when did you buy your first camera?

Ravage1616

Just wondering when did everyone start getting into photography? Did you buy your very first camera or get it as a gift?

I bought mine myself and haven't regreated a day ever since, wish i had taken it up years ago!!

Fajitas!

I bought my first camera (Of my own) about 4/5 years back, never looked back either. Always had an interest in photography. As a young lad, my dad used to take me out for a drive nearly ever Sunday to shoot some landscapes. Picked up the basics of cameras back then!

Got a bit more serious when I started off studing Art last year, then this year got more and more interested, and recently changed what I had chosen to specialise in from ceramics to media, meaning I'll be doing a lot more photography based work.

elven

I finally pestered my dad into submission and he bought me my first slr for my 21st. That was nearly 6 years ago... before that, when I was 10-12 I used to run to the beach with my crappy 35mm compact every time there was a nice sunset...

Flipflip

I always had a vague interest in photography, like I used to like lookin at gallerys and other peoples stuff.

Then one day I was rooting around the house and I found my dads samsung cam, it wasnt an SLR but it was a damn sight better than a point and shoot like, so i started messing with it. Went over to the photoshop and bought some black and white film, I went around snapping stuff for a week or two without anybody knowing. I kinda felt embarassed or something, then after a while I took pics with my mates and that, and got fairly into it.

After a trip to Paris with the school, I came home and loved a load of the shots I had taken, especially the ones I took in Pére Lachaise graveyard which reminds me, must put them on flickr!.

After a fair bit of encouragement from Fajitas!, I decided to buy a 35mm SLR, a Nikon F65, that just got me more and more interested, so at christmas this year I got my first digital SLR, a Nikon D50, and its been really great!

Now Im looking back to film a bit more and gettin interested in other types of photography, like using Lomo's and that.

My obsession keeps growing!

I actually owe Fajitas! quite a lot, cheers man!

ChityWest

I think the first one was a disk camera borrowed from my aunty - then got my own point and click one at about 15 or so. Also used to borrow a 35 m slr from the brother of a friend of mine (he was a press photographer) when I had access to a college darkroom.

Then about 3/4 years ago bought a eos 300v - and after trying all sorts of things with that got a 20d last summer.

peter1892

I 'inherited' a Kodak instamatic (126!) when I was about 9. Got a Hanimex 110for my 10th birthday and eventually got a 35mm point & shoot Olympus when I was 18. but that's all it was, point & shoot without any real thought to what I was doing.

It's only in the last 2 or 3 years that I've started thinking about composition, light etc. & learning how to take photographs...

joolsveer

I bought a 110 Kodak Instamatic in 1972 and then a Halina 35mm and then moved to a Praktica LTL SLR with 50mm 2.8 Tessar in about 1975. My uncle had a Canon 35mm rangefinder in the late 1960s and this is where I developed my interest.
I still have the Praktica and it still works.

Hydromonkey

I only got my first proper camera 2 months ago. Always liked photography as an artform, so when i saw what some of my mates were doing with thier SLRs i wanted in. Bought a 350D and it was the best decission i've made in a very long time.

ladgie353

Got an Hanimex 28 (I think) when I was 12.
Inherited (poached) a Canonet 28 from my dad when I was 15/16.
Bought a Canon EOS1000F on my 18th after the Canonet died.
Gone through a few Canons since.

Fionn

I had a good think about this and as far as i can remember even tho it's a lifetime ago
the very first camera i bought was a Fujica Pocket 200 instamatic 110



i photographed everything, really enjoyed it too, had it for a long time, don't know what happened to it tho!
after a gap of about about 12 years or so i got a Canon Snappy 20/50



somehow the viewfinder got damaged and i tried to repair it myself using superglue, took a great picture all the same but looking through the viewfinder was somewhat difficult. I cant remember what became of that either. Wish i'd had the money to buy a another camera way back then
ah the memories!

EireRoadUser

I got my first one when I was around 9 or 10 ,I still have the prints from it

We use to set up a ramp for our BMX's and I'd get shots while they were up in the air ,about 3 or 4 foot in flight.

Now I'm crap with a camera ,I spent so much on it that I think about it too much. Sometimes less is more.

Cameras are great.

dubtom

About 20 years ago, saw an add on the tv for an 'slr' type camera for I think 40 quid. Bought it and when it came turned out to be plastic piece of crap with a non removable lens. Took a few rolls and sent it back. When I got the rolls developed the bug stuck. Bought a centon with a 50mm and started collecting. Got a Sigma after that but changed to Canon after that and still use them, Use is a lie, I haven't taken a photo in months.

rymus

won my first camera in a raffle about 12 years ago. Bargain basement 35mm point & shoot. Ended up getting a Canon slr a year or so later. And the rest, as they say, is a long and boring story.

johnny b

bought a second hand nikon f55 off a friend who wanted to get a digital (il always be greatful to him,even though iv not seen him for a long time) had never taken a photo in my life but once i messed around with it that was that. nearly three years ago now and have since gone from that camera to an f3 and fm2 and am currently doin a degree in photography

FinoBlad

Mine was a Halina 2000 and passed on to me by someone not using theirs.

Greysoul

Mine was my mom's Instamatic, which I pretty much took over when I was about 3-4 years old (barely big enough to hold the thing)... I've never been without a camera ever since.