What was your first camera?

[James Shadle]

What camera did you first own?
My very first camera was a Petri range finder.
My first SLR was an Olympus OM-1 (guess why I learned manual exposure - no other choice).

How about you?

[Rachel Hollander]

My first camera was a Mickey Mouse camera actually in the shape of Mickey Mouse's head when I was about 5 or so. I seem to remember it had the disposable flashcubes maybe even located in one of the ears.

My first SLR came from my father's gear and was a Nikon FE with the added advantage of having access to all his lenses.

[Grady Weed]

My first one was a Kodak that printed the image after taking it, the instamatic, I think. But the one that made the most impression on me was a Canon Elan lle. I bought one to photograph someone's wedding, was so impressed that I bought another one just for to have as a backup and to have for color, Provia & Velvia, and B&W, T MAX film. James, do you remember the good old days of trains, bridges, when film was $1 per roll? I would go to Steve Trice's house and develop film in his dads garage for pennies. Not any more.

I appreciate those early years, If only I could go back a few...

[David Stephens]

My first was a Yashica 44, at 11 years old, a TLR that produced 44x44mm slides and negatives. My first SLR was a Pentax Spotmatic.

[DickLudwig]

First - Kodak 116 Box Camera at age 7
Second - Kodak Model 1A Folding 116 Pocket Camera at age 9
Third - Contax III used which had a broken meter at age 15
Fourth - Contax II first new camera
Fifth - Nikon F in 1962

[Joaquin Barbará]

Pentax K-1000 in 7th grade.
Working for the school yearbook.

[Doug West]

Pentax ME-Super as a high school graduation gift. Still have it and will
never, ever part with it.

Doug

[Robert Hardy]

first one i ever used was my mums Kodak Box ,first i owned was a pratica Nova.

Rob.

[mikeojohnson]

My first camera was a Yashica rangefinder. My first SLR was a Minolta SRT 101.
Mike

[Marina Scarr]

My first camera was a Kodak instamatic with the bulb for 4 flashes on top. My first SLR was an all black Canon AE-1.

[P-A. Fortin]

Canon 60D

[Clyde Hopper]

Argus 3 . 35mm,I was 12 yrs old . Still have it and it still works . I even still have some of the photos from back then (Mid 1960's) Then a twin rollie , still have it too . First slr was a Minolta 101 it even has it's own light metre ! Yep still have it too , lol

[Steve Kaluski]

Well for me it was the Canon F-1 in '79, then moved slowly through the ranks, the last before going digital was the Canon EOS V1. How did we manage then?

[Ed Grella]

Olympus OM-1

[David N Smith]

Minolta SRT 201

David

[Chris Ober]

Very first? Probably one of those Kodak 110 styles. First SLR was my Dad's, old Miranda EE which had light leaks and was only good for astrophotography.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

First - Kodak Instamatic
First SLR - Olympus OM-1n

Cheers,

-Michael-

[arash_hazeghi]

my first serious camera : Canon AE-1 (my dad gave it to me)
my first digital camera : Sony DSC-S75
my first DSLR: Nikon D100
my first long lens: Canon 300 f/4 IS.


:)

[Jim Michael]

A black folding camera that took 620 roll film. I seem to recall a flash unit that came with it that took #25 flash bulbs.

[Sandy Witvoet]

First: Kodak Instamatic with those WAY COOL "Flash-Cubes"! (Oh! Maybe it was the Kodak "Brownie"... with REAL flash-bulbs!)
First SLR: Pentax (can't remember the model/series)... with a "REALLY LONG" 100mm +/- lens.
First (and Current) DSLR: 60D (with a "definitely-not-long-enough" 300mm lens!)

[Ian McHenry]

Being in the 70 plus age group my first camera was a large box camera which was either 120 or 620 format with viewfinder in corner and 1/25th second I think.
Like James I progressed to a Petri 7S rangefinder with telephoto, then Pentax K1000 first SLR.
Then Canon S2IS as first digital.
I remember my first Mute Swan pix with box camera.
Another favorite was my Ensign FulVue.
It was the Petri that introduced me to panning with Motorcycle Road Racing including Isle of Mann TT Races.

[Don Railton]

I had an Oval shaped Kodak that took 110? roll film I think. I was only about 8 so don't remember too many details.

[Elizabet Smith]

Last 4 year ago, i have got Kodak camera on my birthday from My sister. I was too happy when i got it. From my childhood, i want to become a photographer.

[John Chardine]

Very interesting results above. Good one for asking James!

My first camera was a Vest Pocket Kodak bought in around 1960. The price was 6 pence as a cub scout jumble sale. I shot mainly star trails with it. It had a light leak in the bellows which I fixed.

http://www.kodaksefke.nl/vest-pocket-kodak.html

I then got a Hanimex rangefinder camera which suffered from bad vignetting! I put quite a lot of film through that camera and processed/enlarged myself in my school darkroom.

My first SLR was a Praktica but I wasn't happy with it so in 1969 I worked at a McDonalds hamburger joint for as long as it took to save up for a Pentax Spotmatic. Now that was a great camera.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praktica

I shot Canon A1 with the Canon 500mm f8 mirror lens for birds in the 1980s and 1990s.

[Steve Kaluski]

The price was 6 pence

John do you mean, half a shilling?

[John Chardine]

Yep Steve, half a shilling or a "tanner"!!!

[Tareq Alhamrani]

With me it is a long story:

1. I can't remember my first camera when i was a child, they all were film, some with roll 35mm films and i remember i did use instant films as well, so i will not mention that time of my life in the past.

2. My first Handycam that have a digital camera within was a Sony, i can't remember the model of that video cam, something like TRVxxxx, i used its still camera very few times and i didn't like the quality even i don't know anything about photography that time.

3. When i was in the college of Engineering [University], i was looking at some pics on magazines and some websites and blown away of the quality, and one of the student was using a P&S camera that i liked the results from, but i bought a device that is 3in1, digital camera [2mp]+webcam+mp3, it is Samsung digicam or something, i used that for my graduated project.

4. Because i was looking at pictures and always amazed by quality i decided to buy a true dedicated camera, so from a shopping mall i bought my first real digital camera, that was Nikon Coolpix 8800, i remember that was in 2005, i graduated in 2004 and got a job, so i could save something to buy that camera, i remember my dad helped me to afford it to.

5. I was taking a course in photography back in 2005 because i wanted to master my Coolpix 8800, and i was thinking i have the best camera, but i got disappointed because although that course wasn't a great one, but the lecturer told us that the best and future is for DSLR cameras, so i was keeping my eyes on DSLRs.

6. Not so long that year [2005] and during that course, i pulled the trigger and bought my first ever DSLR, and that was Canon 350D [or they called it REBEL XT], i was happy with it and i was like a crazy to shoot everything or anything with it, so i started to buy lenses and accessories for it.

7. I will skip about my other DSLRS i bought because it is about first thing, so my first P&S was Coolpix8800 and my first DSLR was Canon 350D. In 2009 i bought my first ever digital medium format, and that was Hasselblad H3DII-39, and that camera cursed my life, and because of it i spent more and this camera pushed me to film side.

8. So because of Hasselblad i went with film, and i bought Hasselblad 501CM and Mamiya RZ ProII body only both at the same time, and in 2009 while i was in USA for vacation i bought film backs for each, and i think 1 used lens for RZ.

9. My first Large Format camera is Speed Graphic Pacemaker 4x5, but bought it without any lens, so i bought Crown Graphic with lens, and because i addicted to LF forum site i didn't stop there and bought another body and that was Brand new and first Field LF, it is Shen Hao HZX45 IIA.

Now with all above, i really don't know which part of photography gear i can consider it as my first camera, i lost that Sony Handycam [maybe it is stolen] also lost Nikon CoolPix 8800, i gave an adopted son who lives with us my 350D, and i traded in my H3DII-39 to get H4D-60 [was lucky to be one of the first people in the world to get it], and i don't use any entry level or my old DSLRS anymore, only using my top line Canon DSLRs [1 series only], and i didn't use LF cameras yet even i did shoot only 5 sheets so far since i bought it and nothing yet with Graphix cameras.

Sorry for this very long story, but wanted to share how it was going on with my photography cameras gear in my life so far, and sure i will have something in the future i hope.

[fabiobernardino]

Olympus Trip 35
Digital: Canon S30

[Paul Whitbread]

The exact make and model of my first camera is lost in time. It was a black plastic film P&S I had as a child. As an adult who got in to photography, I started by using my Dad's Canon F-1 and A-1 that were sat around not being used.

[Barry Ekstrand]

A belated Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year greetings to all!

Here is my first camera info, along with my path to where I am today......

My first camera that I used: a hand-me-down Kodak Instamatic given to me as a kid. I think I also had an old Brownie as a child but it was in the toy box, never used by me to take a photo.

My first SLR: a used Canon AE-1 in my early 20s. I bought my first zoom lens for that camera, a Vivitar as I recall. Also my first external flash, brand forgotten.

My first digital camera: an early Canon Powershot, model forgotten but had to have the screen replaced under warranty by Canon after it went black.

My first underwater camera rig: replaced the Powershot with a 3 MP (!) Sony point and shoot that had a cheap underwater housing for it. A scuba diver as a teenager and a lifetime snorkler / freediver, a couple of decent shots of sea turtles at 15'-25' depth rekindled my desire to not have to surface to breathe and I re-certified as a scuba diver some 35 years after doing it the first time.

My first really good underwater camera rig: well, now I needed flash for deeper diving and I wanted better quality photos, so it was a Canon G-11 plus high quality Fisheye FIX underwater housing and Sea & Sea strobe flash. A great setup for diving photos.

(But as I only could dive on vacation, I found myself using and really liking the G-11 on land more and more, completely enthralled with all the SLR-like setting flexibility - Av, Tv, Manual, ISO to 3200. Of course, I ultimately found myself wishing I could swap lenses. So...)

My first digital SLR: Canon T2i kit from Costco, included 2 kit zoom lenses (EF-S 18-55mm and EF-S 55-250mm). Later added 2 Tamron lenses: 17-50mm f2.8 and 70-300mm f3.5-5.6. I got some shots of a Cara Cara flying by and was bitten by the BIF bug.

My first 'bird' lens: Canon 400mm f5.6L. Easy to hand hold, it reinforced the BIF bug for me.

My first full-frame body: Canon 5D Mark III. When I upgraded the T2i I debated whether to stay with crop frame (7D) or go with a full frame. The AF system and reviews of the 5D Mark III ultimately led me to it.

My first (and last?) real 'big' lens: Canon 500mm f4L IS II, delivered by Santa yesterday on Christmas Day. Also have the EF1.4xand EF 2.0x TCs, I look forward to learning to use this setup.

More than you asked for, but it has been an interesting - and most enjoyable - path from my perspective.

Barry

[Doug Brown]

First camera: Kodak Pocket Instamatic
First film SLR camera: Canon AE-1
First digital SLR camera: Canon 20D

I don't remember what my first digital P&S was.

[Gavin Slabbert]

May 1st Camera was a Brownie box camera given to me by my grandfather in 1961, my 1st purchase was an Olympus OM-1, which I still have and then eventually I bought an Pentax Sf-1 which I used for decades. I was one of those who did not want to switch to digital and used that body until 2007 when I finally broke down and bought a Canon 40D.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I forget what my first camera was, but I know it took that 110 film...perhaps a Kodak.

My first SLR was a Minolta x-700. That's what my dad had and I borrowed it alot as a kid so I figured I'd stick with something familiar and bought one via e-bay in 2004. I either kept it on the green square, or put it in "P" and never bother with that "other dial"...wondered why many of my slides were way over or under exposed. That "other dial" turned out to be quite important I later learned...

First DSLR is the Canon Rebel XT. Still have it, the kids play around with it for fun...perhaps when they grow older they will answer a similar question with "that old XT dad used to have"...

[BobbyPerkins]

Daniel, the Minolta x-700 was my first SLR camera too and I still have the kit, including a Minolta Flash & bag. I bought it at a pawn shop when I was just out of high school.

When I was a little kid I had the Kodak 110's, and a cheap range finder free from a subscription to TIME magazine my mother gave me. It looked like a plastic SLR an I felt like such a photographer. A few Polaroid instamatics too.

My first DSLR was the 7D.