What was your first SLR?

[GrahamS]

Prior to owning my own SLR I had used my grandfather's Exakta VXIIa with a set of CZJ lenses, but I took all of the class and sports team photos for my high school for two years in order to earn and save up enough to buy my very own black bodied, plain prism Nikon F with 50mm f2 Nikkor-H in 1961. I kept it and used it until 1983 when I foolishly swapped it for a Nikon FE2 because I wanted the higher flash synch speed for shooting weddings in daylight with flash fill. I have had to wait until this year to finally, and thanks to a very special friend, own another plain prism Nikon F, and this one will have to be prised from my cold dead fingers!

[Per]

I bought my first SLR in the 70s. I was looking to buy a Minolta but was talked into a Pentax SPF with 35, 50 and 135mm SMC Takumars. I still have it, I still use it. This first Pentax have expanded to include ES II, KX, K2, Super A, P50 (the only one I regret) and a number of Taks.
The problem, as you know, is to use them all in competion with all the other 35mm and medium format cameras on the shelf.

/Per

[Mike Kovacs]

Nikon FM

[tadas]

My first SLR was a Cavalier RTL with a 55mm f 1.8 Auto Rikkenon lens. "Cavalier" was Willoughby-Peerless' house brand, and I later found out that it was a rebadged Ricoh Singlex TLS. Willoughby-Peerless was one of the big New York camera stores (Camera Barn and Olden Camera were two others) that were located around Herald Square (Broadway and 34th St.) none of which are there any more.

My Dad bought it for one of my brothers in, I seem to recall, 1968 for, I believe, $119. I later found out he could have gotten a Pentax Spotmatic for an additional $10, which would have been even better. Somehow, I wound up appropriating it (and a Minolta AL-F rangefinder), and it was my constant companion through high school in Manhattan in the early '70s. I shot black and white for the yearbook, and slides for me (mostly Agfachrome 50, which was much cheaper because it came with processing included, and had the most beautiful and subtle pastel colors, as opposed to the saturated hit-you-over-the-head colors that you got from Kodachrome II).

I somehow lost interest after college, and only resumed in the "oughts". While I went on a massive camera buying binge, I still have the old Cavalier somewhere, and it worked the last time I used it. I *did* get me some Spotmatics, and an SP is what I have Fujichrome 100 loaded in at this very moment.

[titrisol]

My father's Asahi Pentax Spotmatic, he bought it new in 1972 or 73 in Japan.
I learned to take picture on that one in 1983, and inherited in 86

Then 1st one I bought was a Nikon FE2 that I bought to go on a trip of the Amazon.... stolen at Iquitos and I have no evidence of such trip

[GrahamS]

[quote=titrisol post_id=11433 time=1574474888 user_id=154

Then 1st one I bought was a Nikon FE2 that I bought to go on a trip of the Amazon.... stolen at Iquitos and I have no evidence of such trip
[/quote]

That really sucks!

[alexvaras]

Mine was another Pentax, ME model which I will check during this Xmas in Spain.
It was gifted to me by my aunt who had some cameras and this was kinda spare.

I noticed the mirror slap as the first thing, I was used to the leaf shutter from my Yashica Minister-D. The big plus was the lens came with a lens zoom-macro 28-70. That zoom is the only one I still have and I did quite a lot of macro photos. It was my main camera from my 16 to 20 years and then my brother gifted me my first medium format Lubitel 166-U and then I discover a new world I’m still exploring.

[alexvaras]

My father's Asahi Pentax Spotmatic, he bought it new in 1972 or 73 in Japan.
I learned to take picture on that one in 1983, and inherited in 86

Then 1st one I bought was a Nikon FE2 that I bought to go on a trip of the Amazon.... stolen at Iquitos and I have no evidence of such trip

Ouch! No evidences of the trip! You have to come back
When at Rome at 14 years old during school trip and after visit Forum and such I accidentally opened the camera gate and film got spoiled, I bought another roll and the day after I went myself alone to do the photos one more time.

[GrahamS]

Prior to owning my own SLR I had used my grandfather's Exakta VXIIa with a set of CZJ lenses, but I took all of the class and sports team photos for my high school for two years in order to earn and save up enough to buy my very own black bodied, plain prism Nikon F with 50mm f2 Nikkor-H in 1961. I kept it and used it until 1983 when I foolishly swapped it for a Nikon FE2 because I wanted the higher flash synch speed for shooting weddings in daylight with flash fill. I have had to wait until this year to finally, and thanks to a very special friend, own another plain prism Nikon F, and this one will have to be prised from my cold dead fingers!



I went on a bit of a binge after acquiring the Nikon F. I bought a Minolta SRT-101, A Conon Pellix Ftb, a Konica Auto-Reflex and a Zenza Bronica S2. Of them all, I only kept the Nikon.

[alexvaras]

I just tested one of these Nikon F with that lens and the 105mm Nikkor, nice cameras!! At minimum thing I did they went back to work perfectly.