The DU Lounge
Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsWhat was your first camera?
Mine was a Brownie (hand-me-down)
My sister had this one and I wanted it:
redstatebluegirl
(12,265 posts)WhiteTara
(29,728 posts)but before that, I had a pinhole camera and my dad showed me how to develop my picture.
MiniMe
(21,719 posts)Hangingon
(3,071 posts)Still have the Briwnie and the Hawkeye
Floyd R. Turbo
(26,634 posts)It actually worked!
Ohiya
(2,244 posts)fierywoman
(7,696 posts)to develop and print my pix) then a twin lens reflex then --thrill!-- a Pentax SLR.
procon
(15,805 posts)My grandma re-gifted her old Brownie to me when I was around 10. I used it for years, it was simple to use and even took great pictures.
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)I suppose all the photos in the family albums were taken on it.
justhanginon
(3,290 posts)side to advance the film. Then a Ricoh twin lens reflex followed by a Yashica twin lens reflex that took a super slide format. Many in between and now a Canon Power Shot SX10IS digital.
Iggo
(47,574 posts)RandomAccess
(5,210 posts)It was a cube. Don't remember if it had a flash or not. This was back in the mid 60s. I loved it and it took really good pictures for a little thing like that. I still have a photo I love -- of the St. Louis arch half built. No one can ever take that photo again.
red dog 1
(27,872 posts)(I'm not sure it was an "Instamatic X-15" like yours, though)
SeattleVet
(5,480 posts)Later got a Polaroid Swinger ("Only $19.95!" , followed by my first SLR - a Yashica TL/Electro-X. It had LED arrows in the viewfinder instead of a match-needle system. (Since I was in high school and taking it around Manhattan all the time, I figured that was a better option for getting jostled around than a needle on a hairspring.)
Binkie The Clown
(7,911 posts)lpbk2713
(42,769 posts)My brother gave me one and then right after that my aunt gave me one not knowing I had the other.
csziggy
(34,139 posts)I got an Instamatic and had to take it back - it was too small for my big hands and I simply could not hold it or click the shutter. Sears had a knock off that used the same film but was larger. Most people didn't want the bigger camera so Sears was selling them off cheap. I got a great deal on that camera!
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,887 posts)Except that my Brownie had a flash. It was something like this:
I remember the flash cubes for the Instamatic. Eventually, back in the '70s, I got an Olympus OM-1 SLR, which was a pretty good camera.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,659 posts)black and white. If that was an option, mine didn't have it. We're talking the early '60s, so my memory is not quite up to snuff.
I must have got it for Christmas. Not sure what year. 1961? 1962? My family had an earlier Brownie:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownie_(camera)#/media/File:Hawkeye_brownie.JPG
but the Starflash was mine.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)sakabatou
(42,180 posts)I still have it somewhere in the house.
TexasBushwhacker
(20,220 posts)surrealAmerican
(11,364 posts)... but a cheap knockoff version of that used the same film cartridges.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,213 posts)It was a real camera. Took 110mm film. I remember how excited I was to get it for either Christmas or my birthday.
Grammy23
(5,815 posts)It was turquoise and I got it around 1959 or so. There is a photograph of me wearing it around my neck, standing on the bridge across Royal Gorge. That picture was made by my Dad using his Argus C 3. I have no idea what happened to my camera but the Argus has been handed down to my grandson who is a pretty darn good photographer.
machI
(1,285 posts)Voigtlander Vito II 35mm. I could fold it up and carry it in my back pocket. I loaded it with Kodak Tri-X Pan black and white film, which I could develop at home. It was pretty cool to take pictures in high school, develop them at night, and then show them to people the next day.
elleng
(131,176 posts)emulatorloo
(44,193 posts)Yonnie3
(17,497 posts)Brownie Box, Instamatic, cheap SLR, but the first really good camera I used was a prewar Leica 35mm. I liked it so much my father gave it to me. I have the original sales receipt from New York Photo.
Different Drummer
(7,651 posts)lkinwi
(1,477 posts)malthaussen
(17,217 posts)We had a Brownie handed down from Mom's father that I used once or twice.
-- Mal
Zorro
(15,749 posts)Hauled it around Africa, Asia, and Europe with me throughout the 70s. Rugged and excellent for the time.