Your Camera History

I was idly trying to recall the cameras I've owned. My father was the proud owner of a Nikon 35mm in the late fifties but have no idea what model. When I went to college my mother gave me her Rolliflex Twin Lens Reflex. In my junior year I opted to take Photography as one of my electives at Tyler. That year the college hired a new photography teacher who had some radical ideas about the teaching process. Up to his arrival the traditional approach had been to use the two and a quarter inch negatives from a twin lens reflex seeing as how it was nice and big for students to work with. The limitation was there were only twelve shots to a roll. The new guy said screw that. I want you all to buy an Olympus Pen W half frame 35mm (thats the model I recall but it seems to be a rarity now so maybe it was another model). His idea was that instead of agonizing over whether to take one of your twelve shots just take everything you see since you have seventy two shots then decide what to keep and what to toss on the contact sheet. Well it wasn't easy working with those half frame negatives but they were good enough to make 8x 10s. That professor actually presaged digital photography in a sense.

I don't remember what happened to that camera (nor the Rolliflex) and I used something else 35mm that I've now lost and forgotton during the seventies. In 1980 at the urging of a photography student girlfriend I bought an Olympus Om model but the one that offered interchangeable focusing screens because I wanted to use the ground glass screen instead of the split ring for taking close ups of wild flowers. Later on I bought a Tokina 500mm Mirror lens and took my first pictures of birds.

In the mid eighties I took up backpacking and bought a Minox 35 GT for it's light weight.

In 2002 I bought an Olympus Cemedia 3.2mp, my first digital camera.Then an UZ 750 followed by a Canon point and shoot with high zoom and in the mid 2000s my first DSLR, a Canon 40 D with Canon 400 5.6 lens for birds.

I now have a Canon 7D ll (for birds), a Sony a6000, a Lumix DMC LF1 and a Fuji underwater point and shoot.

What's your camera history?

Hi, Peter,

Peter Dexter said:

What's your camera history?

Click to expand...

My first serious camera was a Yashica Lynx 1000 full-frame 35 mm film camera; probably got it about 1967.

Next was an Olympus XA-1 full-frame 35 mm film camera.

Someplace in there was a Kodak Pocket Instamatic 50 - used 110 film. Very clever mechanical design.

Next was a Nikomat SLR full-frame 35 mm film camera (known in the US as "Nikkormat", but I bought this in Japan).

Then a Canon T70 SLR full-frame 35 mm film camera. (Automatic film loading, very nice.)

First digital camera was a Kodak DC210 (got it in 1997). I had no idea it was fixed-focus!

Then a Sony MVC-FD7, then a MVC-FD71, then a MVC-FD91. (All recorded on a floppy disk.)

Then a Kodak DC4800 (probably about 1999). (Lovely machine!)

Then a Fuji S602. (Lovely machine, but beset by slow net shutter release time!)

Then a Canon EOS 300D (actually, since I bought it in the US, "Digital Rebel").

Then a Canon EOS 20D.

Then a Canon EOS 40D (about 2007).

Someplace along the way a Canon SX20, Canon A520, A620.

For Carla a Canon PowerShot SX110 (black), then an SX150 (red!).

Than a Panasonic DMC-FZ200. (Very nice, pretty good EVF, albeit with frame-sequential color.)

Then a Canon PowerShot G16. Excellent camera, rather small sensor.

Than a Panasonic DMC-FZ1000. Fabulous machine - 3/3 sensor.

I don't mention here numerous medium- and large-format cameras, bought only for display.

Lotta stuff!

Best regards,

Doug

Phew.....!

I have had many cameras.

My first camera was a GAF 126, something similar to that one, but a slightly different model.

I also had a Polaroid EE100 and a few 110 cameras, most notably a Voigtländer Vitoret 110. I probably still have them somewhere.

My first SLR was an Olympus OM10, later replaced with an Olympus OM2-SP. Very nice camera, but my complete Olympus equipment was stolen in 1986 and I faced the need for replacement. At the time, Minolta had changed their lens mount to allow for autofocus and it seemed that Olympus, Canon and Nikon could also change their mount in the near future, so I went with a Minolta 9000 (second hand), which I still have. I also had a Minox 35 GT, which died at some point and I replaced with a ML (I think). Then a Nikon 35 Ti, Olympus Mju and a Ricoh GR 28 (nice camera that Ricoh). On the SLR front, since I had Minolta lenses, I got a Minolta 7xi, sold and replaced with a Minolta 9xi.

That slowly brings us to the digital era. My first digital camera was a Kodak DC-20 and I remember discussing with a Japanese hacker on compuserve who wrote a program to transfer the files on the HP 100LX pocket computer (my first encounter with machine translation...). I then had a series of digital P&S, too many to mention I am afraid.

I still had my Minolta lenses, now practically worthless since Minolta would not produce a DSLR. I bought a Canon 300D ("digital Rebel" in the USA), soon sold and replaced by a 350D. Eventually, Minolta released their first DSLRs, I bought a Minolta 5D (I still have it) and Minolta went bankrupt.

Eventually, Sony bought Minolta business and kept the lens mount. I bought a Sony A900 eventually and found out I could use my old Minolta lenses on a sensor of the same size as the film they had been designed for. I still consider that camera my main camera.

The saga continues, Sony decided that the optical viewfinder was a bad idea and I was in a dead end again (I don't like electronic viewfinders). I tried a Nikon D800 and did not like it, so I am back to the old A900.

Other than a new Practica with a couple of screw mount lenses (my fav being the 135mm) - that I purchased just after my wife and I got married in 1976 ....

..... all subsequent purchases were working cameras, lenses, flashes and other gear

Starting with a Mamyia C220 in 1979 and then shortly after traded in for a Mamyia C330s so I didn't have to cock lens shutter before firing.

When I developed my more candid Love Story style in mid 80's, the start of my relationship with Olympus - first OM2s Program (my favourite of all Oly cameras I had), XA-1 and XA-4 for wide angle - later OM-4 with motor drive was added for carrying 2 or more cameras on job and when quick advance was needed.

Medium format during the late 80's was Mamyia RB67 - then in 90's a beautiful Mamyia RZ-67 system. I also rented everything from Fuji wide, 6x4.5 - Mamyia 6 and 7 - Pentax 6x7 - Bronica (my least favourite) - Hasselblad and Hasselblad Superwide (never liked Blad but rented for specific job requirements) - 4x5 and 8x10

Going into the digital age 2004 a couple of Nikon D70's then D200 and D40 - then after my D200/motor drive/lens/SB800 flash went down a couple flights of stairs on a job, back to Olympus in 2008 with E-3 and a variety of consumer grade 4/3 bodies as extra bodies.

For the last 4 years a variety of Olympus Pen Lite bodies (still my favourites) as well as Olympus EM-10 and EM-1 currently.

Replacements of bodies for the most part, has been a result of my wearing my cameras out quickly and so the need for another to keep on working. Every one that might collect dust or act as a paper weight - gets sold or given away.

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For me this is a rather long history, so here is the short version.

I started with a Agfa Optima Flash.

My first step into more serious photography was with the Topcon RM300 and three lenses (35,55,135 - 24 and 80-200 were added later).
A Pentax P30n followed when the Topcon stopped working.

Digital photography started for me with the Olympus C900 Zoom back in '99.
After a bridge camera I started with my first DSLR - a Pentax K100D Super.
After this a K200D (still have it) and some K-single digit Pentax cameras, now the K-1.
A few lenses were added too, but the 24mm from my film setup is seeing new use recently and I nearly sold it on two occasions.

M4/3 is also there and still used.

A few digital compacts are/were there, but are in the process of being replaced by the smartphone for the less serious things and by the m4/3 for the more serious things.

Michael Nagel said:

now the K-1.

Click to expand...

Seems to be the real deal for the Pentax user...

I'm awfully glad I started this the responses are fascinating and I hope they keep coming. There is such variety of experience presented.

My first camera was a plastic Argus. I carried it all around Europe in the mid sixties. I found a tray of slides a while back, and was surprised with the quality of the images. I've gone through Minoltas, Nikons, Sony's as well as a number of large format camera. Lately I have turned to my Nokia cell phone. Easy to carry in my pocket, good resolution, and I have managed a number of very successful captures with it.