When you were at school did your friends have cameras too

raydm6 said:
None of my friends in the 1970s had cameras that I can recall. They were mostly into playing sports or playing music.
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So were mine, I was the friend that turned up with a camera, however back in the mid to late 70's I mainly filled my time on skateboards followed by BMX.
 
KoNickon said:
My roommate in college sophomore year came to school with an OM-1, with the 50/1.8 of course. During Christmas break 1976-77 my father took me to buy an FT2 (black) -- I remember seeing the ad in the paper and was chagrined to find that it came with the 50/2, not a 1.2 as I had thought it said. So my roommate had a faster (barely) lens. But I don't recall seeing others with cameras -- didn't seem to be a popular activity around campus.
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both great cameras, and the Nikkor 50/2 is a really super lens.
 
Godfrey said:
I started making photos when I was 8 yo.

By the time I got to High School (1968), I was already experienced with the Minolta 16P I bought for myself, and my grandfather loaned me his 1947 Rolleiflex. I joined the camera club, or "Photo Staff" as we called it ... we supplied photos for the school newsletter and the yearbook. I bought (with the help of an uncle) my first Nikon F Photomic FTn in my second year. I also became the Photo Staff Chief that year.

Most of my friends were either guys in the Photo Staff (all of whom had cameras or borrowed cameras from the Photo Staff cabinet), or students or teachers around the school I photographed. A couple of the guys from the Photo Staff are still friends today, and still do some photography; one has a job doing it, occasionally.

There were many times in my life when I barely had money to buy dinner, but in my life after I started High School there was never a time when I didn't have at least one camera. :)

G
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thats such a cool story thanks for taking the time to share it.
 
CMur12 said:
I got my first serious camera, as a sophomore at the University of Washington, in the spring of 1972. It was a killer deal on a demo model Yashica TL Super. I really wanted a Pentax Spotmatic II, but it was WAY out of my price range. The Yashica, similar to the Pentax, had an M42 lens mount and stop-down metering. It was wonderful.

Shortly thereafter, my girlfriend bought a new Hanimex Praktica with similar specs.

Otherwise, I didn't know many students with cameras.

- Murray
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Stop down metering that takes me back!
 
During the 1990s in high school, most people used disposable cameras, if anything. The yearbook people had some old Nikons and such.
 
Dogman said:
I was in school in the 50s and 60s. Small country school, mostly poor kids with zero money. No one had "good" cameras. I had a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye, about as much of a camera of anyone I knew at the time. My parents always admonished me to not waste film so I didn't take many pictures with it. I did not become interested in photography until after I had graduated college and had been employed a few years--able to afford a real camera.
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Dont waist film, its amazing how way back we thought nothing about snapping away, after all film was relatively 'cheap and easy to get', these days.......many now would maybe agree with your parents.
 
Kai-san said:
I bought my first camera when I started my engineering studies in 1972, it was a used Nikkormat FTN with a Nikkor-S 1.4/50. Apart from me there was one active shooter and we had the school's darkroom all to ourselves. I cannot remember what camera he had, but it was an SLR with a normal lens. But I do have a pictureof him in action.

View attachment 4822641
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what a great photo, where was it taken?
 
jsrockit said:
I got a Pentax K1000 for my high school graduation. Prior to that, I had little Kodak 110 and 126 point and shoots that were family cameras. I quickly moved to Nikon and then to Leica and many others after that. A friend of mine had a Minolta X-700 and another had a Nikkormatt from his dad. None of them really used them though...
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Ah the blessed K1000, great reliable cameras
 
x-ray said:
In the early 60’s I used my dads Rolleicord V and 4x5 Pacemaker Crown Graphic. When I got to high school I started shooting for the school paper and making money shooting publicity photos for several bands. All of my friends were into photography too and had some nice gear. One had a Yashica TLR and a 2x3 century graphic and another had a Retina and another had a new Rolleiflex. I can’t remember what my two other friends had though.

In my senior year I bought a new SRT-101 with a 50 1.4 and 200 3.5. Great camera.

In college I started shooting for the University news paper which was a 5 day a week publication often with 10 or more pages. I started working as a stringer for AP and UPI and was making enough money to buy 3 Leica M bodies and 7 Leica lenses, visoflex 2 and bellows. I worked my way through college and made enough to apprentice in a commercial studio with no pay for a year and a half.

I wound up as chief photographer in college and my friends all worked as photographers too. One had a similar set of Leicas, another a Nikon S3 and SP with a nice set of glass, another had a Rolleiflex and another an M4 and 35, 50 and 90.

During that time I added a Rolleiflex and 5x7 Deardorff and lenses.
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Buying three Leica bodies and lenses, oh my, stuff of dreams, a great story to hear
 
qqphotos said:
I used my dad's Retina IIa that he bought at the army PX in 1951, then as soon as I'd saved up enough money promply bought a used Mamiya C22 which carried me through to college in the early 1990s after which in the pursuit of excessive detail I pretty much entirely switched to 8x10.
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I still use, from time to time, a Retina IIa, great cameras
 
ChrisPlatt said:
In elementary school I had a series of 126 and 110 Instamatic-type "PHD" cameras.

My first adjustable lens camera was a Ricoh 500G 35mm RF camera in high school.
I took a shop class in photography. IIRC I was the only one with a "good" camera.

At graduation in 1978 IIRC I was the only one with a 35mm SLR, a Canon AE-1.
Later I tried a Canon A-1. I really disliked it and so abandoned the Canons.

In college I used Nikon FTn Photomic and FM cameras with MD-11 motor drive.
An Anthropology class in Ethnographic Photography was most memorable.
This was the first time I was with classmates who were also photographers.

Chris
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Canon A-1 a mighty camera
 
lxmike said:
Thanks for your reply, a friend with an F3, this would have put them into legendary status at my school.
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If was the 400mm Novoflex rig with shoulder stock that really put it over the edge.

The F3 was sweet. At the time I was working for a camera/processing store as an assistant to the photographer there and carried/shot 4 or5 F3s with full motor drives and large flash setups with batteries packs along with a Domke F2 loaded with lenses and a brick or two of film.

Big benefit was employee discount on processing. I did my own B&W but getting 75% off on color processing/prints was great. About $2 a roll printed with doubles.
 
shawn said:
If was the 400mm Novoflex rig with shoulder stock that really put it over the edge.

The F3 was sweet. At the time I was working for a camera/processing store as an assistant to the photographer there and carried/shot 4 or5 F3s with full motor drives and large flash setups with batteries packs along with a Domke F2 loaded with lenses and a brick or two of film.

Big benefit was employee discount on processing. I did my own B&W but getting 75% off on color processing/prints was great. About $2 a roll printed with doubles.
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Two dollars a roll, those were the days, I must admit I took film and the price of processing for granted in those days, the foolishness of youth
 
lxmike said:
Have you still got your 8mm footage?
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Yes! It still looks good; I keep it in the dark. 20 years ago I copied it to videotape, but I need to copy it to a digital format (and of course, keep the orifinals because they’ll likely last longer than any digital format). I just don’t want to be projecting light through the film these days.

I still have the camera, its box, manual, and photo guide book, as well.
 
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lxmike said:
How did you find using the Canonet 28?
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Dear lxmike,

Keep in mind that I was a teenager who liked to take pictures but really didn't understand much about the actual process of photography.

With that said the Canonet 28 and the Canolite D flash did a great job for me. My snapshots were still mostly boring, but they were sharply focused and perfectly exposed for every roll. It was a fun easy to use camera for me and did a good job.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Harrisburg PA :)
 
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