What was your first serious camera?

[Jonathan Long]

I'm curious to know what everyone used as their first serious camera...

care to share???

Jon

[Dave McClung]

I'm curious to know what everyone used as their first serious camera...

care to share???

Jon

My first "serious" camera was a Bessler Topcon. It was a great camera. I don't know what happened to the company. I have not heard of the brand in many years.

My second "serious" camera was a Pentax Spotmatic. I still have it.

[G R 'Scott' Cundiff]

I had an all manual 35mm but I can't remember the make! My second serious camera was a Canon AE1.

[Jonathan Long]

Dave,

Topcon was purchased by Bessler in the mid 70's and now makes optical machines for eye doctors. My Spotmatic died a few years ago.

That was the first camera I purchased and soon after graduated to a Nikon F2A. I remember working all summer to make enough money to buy it...!

Jon

[Hans Deventer]

Asahi Pentax ME (http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/index-frameset.html?AsahiPentaxME.html~mainFrame), bought in 1978 after I started in a job and could afford it. I had a black one though.

I liked the camera. It had only aperture priority, no autofocus lenses yet. But it was a good little SLR. Had a 24mm, standard 55mm and a 80-200 zoom with it.

[Wayne Paul]

I'm curious to know what everyone used as their first serious camera...

Argus C3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argus_C3) purchased in 1958. My first SLR was an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic (http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/index-frameset.html?AsahiPentaxSpotmatic.html~mainFrame) purchased in 1964.

[Dave McClung]

Dave,

Topcon was purchased by Bessler in the mid 70's and now makes optical machines for eye doctors. My Spotmatic died a few years ago.

That was the first camera I purchased and soon after graduated to a Nikon F2A. I remember working all summer to make enough money to buy it...!

Jon

Bessler used to make enlargers for dark rooms, too. I wouldn't be surprized if they still make the optics for dark rooms.

[Dave McClung]

Argus C3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argus_C3) purchased in 1958. My first SLR was an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic (http://www.photoethnography.com/ClassicCameras/index-frameset.html?AsahiPentaxSpotmatic.html~mainFrame) purchased in 1964.

I also had an Argus. I think I still have it, but I didn't consider it a "serious" camera. Before the Argus, I had a Kodak.

Sometime in that era, I bought a Poliroid. I think I still have it somewhere.

When I was flying missions in Vietnam, I carried an Olympus half-frame camera. That was the worst mistake I ever made in photography. Most of my Vietnam slides are half-frame which saved money on flim but cost a lot on quality.

[Jonathan Long]

Bessler is still in business selling darkroom equipment. I was talking about the Topcon brand. Actually Bessler markets products made by other companies now. I have purchased a set of their enlarger lenses once I found out thy were actually Fuji lenses, I think I saved close to 50% on each lens.

Jon

[Wayne Paul]

When I was flying missions in Vietnam, I carried an Olympus half-frame camera. That was the worst mistake I ever made in photography. Most of my Vietnam slides are half-frame which saved money on flim but cost a lot on quality.

I also had an Olympus Pen. It was small enough to put in the arm pocket of my flight suit; however, that was the only advantage.

My first Vietnam tour was in 1964/65. Here is a picture of the first time I saw my son Hal. He was five month old.

[Brian Hammons]

I had a Pentax K1000. Got rid of it prematurely. . .I thought I was going to get a more upscale camera. That was nearly 10 years ago, and I still don't have a replacement. :basic04

[Dave McClung]

I also had an Olympus Pen. It was small enough to put in the arm pocket of my flight suit; however, that was the only advantage.

My first Vietnam tour was in 1964/65. Here is a picture of the first time I saw my son Hal. He was five month old.

That is a great picture. It wasn't taken with the Olympus Pen.

[Wayne Paul]

That is a great picture. It wasn't taken with the Olympus Pen.


No, it was taken by The Seattle Times upon our return to NAS Whidbey.

[Mark Hammons]

A Canon AE-1 Program, purchased for about $250, in 1984. Man, I burned through a lot of rolls of film in that puppy!
After that was stolen out of my car, I bought a Canon EOS Elan II. Still have it but don't use it much since I bought the digital Canon 10D a few years ago.
I've also got a couple Mamiya 645 medium format cameras, with 4 or 5 extra lenses. I really like them, but they are heavy to carry around.
Mark

[David Ward]

A Mamiya NC1000. I bought it while in college and "documented" life in the late 1970's and into the 1980's. I wanted a telephoto lens, but couldn't afford one as it used a proprietary Mamiya mount.

Some time during my senior year, a friend needed money and I bought a telephoto lens from him, even though it had a Pentax K mount. If I held the lens and camera body the right way, I could get it to work.

My favorite story about this camera and the Pentax lens happened during the summer of 1981 while I was working as Park Ranger (Interpretive Division) on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I turned into the maintenance area where our office was on a foggy afternoon just as a large rabbit was running across the yard. I parked, reached for the camera, changed lenses, and started checking the settings. My "tripod" was the side mirror of my Chevrolet Vega. I realized I needed a long exposure due to the low light, so between the light, the focusing, being sure not to drop anything (the list of what could go wrong goes on...), I probably spent at least two minutes preparing for the shot. The rabbit remained motionless just over 100 feet away. I braced, pressed the shutter, and held steady for the second or so that the shutter was open. When I could see through the lens again, the rabbit was gone.

It wasn't until the slides were developed that I saw the real result. Focus was perfect, depth of field was perfect, and lighting was just right. You could see the drops of rain on the blades of grass surrounding the rabbit. I sent the slide to the offices of Eastern National Park and Monument Association, who ran the visitor center concessions areas on the parkway. Their labs enlarged it and the quality held together. They used the photograph on a postcard which was sold in visitor centers in the parks where they had concession sales. I got $100 for it and my name was printed on the back of the postcard as the photographer.

The caption on the postcard mentioned something about the rabbit watching for the dangers that were nearby. The real story was that it was not in a peaceful meadow, but rather in a junk field surrounded by porcelain sinks, toilets, concrete blocks and other construction materials that had been removed from campgrounds and picnic areas that were being refurbished. I've attached a scan of the postcard produced by ENP&MA.

Anyway, the Pentax telephoto, the Chevrolet tripod, and the Mamiya NC body worked well that day.

[Judy Hamilton]

A Pentax Spotmatic..i also still have this camera

[BobHunt]

cannon ae1!!! I still have it, and its always been a good camera to me, but then Im not as professional as you all!!

[Dale Cozby]

Minolta XD-11, until it got stolen out of my car in the fall of 1988. :basic04 They also stole a Bible that was in the bag....hope they read it.

Then a Canon T70....which I still have.

[Steve Grundy]

I used an Argus C3 that my dad owned; didn't like it very well. It wasn't suited well for use as a high school newspaper/yearbook photographer. I used the school's Nikkormat until I made enough money to buy a Canon A1. What a camera! I used it until it was stolen during the 1996 Olympics. I bought a few more A1's until I made the jump to digital, a Canon 5D. What a camera!

[Gina Stevenson]

One of those old Brownie boxes. Well, hey, it really was "serious," since it wasn't a toy. ;) [after all, I was just a kid] Still have a few pics taken with it ... sort of fuzzy-looking black/white/grey things. :cool: It was the one my folks had used until they got a different one [35mm, I think].

Then a little 110, that was "serious" for me at the time, but then I got some really good pics with my "very serious" 35mm [think it was Pentax that made this then-$100 Sears 35mm ... at that time, $100 was a lot!]. Now, with this one, I managed to get quite a few "postcard"-quality pics over the years. ;)

NOW, I've an Aiptek digital; says it's of the 4-5MP variety. Will take short videos, too, not just stills; also, records sound, which I've only done a few times while making a short video. [on sale day after Thanksgiving for something like $59 instead of $100+] Even that felt like splurging, in my situation, but being visual enough that I love pictures, and having not gotten too many 35mm rolls developed the last several years, just decided it was time for digital. ;)

MAYBE I should've waited to post this, until I could show just how "serious" I was as a kid ... until I got some of those old Brownie box pictures out & scanned them so you could see them, eh? :basic05

[Jim Franklin]

Do you mean a box camera that you hold at your waist and look down from above is not a serious camera?

[Gina Stevenson]

Do you mean a box camera that you hold at your waist and look down from above is not a serious camera?

Of course it is! That's why I listed it as my first serious camera. It really took pictures, was a Kodak product [aren't they---or at least used to be considered---"the first name in pictures"?], a Kodak "Brownie." :cool:

Edited to add: Still do have that 35mm, too; not going to get rid of it anytime soon. ;)

[Jonathan Long]

Jim,

I've still got a Mamiya RB67 that I use.... That's a 2 1/4" X 3 1/4" negative camera! I used to have lots of Hasseblad equipment, but since I switched over to mostly digital I sold it all...

Jon

[Carsten Schermuly]

Voigtländer Bessamatic

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Voigtlaenderbessamatic.jpg

The Objective Color - Skopar 2,8 / 50 has been with Apollo 13 on the moon.

[Jonathan Long]

I started with a Pentax Spotmatic that I purchased from my photography instructor. I got a complete system from him: body, 50mm, 28mm, 135mm, 200mm and a 50mm macro. I also got a Vivitar 292 flash system and a Fiberbuilt case.

I had that system until I started working in a Photography store and a studio darkroom in high school. I switched over to a Nikon F2AS and Nikon lenses as I could afford them.... I've still got the camera and lenses along with a Nikon collection that I've been purchasing when a nice piece comes along!

Jon

[Katelynn Scott]

I don't really know what you mean by "serious" camera. I don't know enough about brands and models to know what is considered serious or not. My first "real" camera, which is my current camera, is a Canon S2IS. I like it - enough zoom for my liking, a nice enough macro feature and some silly features like color swap and color set.

[Jonathan Long]

Katelynn,

I guess that I was thinking along the lines of your first camera you purchased making an informed decision of the picture quality you wanted from the unit....

I'd say your answer qualifies.

Jon

[Gina Stevenson]

Katelynn,

I guess that I was thinking along the lines of your first camera you purchased making an informed decision of the picture quality you wanted from the unit....

I'd say your answer qualifies.

Jon

Tho't you might've meant something other than my Brownie box ... but, hey, as a kid who loved taking pictures, I just had to mention it. ;)

[Susan Unger]

I'm curious to know what everyone used as their first serious camera...

care to share???

Jon

I am still waiting for mine :p

[Ed Phillips]

Our family camera was a Brownie box camera. We took a lot of black and white prints at first because the film was cheaper. After a while my parent's used color film.

The first camera I remember of my own was a Kodak Instamatic with the drop in film cartridge. Barb and I now have a Fuji Fine Pix digital.

Does anyone remember the Kodak that took three different size 35mm pictures with the flick of a button? I did have one of these for a while.

Ed Phillips
Baltimore MD
Mid-Atlantic District

[Jonathan Long]

Ed,

I think you're talking about APS film.... instead of 35mm.

Jon

[Ed Phillips]

Jon,

Yes, it was the APS. I did a test of it for Kodak before it came on the open sales market. Thanks for Jogging my Memory.

Ed Phillips

[Gina Stevenson]

Jon,

Yes, it was the APS. I did a test of it for Kodak before it came on the open sales market. Thanks for Jogging my Memory.

Ed Phillips

Oh, man, Ed! They come around your neighborhood looking for folks to test some neat Kodak camera, and what'd they come around our neighborhood with, looking for testers? [I did it, BTW] Listerine MINT! ha! :laughing

[Carsten Schermuly]

I am still waiting for mine :pGive me an address or bank account, please. I will help you a bit.

[Susan Unger]

Give me an address or bank account, please. I will help you a bit.

Are you serious?

I ask cuz I was being a little on the silly side when I wrote that I was waiting for my first fancy camera...and didn't know if you were responding in a similiar fashion or were being serious.

[Ed Phillips]

The test I did for The Kodak APS was a paid Test. If I remember They Paid me $75.00. It was done by a market research company. It was a three week process. The first week they told us about the camera and gave us one to use for a week. We could take pictures of anything we wanted. The second week we brought the camera back to them to evaluate how it worked and to give them the film to be developed. The third week we came back to view the pictures and evaluate them. After all was done we were given the pictures but not the camera.

Ed Phillips
Mid-Atlantic District
Baltimore MD

[Gina Stevenson]

The test I did for The Kodak APS was a paid Test. If I remember They Paid me $75.00. It was done by a market research company. It was a three week process. The first week they told us about the camera and gave us one to use for a week. We could take pictures of anything we wanted. The second week we brought the camera back to them to evaluate how it worked and to give them the film to be developed. The third week we came back to view the pictures and evaluate them. After all was done we were given the pictures but not the camera.

Ed Phillips
Mid-Atlantic District
Baltimore MD

Ohhh. What Listerine did was "buy" my "regular Listerine" [said to dump most of it out for keeping elsewhere, & just give them a wee bit, so I did] for a whole $5. Then came back a week or so later with tons of questions. ;) [how many decades ago was that ... maybe 3?]

[Carsten Schermuly]

Are you serious?Yes.

I ask cuz I was being a little on the silly side when I wrote that I was waiting for my first fancy camera...and didn't know if you were responding in a similiar fashion or were being serious.I know. It was not your desire. I know that.

[Susan Unger]

Yes.

I know. It was not your desire. I know that.

Thanks for the offer, Carsten. Right now I feel I am doing ok with the camera I have. I appreciate you thinking of me :basic07