What was your first camera?

CPT Jack Durish — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 12:39:34 -0400

It all started with a Kodak Cub Scout Box Camera. That's when I took my first photos back around 1950. I graduated incrementally, and these are the cameras that stand as milestones in my journey. 2.25 x 3.25 Crown Graphic. Yashica 44A twin lens reflex. And then there's my collection of my last film cameras. The Nikon F. A Polaroid. The Olympus OM1 is the first to reach America. I was editing instruction manuals and promotional literature for Olympus at the time. After I finished with the publications for the new OM1, the product manager told me to keep it. It was too much trouble putting it back on the books. The light meters are the Sekonic Studiomaster and the Weston Master IV. I used to teach photography with the Weston. Yes, I taught taking pictures with a light meter. After all, photography is the art of capturing light.

Response by MSgt Mark Bucher made Apr 25 at 2019 2:02 PM

MSgt Mark Bucher — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 14:02:27 -0400

Pentax K-1000

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 25 at 2019 2:05 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 14:05:57 -0400

Finally, a question I am truly excited about. My first "real" camera was a Canon AE-1, 35mm film, and I still own it. I shot feet and feet of film through it and developed nearly all of it myself. I love that camera.

I discovered a passion for photography when I first received the AE-1 and it wasn't long before I invested in several more. I now have 30+ cameras in various styles and formats, large format, medium format, instant, 35mm, 15 mm, and pinhole. My undergrad is in photography and I spent the majority of my time in a dark room developing out large format, 4x5 or 8x10, negatives and then printing from them on various styles. I concentrated on the alternative processes and produced a lot of work using techniques that were in use prior to the invention of film. My favorite medium to work in was tintypes, civil war photography, where an unreproducible image is transferred to a piece of tin.

Response by SSG Byron Howard Sr made Apr 25 at 2019 2:32 PM

SSG Byron Howard Sr — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 14:32:14 -0400

My 1st was a Yashica GT 35MM range finder it was a good 1st camera. I want though A Canon F1, a Nikon F, a Minolta SRT 100, a 4X5 Super Speed, a Yashica twin lens. The camera I carried though 20 years in the Army was an Olympus OM1 I must have went though 5 of those, I was kinda ruff on them. I also had an OM2 but never liked the automatic camera. The benefit of the OM1 was if your battery went south on you the only thing affected was the light meter and you still had a full range of shutter speed and all the F stops. went to the Joint Services Photo School at Lowry AFB was awarded 84B still photographer the MOS later became combat photo I taught photo at the school at Lowry and retired as a 25V3H. The H identifier is Insturctor I Beleave the H was because I went though the USAF instructors course. Now I shoot with a Canon digital. Army Photographer best job ever.

Response by PO1 Tony Holland made Apr 25 at 2019 2:39 PM

PO1 Tony Holland — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 14:39:30 -0400

A used Petri 35mm rangefinder with screw-on telephoto and wide-angle lenses. The money I earned with it in high school at Tachikawa AFB paid for many a beer off-base....
Later, a Minolta SRT-101, a Pentax K, a Minolta 9000, finally a SONY Alpha 33.

Response by CPT Mike McMunn made Apr 25 at 2019 3:39 PM

CPT Mike McMunn — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 15:39:05 -0400

Had several box cameras and Instamatics before I bought my first SLR, an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic, when I was stationed in Germany. Went to VN and bought a Canon Pellix (most unusual camera I owned) that I carried there until I bought a Nikon Photomic FTN. Have owned a bunch of Nikon's since then. Can't say what my favorite camera has been. Ironically, I learned to do darkroom work from a fellow advisor while in VN when we found a lot of darkroom equipment and chemicals that were going to be abandoned and set up a darkroom at our compound. Still take lots of pictures and my daughter is now a professional photographer and says it is because she spent hours in our basement darkroom.

Response by SPC Tony Fewell made Apr 25 at 2019 4:50 PM

SPC Tony Fewell — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 16:50:25 -0400

I got the bug early, I was about 8 years old and my first camera was a Kodak 110, then Mom and Dad got a Polaroid SX70, then I saved my allowance and money from my first job and bought a Pentax K1000, I love that camera, I still have it. I had several little point and shoot digitals, but my next camera was my first real digital was the Nikon D50 which is now my backup camera. But my big one is my baby, my Nikon D300. She and the D50 have been all over the world with me and taken thousands of pictures. Photography is such an awesome hobby, it has given me years of fun and joy.

Response by SPC Joseph Wojcik made Apr 25 at 2019 6:19 PM

SPC Joseph Wojcik — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 18:19:32 -0400

I bought a second hand Polaroid in '98, and used a lot of disposable cameras until I lost interest in photography in 2004. When I rediscovered photography in college I got a Nikon D3100.

Response by SSG Byron Howard Sr made Apr 25 at 2019 7:16 PM

SSG Byron Howard Sr — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 19:16:12 -0400

When I was at Kelly BKS Stuttgart I was in the HHC VII Corps photo lab. We had a Polaroid camera that had battery in the film pack much like the SX70. We would trim a 4X5 index card and draw stick people on it the put the cards in the empty film pack and go around base asking price if they wanted their picture taken we would get them all posed and push the button then give them the card with the stick people. Best job ever.

Response by SSG Byron Howard Sr made Apr 25 at 2019 7:22 PM

SSG Byron Howard Sr — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 19:22:15 -0400

I also had a 16MM Minox the type camera you see in the movies. The spys use them did not have it long a 4x5 print had so much grain you could probably sand a car with it. Also used an underwater camera. It was a half frame can't remember the name maybe Penn. I'm from Galveston Island so I spent a lot of time in the water.