n5jrn
Well-known
I forget the exact model, but it was one of the compact rangefinders Olympus came out with during the 70s.
This was in the early 80s and my Dad let me have it because (a) he had recently bought a new Minolta X-700, and (b) the metering circuitry had died on the Olympus, making it effectively an unmetered camera.
I shot several rolls of print film (both B/W and color) on it, and as I remember did just fine by following the exposure guides that were then printed on each box of film. Then I carelessly tossed my winter coat into the laundry without bothering to check the pockets, and guess what was in one of the front pockets? Maybe if it was a big SLR instead of a nice compact RF it would have been bulky enough to notice it....
And so began a series of camera misadventures that convinced me that I just had bad luck with cameras. It wasn't until my late thirties that I decided to give photography a try again.
That was when I bought a Minolta SLR, because I was about to embark on a month-long train trip and wanted to have pictures to remember it by. I sold within a year because I didn't like how Minolta had recently changed their lens mount, thus making it difficult or impossible to use inexpensive, used, manual-focus-era lenses. I bought a Pentax ZX-M (don't like autofocus, so why should I pay for it), started accumulating used Pentax glass, then got a sturdier mechanical MX as my main body, keeping the ZX-M as a second body. I still am pleased with my decision to build a Pentax SLR outfit.
Tried a DSLR, didn't like it (found both the camera and modern lenses made for it too big and bulky, hated how the need to support autofocus made it harder to manually focus, ran into strange firmware glitches nobody knew how to fix, etc.), sold it. Bought an Olympus XA, liked the compact size, found the rangefinder patch hard to see. Looked through the rangefinder window of a Barnack Leica in a camera store and instantly understood why people would pay so much money for a 50+-year-old camera with no meter and a somewhat fiddly film loading procedure.
This was in the early 80s and my Dad let me have it because (a) he had recently bought a new Minolta X-700, and (b) the metering circuitry had died on the Olympus, making it effectively an unmetered camera.
I shot several rolls of print film (both B/W and color) on it, and as I remember did just fine by following the exposure guides that were then printed on each box of film. Then I carelessly tossed my winter coat into the laundry without bothering to check the pockets, and guess what was in one of the front pockets? Maybe if it was a big SLR instead of a nice compact RF it would have been bulky enough to notice it....
And so began a series of camera misadventures that convinced me that I just had bad luck with cameras. It wasn't until my late thirties that I decided to give photography a try again.
That was when I bought a Minolta SLR, because I was about to embark on a month-long train trip and wanted to have pictures to remember it by. I sold within a year because I didn't like how Minolta had recently changed their lens mount, thus making it difficult or impossible to use inexpensive, used, manual-focus-era lenses. I bought a Pentax ZX-M (don't like autofocus, so why should I pay for it), started accumulating used Pentax glass, then got a sturdier mechanical MX as my main body, keeping the ZX-M as a second body. I still am pleased with my decision to build a Pentax SLR outfit.
Tried a DSLR, didn't like it (found both the camera and modern lenses made for it too big and bulky, hated how the need to support autofocus made it harder to manually focus, ran into strange firmware glitches nobody knew how to fix, etc.), sold it. Bought an Olympus XA, liked the compact size, found the rangefinder patch hard to see. Looked through the rangefinder window of a Barnack Leica in a camera store and instantly understood why people would pay so much money for a 50+-year-old camera with no meter and a somewhat fiddly film loading procedure.
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rogerzilla
Well-known
A Prinzmatic 126, and it was very bad indeed.
andreiv
Newbie
Minolta XG-9 with Rokkor 50 mm f1.7, 200mm f4 and Mitakon MC Zoom 35-135mm f/3.9-5.3. I still have it, but the shutter is broken.
Red Rock Bill
Well-known
My first camera was purchased Aug.1962 at the PX in Ft. Knox,KY. It is a Kodak Starflex Outfit(127 film) which I still have. Guys would go buy a roll of film and we'd load it up so they could take pix to send home or just keep. Kind of a shared camera.Processing and prints from the PX. Regards,Bill
Darshan
Well-known
Canon film P&S with 35 f4.5 lens.
Love the photos it makes and still use it regularly.
Love the photos it makes and still use it regularly.
haempe
Well-known
Beirette SL100 (successor of the Pouva Start) when I was 10. Lost with 14.
jcrutcher
Veteran
Canon AE1 Program, then Canon T90 a couple of months later, still have both but don't use them.
rjbuzzclick
Well-known
Got my first couple of cameras via family members in the early 1970's-an Imperial Satellite, followed a year or so later by my Dad's Argus C3.
KenRothman
Takes really bad pictures
Nikon EM with 50mm 1.8 series e.
still have it but it's retired.
still have it but it's retired.
Kherberos
Laurent
My first very own camera was a Nikon FM3a with a Nikkor 45mm f/2.8, back in 2002.
Before that, I used many kinds of cameras but they never were my own property.
Before that, I used many kinds of cameras but they never were my own property.
sniki
Well-known
Olympus OM1n 1978 still working.
geertvn
Established
Olympus 35RC, I bought it when I was 11.
Cost 6050 Bfr (€150) at the time (1978), all my savings went into it. I still have it, but the rangefinder patch went fuzzy some time ago.
Cost 6050 Bfr (€150) at the time (1978), all my savings went into it. I still have it, but the rangefinder patch went fuzzy some time ago.
FPjohn
Well-known
A Kalimar 35 followed by a Retina Reflex III.
yours
FPJ
yours
FPJ
Instantclassic
Hans
Yashica Electro 35 GSN. Black.
Sold it. All way back in the seventies. Bought it new after a lot of saving. Then I wanted interchangeable lenses and moved to Nikon after Mamiya and Pentax. All 135-film cameras. Oh well.
Today I know better and will buy me one again. Almost forty years later.
This time a GX because of its smaller size but I do have learned a hard earned lesson about GAS. Or more specific; about myself...
Sold it. All way back in the seventies. Bought it new after a lot of saving. Then I wanted interchangeable lenses and moved to Nikon after Mamiya and Pentax. All 135-film cameras. Oh well.
Today I know better and will buy me one again. Almost forty years later.
This time a GX because of its smaller size but I do have learned a hard earned lesson about GAS. Or more specific; about myself...
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srijken
Newbie
Canon AV-1 with 50mm f/1.8. Still have it, and still works great, except that it's weird for an AV only camera to not have DoF preview 
cnphoto
Well-known
first camera i bought was a Minolta Sr-T 100x with pancake 45mm F2, i bought it for $50 in 2001 i think? before that i had a plastic Ricoh point and shoot 35mm AF that I had gotten for Christmas back when I was about 9 or 10, i still have quiet a few very terrible photos from it too
still have the Minolta, well I gave it to my wife so technically she still has it the Ricoh P&S was smashed by my dog (ha) a few years before I bought the Minolta Sr-T.
still have the Minolta, well I gave it to my wife so technically she still has it
the Ricoh P&S was smashed by my dog (ha) a few years before I bought the Minolta Sr-T.NormanV
Member
Halina 35. I never got a good picture from it,but it started me processing my own films. So something good came from it.
hausen
Well-known
The first camera I ever bought was a Minolta XD-7 and I still have it. Had the 50/1.4 and the fisheye and still have them all. Take it out every now and again and it always startles me how bright the finder is.
Mark A. Fisher
Well-known
I came to photography late, so my first camera wasn't bought until 1974, when I picked up a used Ricoh 35mm rangefinder - no meter - so it was great for learning exposures! I'd use the info inside the film box for sunny, cloudy, overcast, all those choices. I still have that camera and use it on occasion. Best 20 bucks I ever spent!
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malkmata
Well-known
I've been doing photography since high school but I always just borrow my dad's cameras. Later, before coming to the U.S.A to pursue a graduate program, one of my aunts gave me her old Minolta Highmatic 7s as a farewell present. After graduation I got a commission to paint a small mural in somebody's home. With the earnings I bought my first SLR, an Olympus OM2n with a couple of lenses. Unfortunately somebody stole it from my car when I accidentally lock myself out a couple of years later.