What cameras did you use in the late 80s and early 90s?

Evergreen States said:
I was born in 1992 and first picked up a camera in the late 2000s. It's neat reading everyone's old gear from when they were younger. Thanks for sharing, everyone.
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It was new gear and expensive back then..... Even a used Noctilux, 75 Summilux, and ED 180 2.8 for the Nikon were substantial in price.
 
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Nikon L35AF.JPG
Having gotten married at the end of '80, not being wealthy, and only mildly interested in photography, I was able to talk my new (and current) wife into buying a Nikon FE. It was too 'complicated' for her to use when we finally got around to having kids so we got a Nikon L35AF (pictured).
Still have it, it still works or did the last time I had it out and put batteries in it. Still have the FE too, and it also works.
It was only after I got 'retired' by the second layoff from the aerospace industry that I finally had time to get into using cameras. Never really shot a lot of film as that wasn't in the budget of our growing family.
Nikon FE 35mm camera.JPG
 
After much research and saving of money, I purchased what I deemed to be my dream camera back when I was still in high school in the late 70’s — a Minolta XD11. I went on to use that Minolta as my only camera throughout the 80’s and the 90’s. Sadly my XD11 developed an intermittent problem impacting the exposure meter. The first time was very early on in my ownership and it was repaired for free by Minolta under warranty. The problem resurfaced years later in the 90’s and that time around I had it repaired by my local camera store. (I had actually forgotten about this until last year when I found the receipt for this work among some other papers I had kept.) I continued to stick with the camera until the problem appeared yet again in the year 2000. At that point I finally gave up on the XD11 and purchased the Leica M6 that I’m still using today.

Though I finally stopped using the XD11, I still have the camera. I suppose that I’ve held on to it all this time for sentimental reasons. A bit silly perhaps, but the camera doesn’t take up much space and I still take it out from time to time simply to admire it as an object. Had the camera not developed the recurring problem I imagine that I would still be happily using it today. But as things are I feel that I more than got my money’s worth out of that Minolta. Not only did it help me to capture and preserve a good number of wonderful memories from my life for more than two decades, but it also managed to provide me with a few good memories on its own simply through the act of using it.
 
In this time period IIRC:
M6
FM2
Leica AF-C1
Canon APS

By mid-90s I added Zero 120, Robert Rigby 4x5, and Kevin Finney 4x5/Zone Plate cameras.
 
In 1982, as a Christmas gift from my parents, i received a Fujica STX1 with its 50mm 1.9 lens; then a 135mm lens, a 28 mm lens, a maxwell flash gun.
That lovely camera, my faithful companion during my travels in Europe, suddenly died nearly 25 years ago (broken shutter). Then my sister gave me as a gift her unused Fujica STX1n with its 50mm 1.6 lens: I still use it with pleasure, because it reminds me happy days in my life.
 
For family snaps we mostly had plastic compacts: 110 then 35mm then APS then back to 35mm. The best was probably a Minolta 35DL Weathermatic which we kept until the shutter button rubber disintegrated. Brilliant all-rounder for us at the time, great for the beach.

Outside of family snaps - mid-80s I started playing with photography having wanted to when I was a teen but couldn't afford it then. I bought a Zenit 12XP and had various Russian cameras - Kievs (10, 15, 60, 6C), a Zorki 4K, Lomo LCA and 135BC. The Kiev 60 I bought new from a dealer in the Ukraine, the rest were mostly used from ebay. I also had some Prakticas (MTL5, LTL3 and a VF). I had a Rollei 35 that I could not get on with at all (always felt the body flimsy, lens was fiddly, it was a hassle to load and annoying to adjust exposure...), and a Ricoh 35 Auto with it's long arm cocking mechanism, big shutter on the lens and selenium meter surround. I don't think I ever managed to get a crisp shot from the Ricoh, but very cool design.
 
Early 90s was when I started becoming more heavily invested in photography. I had a Canon EOS 630 with a couple of zoom lenses. Unfortunately that kit was stolen from our house by a brazen thief - while we were all in bed! Ultimately it was replaced with a Canon EOS 5, a 20-35 and 28-105, and a Metz 45 CL-4, all of which I still own.

I shot my first wedding as an assistant using the EOS 5, but moved on from photography as a money earning venture not long after. Of course I continued to love it, even more so in the last 15 years or so.
 
In the early 1980s I invested in a Nikon FE and Micro-Nikkor 55mm lens. It was a really big outlay given my earnings; but necessary, for it had to serve in documenting my work, with photography for pleasure taking second place. At the time, two close colleagues had (respectively) Olympus OM-1 and Canon AE1, models that were similar to the FE in size and function. We spent many happy hours comparing the pros and cons of the three. Sometimes I felt I had joined the wrong system; but interestingly, the Nikons seem to have outlasted the others on the second-hand market. I ended up with 3 lenses, only one of which (105mm) really impressed me.

By the late 1980s the FE was still playing its recording role in my work, but for other kinds of photography I had grown to hate its noisy mirror and gloomy viewfinder. In search of something more discrete, I bought a second-hand Rollei 35, which I still have and use. Much later (1998) I bought a Leica, selling the almost-20-year-old Nikon to help finance that purchase. The advent of point-and-shoot digitals replaced its recording role, and I was free to use my film camera solely for pleasure.
 
At the end of the 80’s I had a Nikon FM2 with a Nikkor 50mm f/1,4. One day I was somewhere on the Maine coast right on the rocks taking pictures of something and a large wave crashes all over me and the camera covering it in sea water. I drove home and put the camera with lens in a bucket of water overnight. I then let it dry hopefully it can be saved when I take it for a CLA. Then pieces of the camera like the rewind crank and other bits and pieces fell off one by one like that horror movie Scream and Scream Again where the victim loses a limb every day. The camera then seized up. It wasn’t until years later did I get another camera a Nikon F and 50/1.4. I gave that camera away to a photographer down on his luck living in a van in San Francisco.
 
JeffS7444 said:
Either I was spoiled rotten, or had precious little money-sense back then!
Nikon F3, F4, Leica M4-2, Rolleiflex SL66, Leica M3, M4, Minox 35EL, Yashica T4, Mamiya 6 and Fujifilm GS645.
But I was pretty good at scoring deals on secondhand cameras, and dilligent about selling off stuff once the new-toy luster faded.
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You and I have a lot in common.
 
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Tom R said:
I used two Leica rangefinders: M3, with a 50mm Summicron lens, and M2, with a 35mm Summicron lens.
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I had a similar kit in the '80s. Leica M2 with an Elmar 50/2.8, Leica M3 with a Summary 50/1.5. Also a 35/3.5 Summaron, a 90/4.0 Elmar, and for a brief period, a 135.

In 1989 I had to sell the lot to fund the start of my architectural practice. I still (mentally) kick myself for having done this.
 
DownUnder said:
I had a similar kit in the '80s. Leica M2 with an Elmar 50/2.8, Leica M3 with a Summary 50/1.5. Also a 35/3.5 Summaron, a 90/4.0 Elmar, and for a brief period, a 135.

In 1989 I had to sell the lot to fund the start of my architectural practice. I still (mentally) kick myself for having done this.
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Given the longevity of Leica lenses and bodies, I wonder if they are still out there, waiting for you to reacquire them. On the plus side, their value helped you into a new phase of life, so they served you well even in their absence.
 
chuckroast said:
I am contemplating get a 21mm for my M bodies. How did you like this focal length? What subjects were suited for it? What kind of finder did you use?
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Chuck, When i used Nikons, I loved the 24mm. When I went back to Leicas the 21 was the charm. I used (& still do) the metal SBK00. I used the 21 for in close-in ski & climbing photos. It's a gem in the narrow streets of Europe. It works well for landscapes ( New Mexico photo attached). It's second only to the 35mm as my most used lens.
IMG_9153.jpg
 
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Deardorff38 said:
Chuck, When i used Nikons, I loved the 24mm. When I went back to Leicas the 21 was the charm. I used (& still do) the metal SBK00. I used the 21 for in tight ski & climbing photos. It's a gem in the narrow streets of Europe. It works well for landscapes ( New Mexico photo attached). It's second only to the 35mm as my most used lens.
View attachment 4835510
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I'm right there with you. I love the Nikon 20mm f/2.8 which is why I asked about this. There is an older 8 bladed 21mm w/finder for sale I have my eye one but I don't know much about the performance of that lens.

Nice shots, BTW!
 
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