal lens. The OM also was a new design and really pretty. But I enjoyed that Nikkormat very much.
 
A Canon AE-1 that I bought off a sailor while on board the USS LaSalle in 1980. Some of my first photos were of f-14s flying off the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Midway in the Indian ocean.
 
It was a 35mm Ricoh, cant rember the model number, Im fairly sure it used the K mount. I borrowed it from a family friend for about 2 years, then returned it. Although i cant find any of my negs from it, unfortunetly.
 
Pentax S2 in 1962. It was a just must have with everyone raving about the new Takumar lenses. I traded a Leica 111 for it and was most impressed, it lasted until I could afford a Nikon F which did'nt impress as much as the Pentax.

Cheers,

normclarke
 
Canon A-1 with a Canon FD lens 1.8/50. It think it was in 1982. I had already the Rollei 35T, but this camera was a little bit unattractive compared to the SLRs the other folks in school had (mostly Canon AE-1 and Minolta XD-7). So I worked 4 weeks and earned 1,000 German marks, the sum I needed for the Canon. The Canon I have sold several years ago (to get some money for a Nikon FM2), the Rollei I kept all the years, will never sell it ....
 
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