[Stratman]

The first film camera I ever bought was a Ricoh KR-5 with a 55mm f2.2 that I bought new in 1980 from the old Fox Photo store. ( never even thought to buy any other lenses for it, haha, never heard of LBA back then )I still have it, and it is the only film camera that I ever owned. I bought a K110D in February of 2007, and upgraded to the K10D in December of the same year. I don't see myself upgrading again for a loooooooooooooong time.

Here's the old tank...

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Last edited by Stratman; 08-30-2008 at 08:37 PM.

[reeftool]

I still have many of my old cameras. My Pentax SP 1000 still works or I should say it did the last time I used it. I bought it in 1975 I think and it was my CAMERA. It went everywhere, backpacking, family vacations, motorcycle trips, etc. In the early 1990's I had a lapse and bought a Nikon Pronea, their APS film SLR. It went nowhere except back to the repair center again and again until a moment of inspiration hit me and I hit the camera with a ball pein. I continued to use the Sp 1000 until I bought my K10D last year. I also have a point and shoot Samsung 35mm which I have had for a long time and it is a good camera. My first digital was a point and shoot Fuji 2650 which I still own and it still works. I'm not one to rush out and upgrade to the newest camera as long as what I have works and I can do the shots I want. I would much rather spend my money on a new lens. In the almost a year i've had the K10D, i'm still reading the manual and figuring out what all those dials and buttons do. I'm like that with everything though. I just bought a new car because our 97 Escort finally died with 262K miles. My truck has 189K and the backup car has 139K miles. Maybe i'm just cheap.

[Jimbo]

sorry, my asumption you were younger... I'm younger than you

Gary, if it makes you fell any better.. your younger then me! 55 baby... cheers JIMBO

[pentkon52]

How long did you keep your cameras before upgrading, how often did new innovations happen that would cause you to even want to change cameras, did you change brands , how different was it?

My first SLR was a brand new SP500 i bought from Henrys downtown, in 1971. I used that camera and two pentax lenses i bought (55 and 105) until i bought a K1000 in 1997. Never found the need for the MX etc altought i went auto in 2002 with a PZ-1.

So two film cameras in 26 years. Still have my SP500 and K1000 as well as a SF-1 and the PZ-1.

Six Dslr's in less than 5 years.

I shot action, stills, landscapes with out the aid of AF for many many years, and had above average keepers. Still do with AF, but its a lot easier.LOL

Dave

[Jock]

First post here.

1982 I bought a Ricoh XR2s - at the time, it was = to a Pentax A or similar?
1998 I bought a Pentax MZ50 - OK but bland by the standard of nowadays. Motor wind, hard on batteries.
2004 I bought a Pentax *istD - OK on batteries, had to upgrade the hard drives
2008 I am buying a K20D - more hard drive upgrades & backup strategies req'd.

I still have all my cameras, they all work remarkably well. I shoot b+w with the Ricoh with the SMC A 50mm 1.4 attached, the MZ gets no use really, it has the Sigma --can I say that in here? kit lenses 28-80 and 70-300 with switchable macro which actually works well with the D.
I have another 50mm 1.4 A lens I use on the D, a 135mm A @ 2.8 which is great for sports photography.

I actually still get such a kick from looking at my last 28 years of photos in the albums and there are so many photos on my hard drives that ought to be in albums - it's just too easy to not print a digital image and albumise it. The PC has a lot to answer for in that regard - our photo albums are now captive on our computers unless unlike me, you print & put the shots along side their ancestors. I took a time to come around to digital but it is great for the simple fact that you can see if you blew a shot then & there, not a month later as you kick the cat on the way out of the photolab. The creative side is easier as well. Who has a darkroom these days?

I have more lenses, am getting the DA 18-250mm lens with the K10D so I can do a trip without lens changes and pollution inside the case as happens in remote and random locations.

Great forum chaps.
Jock

[TaoMaas]

I'm kinda surprised at the number of people who skipped the autofocus revolution and went straight from manual focus gear to DSLRs.

[Talisker]

I bought an MX in 1981(it's still going strong a couple of services later) and didn't buy another slr body until I bought an MZ5n in 2003 (athough I inherited an MG as a second bodyin the late 90s). I didn't expect at that time to buy another (the K10D) four years later, but digital prices fell, and my income rose - I did by a Bronica RF645 in the four years though - something I had wanted ever since they were released, but couldn't afford...

[jsherman999]

Very good thread.

I'm curious, how and when would you decide that you needed a new lens back in the day? Prior to the internet, did you respond to print ads, seeing what others had at photo clubs, etc? How did you hear about new lenses and then how did you know that you wanted them?

[Nesster]

I'm kinda surprised at the number of people who skipped the autofocus revolution and went straight from manual focus gear to DSLRs.

Actually auto focus is what finally got me into Pentax, from Olympus. I bought a used ZX-10 sometime '98 or '99 maybe. Or maybe 2000? I did so deliberately, understanding that what I gave up with focus ability (compared to Nikon and Canon and Minolta) I gained in lens compatibility. Sticking with Pentax after that was sort of easy.

Back in the day, used equipment wasn't convenient and ever present. And communication was through slow means: magazines, (later) list servers, and in person... I bought my OM2s and then my Tamron SP 35-80 in one year, then nothing again until I had a definite need for an 85 or 100mm fast lens - I got the 85 because it was cheaper at KEH.

Very good thread.

I'm curious, how and when would you decide that you needed a new lens back in the day? Prior to the internet, did you respond to print ads, seeing what others had at photo clubs, etc? How did you hear about new lenses and then how did you know that you wanted them?

For me, Modern and Pop Photo magazines mainly... visits to the occasional camera store... I wasn't an active cameraphile at the time, so I don't know what else would have been available. I know in audio at the time I relied on the 'underground' magazines and the annual Audio magazine equipment issue. Was there one for photographic stuff?

The idea that once expensive and top of the tech cameras and lenses are now incredibly cheap came slowly. But when it did come, with the egging on I get here and places like this, I have bought more equipment - and more types of equipment - than I had in my entire life.

[ll_coffee_lP]

Very interesting thread/read.

c[_]

[troyz]

I'm kinda surprised at the number of people who skipped the autofocus revolution and went straight from manual focus gear to DSLRs.

Back in the good old days:

* prime lenses were (often) great
* zoom lenses were (usually) crap
* an SLR body was just a light-tight box with a shutter, lens mount, viewfinder, and eposure meter!

Some bodies were very well made and reliable, other bodies... not so much.

Once I got a lenses+body that worked there wasn't much reason to upgrade. Motorized film advance meant having to replace batteries more often (and using up more film), and autofocus meant having a whole lot more stuff to break, and for some systems a lens full of electronics. Yuk!

I've cycled through several compact cameras for use when traveling light, but my SLR path has been pretty straightforward:

-- Got a K1000 when I was a teenager. Still have it. Still love it.
-- Upgraded to my dad's old ME Super for the improved viewfinder. Still have it. Still love it. Still use it.
-- Got a K20D when I became convinced that Pentax had gotten in-body shake reduction right.

[TaoMaas]

Back in the day, used equipment wasn't convenient and ever present.

In the pre-Ebay days, I used to buy lenses from the ads in Shutterbug or at camera shows.

[Ahab]

My 1st camera was a Kodak Brownie in '56. 1st SLR in '59, Sears/Ashai 500? Then Minoltas, Olys, Ricoh, Yashica, Mamiya-Sekor, Canon, Nikon, back to a Pentax A3000. Then a succession of digital P&S's of every flavor. 1st DSLR was a Miny A7 with an A2 as back up. I've always managed to get a decent price for my used equipment so it was never a problem to switch brands.

[Canada_Rockies]

Very good thread.

I'm curious, how and when would you decide that you needed a new lens back in the day? Prior to the internet, did you respond to print ads, seeing what others had at photo clubs, etc? How did you hear about new lenses and then how did you know that you wanted them?

• 1961 - bought a used Asahi Pentax with Takumar 55mm f/2.2 preset lens
• 1962 - bought a used Takumar 135/3.5 preset lens because I could not get close enough easily enough.
• 1976 - bought a used KX with 55/1.8 and the adapter for the 135 preset.
• 1976 - bought a new (first new lens!) M 28/3.5 for scenics. The 55 was too long. This brought me to what used to be the newsman set: 28/55/135.
• 1976 - M 135/3.5 to replace the M42 preset.
• 1977 - Sigma zoom (75-250?). It was neat with the two element close focus lens. When used with slides, the colours did not match the Pentax lenses, so ...
• 1978 - A 70-210/4, swapped the KX for an SF-1. Wanted a winder for sport shooting and could not afford an LX and winder.
• 1981 - A 1.4X-S to give me a 100-300/5.6
• 1982 - A used M 400/5.6. We had moved into the Rockies, and I got hooked on birds. This beat the 70-210 + 1.4X combination. Particularly when I put the 1.4X on the back of it.
• 1987 - 50mm extension tube - the 400 only focused in to 5m (16.5 ft).
• 1991 - a used ME and brand new FA 28-80 kit lens for my wife's bicycle tour with our daughter - 2 months in Europe.
• 2002 - a new MZ-S and FA 24-90. My wife discovered the ease of use of the SF-1 and autofocus with the 28-80. WOW! we now had two AF lenses!
• 2003 - Sigma 170-500. It was just plain soft. Traded for a used 28/3.5 shift, adding a bunch of moola, and went back to the 400/5.6 M. I was working in Chicago at the time, and an architectural lens had been on my list for years. It worked well for tall buildings and was a marvellous lens.
• 2005 - M 100/4 macro. Them bugs were just too small for the rest of the kit. The 70-210 "macro" was at 70mm, and not close enough. The 50mm ring works really well here, also. I made a deal using the shift lens. Back in the Rockies and the pine trees really don't care for absolutely perfect perspective control.
• 2007 - The real "wanna" purchase. My dad passed away at 102.75 years and part of his small estate went for the k10d, DA 12-24, DA* 16-50 and DA* 50-135 lenses. With the exception of the 12-24 which extended my wide angle range, everything else just replaced the 24-200 range on the film bodies.

My walkaround kit is the k10d, 12-24, 16-50, 50-135 and 100 macro. Believe it or not, I manage to cram all that into a LowePro 100 AW sling bag.

My full kit adds the 400, extension tube, 70-210 and two tripods, as well as the SF-1 body, moving all the camera gear into a LowePro Trekker I've had for about 20 years. Claire carries the MZ-S and 24-90, occasionally using the 70-210.

My current order of use is:

1. By a large margin, the DA* 16-50 is on the k10d the most. A marvellous lens. Very handy focal range, and the f/2.8 is great for focusing.
2. M 400 - lots of birds and animals here. Often used with the 1.4X when chasing birds.
3. M 100 macro - lots of flowers and bugs, too
4. DA 12-24 when 16mm just isn't wide enough.
5. DA* 50-135. My kids are long gone, and I don't take sports all that much any more, but it is used. That f/2.8 aperture is great for evening soccer, cloudy and rainy soap box races, and works tremendously well for portraits.
6. A 70-210/4. Not often, but it is used for that middle range. "When I get rich" I will get a DA* 200.
7. FA 24-90 is my wife's handy lens, equivalent to the 16-50.
8. FA 28-80 has not been used for years. It's not worth much. In common with a lot of them, the power zoom switches fell off and are held on with packing tape.

[Canada_Rockies]

Gary, if it makes you fell any better.. your younger then me! 55 baby... cheers JIMBO

All you little kids drive me nuts! I celebrated the 29th anniversary of my 39th birthday this year. I will NEVER be older than Jack Benny.