What was your original equipment?

[Jill Morgan]

When I first started doing photography back in the 80's, my first camera was a Canon AE-1 that cost me $350.  I added a Vivatar 70-200 zoom after that.

 

When I decided to develop my own images, I had a Vivitar 356 Enlarger.  I still have it, it sits in my driveshed.  Been there for 25 years now. Can't remember what it cost, but a lot back in those days.  I would sit on the floor in the bathroom rolling my drums to develop the film and had my darkroom set up in a non-ventilated room in the basement.  Not very wise really.  But I loved developing my own stuff.

 

Favourite film was Kodachrome 25.

 

I did though prefer black and white over colour as it gave more drama and was cheaper to process.  Those chemicals could get expensive.

 

What was all your guys starter equipment, and did you all develop your own stuff?

 

Jill

 

[ReeRay]

I still shoot film (b+w only) and home develop, and have done so since the early 60's, and I'm still using my original equipment passed to me at 13 years of age by my grandfather, a retired Pro, being a Leica M3 and a Rolleiflex TLR. Was I lucky or not? 

 

I still use a Philips PCS 130/150 enlarger which covers 135 and 120 format. I bought this new some 25 years ago. As can be seen, I tend to hold onto my gear! 

 

P.s. I still play analogue music as well! 

[Matt Ashmore]

Mt first camera was one of these:

 

 

.. but my first "sensible" camera which generated an image I have actually sold was a Nikon D50.

[vpics]

When my pocket camera broke I bought a Pentax MX with a 50mm F1.4 lens. 

I think it cost about GBP 125.00 and bought it at Techno's in High Street Ken which used to be a subsidiary of Jessops. In the 1980s.

I walked in and insisted on it being a "manual" camera. 

Haha. 

[phomme]

My first camera was a Pentax P30,  shot a lot of Kodachrome 64 with it,  and used  B&W print  film for my spot news photos for the local newspaper.

[John Mitchell]

I bought my first real camera in 1968 when I was a university student. It was a Minolta DSLR built like a tank. I had three Minolta MC lenses, 35mm, 50mm, and 100 mm. I did most of my own developing and printing (black and white). My original camera was still working fine when I sold it a few years ago.

[fotoDogue]

My first "real" camera was a Pentax Spotmatic with a 50mm Takumar lens that I bought used  in 1976, for $125.

Not long after that I bought a used Vivitar 135mm lens and a 35mm Takumar lens. My first enlarger was also a Vivitar and I used to print in the bathroom.

 

At first I went to the library and took out every book I could find on photography, learning to process and print from that. Once I'd exhausted both of my local libraries I began to take workshops.

 

Yes it was expensive but one of the nice things about photography back then was that you could substitute various household items to save money. I'd store my chemicals in old juice jars and use clothespins attached to a string in the bathroom to dry my film and prints. My first "camera bag" was some kind of army surplus bag I picked up at an Army Navy store.

[Inchiquin]

Yashica J (1966)

 

Followed by:

Zenith B (1969)

Pentax SP500 (1972)

Canon FTBn (1974)

Canon EF (1976)

Canon AE1 (1980)

Canon T70 (1988)

Canon EOS500N (1996)

Canon 300D (2004)

Nikon D80 (2006)

Canon 40D (2007)

Canon 5D2 (2009)

Sony NEX6 (2014)

 

Some have run in parallel and for some I had two bodies of the same model.

 

Alan

 

[John Morrison]

Box Brownie...

[fotoDogue]

14 minutes ago, John Morrison said:

Box Brownie...

 

 

Do Brownies count? I had one when I was about 5 years old. It was a Christmas present and came in a yellow box that said "Open Me First."

 

[John Morrison]

4 minutes ago, fotoDogue said:

 

 

Do Brownies count? I had one when I was about 5 years old. It was a Christmas present and came in a yellow box that said "Open Me First."

 

 

It was one (small) step up from a pinhole camera.

[KevinS]

First real camera was an Olympus OM-G w/50 1.8. Soon after got an OM-1 and some prime lenses. Replaced with Nikon F3 and prime lenses at the suggestion of an Art Director as he gave me my first three assignments. Changed to Canon with the advent of IS. The 300 f/4 I bought then remains my sharpest lens, and I now also use zooms.

 

Before digital I did develop and print B&W for a few customers, but haven't since then. I've got a space, some equipment, film & chemicals but no time just now. My two sons would find the process interesting, so might proceed with that as a retirement activity. 

[Essexps]

First sensible camera I had was a Ricoh KR10 super in the mid 80s and some Pentax prime lenses.  Was happy with that for family shots etc and had no inclination to upgrade till digital came along.  Started with a Canon Bridge (model escapes me) but within a few weeks moved to a Canon 350D and then a Canon 40D.  Earliest shot I have on Alamy is from my canon 40D as in those days there was a 48Mb minimum.   

 

  Chris

[TeeCee]

First "real camera" ....
I still have a Zeiss folding 6 x 6 camera, given to me in about 1978, and it still takes good pix, (or at least I think so, it's been a while ....)

After that, a Zenith slr, then assorted Pentax bodies/lenses, then etc etc etc
It all seems a long time ago right now ...

 

[mickfly]

First real camera a Yashica FX3, then an FXd quite a few lenses plus loads of dark room gear.
Always liked B/W as I could expose and develop in batches whereas colour was a single one in a drum at one time, and too expensive.
Had a strange episode in the late 1980's when I decided to dump all my B/W pictures which didn't have family on them to make room, only a small box survived which was in a different place.
I realised my folly soon after, and would have had a couple of thousand saleable historic images from my local area at the time.

[Jill Morgan]

 

46 minutes ago, John Morrison said:

Box Brownie...

 

I had one of those.  Took 620 film if I recall.  Big square negatives.

 

Jill

 

[Allan Bell]

My first  was a twin lens Halina A1 square frame camera using 120 black and white film. Bought it on the never - never. Can still be picked up these days for around £17 as a collector item.

 

I developed the film and contact printed my own photos.  When I fancied trying to enlarge my negs dad built an enlarger for me as I could not afford a "proper" enlarger. It worked to an extent which kept my interest going.

 

Numerous camera models since. Just sold my Nikon gear and gone with Sony A7 mkII.

 

Allan

[John Richmond]

Late 70's I'd borrowed a Pentax SLR of my father's with a 50mm lens but soon needed my own so I went with an Olympus OM-10 (with the manual adaptor!) and a set of 28mm, 50mm and 135mm primes.  Stuck with Olympus till a year after the Canon 300D came out and it's been digital ever since then.  Still got some old Olympus stuff but never get the urge to use it.

[Malcolm Park]

Nikkormat with 50mm f/2 lens (1970), bought new. Nikkormat body now used as bookend, ttl metering long since failed. Lens still viable.

[Matt Limb]

So none of you had a real camera ................... Mamiya RB 67?

 

Plus Nikon FM2 

 

 

 

 

[Reimar]

2 hours ago, vpics said:

When my pocket camera broke I bought a Pentax MX with a 50mm F1.4 lens. 

I think it cost about GBP 125.00 and bought it at Techno's in High Street Ken which used to be a subsidiary of Jessops. In the 1980s.

I walked in and insisted on it being a "manual" camera. 

Haha. 

Hey, that's the camera I used in University around 1975.  Or maybe the ME.  Plus a 70-200 macro.  Like others,  I too wasted a lot of money on darkroom chemicals for color photography back then.

But in 2002 I got the Nikon P4500.  All of 4 Mp.  I started stock with that.  I blush to admit that a few of those images are still floating around my Alamy port to this day.

[Webby]

Pentax MX with "kit" 50mm lens. Bought from the NAAFI in Germany around 1977. Stayed with me until the end of the Gulf War, when the desert sand finally killed it. First digital/Alamy camera was Canon 20d with 17-40L. Worked through the 5D range and added lenses. Just bought and uploaded from a Sony RX100.

[fotoDogue]

28 minutes ago, Matt Limb said:

So none of you had a real camera ................... Mamiya RB 67?

 

Plus Nikon FM2 

 

 

 

 

 

Nope. Never had a Mamiya Roast Beef 67

I did have a Wista 4x5, several Nikons -  F2-AS, FM, FM2, FE2, Rolleiflex, Widelux, a couple of Fuji 6x9 and a bunch of toy cameras and "antique" cameras. 

Here's one I shot back in the 80s with my Widelux

 

[Betty LaRue]

First good camera was a Canon Sureshot film camera.  I regularly got better photos from it than my husband with his Pentax. I had two of them.  I used it a lot on vacations, and for material to paint from.

Next, Nikon N90, film. I was getting serious about photography. The shift into seriousness came after breast cancer.

Then first DSLR was a Nikon D70. My first submissions here were from it. Kept upgrading with Nikon through D800.

Past few years, mirrorless Fuji X-T1, now T2.

Betty

[Nick Hatton]

First camera was a Zenit-E bought secondhand in 1976 for £35 which must have been quite a sum of money then, having said that being totally manual with a built in light meter it taught me to fully understand the relationship between shutter speed / aperture etc, in fact the camera took some wonderful photos a few of which I am thinking of scanning  to use here!