[Niner Alpha]

Good stuff! That was the first camera I ever used, as my mom had one back in the late 50's to early 70's. We eventually upgraded to my own Kodak Instamatic in the early 70's!

The Instamatic was also the first camera I used to shoot Kodachrome 64.

Phil.

When I think Kodak instamatic I think of the 126 cartridge film box camera. Mine in the late 60's was the 104 Instamatic of which something like 50 million were sold over something less than ten years. It was the camera of the Vietnam War. Every GI had one. I have a website with thousands of examples from the war period. They were dependable. You could drown it crossing a stream and dry it out later and it would keep on working. Try that with any non water proof SLR and see how many keep on ticking. I wasn't aware of any that used slide film. You must mean a different Kodak camera than what comes to mind.

[tuco]

So you miss shooting your 35mm camera and now you shoot even a smaller format camera and you miss it? Is that the jest of it?

You won't get much sympathy from me because I see no reason why you still can't shoot your film cameras too. I'm sure you have a bunch of reasons that are stopping you but none of them will most likely make sense to me, I'm sure. A bunch of us in this thread still shoot our film cameras so we don't need to reminisce of the glory days because they are still here.

[Lenscap]

So you miss shooting your 35mm camera and now you shoot even a smaller format camera and you miss it? Is that the jest of it?

You won't get much sympathy from me because I see no reason why you still can't shoot your film cameras too. I'm sure you have a bunch of reasons that are stopping you but none of them will most likely make sense to me, I'm sure. A bunch of us in this thread still shoot our film cameras so we don't need to reminisce of the glory days because they are still here.

Me? I think you misunderstood.

35mm is ALL I shoot, except for an occasional TLR fling.

And I don't miss it because...well, I still do it. What I miss, I think, may be the simpler life of days gone by - relative to photography and other things as well.

Sympathy? Definitely not looking for that. If it sounds like I am, I haven't been clear.

[miner74]

I started with a Montgomery Ward 126 cartridge camera in the late 60"s. Graduated to an Argus C2 (a version of the C3 where the rangefinder wasn't coupled to the focus mechanism. You ranged your shot then set the lens to the proper distance). I thought it couldn't get any better when I started using a second hand Pentax H1A about 1971 with a Vivitar light meter. Have progressed through multiple generations of Pentax cameras into the digital age, but I still shoot a couple of rolls a year through the H1A. Like a previous post, I now have lots of "images" on many different storage devices (remember the Sony Mavica with a 3.5" floppy?) but still like slowing down and thinking about what I am shooting with film.

[Niner Alpha]

They definitely used slide film, I used to work at a commercial photo lab and at least 25% of the slides we mounted were from 126.

Ok.. looked it up.

The viewable area is usually about 26.5mm x 26.5mm. Now due to the aperture of the scanner (36.8mm x 25.1mm) about 1.45mm will be cropped from the top and bottom of these slides

My ignorance. I didn't know there was any such thing in that size. I bet you would play hell trying to find some 126 slide film today or anybody who would process it for you.

[gofour3]

They definitely used slide film, I used to work at a commercial photo lab and at least 25% of the slides we mounted were from 126.

I bet you would play hell trying to find some 126 slide film today or anybody who would process it for you.

Yep it was 126 Kodachrome 64, I don't remember the exact model of the Instamatic I had.

Here is a shot I took in 1972 with the Instamatic shooting Kodachrome 64:



Not the best camera to shoot Kodachrome with, as you had no control over the exposure if i remember correctly.


Dwayne's may be able to still process 126 film for you:

https://www.dwaynesphoto.com/newsite2006/disc-126-film.html

Phil.

[tuco]

Me? I think you misunderstood.

35mm is ALL I shoot, except for an occasional TLR fling.

And I don't miss it because...well, I still do it. What I miss, I think, may be the simpler life of days gone by - relative to photography and other things as well.

Sympathy? Definitely not looking for that. If it sounds like I am, I haven't been clear.

I see. I mistook your KX for a K-X.

[TomB_tx]

My first camera was a 1940s 127 Baby Brownie in 1949 when I was 3. My first good camera was a Stereo Realist slide camera when I was in high school. (2 half-size images on a stereo slide, use a binocular viewer, or twin lens polarized projector, which I still have.) My dad shot the Stereo Realist from 1950 until the 90s, and he got them for us as teenagers.
In college when I got serious, it was a new Pentax H1a. Recently found a stack of 8x10 to 24x30 B&W prints I made back then. I realize I've never done better.

[ChrisPlatt]

I'd love to recapture the intensity and passion for photography I had when young.
I tried simplifying, but one body and a couple lenses didn't do it for me anymore.

Age, adult responsibilities, other interests and lack of time must bear some of the blame.
I think some of us try to compensate by collecting. Amassing gear takes less commitment.

Chris

[Lenscap]

I tried simplifying, but one body and a couple lenses didn't do it for me

Chris

Yeah, I like the IDEA of simplifying. Then I start trying to figure out which bodies and lenses I'd part with. That's where it gets hairy. I have my favorites, but I like them all, for different reasons.

I guess I'm a hypocrite: I miss the good old (one camera) days, but I like the variety I have now.

[jkomp316]

Amassing gear takes less commitment.

Indeed; and that is the driving force of todays commerce. Buy your way into the hobby. Forget about what needs to be learned. Just buy this pro-grade tool and you're halfway there. Problem is majority dont have the resources to commit the other half.

[LesDMess]

To be honest, I have no idea what any of you must be talking about.

There are a wide variety of reasons that I am aware of why people have more than one camera and lens. As opposed to just hoarding, I acquire for a purpose. Personally, I acquired all mine for the purposes of immersing myself in the history of it - the progression and their functionalities. To that end, they have to be fully functional but not necessarily beautiful. I thoroughly enjoy their similarities as well as their differences. Sure they are industrial pieces of art and I probably enjoy that aspect of it too. But most of all, I enjoy using them to take pictures as well as taking pictures of them.

These are the good old days . . .

[wkraus]

To be honest, I have no idea what any of you must be talking about.
...

I guess it's not about gear, even less about owning less gear. It's about how some of us approached photography under different circumstances.

[Lenscap]

To be honest, I have no idea what any of you must be talking about.

Les, to be quite honest, I'm not sure I could explain it myself, and I'm the OP.

Just to be clear, I'm not slamming people who own lots of gear. Like I said earlier, I use and enjoy all my cameras.

Probably just a bit of nostalgia on my part, but I'll never be 15 with my first camera again (and I'm quite okay with that).

[ChrisPlatt]

There's nothing wrong with collecting photo gear.
But a large collection of photo gear hasn't improved my photography.
If anything it has probably made it worse.
I'm not as familiar with all my tools and must spend more time maintaining them.
In my case that's okay, as I now sleep through all the good light anyway...

Chris