Comments on: My First Camera: An Homage to Analog

By: Agus Adji

Agus Adji — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 22:00:05 +0000

Mine was Asahi Pentax ES II. Actually it's my father's camera but he was very kind to let me use it. I learn a lot from him.

By: riyas rasheed

riyas rasheed — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 07:56:01 +0000

My first camera was a brick
You know, i ordered it after seeing an ad on a local newspaper as VPP (value payable post ) and it came one day, after payment, when i opened the cover with enthusiasm.
It was a brick which had a note saying Happy Clicking

http://www.facebook.com/riyasrasheedphotography

By: Filippo Angelone

Filippo Angelone — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 11:24:22 +0000

My first camera was a Nikkormat Ft2. I still use it and recently I bought other two on Ebay.

By: Mário Pires

Mário Pires — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:17:21 +0000

My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic 126

By: Paul Conrad

Paul Conrad — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 06:12:42 +0000

When my dad returned from the Vietnam War in 1969, he brought back a camera bag and a bunch of books. In those books was the whole Time-Life series on photography.

In the camera bag was his Minolta SRT-101, 3 or 4 lenses, about a dozen rolls of film, and a myriad of other supplies.

After a few years, he gave it to me. I played with the camera and lenses for a few more. Eventually the camera broke. I processed the film using my High School's lab. I discovered several rolls hidden in the bottom of the bag.

When I processed it, I was amazed at one I found: Lines of fighter jets and B-52s on the tarmac. Photos of my dad's friends, and scenes of his base.

Becasue I loved photography so much, when I joined the Navy, I bought a Minolta X700. But because I was serious about being a pro, I converted to Nikon buying a F3 w/MD4 motor drive, lenses and strobes.

My first officially published photo was of an apartment fire on East 6th Ave in Aurora.

I fell in love with the process of capturing a moment and preserving it on film. I fell in love with the devices that allowed me to capture my vision. It hasn't left me to this day, which is why I became a professional photographer.

It wasn't until shortly before my dad died that he finally understood what fascinated me so much about photography that I would make it a career. He gave me the key to my future.

Thanks Dad.

By: Chris Oaten

Chris Oaten — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 02:28:03 +0000

My first camera was an Olympus OM-10. I still have it. And as chance would have it, I picked it up yesterday to check if it still worked. It does. Even better, though, was that a roll of T-Max 400 was in there. Must have been there for 20 years. So here's a piece of advice for y'all. Doesn't matter how long your old film camera has been sitting on a shelf.... always, ALWAYS, check for film inside the chamber before cracking the back open. D'oh!

By: Stew

Stew — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 00:40:11 +0000

Mine was a Canon AE-1...1978 just before our first child was born. I still have it and recently had it refurbished. I am too attached to ever let it go!

By: Kenneth Yap

Kenneth Yap — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 16:16:25 +0000

My first camera was a Kodak dispensable camera. I lost it when I was around 9 years old, used it to shoot for fun for 1-2 years. Since then I've used a Panasonic dispensable camera, a Vivitar which I can't recall what name was it, a Ricoh dispensable camera, a Canon A710 IS (My first ever digital camera) and then my first ever serious camera, Nikon D3000.

By: David W. Sumner

David W. Sumner — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:09:37 +0000

Mine was a second hand Nikon FM. I still use it.

By: roberta

roberta — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 10:23:21 +0000

Think it was a Canon AE-1; which I later sold to a friend in Europe so I could continue traveling.

By: Gary Ombler

Gary Ombler — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 08:34:15 +0000

My first camera in 1984 was an Olympus OM4. With it ignited a passion for photography which eventually led to a career as a photographer

By: Qiana Mestrich

Qiana Mestrich — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 02:22:10 +0000

Wow, thanks to you all for the responses. I loved reading about your first cameras and the stories behind them! Also a great way to discover cameras that I've never heard of.

By: jamesrdoe

jamesrdoe — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:04:58 +0000

Kodak Tele Disc. I think I was about 5 years old when I was given one as a gift. Too bad the film was so expensive in comparison with 35mm. I would have been able to use it much more had it been more affordable to shoot.

By: Diane Wah

Diane Wah — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:16:30 +0000

A pentax Zx-7 . I still have it and iIstill use it. I've been through 5 lenses already

By: Esa Kivivuori

Esa Kivivuori — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 09:06:19 +0000

I got my first camera at the age of six. It was West-German made Felica. 120 roll film, two shutter speeds and a buit-in yellow filter. I was lucky to find negatives from the very first film taken with that camera (fall 1959).

But my first real camera was Asahi Pentax Spotmatic. No other camera (several Leicas, HBLs, Canons, Nikons etc.) has made such a huge impact. I loved that camera and since that spring 1968 I´ve been hooked on photography

By: Gerald Holubowicz

Gerald Holubowicz — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 08:15:30 +0000

I started when I was a teenager with a Canon AE1-P and his 50mm, I quickly bought a faster camera, a Canon T90, just to have the look of a photojournalist. young and silly...

By: Fábio Teixeira

Fábio Teixeira — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 04:10:43 +0000

A '75 Kodak Instamatic 155X, 126 film. Love those squares!

By: Chris Harley

Chris Harley — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 23:44:17 +0000

Well what started my obsession and desire, that ignited my passion for the moment to capture time...?
It was way back at the tender age of 10, when my Aunty gave me her Kodak Instamatic and a book on black & white photographic development...
the irony in this being she gave me 5 colour cartridge films!
So at age 10, I thought I was a sports photographer when I shot a cross country motor sports rally near to where I lived.
Oh for the days of innocence and simplicity.

By: Luc de Sampaio

Luc de Sampaio — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:00:32 +0000

wow. a Praktica LTL-3 my dad kindda gave, kindda lent me (I still use it every now and then, when feeling nostalgic) back in 1999 when I started college. He got it in '78, when my older brother was born, and kept it working until that day from '99 till now, I keeo it running. it's been a while since I last took it for a spin, though.

http://www.praktica-collector.de/189_Praktica_LTL3.htm

By: Thomas Fitzgerald

Thomas Fitzgerald — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:37:31 +0000

My first camera was a Yashica FXD. While I lost it many years ago I recently bought a new one (well, second hand) on ebay and it's still a great little camera!

By: Christian Løverås

Christian Løverås — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:50:07 +0000

My first camera was a Balda Baldessa 1b: http://automagisk.no/blog/2009/03/18/balda-baldessa-1b-my-first-camera/

By: Jim DeLillo

Jim DeLillo — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:39:24 +0000

My first "real" camera that was my own, was a Minolta Hi-Matic 7S rangefinder that I got as a gift for highschool graduation.

Before that, the very first camera I actually took a picture with was the family's box brownie when I was about five years old.

In highschool I got to use a variety of 35mm and 120 TLR owned by the yearbook committee.

Later, after going through a Nikon stage with film and selling my F5 outfit, I moved to digital and now own an Olympus E-3 and a suite of lenses.

I know that's more than you asked for, but it was fun.

http://jimdelillo.viewbook.com
http://www.istock.com/jimd_stock
http://www.photosource.com/3159

By: Sterile Eye

Sterile Eye — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:04:25 +0000

My first was a Vivitar compact camera my parents gave me when I was 11 or 12, but what really got me hooked was my father's Minolta SRT 101.

By: Rob-L

Rob-L — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:43:29 +0000

My very first camera was a Kodak Instamatic, I believe it was a Model 104. But, what I considered my first *real* camera was a Bell & Howell Auto Reflex 35mm. My grandfather gave me the entire kit when I was 11 or so; camera, 3 lenses and a flash. Actually, he SOLD it to me because he felt that if I bought it with my owned earned money, that I would take care of it. 30 years later, I still have that same camera and it still works.

By: Jeffrey High

Jeffrey High — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:25:50 +0000

A Kodak Brownie, handed down from my mother. She got it in about 1928 or so. It used 620 film. I think I still have it...

By: Keith Dotson

Keith Dotson — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:19:46 +0000

A Canon AT-1, lesser known manual version of the AE-1

By: Ronald Thain

Ronald Thain — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:16:50 +0000

A second hand, mint Zeiss Ikon Nettar folding 120 square format, bought in 1970 when I was a student. When I saw it in the window of Aberdeen Photographic Services, I knew that I had become irreversibly obsessed with photography. I hadn't taken much interest in cameras till then and was astonished that they could be so beautifully engineered. I went a few doors aong the street to my bank, withdrew £6.00, returned to the shop and bought it.

By: Walter Tychnowicz

Walter Tychnowicz — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:39:18 +0000

My first camera was a Minolta SRT 101 that I had inherited from father when he passed away in 1982. After that I had traded the camera up for a Minolta X-700 and then bought a Minolta X-370. From there I traded up to the Minolta Maxxum 9000. I then traded my Minolta equipment for my Nikon F2,F3, in 1987a,then aquiring a Nikon FM2, and have never looked back since.

By: Trudy

Trudy — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:36:47 +0000

Vivitar 110. I loved the way 110 film looked. Then in art camp at age 12 I had a Canon, but it still escapes me as to what model, was a 35mm film SLR. I was so in love with the medium that I guess I never paid attention to the model. It didn't belong to me...was a loaner from the camp because I couldn't afford such a camera at the time.

By: Joseph L. Harris

Joseph L. Harris — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:35:18 +0000

A Pentax K1000 that I borrowed indefinitely from a friend, and then lost when I carelessly left it in my unlocked car.