My first 35mm camera, the lowly forgotten Nikon N65.
In early January 2020, I'd had started watching film photography channels on youtube, and I was so desperate to get into it. I chose this as my first 35mm SLR, it was sitting in my LCS amongst a shelf with all the Nikon greats and it was discounted greatly. I now mainly shoot the Pentax K1000 and 28 SMC M as my main film setup. I think it'd be the equivalent to the ZX10, infact the 28-80mm kit lens it comes with looks identical to Pentax.
At 19.99 I couldn't help but try it out. Surprisingly for an entry level camera it's packed with many features similar to modern day DSLRs, it's has worlds slowest autofocus, and it was able to run my budget Nikon screw drive lenses.
Curious as to what else everyone has shot and used for their first 35mm film camera?
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the shots very look lovely, my friend.
I guess my first film camera was the nikon f50 but I was only a kid back then and my father used to set the settings and give it to me to take family photos with.
however my first film camera to be my very own is the canon tx that I didn't get to shoot with but should be receiving it very soon and plan on sharing it here with you guys when I finally do
My first film camera, which I bought in 1975, was a Russian Zenit E. This one. Heavy as a Russian tank. It came with a Helios-44 58mm f/2 lens that actually was pretty good. The Zenit was a primitive camera , even for the day. It didn't even have through-the-lens metering! But it was the most camera I could afford as a 15 year old high-school student. (I also bought a Russian suit-case enlarger but that is another story.) Mercifully, many years later as an adult my apartment was burglarized and the fools (a witness saw two men) stole it and the pair of crappy lenses I had also bought for it (they were in the same camera bag, which they did not take). I can just imagine their surprise at how little it was all worth when they sold it. I replaced the Zenit under insurance with a Pentax K1000, which I still have but don't use anymore. I replaced the lenses with Pentax models and I use them to this day with my K-3II . Thank you, burglars.
My first film camera of my own was given to me by my uncle. I'm pretty sure it was a Pentax zx10 or zx5. Something like that. In any case, it worked beautifully. A little plastically, but that only effected how it felt and handled. Meter worked great. Auto wonder worked great. A good solid film camera for pennies. Got me into shooting film so that was the best part 🙂
Really nice shots you shared.
My first film camera (and camera in general) is my trusty Minolta SRT-101 I bought last year. Technically I bought an XD-5 first but it didn't work and the seller happily traded it for the SRT. It's a lot of fun to have a completely manual camera that doesn't even need a battery to operate, plus the dings it has to the body give it a nice personality.
Here's a picture of the SRT and some of the 'best' shots I've taken with it so far, or at least those I'm somewhat happy with.
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Quote from Herd on May 15, 2021, 11:11 pmMy first film camera (and camera in general) is my trusty Minolta SRT-101 I bought last year. Technically I bought an XD-5 first but it didn't work and the seller happily traded it for the SRT. It's a lot of fun to have a completely manual camera that doesn't even need a battery to operate, plus the dings it has to the body give it a nice personality.
Here's a picture of the SRT and some of the 'best' shots I've taken with it so far, or at least those I'm somewhat happy with.
Nice pictures 🙂 You can't beat a 50mm on 35mm film camera with black and white film!
Quote from Gawad on May 11, 2021, 7:35 pmhowever my first film camera to be my very own is the canon tx that I didn't get to shoot with but should be receiving it very soon and plan on sharing it here with you guys when I finally do
well she's finally here :D.
I've never owned a Canon SLR before. Surprisingly, knowing my tendency to buy a bunch of gear 😛 Does the winder work? I see it's missing some sort of top plate. Maybe just decorative.
I was worried about it but it works just fine thankfully and feels so satisfying honestly.
I went with canon because I already use fd glass for my digital photography (a new special lens might be coming soon :D) and ended up finding this body in good condition for around 20$ throyh a friend (no clue whether the light meter works or not because it has a weird battery but my phone will have to do).
My first film camera was one I had as a kid, a Vivitar PN2011. I took it on family trips:
But boy was that camera limiting. Although it came with a ton of free focus, it was a literal point and shoot in terms of what it was able to do. I'm pretty sure it only had a shutter button and a wheel to advance the film. Pretty soon though my father got a little Canon digital elph, which took amazing photos compared to the flip phone cameras, and film was long forgotten.
It wasn't until after college that I started taking pictures with any sort of intention, but it was a while before I got into film again. My first camera was a Minolta SRT-202. Very usable shutter speeds up to 1/1000 and a great lens lineup, but boy was that think a loud tank. It weighed almost as much as my Mamiya 645, and was probably almost as loud too.
Since then, there are some cameras that I've really fallen in love with. The Mamiya 645 and the Canonet QL17GIII are definitely the first ports of call, but the Mercury II, more recently the Minolta Autocord and the Minolta Weathermatic DL35 as well. Film, as a mentality, is such a shift for me. With a digital camera I'm worried about missing a moment. With film, I'm worried about wasting film haha. It's a very different feeling, and I really enjoy it.
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