[borno]

I think I got it in 1983 or 1984 w/ a 50mm f1.4, glad I still had my old lenses. I started with a minolta srt 100 in '74 and mamiya tlr in '76.
tom

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[fletcherkane]

My first Pentax was the ZX-30.
I have quite a story with this one.
I went to my Local camera shop knowing I wanted to get into an AF SLR but had never used one. The guy at the shop leaned me toward the Pentax.
It was supposed to come with a kit lens, but they were out of the SMC lens so he offered me a Sigma equivalent. I didn't know one lens from another at this point, so I said sure.
The cool thing is that it was supposed to be a 28-80 zoom. When I got everything home and started assembling the camera, I noticed that the lens was quite a bit larger than I expected it to be. The man had stuck a 28-300mm Sigma zoom in the bag. (I have always loved this lens. It's the Sigma with the 72mm filter size. Really takes nice photos)
I called the shop back to tell them of the mistake and the gentlemen told me thanks for calling, but it was his mistake, so go ahead and keep the lens. SCORE!
I shot many a roll through that first SLR body and it really sparked my interest in photography. (I had only had Point and Shoots til then.)
Know I own a K100D and am rediscovering the joy of shooting photos.

[Rick]

Now I going to show how old I am. My first Pentax was a K1000. I bought it 1977 and then changed it to a ME some years later.

Ha hahaaa... My first SLR (after a succession of Baby Brownies and assorted other since forgotten names), was a Spotmatic 500 in about 1971-1972, which I still have and which still seems to work. I hammered away with that old warhorse until an upcoming deployment to Rwanda/Yugoslavia back about 1992 caused me to think I really should buy some better gear before going overseas. So I bought a PZ-1. And now, another 20 years and change later, I'm moving into my first digital camera with a K10D.

I suppose one should move to improved technology a little more quickly. But I can't help but note that, although lenses and other bits and pieces have become victims of my lifestyle, both of those cameras have survived over 25 military parachute jumps each (meaning static line, hard "arrival", no cushy freefall, square canopy, gentle landings).



Not to mention being shelled in various parts of the world while I was dumb enough to stick my camera up out of the bunker and trip the shutter while cowering inside. Or being set up next to a mortar on a moonless night, prior to dropping the round, on bulb setting and fully exposed to the back blast:



You'll have to excuse the quality of the images - I haven't got any means to scan my old slides other than a crappy ol' flatbed scanner that I have about given up on (didn't expect much for results anyways, though...).

I haven't been paying a whole lot of attention so I'm not really to knowledgeable about the Canon versus Nikon versus Pentax versus Whoever debate. But I do know this: Pentax lenses give their lives for their country - but my Pentax bodies have been TOUGH customers that survived and continued to function everywhere I took them.

Which is a major reason why I have been kind of hanging out around the fringes, waiting for Pentax to build another tough customer that I wouldn't kill the first weekend I went whitewater kayaking, doing helicopter toe-ins all over the mountains, etc. I expect/hope the K10D I'm buying will be no less a camera.

[calicojack]

I wonder if this thread is meant to make me feel old!!
I'm glad to read that a few of us have Pentax cameras that don't start with M or K or P. My first was a Honeywell Spotmatic 1000 bought back in 1967 or 68. I had a few cheap rangefinders before that. I bought a Praktica TL as a back up. I still have these and the associated screw mount lenses in a neat Spiratone bag stacked in a corner of my basement with all my Darkroom equipment. (haven't built the darkroom in this house yet and now going digital, I probably never will). Around 1981 I bought a used Super Program. Just later I bought my girl friend (now wife) an ME Super. In the late 80's I picked up a used KX as a back up. Also around this time, I started to format jump and picked up a real cheap 6X6 toy. Then I went to a 4X5 Field Camera that was lots of fun to play with and the 4X5 negatives produce such wonderful pictures. After growing up with 35mm, I eventually realised that the term 4X5 FIELD camera is a misnomer (for me anyway). Then, for various reasons, about 2000, I started out with digital point and shoots. Cheap Olympus for work, cheap Fuji for personal. One died from moisture on a boating trip. I replaced it with a Pentax 33WR. I finally bought into digital SLR's now with my new(ish) K10D and am starting to learn photography from a digital point of view, all over again. OBTW, yes, I still have every one of these starting with the Spotmatic except for the Fuji which died. The Olympus is strictly for work and is almost dead.
Regards,
Brian

[Dave21]

My first and only Pentax up til now is the K1000. I bought it in '78-'79. My friend Ralph was in 10th grade and got one to use in Photography class in Arizona. I wasn't in photo class (I was in Jr. High) but I liked the black and white photos he was making, so I got a K1000 too.

I took pictures of lizards mostly. Always in black and white. I also took lots of lightning shots with it in black and white. By the time I hit high school, I was hooked on Photo class. I took it all three years of high school. It was a blast!! My teacher at Cabrillo was very cool and taught me tons of useful stuff that I use to this day. Awesome teacher and an AWESOME K1000!

[Photo Tramp]

My first Pentax was a Honeywell Spotmatic which I bought for $150.00 brand new back in 1966. I was just starting my sophomore year in high school, and the first year we had a photography club. That camera went everywhere with me, and after graduation in 1969 it went to war with me also. I lost it on a mission in 1973. We were a bout 30 clicks out of fire base English, had just dropped into a hot LZ and had to drop packs and run for the extraction point while trying to break fire. The Spotmatic took a round to the back and was dead before we could break fire. A few months after that I had gone on R&R to Japan and bought the most wonderful Pentax K1000 with a 50mm f1.4 lens. which I have to this day. Along with a real great Pentax LX that my son still uses. (but Dad the LX still works fine why should I get a new K10) Kids they just don't understand the new digital age.

[roscot]

The one on the left, a Pentax SV circa 1966. I bought the Spotmatic used a few years later. The Super Program was my dads. The SV and the Super Prograqm still work, the Spotmatic is dead.

[SupremeMoFo]

My first is the K10D... what a way to start,

Actual first camera was a Canon film P&S. Stopped using that when we got an Olympus Stylus 410, kinda the family hack - I hated that camera.

[Richard Day]

Film wise mine was an MZ-50 (and still have it).

Then an MZ-5 and finally an MZ-S, which I also still have. That is one fine camera.

I then bought an *istD, which my eldest son now has, and loved it. I did have an *istDS as a second body for a couple of months but moved it on. I didn't relate to it as I found it was "very" different to the *istD. I contemplated a second istD body but never did get one.

I then almost bought a K100D because of the SR (I was won over!) but the K10D was imminent and bought that as soon as it became available. It is a huge improvement on all that went before! I really like it!

Before Pentax (50+ years!), I've had many cameras from a Box Brownie upwards! My first SLR was a Practika IV, followed by an Edixa Prismat (still have that), then 3 Oly OM's (one OM1 and two OM 2n's) and a Bronica 645, plus lots of lenses, I was really into it with the OM's and the Bronica system!

I then sold them and had a few years in the wilderness, then bought the MZ-50 back in the mid 90's, been with Pentax ever since, but have had a few P&S cameras as well, Yashica and Oly in Film and Nikon, Fuji, Pentax and Panasonic digitals.

[Sideways]

The First SLR that i held was my Dads Pentax 35mm SP1000 when i was about 8.

Me and my best mate climbed up to the top of the cupboard got it (without permission) climbed down took it out of the leather cover and wondered at all the dials, leavers, and switchs... (All 3 of them.. haha)

I then passed it to my friend to have a look at... only he wasn't ready to look at it.. it hit the floor.. Denting the top above the pentaprism..

The mirror was sticky after that.. Dad took it to a shop to have them look at it.. Told him that is was not worth repairing.. (Trying to sell him another camera..).. Stuck back on top shelf of cupboard...

20 Years later- My First child is born... We only had a Pentax Point and Shoot 35mm.. Dad has just bought a brand new Minolta SLR and we stumble across this old SP1000.. Have a bit of chuckle have a look at it.. The mirror was sticking every 5 or 6 shutter release..

$60 service later - Good as new!

This camera taught me photograhy.. How simple
Compose..
Focus..
Aperature..
Shutter..
Click..
Wind..

Just bought my First DSLR the K100D.. All the same.. except no winding!

[EvilPentaxUser]

I got a used Pentax K1000 back in the fall of 1993, it may have died about 1 year ago, I just have not put in a new battery to test it. brought a new film camera a ZX-L back in 2004 and now this past july, the K100D. I have many lens, filters, and even better, last night I found my F cable release to use with the K100D, it still worked. the K1000 I used it first in my junior year of high school when I was about 17. so yeah, getting to be middle aged.

[Peter Zack]

My first introduction to Pentax was with a Spotmatic back in the mid 70's. Saved lawn mowing money to buy a rather worn and beat up used one. Worked well for a couple of years and then it died. In 1980 I got a brand new shiny K1000 with a couple of lenses. That camera was tough. It's been to the summer heat of the Mediterranean +40C to the cold of Canada's north (at least -45C) and worked perfectly. I traveled across the Atlantic with it on an old Oil rig for 42 days ( there's a story for another day). Took pictures with it in every province across Canada. I added an LX to the bag in the mid 90's and then one day they were both stolen together in the same bag. The LX was a great camera as well. I replaced it with a PZ-1 and then added a PZ-1p. The transition to a digital was easy after using the PZ-1p as they are very similar. That camera was loaded with features and took great pics. They were both sold last year, first for a K110 and now a K10D. Knock wood, Pentax has never once let me down and I've always trusted the gear to work better than my skills to use it.

[Chako]

Wow. I am simply amazed that I may be the first to claim that his first Pentax was from the SF series….the SF10. I had wanted an SF1, but I remember it was out of my price range.

Bought new when I was in High School. I still have it and it is still in mint condition because I tend to baby my equipment. It came with 2 Magnicon KAF zoom lenses (Off branded lenses made by who knows what for a Canadian photography chain called Black’s).

Today, I have my fathers P3, the SF10, and an old Asahi Pentax S from 1959 bought at a garage sale no less. I still shot film through all 3 cameras on occasion.

[Fritz]

I got my ME Super with a M 50mm f1.4 brand new Christmas of 1980. I still have it and was using it up till this last May when I got my K100d. The ME Super did take a 10 year vacation as it had developed a sticky shutter cocking mechanism. I finally decided to resurrect it after I grew tired of trying to shoot my sons swimming events with my wifes Nikon Coolpix 995 . I figured I didn't have anything to lose, so I cracked open my old ME Super, figured out the problem and fixed it. I had forgotten what I nice camera it was, large viewfinder, sharp lenses. Very nice to use once again! Plus all the funny looks you get from people with the digital point and shoots as you are advancing frames manually with a lever, and changing out film. Oh what fun.

I'll have to admit though that shooting digital is even more fun. I'm learning to improve my photography much faster then I was with film. And the mistakes are not nearly as costly.

[Pentaxperson]

My first camera which was bought for me was a Pentax ZX-M when I was 12.

I got it for my birthday.

I made a foolish mistake and sold that camera when I was 17 so I could have money to buy modifications for my Mustang.... MISTAKE!! (Mustang got me in to more trouble , and I'm still paying for that trouble....it just sits in my garage waiting to be awakened.) I'm 27 now.

I have since then bought another ZX-M, Spotmatic *ist DS, and K10D.

I have all 4. The *ist DS I have since given to my little sister.

Funny thing is my very first camera was my dad's old Canon AE-1 programmable. - NICE CAMERA, but for some reason I was drawn to Pentax amidst all the Nikon's, Canon's, and few Leica's I was around.