Do you remember your first SLR?

[photomarcs]

That is the question!

One thing that I've noticed is that I can remember the feeling I got when i first got my SLR and my first DSLR. I took ANY excuse to take a photo, after a photo after another photo. Do you remember the feeling of the excitment rushing through you when you got that shot that you first considered great! ( only now to look back and go... yeah... maybe not so great )


But the point of this topic is, what was your first SLR or DSLR ? Do you remember what you fell in love with first? ( Portraits, landscapes, scenics, wildlife etc)

Also any of your fluke shots of when you first started or any of your absolute mistakes ( if you've kept them) would be great to see just for Shyts and Giggles of each other and just how much we've all grown.

[gstark]

My god ...

What a long time ago ...

And what a great idea for a thread; thanks for posting this.

First of all, I note that you didn't post details of what your first SLR was ....

Mine was a Practica LTL, a fairly cheap, M42 screw mount camera that built like a tank, had a TTL metering system, and was a wonderful entree into the world of photography.

I doubt I can find any images that I may have shot with this camera, even though it came on my honeymoon to Tasmania, and my first trip OS, to London, along with a one week Cooks tour of Europe. You know the type: if today is Tuesday, this must be Amsterdam.

Hmmm ... maybe I do have a couple of images lying around ......

[photohiker]

Mine was an Olympus FTL

No idea why that particular camera, now. It was an early open-aperture metering camera with match-the-needle exposure meter, it also had stepless aperture setting, so perhaps the combination of those two things got me in. I added a 35 and a 135mm funded by paper rounds or working for my father on the weekends, and I shot anything that moved (or didn't) I haven't seen any of my shots from that camera for a long time, but I do remember taking some great shots of Beecroft House with it, would be interesting to see those now and see how 'great' they really are Traded on an OM-2 in about 1976.

Michael

[dviv]

The first SLR I used was my dad's Asahi Pentax.

The first that was actually mine was a DSLR - the Canon 350D

[digitor]

Sure do - I've still got it!

A Mamiya DSX1000, a screw mount 35mm camera which has a top shutter speed of (you guessed it)- 1/1000S, with TTL averaging and selectable spot metering.

Purchased in about 1976, I think.

So what was yours?

Cheers

[Geoff M]

I was going to say my first SLR was a Olympus OM30 which had a delightful focus aid indicator in the viewfinder, two arrow shaped LED's to show you which way to turn the focus ring to acheive focus, and another central square indicator to let you know when you were good to press the shutter release

I then remembered that I started out with a Zenit.......not sure which model it was but it did not hang around for too long!

[sirhc55]

Nikkormat Ftn was my first SLR in 1967 but my first love was a Halina purchased in 1958!

[Wink]

My first DSLR was a Canon 450D which i brought 12 months ago.
Took awhile before i started getting into it, but now i really love it.
My 'fluke' shot would have to be the lightpaintng sphere i did on NYE which won this years first POTW. It was something i did on the spur of the moment with no idea if the technique would work... It did.

Earlier this week i upgraded to a Canon 7D. I also brought a 24-105L lens with it. I'm itching to get out with it!

[aim54x]

The first SLR I fell in love with....NIKON FM2

First SLR I owned....NIKON D40X...sadly sold to fund lenses for my D300

[brentsky]

my first SLR was a Nikon D40X, i regret selling it!

then D200, Nikon F2AS and Minolta XG-M.. i went the inverse way - digital to film!

[digitor]

Nikkormat Ftn was my first SLR in 1967 but my first love was a Halina purchased in 1958!

The Halina Paulette was my first 35mm - purchased in 1972.

Cheers

[Bindii]

Oh wow.. that's bought back some memories...

I inherited an old Ricoh SLR from my ex husband.. it was his and I'm thinking I must have loved the camera more than him cause the camera stayed when we divorced.. I remember you had to line up the lines when you focused lol.. but I got some great shots on that thing and it was the start of my love affair with camera's.. and the end of my love affair with my husband..

I ended up selling it on ebay for way more than it was worth - I sent it to South Africa and the guy paid me in USD instead of AU $'s.. and that amount funded a brand new EOS 300.. my second SLR...

[Mr Darcy]

A Pentax Spotmatic F
Almost identical to the Spotmatic, but it had full aperture metering using ES mount lenses
The first lens was a 55mm f1.8
Ah the good old days when you didn't need to carry extra batteries & chargers. It took a single button battery (a 625 from memory) & lasted several years on each one. All the battery drove was the light meter, so if it died, you just switched to the ever reliable guesstimeter & kept shooting.

My daughter has it now.

[christiand]

Hi evryone,

my first SLR is (not was, because I still have it) Minolta XG-M.
Before that I was playing with a friends Minolta SRT 101.
The XG-M is still a nice camera.

Cheers,
CD

[Frankenstein]

memories...
my first SLR was a Russian (or should I say Soviet?) was a Zenit E , purchased from Waltons department store in Liverpool in the early 1970s.



Like Gary's Practika, the Zenit was a screw threaded SLR, built like a Soviet tank, and oh so basic. But it was cheap enough for a teenager to afford and opened up the world of interchangeable lenses - but how I lusted over those hyper-modern cameras with a bayonet mount!
No photos from the camera survive, but I do remember taking some very satisfying ones.

Frank

[surenj]

Minolta Vectis S-1 APS camera. [hangs head in shame]

Loved the automatic midroll change which allowed me to use BW and color films concurrently.

What was yours Marcs?

[sirhc55]

Taken using the Halina in 1958. Location San Marino.

[digitor]

Taken using the Halina in 1958. Location San Marino.

Nice!

I've still got the first print I ever made, it was taken on the Halina - and it's still in good nick - I guess it was well enough rinsed! (you should have seen the "darkroom")

Cheers

[photomarcs]

WOAH... this is seriously getting more attention than I initially thought haha!

great to have read all the wonderful replies of the many photographers and a smidget of journeys.

my personal first SLR that i purchased with my own money would have been the AE1 canon.

my first DSLR was the 1000D which i was given as a gift start of 2009.

my first DSLR that i'm still paying off is the 7D... wonderful isnt life? hahahah

but flukey shots will come around sooner or later

[Greg B]

My first SLR was the Olympus OM-1, a beautifully designed piece of equipment. I also got an OM-10
and typically would have colour in one body and B&W in the other. I lost custody of the OM-10
but retained the OM-1 and lenses, the Zeiko 75-150mm f4, and a Vivitar 28mm f2.5 (which took
a ridiculously large 67mm filter!! Cost a mint)

First DSLR was the D70.

[rookie2]

A s/h ricoh KR-10 served me dutifully as my first slr on my first OS trip back in early 80's.

I loved it when one had time to just spend the days traipsing alone through streets of London, the markets of Marrakech or the mosques in Istanbul..no-one seemed to mind taking close ups of them and I can remember the thrill of getting my first lot of pics back having used a tamron 80 - 210.

they are still my favourite pics because of the sense of 'freedom' one enjoyed all those years ago and the time I obviously had in setting up shots.

great choice of thread

R2

[ATJ]

My first camera that I really loved, wasn't an SLR at all, the Nikonos III, was an underwater camera. It was fully manual - i.e. no light meter at all and the only focus aids it had were on the front of the lens. The way you focused was to estimate the distance to the subject and then dial that in on the front of the lens. You also had depth of field indicators which moved as you adjusted the f/stop. It took regular 35mm film and came with a 35mm lens standard (which worked out to be around 50mm under water).

Here's a shot of the front of the camera showing focusing and f/stop setting, as well as the depth of field indicators.


The black knob was used to adjust the f/stop and the silver knob the focus. It is currently set on 5 metres, but everything from 4 to 7 metres should appear sharp.

I used the camera both above and below water. On land, I got very good at using the Sunny f/16 rule to estimate exposure. Underwater, I almost always used a strobe and so used the guide number of the strobe to set the f/stop.

When I got the camera (in 1980), I ran a couple of rolls of black and white film through it before I used my first roll of colour film. Here's a shot from my very first roll of colour film (Kodachrome 64), taken in Manly Marineland.


My first SLR was a secondhand Ricoh KR10 which I bought in 1983. I can't say I loved the camera, but I was pretty happy with it. I replaced it with a Pentax LX in late 1984 and then got a Nikon FE2 in early 1985.

I loved the FE2. It was such a great camera. It had a flash sync speed of 1/250s as well as TTL flash control - which was very handy for macro work.

First DSLR was a Nikon D70 in 2005. I can't say I "loved" that camera, but I was very fond of it. I got my D300 in 2007 and I do love it.

[Bob G]

My first purchase was a Konica TC which after some intitial interest didn't get used for many years.

Re-entered with a Nikon F100 and then migrated to my first DSLR with a Nikon D70.

[Manta]

After mucking around with Mum's Konica (can't remember the model), I bought a Pentax P30 and a few lenses. I thought that was pretty good until I started reading about DSLRs and bought a D70 when they first came out. I've still got the old girl but use my D300 these days. I'm hoping my daughters will take an interest and the D70 might get some use again..

[Killakoala]

Mine was a Yashica, not sure of the model number. I only had one lens, a 50mm. Why would I need any other

[Murray Foote]

My first SLR was a Pentax SV, which had a meter mounted on top of it. My first camera was a 120-film folding Agfa Isolette and I remember more of the early images taken with that than with the Pentax. Probably 5 to 8 years after I got the Pentax I moved to Nikon. Around the time I got the Pentax I was offered a 1951 Nikon rangefinder for I think $100 which I foolishly declined. My first (and only) TLR was a 1937 Rolleiflex.

[phillipb]

My first SLR was a Mamiya ZE-X, it was way ahead of it's time being the first SLR to have electronic contacts between the lens and the body. Critics crucified it for the lack of interchangability with third party lenses, but history shows Mamiya was on the right track. I can certainly remember the buzz and the photos I took when I first got it.

[Hudo]

It was a Kodak DC50 about 11 years ago. It took if I recall 8 or 16 images on a PCMIA II Card. Format was the Kodak JPEG specific format and it must have been a 1/2 Meg camera with a digital room possibly with a 3 x Optical zoom????

Update - Not a DSLR - First DSLR was a D70 and boy it felt good. Portraits and more portraits.....

Update II - Must learn to slow down and read... SLR not DSLR.

Well mine was given to me by my USA Mom and Father in 1981. It was a Richo KR10 with a 50mm kit lens. It was purchased for me while studying photography when I lived in Denver. I still have it today but not ran film through it for some 15 years now. How did it feel I must say it was a long time ago and I can't really recall. However my USA father passed away in Septemeber 2008 and now I have a very different feeling today when picking uop my DSLR as I am thankfull for his support of me when choosing to study photograpy way back then.

Hudo

[TC]

Minolta XG1 early 80s , bought in Singapore about SG$150. Still works but leaks. I have been looking for the triangular rings for another camera, didn't realise I have them on this camera.

[biggerry]

... SLR not DSLR.

well if we are talking SLR's mine is (and only very recently) a F401X, soemthing to enable me to dabble in film for less than 20 bucks...

if we are talking DSLR's, the one and only D80

[Ant]

My first SLR was a shiny new Cosina something, 50mm Pentax mount, fully manual, LED based light meter, one little button battery that lasted about 10 years.

I bought this first year of Uni and produced about 50% of the pictures in my college yearbook for the two years I lived in a college. Based on my limited education at the time, I am surprised at the number of successful shot I got. This thing went everywhere with me: pubs, beach, whereever... got dosed in beer a few times, seemed to be bulletproof.

First DSLR was a D50 bought in July 2005. This got me interested in photography again and has done well. Christmas last year (2009) I finally replaced it with a D90. Now trying to decide what to do with the D50 as it seems to be hard to dispose of it.

Ant.

[Murray Foote]

Keep it as a backup just in case the D90 fails (not likely but possible).

[ATJ]

Update II - Must learn to slow down and read... SLR not DSLR.

A DSLR is an SLR. If your first SLR was digital that's fine.

[wendellt]

my first slr was my mum's canon AE-1 she gave it to me and i remember when i was young i thought it was a top pro camera even though the only thing i shot was the blue sky and clouds

after about 15 years later i got a D2X and i fell in love with it when i took my best shots from Paris

[Ant]

Keep it as a backup just in case the D90 fails (not likely but possible).

Probably will, I am resisting the temptation to pick it up and shoot with it at the moment as I am still getting used to the D90 and can shoot the D50 without thinking...

Ant.

[gstark]

and can shoot the D50 without thinking...

Which is probably not a good thing.

[kiwi]

Here it is even, Pentax P30

[latch]

Mine was a Nikon F50. I was in early high school, and my dad had recently bought a F90 second hand, so Nikon was the only option!

It took fantastic images, but I ended up getting frustrated with the controls. To "simplify" its operation, there were four press-buttons above the LCD (on top - there wasn't one on the back in those days) that you used to adjust aperture and shutter speed. I was very envious of my dad's thumb wheel on the F90, and wondered why anybody thought "up" and "down" press buttons were easier to use than an aperture ring on the lens.

For the subsequent entry-level film SLRs, Nikon incorporated the control wheel and massively improved the ergonomics. Perhaps my F50 control button experience is why I still cringe whenever I see the buttons along the top of the status LCD on modern Canon bodies...

Years later, a second hand D70 became my first DSLR and quite a serious upgrade.

[Ant]

and can shoot the D50 without thinking...

Which is probably not a good thing.

Probably not, sums up most of my shooting last year though! Not a good year photographically.

Ant.

[dawesy]

Twas a film Pentax MZ60. I bought it with a Sigma twin lens kit that eventually gave way to some nicer pentax glass. I remember when I first had it taking pictures of my house and backyard in manual mode because hey, what's the point if you can't shoot manual? At the time I purchased I considered that the real challenge. Funily enough these days if the camera is in Av when I pick it up I take a good 30 seconds to fugure out why I can't adjust the shutter speed I finally worked out the real challenge has very little to do with operating the camera!

I think I still have the MZ, I certainly have my old Pentax K1000 with a few primes, it was actually my second camera. Should really put a roll or two through it again.

First DSLR was the *ist D or DL. I went digital when I went to Africa and is seemed a more convenient way to shoot that much. I liked that camera, and i think it got me shooting more, but the limitations saw me with a D300 eventually, and I have been accumulating lenses and lights and more stuff that I can rightfully justify ever since!

[photomarcs]

what's the point if you can't shoot manual? At the time I purchased I considered that the real challenge. Funily enough these days if the camera is in Av when I pick it up I take a good 30 seconds to fugure out why I can't adjust the shutter speed I finally worked out the real challenge has very little to do with operating the camera!

Hahaha I'm still trying to gifue that last one out

[chrisk]

first owned: canon eos500
first used: canon AE-1P at high school.