What cameras have you had?

[Bryn]

What cameras have you had in your life? For me, I've went through several...

• Polaroid PDC 3035 (2004): My first ever camera for my birthday, but didn't have it for long, only because I complained of the photo quality being too grainy...
• Concord 3045 (2004-06): My second for the Christmas of that year. It did me well until it mysteriously broke one day, and I blamed one of my friends at the time for it...
• Fujifilm FinePix A610 (2007-12): Another for my birthday. Was a good little camera but its zoom was limited and that I couldn't tell how much battery it had until the glaringly red "critical" icon" would appear...
• Samsung WB150 (2012-21, 2024-present): Quite possibly the best digital camera I ever had. I now have a second one of that kind since last year
• Canon EOS 1000D (2017-22): Only time I had a DSLR and was bestowed from the husband of one of my mum's friends. Too bad it got waterlogged on an unexpected washout one day...
• Kodak PixPro FZ43 (2020-24): Replaced the first Samsung camera, and was only for "quick shots". Now got rid of it when photos would turn out "glitched" whenever the zoom was used...
• Zostuic DC403 (2023-24): One of these cheap cameras from Amazon, when I couldn't find one as good as the Samsung or the Kodak one... wasn't as good actually and since then locked away in a drawer

 

[RichardB]

My first camera was an analogue camera. It was a single reflex but I don't remember the brand. It got lost a long time ago. I think I misplaced it whilst on holiday in France. I only used it for the big family events and took it with me on holiday. Pics were usually bad and many not in focus. I really sucked at it.

I quit photography ages ago (I'm here to support Levina and this forum and enjoy the images from others). I still have a Canon 5D and a few EF lenses (50/1.8, 100 macro non-L) and some vintage lenses (I bought quite a few of those on flee markets and such).

 

[inphoto]

Give them a try and post your results. These forums help us get better.

 

[RichardB]

Darn. I shouldn't have said anything... I'll see if I can dust off the old gear.

 

[inphoto]

That 5d is extraordinary! I regret selling mine.

 

[Levina]

I still have one too, but I haven't used it since going mirrorless. Used it for everything that was not a bird for years. Beautiful files.

 

[Jeff WX1USN]

Way too many to remember them all and list but I will try. I still have every camera I have owned and my family has owned except a Canon 6D & 5D mk IV that I sold when I went digital

Baby Brownie
Kodak Instamatic 104
Pentax Spotmatic (used with a 50mm lens for 4 years in the US Navy around the world)
Kodak Retina Reflex IV
Nikon F3HP
several Olympus Tough P&S
Mamiya C3, C220, C330
Hasselblad 1000F
B&J Press 4x5
Crown Graphic 4x5
2 Bell and Howell 70KRM's 16mm
Topcon Super Dm
Canon 50D 70D 80D (son has them) 90D 7D mk II R7 R6 mk II 5D classic
and about 15 lenses or so.

 

[Levina]

I've seen your collection before, Jeff, but I'm impressed all over again. That is some sight!

 

[Ltdave]

not many photos but....

i started my 'serious' photography in 6th grade on the school yearbook with the advisor's Canon EX-Auto. odd duck of a camera with the lenses being 2-piece. part being permanently attached to the camera with the front elements being interchangeable. 35, 50 and 125 mm. i ended up buying myself a kit on ebay for pretty cheap. its a semi-auto camera that requires a PX13 mercury battery to work so, it just sits on the shelf.

my first camera my mom got at a garage sale. Kodak Signet 40 with a flash unit. i shot a lot of film with it, guessing at the exposure based on a rough estimate chart on the rewind knob.

i dont know where i got it but its a cheap TLR that i played around with during high school. a Ricoflex i think.

i asked for a Canon AE-1 for my graduation present because i had access to a typewriter (my sister got one of those) or someone to type my papers for me. i got it with the kit 50mm lens the summer before 12th grade.

then i added a Canon F-1 new.

ive had several old Kodak folders for many years, and my mom would always pick up the odd camera at garage sales for me.

ive got an old Kodak 35 (range finder from about 1945 or 46)

my sister gave me her used Minolta Himatic 7S because she didnt like having to fool around with it to take photos.

a co-worker gave me a pair of Topcon Super DM bodies with widers, 6 lenses, and a whole tote full of filters and screens and new in box Topcon stuff and another AE-1.

i bought a YashicaMat124 G about 30y ago and the co-worker gave me another YashicaMat124.

ive added a 4x5 Crown Graphic, a 2x3 Crown Graphic, a 2x3 Speed Graphic, Canon P, Canon 7. ive just recently won an ebay for a Canon IVs

ill have to try and get some pictures together but here are a few for now

 

[CraigMcM]

I used film cameras in the 1970s and 1980s.
Mostly Instamatics or disposables.
Hated waiting for processing results.

Used Mom's Olympus OM-1 during a highschool photography program,
and hated the chemicals in the darkroom portions. The classes seemed to concentrate
more on chemical aspects of developing and printing over composition and capture,
so I bugged outta that. Cost too much at the time, as well:
Buy film, expose it, pay for developing/printing, buy again into the whole cycle
of repeated purchases...

Fast-forward some years, and I bought a Polaroid PDC-640 or somesuch.
Image quality at 640x480 sucked badly, so I chalked it up to a bad purchase
of a poor product, and abandoned it.

Not long after, Mom got a FujiFilm something with a 1MPx sensor,
and it recorded great images. Interested again, but poor, so nothing for a while.

Later got a copy of the same FujiFilm camera and liked it, but it's SmartMedia storage format
killed its viability shortly after I acquired it. Purchased a Canon S3 iS a few years later,
discovered CHDK soon after, and loved it. Suddenly, photography was opened to me.
I could edit and process as I saw fit, and I no longer was at the mercy of photo-processing
labs or others to develop what I wanted to capture.

I then went on to acquire a Canon Rebel XTi/400D, a Canon 40D, then a Canon 50D,
before I acquired the Canon 5D MK IV. The 50D stays with me, likely to be converted
to IR capture sometime in the future. Sold the S3iS towards the 40D and bought another
a few years later.

It's because of Adobe's Photoshop and other software programs that I remain in the mix
of other photographers the world over, largely because I now have control of how the images
are ultimately presented. If I'd left it all to Fotomat, they'd have been largely forgotten
and not seen.

 

[Levina]

I used film cameras in the 1970s and 1980s.
Mostly Instamatics or disposables.
Hated waiting for processing results.

Used Mom's Olympus OM-1 during a highschool photography program,
and hated the chemicals in the darkroom portions.

I so recognise this!

My story begins differently, but I had a SLR first, don't remember the brand even. I loved taking photos but hated the waiting, the dark room process, the chemicals. And I wanted to learn to get better but by the time I finally got the photos, I'd forgotten the settings, so it was hard and I just gave up.

Buying a little Canon Powershot in 2008 changed everything for me. Suddenly I had a camera where I could see the results immediately and I had the EXIF there, the settings. I started photographing birds, accidentally really, because I was looking for a subject to photograph and they were there. And that was it. Four months later I bought the Canon 40D and later a Canon 1DIIn and I've been shooting birds (and a bit of other stuff too) ever since.

 

[Jan1977]

My interest in photography aligned with the upcoming of digital cameras, being able to take a lot of pictures without the limitation of film roll and the need to have a service developing them.

Started out with an Olympus ultrazoom compact, I think a C-700 or something like that. I later switched to a Canon Powershot S5 for more megapixels and still a lot of zoom range. Knowing nothing about photography the marketing of "megapixels" and "zoom" were the most important drivers for picking a camera.

I then decided to go DSLR and remained with Canon, for not a really specific reason. So there came a 450D. Doing sports most of the time, I upgraded to a 7D for more burst rate and a better controls. I then upgraded to a 7D mark ii for improved AF and a bit more megapixels.
When struggling a bit in low light, I decided to step into full-frame and added a second hand 5D mark iii. I then got an opportunity to get a 1Dx mark ii which was great for my sports photography. No longer really using the 7D mark ii I decided to part from that.

And along came mirrorless. I decided to go for the EOS R as it had the same battery as my R5 (and R7 previously) and a bit more megapixels than the EOS RP. Also the form factor of the R was better for me than the RP.
I enjoyed the advantages of mirrorless, but it was pretty clear that the EOS R would not suit my sports photography. Then the R6 and R5 came out and while the R5 was far more expensive and I got an opportunity to get an R6 I got a new R6. With the improved autofocus and a mechanical shutter of 12 fps it suited my sports needs with the advantages of mirrorless. I then decided to trade in my 5D iii and 1Dx ii for a mint condition second hand R5. I wanted the R5 for the croppability of the 45 megapixels.

With the R6 and R5 there was not much use for the R anymore and when the R7 came out, I decided to trade in the R for an R7 to use the crop-factor for reach in combination with the 32.5 megapixels for my sports shooting and some of the occasional birding I started doing over the years. For birding I was mostly happy with the R7, even with the higher ISO's (using DXO in post) and the rolling shutter was not much of a problem in the way I shot.
For sports I never was quite happy with my R7 shots in comparison to my R5 shots, never exactly figured out why. So when R5's became cheaper at the second hand market, I bought a second R5 to have 2 R5's for sports, with the R6 as backup or occasional 3rd cam for a wider angle lens.

My next upgrade to improve on my sports shooting was an old EF 400mm f2.8 L IS USM , with the only caveat being the reduces FPS in mechanical shutter. So I started to shoot electronic shutter on the R5 for the higher frame rates, as a later version of the 400mm was out of budget. To acquire the 400, I had to trade in some gear, amongst others my R7 (which I would otherwise hold on to for some birding during a walk in nature).
Rolling shutter was very manageable, but I had to remember not to pan too much or move along with the action too quickly. I was eyeballing the R5 mark ii, but the upgrade seemed limited over the R5 when it was announced. But shooting more electronic shutter with the 400mm, the rolling shutter improvements of the R5 mark ii gave it the edge. I then got an opportunity to get a R5 mark ii and added it to my kit. As I will never use 4 cameras at the same time and would always prefer the 45MP over the 20 MP of the R6 I decided to sell the R6.

So now I have 2 R5's and a R5 mark ii. I think over time I might trade in one of my R5's for another R5 mark ii, so my main camera's will be the same.

I'm happy with the AF of the R5 for my shooting and the 45MP's of the R5's for my use. The rolling shutter of the R5 was more or less OK, but I consider the R5 mark ii definitely an improvement and sufficiently fast sensor readout for my use. So I hope GAS will stop after another R5 mark ii, at least for the camera side of things. For lenses there is still a lot to wish for... the weight savings on the 400mm f2.8 are significant, but I just can't justify the huge price of those lenses.