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Which camera has inspired you the most?

Steen

Senior Subscriber Member
In the early-to-mid-60s I learned for the first time controlled photograpy with an Exakta IIa.




Later, around ~ 1967, came a Nikon F mount Nikkormat, which was the system that made me seriously hooked on photography.

That Nikon F mount system has definitely been my greatest tool for film based photography, especially my favorite optic, a wonderful, fast, manual focus Nikkor 85mm lens.

It was that lens that opened my eyes to optical rendering and 'magic', and since then I have had the interest in good optics: binoculars, spotting scopes, and camera lenses.
 
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LJL

New member
Man, you guys are making me nostalgic or something...

The first camera I recall using that got me hooked on the concept of photography was a Zeiss Ikon 220 roll film camera. Then I played around with a Kodak Retina IIC or something that was quiet and more compact. First camera that got me into working was, like Guy, the Minolta SRT 101. Loved that camera, until it was replaced with the serious workhorse Nikon Photomic FTn and then F2 models, supplemented by Leica M4s for photojournalism work. I loved the images from my old Hasselblads too, but today, no tools really "inspire" me the same way, though all of them are far better for getting images. Now they are more tools to me than the older more mythical wonderboxes that I used to think they were ;-) And Steen, I used to use those same Exaktas before I got my Minolta. The left-handed wind was different, and WLF made working in bad weather impossible, but it was a nifty machine for sure. And I still have my old Nikkormat, and it works!

LJ
 
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Godfrey

Well-known member
This thread has turned a different direction. What inspired me, at the beginning, was the first camera I bought for myself (Minolta 16Ps) because I could control the exposure. Then two borrowed cameras, my mom's Argus C3 and my grandfather's 1949 Rolleiflex.

After that I bought my Nikon F with 50/1.4 lens and shortly followed up with a pair of Leica RFs (ancient IIc and IIf with Elmar 3.5cm and 5.0cm ... *both* for $99 at Olden Camera in 1969!). Those three cameras propelled me to always have a camera with me, but I couldn't afford film so shot pretty sparingly.

In 1971, I arrived home from school in early October and went downstairs to the darkroom to print after dinner. I opened the door and couldn't get into the room ... there were boxes and boxes of stuff there. My mother said, "Oh, Uncle Matt came by and said he left some things for you in the darkroom."

What had happened was that my uncle had a elderly pro photographer as a customer at his store whom he was very friendly with. The old man had been told by his doctor that he had a terminal illness and decided to close his business and spend what time was left to him traveling. He sold off all his studio gear commercially but realized he had a lot of odd bits and stuff in his home darkroom that weren't worth inventorying and selling, so he asked my uncle if he knew anyone who would use it.

The end result was that I received about 2000 feet of 35mm film, a six foot high stack of boxes of paper, and several boxes of developer and fixer, along with a ton of other oddball stuff. With that I could shoot to my heart's content and learn what photography was all about.

That was the base of my real inspiration in photography: the ability to shoot to my heart's content, experiment and learn. The cameras, nice as they were, are always secondary to that.
 

bradhusick

Active member
Okay, the Pentax ME Super with Pentax 50mm f/1.4 was my first SLR and served me well dooing the high school newspaper and yearbook. Then much later came the D1...
 
Chronologically, for me it was/is:

1) My Leicaflex SL´s (had 2 of them, plus 4 lenses; an incredible improvement over my earlier Minolta gear).

2) My Rollei SL66. 6x6 cm quality, SLR with rear tilt plus built-in bellows. A heavy beast, but almost a view camera.

3) My Leica Digilux 2. After a few fiddly digicams and dSLR´s, at least a digital camera with an interface that felt like a real camera. I still have, use, and love it.

4) The M9. The ultimate fulfilment of the Digilux 2´s promises. The camera I will be buried with (but hopefully have time to almost wear out before that...).
 

aboudd

New member
Ah, distant memory. The camera that got me hooked was an Agfa Optima 1a (I believe it was 1964 and I believe I paid about $45.00 for it). It was auto exposure with a selenium cell meter and used zone focus. I had no idea what a rangefinder was back then. I entered a teenage photo contest that Camera 35 magazine sponsored and won an honorable mention. My photo was published with 19 others as slide size images on the cover. That's all it took. 46 years later, I am still at it - and - by the way - I found a 1a on ebay last year and had to buy it!
 

David Schneider

New member
I loved my Nikon Ftn and loved my Bronica erts, but one camera I still have is my favorite lover. lol. Rollie 35 I bought in 1972 or so. The battery compartment cap got lost so I couldn't even use the rather crude needle matching exposure and had to learn exposure because the camera couldn't help you. It had no rangefinder so you had to guess at focusing distance. It was manual everything and fit in your pocket. It had, rather has, a great 35mm lens. It taught you exposure, distance estimation, dof, everything. And the darn thing is worth more today than I paid for it.
 

Rick Waldroup

New member
A Nikon F with a 50mm lens was my first real camera.

It remains a sentimental favorite because I mowed lawns all summer, saved my money, and purchased it at a local pawn shop. I was 14 years old.
 

Professional

Active member
None, because all did something to me in certain point and time, so i can't ignore any of them, they are tools at the end that i can use whatever to what i want, i am inspired by photos i see on the net not by the gear.
 
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