What was your very own first camera?

What was your very own first camera?

  • Leica

    Votes: 25 2.2%

  • Kodak

    Votes: 228 20.2%

  • Canon

    Votes: 156 13.8%

  • Nikon

    Votes: 132 11.7%

  • Agfa

    Votes: 24 2.1%

  • Pentax

    Votes: 97 8.6%

  • Olympus

    Votes: 66 5.9%

  • Contax

    Votes: 8 0.7%

  • Another - too many to list all so please tell us

    Votes: 392 34.8%
  • Total voters
    1,128
Nikkormat Ftn w/50mm F2 in 1972. It was stolen and the insurance replaced in it in 1978 with an F2AS. I used the F2 for a couple of decades, but missed the Nikkormat so much I eventually replaced it with a near mint FT 3 auction purchase, sent it for a CLA, and still use it occasionally.
 
First camera? Some souvenier mini camera from an elementary school trip to Washington D.C.....seriously. :pAfter that, I have no idea until after I was married and picked up a Nikon FM.
 
I saved up money from collection of coke and pepsi bottles by the side of the road (5 cent deposit) and ordered a miniature "Hit" style camera from the back pages of a kid's magazine.

Weeks later, the "Hit" arrived, complete with a few rolls of "miniature roll film".

My Dad knew how to develop film, and somehow managed to develop the "Hit" camera film. The results were really miserable. He felt bad because of all the effort I put into getting the money to order the "Hit", so he helped me pick out a plastic 35mm camera at a second hand store.

I remember him showing me how to look through the back of the camera (with no film in it) while he clicked the shutter, and showed how the plastic wonder did have a steadier shutter speed and would adjust the aperture depending in the "Bright Sun/Cloudy/Shade" symbols on the side of the lens barrel, and he showed me how the "Hit" was all over the place, shutter sometimes fast, sometimes slow, and the aperature was fixed (and always too small).


Incredibly, I have a picture of me and my Mom, taken by Dad in 1966, I have the "plastic wonder" in tow, I am 9 years old in the photo:


http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6237/6215498990_920aa78141_o.jpg



.
 
My first camera was an Olympus OM1 with 50/1.4 in 1975. I bought it in Hong Kong on my first deployment on the USS Oriskany. That was her last sailing as she was decommissioned a few months later. She now rests at the bottom as an artificial reef.

I still have the camera, it remains on dry land.

I should add that I felt very hip as I spent the extra dough to get the black one. In those days black SLR's were still pretty rare.

Before that I had to borrow the "family" Instamatic.
 
Last edited:
Christmas (probably 1977) I got a Polaroid SX-70 OneStep. This is the black and white plastic version with a rainbow stripe down the middle. I think all of us kids got one that year. I don't still have it, but might parents might? Next camera I got was a Pentax K1000 SE... Love that camera and I still have that one! :D
 
Kodak Ektra 100 instamatic ... last time I used it must've been the late 80s. It still has a Sakura Color 110 cartridge inside. On frame 10. Frozen in time. I'm reluctant to do anything with it. Though I am curious as to what's on the exposed frames. I can't remember.
 
my very first was a Konica MT-100 in 1990.. oh boy was it ugly.. but it's small enough and does the job well.. plus it's a gift from my parents.. doubt i had much say then..
 
I got given my Mums Box Brownie when I was little maybe 10 years old or so and I still have it of course, she still sometimes asks me if I have her camera but she never wants it back. I took photos with it until 10 years ago and I would like to take some more sometime ... after rolling the 120 onto the 620 spools of course.
Then I had a long list of 110 cameras !
My first real camera was a Canon Ftb and it's gone now but I recently purchased one just like it and I have plans to use it occasionally.
 
Polaroid Land Camera (1970's). Forgot the model. Yes, still have it.
 
A Russian plastic camera called a Cosmic 35. It cost about £5 and I was so skint I put down a deposit of £2 and paid it up at £1 a month! My first proper SLR was a Topcon Super DM which was part of a sell off deal and cost me £99. I still have it and it still works fine.
 
Canon Demi S (half-frame.)

It is around somewhere, but it seized up on me in college. Luckily, my k1000 still worked, and did a good job of hiding a box to the floor in my closet. I loved it because of the selenium meter, but had a hell of a time with the zone focusing. I never knew about RF cards; if only I had back then!
 
Kodak Brownie Flash Six-20 with flash, received from the family as a gift. I was probably in junior high school. My second camera I bought with money I had saved. It was a Kodak Tourist II with f4.5 lens and 800 shutter. I put a Prazisa rangefinder in the shoe. I was in high school and have had rangefinder cameras ever since.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom