What cameras have you had?

[Levina de Ruijter]

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.

 

[Ed Will]

I'm going to ignore the phones and instamatics/point-and-shoots because there were a lot of those (disposable cameras, gifts from people who didn't know better, buying something because I needed to have something to take pictures with in the moment).

First camera was a Yashica. Since then, I've shot all Nikons. I can't remember the film SLR bodies but had several of those. For the DSLRs, I've had a D300, D600, D700, D800, D70, D4, and D500. For the mirrorless, I have a Z6.

 

[Terry McDaniel]

First camera was an official Boy Scout camera, shot 120 film. I shot a roll of film while playing with my friends, Mom chewed me out for using it all up in one day. I don't remember ever seeing the results.
In HS I got a Polaroid Swinger for my BD. Black and white, and you had to wipe a chemical on the photo after it developed to keep it from fading. Took a lot of pictures with it.
After I got married I got a Kodak PS that took 126 film and used the square flashcubes, 4 shots/cube.
Also had a newer Polaroid that took color pictures.
AE-1 for my birthday in the 80's, no telling how many shutter clicks are on that camera, and I still use it.
My wife got me a Polaroid digital when they first came out. You'd push the shutter button and it would take the camera a second or so to decide what to do.
My kids bought me a Canon Rebel 1000 for Christmas, that was my first decent digital.
My wife bought me the Canon T7i for Christmas in 2017.
I never lost interest in film, so I've purchased a Canon F1, and Pentax K1000, a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye, and a Canon Tele point and shoot at antique stores.
Unneeded back story, I was substitute teaching in the little town of Marietta, OK (pop less than 3000). One day after school a train had the crossing blocked so I went in an antique store there to kill some time. Found the F1 with a 50mm f 1/4 and two junk lenses for $42.00. A couple of weeks later, same thing happened so I went into the other antique store to kill some time. Found the K1000 for $35.00.
I gave a whopping $12.00 for the Canon Tele.
I'm looking for a Mamiya C330 for a decent medium format camera.

 

[Levina de Ruijter]

You'd push the shutter button and it would take the camera a second or so to decide what to do.

That’s funny.

 

[RichardB]

Unneeded back story, I was substitute teaching in the little town of Marietta, OK (pop less than 3000). One day after school a train had the crossing blocked so I went in an antique store there to kill some time. Found the F1 with a 50mm f 1/4 and two junk lenses for $42.00. A couple of weeks later, same thing happened so I went into the other antique store to kill some time. Found the K1000 for $35.00.
I gave a whopping $12.00 for the Canon Tele.

Cool. I go into thrift stores sometimes. Picked up an incredible studio tripod for 10 euro. Looking up the thing it turned out it was still available online for around 800!
Thrift shops also always have cameras and lenses. Most is old rubbish but not always. Picked up a Tamron zoom once, manual focus, like new.

I'm looking for a Mamiya C330 for a decent medium format camera.

Did/do you develop the film yourself?

 

[Terry McDaniel]

Cool. I go into thrift stores sometimes. Picked up an incredible studio tripod for 10 euro. Looking up the thing it turned out it was still available online for around 800!
Thrift shops also always have cameras and lenses. Most is old rubbish but not always. Picked up a Tamron zoom once, manual focus, like new.


Did/do you develop the film yourself?

Yes, started with B&W with Caffenol developer, expanded to color last year.

 

[greatgrandma]

I started with a Brownie about 1948. My dad gave me a Kodak Retina Reflux SLR for my 20th birthday in 1957. I used that camera until the shutter mechanism gave out and I couldn't get it fixed probably around 1975. I used Canon film cameras and point and shoot film cameras until I retired in Feb 2000 when my work gave me a gift certificate to buy a digital camera. My first digital camera was a Toshiba PDRM81 and I used it until the on-off switch came off in my hand. Then for several years I used Kodak DX6490. I got my first Canon EOS Rebel in 2013, and I upgraded to the T5i in 2018. I also had a film camera with a water proof case in 1968, and a dive camera (film) in 1997, several single use snorkeling cameras, and when I transitioned into digital I got an Olympus underwater camera

My dad (who died in 1973 before the digital era) had at least two SLR cameras -an Exacta and a Leica. He used mostly Kodachrome film although sometimes he used Ektachrome. Before that he took b&w film pictures and I think he did some of his own developing and printing. Some of his things look like contact prints. He had early Poloroids, and he took 16 mm movies - first with a Keystone camera and then with a Bolex.

This is part of the blog for the 1950 trip. The first place I remember going (in Switzerland) was Zermatt to see the Matterhorn. We went up on a cog rail train which had, as was the European custom, separate cabins in the cars with bench seats on each side. My dad (who grew up speaking German before he spoke English and who had big camera bags slung from his shoulders),

My dad with his cameras


looked into one of the cars. There were two girls there and one of them (presuming of course that an American -which we obviously were- would not understand any language except English) said to her friend "Come over here and sit with me so this big fat [obsene word for pig] doesn't squash me". So my dad said very politely in German "Are these seats taken?" It was pretty quiet after that.- Dad was 46 in that photo

 

[RichardB]

There were two girls there and one of them (presuming of course that an American -which we obviously were- would not understand any language except English) said to her friend "Come over here and sit with me so this big fat [obsene word for pig] doesn't squash me". So my dad said very politely in German "Are these seats taken?" It was pretty quiet after that.- Dad was 46 in that photo

Cruel girls. Your dad is to be commended for keeping his calm and staying polite. He sure looks like a photographer in the photo!

Interesting photographic journey you had. Nice to read it all.

 

[Terry McDaniel]

That’s funny.

I did not take this picture, my brother in law did. He was using the same Polaroid digital that I mentioned above that had such a long lag time between pressing the button and it actually taking the picture. As you can see, he got it right. That's me, shooting an 1860 Colt Army revolver.
Always reminded me of the Marty Robbin's song "Mr Shorty". "The .44 spoke, it sent lead and smoke, and 17 inches of flame."

Did some googling, and found it: Polaroid photo max 320. Shot a .07 megapixel image. The image of me shooting is a whopping 67Kb.

That was in 2000, damn I'm getting old!