'This Was My Very First Camera!'

I remember my dad owns something that looks like this....

...needs to rewind to take another picture

...see the square flash bulbs

...and ofcourse it needs a roll of film

(picture taken from flickr)
 
There were the days. They also had flash sticks, with 5 (I think) flashes per stick, and some didnt work.

We've come a long way, baby....

Remember those super small cameras you could get in the back of Boys Life magazines? They were like $3.00. They had their own film, wrapped in alum. foil, super super small...


Bill

EDIT: Found one online.

:d
 
My first camera came as a free gift with a 1 lb bag of barley sugar sweets (candy) and cost a whole 5 shillings (25p or 40c US) in 1967. It took 120 roll film and produced amazing photographs considering it was an all plastic body but it did have a glass lens. My father was still using a Kodak Box Brownie at the time and this free camera took way better pictures than that and it got me started into a passion for photography that I still have today.

I moved on to a Kodak Instamatic like this one.....

img_8381.jpg


...and it took the 126 cartridge film.

126d.jpg


I had that for many years and it wasn't until I got married the first time that I got my first 35mm SLR and started collecting all the ancillary equipment like lenses, filters, flash units etc. I also bought an Olympus Trip compact 35mm for the days when I just wanted to carry a 'point and shoot' camera.

270319326_8e9e981cc8_o.jpg


I still have a Pentax K1000 SLR (that has only ever had 1 roll of film in it) and two camera bags full of lenses, an almost complete set of Cokin filters that never see the light of day and the Olympus Trip. :frown:

Like most people I went digital a while back and the film cameras may as well be boat anchors now as they are virtually worthless. :mad:

I would love a digital SLR but it's money I don't have right now and as I am virtually housebound due to my illness it will remain a dream I guess.
 
My first camera was a Nikon S2 range-finder........produced in the mid to late '50s.
I bought it in the early 70's from a friend for beer money ( it was probably "hot" ).
No owners manual....nothing. With absolutely no knowledge of photography, all those knobs and dials were very intimidating.

I bought a book and a hand-held light meter and away I went !!! After a short time I could "estimate" the light and used the meter to confirm.

I think that to REALLY LEARN photography...... you need start off totally manual ( which can be done with most of today's DSLRs ).


View attachment 13171
 
Our family's first camera was a Kodak Brownie box like the one shown in Snuffy's link. My own first camera was a Polaroid J66, a gift from my uncle for 8th grade graduation. I ran a lot of Type 47 film packs through that old camera, mainly train photos. :)
 
Snuffy said:
This was mine ....

It was a hand me down from my grandfather ...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/browniecamera/
Click to expand...

I have one of those Scruffy. Its in delicate condition and it has a little 'mouse' damage to it, but its all there.

For those that do not know this, back then, this was a HUGE success in the camera world. Until the Brownie, you had to be wealthy to own a camera. They were like rare, super expensive mechanisms, (like X-Ray machines?) that were sophisticated and difficult to work, and didnt always work right.

Kodak came along with an idea on making a simple, basic camera that anyone could operate and (and) afford.

The result was the Brownie which became a overnight success putting Kodak into almost every household.

The camera casing is made of a pressed form of cardboard. Very strong, and molded with a unique texture that makes it look like a casting in metal, similar to their styles back then. The camera mechanism flips two directions. Once down, and thats a photo. Then up, and thats 'another' photo.

The later versions had a dual eyepiece for doing horizontal photos as well as vertical photos.


Bill
 
I never had a 110 Kodak. Knew quite a friends that had em.

I started out with a hand-me-down X-15 Instamatic 126 (A little newer than the one that Larry posted...didn't need batteries for the flash cubes.) Always hated having to scrounge pennies to buy more magicubes!

My next was a K1000SE that is still with me. I used that one for many years until I lost interest in photography for a while and let it collect dust in the closet. I still run a roll of B&W through it every now and then. Usually Kodak Tri-X or Plus-X 400...whatever they've got in stock at the local Ritz box. Just haven't found the "right" conversion process to do B&W with my digital that makes it look as good as film, especially the few rolls if Agfa APX that I've used.
 
I still have my first one...
'compact', zone focusing, variable shutter speeds, information data storage, optical viewfinder...

Patent dates inside from 4/29/1902 to 6/19/1917 so this one was mfg. from 1917 or later.

Got it from my grandfather! The pics will date my first uses of it :icon_lol:

Pics of the camera and a few low-grade scans (1200dpi) from some original prints (the detail IS much better - if I can find the negs that I should still have).
The "data storage"??? It's an Autographic Brownie... the port on the back allowed you to write on the back of the film with a stylus as you wound it on the take-up spool - sorry, no motor drive - and the writing would show through when developed and printed

Rob
 
My first non-disposable camera was the 35mm version of this:
http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Holga

Shortly thereafter I got this at an antique shop (without the flash ;_; ) :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/luketrash/256054398/

I also have a vintage knockoff that uses flashcubes as well as a package of unused cubes (Mine doesn't have the huge tower on top).

I still don't own a digital camera, I just use my parent's point and shoot when I need instant photos...
 
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