Saturday Fun

Harrumph. Two members of the TOP "family"—is it too much of a stretch to call it that?—the TOP fellowship, if you will—bought new cameras, and both wrote to tell me all about it, and neither one included a picture. Wah!

Ctein spent some of his Saturn Run royalties and bought a brand new Olympus OM-D E-M5II. John Lehet sold two Porsches and bought a Sony A7rII. (No, he doesn't actually have any Porsches. He's an art photographer....)

Just for some idle Saturday fun—show us your new camera! Points for a good (or creative, or different, or beautifully made) picture, but a quick (Facebook-worthy) snapshot is okay too.

To embed a picture in the comments, use this code (this is a screenshot, to prevent it from being garbled in transmission):

...Where http://image.jpg is a picture on the Web no more that 470 pixels wide. Sorry, there's no way to upload a picture directly from your computer to the TOP Comment Section.

Or, you can post a link!

If you don't have a new camera and you'd still like to play, then show us your oldest camera if you have any old ones. I'm hoping John and Ctein will send portraits of their new ones, but if they don't, maybe Carl and Oren (and Herman K., and Jim Hughes, and several others I can think of) will show us their oldest ones.

I'll kick it off. I haven't bought a new camera in a while, and you've seen my oldest camera before, but I'll show it to you again:

It's a Rochester Optical Co. Pony Premo No. 6 whole-plate "self-casing" camera built between 1903 and 1906, and I am inordinately fond of it. It's a survivor, in spectacular condition for its age. It resides in the "front hall," meaning, the southern side of my little living room between the front door and the foot of the stairs.

So c'mon, what did ya get!

Mike

Original contents copyright 2016 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

TOP's links!

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)

NOTE: I have "featured" a few comments, but you should click on the "Comments" link below to see everyone else's pictures. But do read Doug Chadwick's written comment below.  —Ed.

Featured Comments from:

Joseph Brunjes: "Sorry, nothing that artistic: My old digital camera (Canon 1D Mk3 manufactured in 2007) shot with my newer 8x10 (Chamonix 8x10 made in 2012) on tintype:

and my newer 8x10 shot with my old digital camera:

Mike replies: That's wonderful. Thanks very much.

Michael Walsh:

[Michael tells me this double portrait was made with his iPad.  —Ed.]

Earl Dunbar: "The OM-1 may not be my oldest camera, but it enjoyed the day and the visit.

"iPhone 4s, so not great dynamic range."

Doug Chadwick: "My prettiest camera looked very much like your Pony Premo, and might well have been a close relative. The front of it was a Century Grand Senior, and it had a Century #8 Cirkut "Attachment" on the back. And of course it had the 12" cog-wheel head and legs. And it had a little tag on the front standard to remind you to set the front standard to the center before closing the camera. A hang tag. And it had all the little booklets and sales brochures that convinced the first owner to take the plunge.

"He took the plunge in 1906 and kept a faithful log of the exposures he made with the apparatus, in yet another provided booklet, but it just amounted to about 6 photographs. I got one negative and one print out of that set. Both Central Park circa 1906.

"It was, and is, about as 'mint' condition as anyone will find. I would guess that is is the best early Cirkut extant. It recently sold at auction for a respectable price. I have not bothered to get in contact with the new owner. I didn't own it for a long time and the rest of the ownership chain are well enough known. I was an insignificant custodian for something like 10 years. I got it on television once, good enough.

"I am not a collector, and that's what a camera like that needs.

"Oh, and it had a really good lens. Probably the most 'important' looking lens I have ever seen. It was a hugely expensive optional upgrade in 1906. A Zeiss triple convertible Protar. I have never looked at a lens that just from its very appearance conferred such quality. It cost, at the time, as much as the house where I was living. It kind of took my breath away. I never exposed film with it.

"We are impressed these days with the traditional engraved lettering filled with paint on lenses. This was not good enough for Zeiss in 1906. The 'engraving' was raised writing done with some sort of electrical welding. Or something like that. I am sure the experts know something about how it was done. Very exceptional.

"But there was something about the look of the glass, and its 'natural' coating that just stood out from anything I have owned or seen before or since. Some sort of brilliance or clarity, I am not sure what.

"I am still quite sure that lens is capable of something really special.

"I am equally sure it will never be used to expose film and prove what it can do."

David Miller: "You swine, Johnston! I have no photograph of my newest camera because, after rising to the top of the wait-list at my local camera store yesterday, I finally got my hands on a Fuji X-Pro2. However, after an hour playing with it, I reluctantly concluded that—beautiful though it is—the Fuji X-Pro2 is not the right camera for me. For now. I think…I could have done without having salt rubbed in the wounds of my disappointment. By way of asserting my independence, I bought the Fuji XF 90mm lens whose usefulness you disparaged in a recent well-reasoned post. There—I can think for myself! (Buying a three-wheeler Morgan would have been even better….)"

Mike replies: And buying an electric three-wheeler Morgan would have been even better still.

Comments

[Mike Aubrey]

It's an Eastman View Camera No. 33A, probably from 1935 or so. It's pretty low end--not much for movements and only 14" of bellows, but I sure do like it.

I still use it with Ilford Harman Direct Positive Paper.

[Henry Richardson]

This was in January here in Japan. Last year I bought these nifty, thin, blue gloves that allow use of a camera's controls, but this was the first cold, windy day to try them out. Last year in Sapporo during the Yuki Matsuri I had some different thin gloves that also worked out well, but these new ones are grippier because they have a white rubber pattern on the palm and fingers. Olympus OM-D E-M10II.

[Brian V.]

I'm probably not going to be the only commenter to photograph my oldest camera with my newest camera. The old one looks like a little cousin to your camera. It's a circa 1900 Gundlach Korona VII, self-casing 4x5 with the "latest" Rapid Rectigraphic 6 inch f/6.3 lens. The lens is marked for use as a triple convertible--at 13.5 inches the maximum aperture is f/22. Originally a glass plate camera, it was crudely adapted to take film holders. I've shot a few sheets with it and it works fine. After cleaning, the shutter is accurate (shutter speeds of T, B, I, 1/50, 1/4, 1/2, 1 and 2 seconds). Photo taken with Sony RX10.
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[João de Medeiros]

Like Ctein I too bought an A7RII for my work. I'm using it with M-Lenses and my 35mm Art Sigma f 1.4. Had the luck of finding one at the right price in ebay, sometimes it happens.

http://www.joaomedeirospamelaleite.com/vc-1-2-ii01/

[Mathew Hargreaves]

My earliest camera that I have not used, yet, is the 1896 Kodak Pocket box camera. I am hoping to use 135 film in it for the fun of it. The lack of sophisticated controls might make it difficult to use. :-)

[John Krill]

This isn't my oldest camera but the OLDEST one I bought when I was 13 or 14 years old. It was the camera I learned what speed, aperture, ASA all worked together. I shot Plus-X and Ektachrome since they both had the same ASA.

Disneyland was my first big adventure with this camera since the park had just opened.

This is not the actual camera I purchased. That camera was destroyed by my brother while I was in the Marines. I hope it still counts.

By the time I went into the Marines as a photographer in 1965 I was ready to go. Well mostly.

[Howard Sandler]

This is my Kodak Tourist, circa 1951, which cost me all of $10 (that's Cdn.--about $1.75 US these days; at least it seems like that). This is one of Kodak's last folders and is metal with a top plate of Bakelite, somewhat analogous to the Canon AE-1 of a generation later. Mine has a 3-element lens, a 3-speed shutter and scale focus. When I respool 1200 film onto a 620 spool and use it stopped down, the results are swell. Even if they're not so swell, I am always impressed that I get anything at all from such an old beater, which is very satisfying.

[Richard Man]

When my daughter and I were in the Death Valley National Park earlier in the month:

Chamonix 4x5 F1.

[Peter Vagt]

My Pony Premo. This, the Model E, was first sold in 1898, for $8. Someone gave it to my father - and he handed it on to me a few years ago. It is on display in my living room.

[Stephen Cowdery]

My cute little Pentax Q7 with its featherweight 3.2mm fish-eye lens (glasses shown for scale):

[Mark Kinsman]

X-Pro2 - just arrived this week. A replacement for the recently sold Canon 5DmkII. Planning on the X-T2 too, if all goes well. These will most likely be the bodies I stay with for quite some time. It is quite impressive, and 24mp is my preferred sweet spot.

[Ilkka]

I cannot post a picture in this manner because I don't have pictures of my cameras on the web. So I thought why not make a list of all the cameras I have from oldest to newest, or thereabouts:
Olympus OM1
Olympus XA
Minox 35 PL
Leica RE
Nikonos III
Leica M6TTL
Leica mini
Hasselblad 500C
Hasselblad 500CM
Fuji GA645
Shen Hao 45
Gaoersi 45
Widepan 120
Minolta Dynax7
Hasselblad 905SWC
Noblex 135
Shenlong 678
Minox 35GT
Minox 35GTE
Oh, and these are just the film cameras. I probably forgot one or two.

[Stephen Scharf]

Here's my latest purchase, which was back in January 2015, my much-loved Fuji X100T. This has become my most-used camera, and literally goes with me everywhere.

I'll take this opportunity, if Mike permits, to present a high-speed, continuous autofocus panning shot of a Scottish Fishing Eagle (aka Sea Eagle) taken with the X100T while he was literally flying over my head at a raptor sanctuary in the UK.

Who says you need big glass for bird photography? ;-)

[Stan B.]

The Wife recently remarked, "You're having fun, ain't ya?"

Indeed I am...

http://reciprocity-failure.blogspot.com/2016/03/gr-update.html

[Kurt Triebe]

My Sony A6300 showed up on Monday! The AF improvements are significant, to me... chasing my little kids around and getting shots that are actually in focus has never been easier. Quite amazing how good a camera this size, and this price, is- relative to where the industry was not even 5-6 years ago. A worthy upgrade from the A6000.

The only "old" camera in the house is a Mamiya something or other... 645 maybe? Handed down from my dad, and I've not yet gotten around to getting any film for it. At some point, I will. I didn't really get into photography until the age of the Canon 10D, though, so I don't have the nostalgic pull to film of many other photographers, and the learning curve (and cost to develop images) would probably be fairly steep for me, to the point where I can't see myself really making the effort. It'll probably just sit on a shelf!

[Andreas Waldeck]

Having waited for almost three years after participating in a Kickstarter campaign, I finally received my new point-and-shoot 4x5" large format camera this month, the Wanderlust Travelwide 90. Extremely lightweight and fun to use!

[ShadZee]

The best take-every-where-camera I've ever owned ;-)

[ShadZee]

And a quick shot of my newest camera... a gift from my father ;-)
It came along with a picture of me in front of the Eiffel Tower... taken 50 years ago!

[Luca]

My latest addiction, ehm, addition :)

[Hans Agterdenbos]

Hi Mike

sorrry no picture of old camara but some soul surge see my blog

http://www.thebeautifuleyes.com/2016/03/looking-at-life-and-light-no-camera-why-am-i-sick-going-mad/

Thanks Hans

[robert quiet photographer]

just bough this...it's beautiful !

https://www.flickr.com/photos/50036802@N04/25495668351/

[Wolfgang Lonien]

My OM-2, ca. 1975:

And my OM-D from early 2015:

Sometimes I also use this 750mm "lens" with one of those µ43rds, for which it has the angle of view of a 1500mm "lens" (in fact, it's only two mirrors instead of a lens):

[psu]

This is the oldest camera that I actually used extensively, my Nikon 8008s. It's next to the newest camera I have, the the one in the iPhone 6. 😃

[Omer]

Perhaps 4 months of ownership disqualifies a digital camera as "new," still, it is my newest. A Panasonic Lumix GM5 with a Richard Franiec grip:

https://magpiefiddle.smugmug.com/GM5/GM5/n-9qfdcb/i-hfsRCsq/A

[Patrick Dodds]

Not my newest acquisition but one of my oldest now and in a drawer somewhere:
http://tenyearsofpics.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/light.html
It still gets an occasional outing but less and less. What a great camera it has been though and works well despite the damage from the accident described (bl**dy camera straps, getting in the way - the only 2 times I've dropped cameras the strap has been implicated in each case).

[Timo]

Camera and tools (RX1R ii, computer with DAM software, coffee)

the camera's wonderful, if for my purposes bedeviled with too many megapixels

[robert e]

I hope this image isn't too ridiculously small. It's of my first "serious" camera, an Argus AF ca. 1938 (no, I didn't buy it new, but as a flea market "antique" in the 1990's). The file is tiny because it was taken with a Gameboy Cam--my first "toy" camera, which I bought years later, and the resolution is just over 100x100 pixels.

[Dave Levingston]

Here's my oldest camera, a Kodak No. 1A Autographic Jr. It was my grandfather's camera and may have gone with him to China when he was a missionary there a century ago. It still works, though I don't think there is a source for 116 film these days. I did use it a few times back when he gave it to me in the 1960s. I shot the photo with my newest camera.

And this is the newest camera, a Panasonic GF7K. I got it with the idea of using it to replace the Canon S90 that I carry on my belt all the time (included for comparison). The bodies are pretty much exactly the same size, but, of course, the 12-32mm lens sticks out quite a bit more than the S90's lens. I have yet to find a belt case that I'm happy with for the GF7, having been spoiled by the wonderful belt case that Canon makes for their S-series cameras. The GF7 on sale (including the kit lens) cost about half what a new S-series Canon would cost.

I shot the second photo with my Panasonic G5. Another advantage of the GF7 over a small Canon is that it becomes a second body for my M4/3 system as well as my belt camera.

[Charles]

Fuji X-Pro 2 with a Summaron 35/3.5 mounted, thus serving as a poor man's Leica.

[Maggie Osterberg]

I took some Xmas money and got myself an upgrade on the OM-D M-5:

The E-M5 mkII is fantastic.

[Ranjit Grover]

Mike,
I hope the image gets posted on the page.
It was not as if I needed a camera or even wanted one, early this month. But Amazon India was offering a Nikon digicam, a really low end one, for 3500 Indian rupees, that works out to around 50 US dollars. I had paid ten times that amount for the Canon DSLR, sitting pretty in my camera box. That offer was too much of a temptation for me. I got the small little camera with an eight GB card in a few days time. Though it offers 16 mega pixels I set the camera for 2 mega pixels and also set for the date to be displayed on the image. One might think that having the date displayed on the image is silly, but to be used as a sort of visual notepad, date is important. The camera can go into my shirt pocket and I am having fun with that digicam. I guess some fun things in life are not the best things in the world or the most expensive ones.

[Henry Rogers]

I'm lucky enough to have had a couple of nice old cameras handed down to me. See: http://www.pbase.com/hhmrogers/large_format In the same place there's the tale of a self assembly 5x4 camera I bought and put together a while back.

Last year I bought a 1935 LeicaIII (same age as me) and had a really enjoyable trip to Spain with it: http://www.pbase.com/hhmrogers/2015_camino

I still sometimes use a IIIg I bought new in 1959; this is a shot from 1964:
http://www.pbase.com/hhmrogers/image/47156564

Modern cameras are just as much fun though:
http://www.pbase.com/hhmrogers/twickenham_rowing_club contains a mix of old and new.

[Graeme Pow]

My oldest camera is a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash: https://www.flickr.com/photos/graeme_pow/8139376582/

I call her Suzie. She was made in the USA sometime around 1949-1961 and has a moulded Bakelite body, a waist-level viewfinder, a meniscus lens (a lens that's concave on one side and convex on the other) and a single-speed flash synchronised shutter. She takes 6x6cm images on 620 film.

This particular model was restored and given a custom Fender Stratocaster sea-foam green and cream paint job.

[Mahn England]

Strangely the most viewed of my photos on Flickr is this one:

[Andy Clement]

My oldest camera (so far).

[Henning Wulff]

These are not the newest camera, but one is my oldest and the others more interesting:

A Leica Standard bought new by a family friend, and the pictures it took populated my mother's family albums. The daughter of the family friend entered a retirement home some while ago and offered me the camera. With 50/3.5 Nickel Elmar

An Anba 1.1kg 4x5 field camera that I used extensively when even the Sinar-f was too large and cumbersome. Shown with 58/5.6 Super Angulon XL, but I used various other compact lenses up to an Apo Ronar 240/9 with it. This camera was used to create the background photo in the photos behind the cameras. The camera was excellent for hiking and the picture was taken in the Olympic rainforest in Washington State.

A Seitz Roundshot 28-220 with 28/3.5 PC Nikkor.

A Cambo Wide with 47/5.6 Super Angulon XL and Centre Filter and Horseman 6x12 back. I have a variety of backs and 2 other lenses, a 35/4.5 Apo Grandagon and a 65/4.5 Grandagon. This camera was used for some of the other photos behind the cameras and was a mainstay in my architectural photography business.

imgsrc="https://www.flickr.com/photos/29347231@N04/25818509611"

[Anders]

http://tinyurl.com/jjtjwqt

I found this Contax IIIa in an antique store last fall. I was fortunate: it worked and the original owner had marked his name and address on the case with old labelmaker tape. While he died in the early 1970s, my research on the camera's date of production and his date of birth indicated that he must have been about my age when he bought it (55). So I feel a kind of kinship with him as I try to figure this jewel of a camera out. Photo taken with my newest camera, an Olympus E-P5. The Contax is loaded with Tri-X.

[ctein]

Dear Mike,

Sorry, but it's JUST a camera.

pax / Ctein

[You're no fun. --Mike]

[Bob Smith]

One of my favorite oldest cameras
Voigtlander Prominent

[Kenneth Wajda]

Here's one of mine:

One of my favorites because without case and strap, it fits in my pocket easily.

[Brian S]

Everything in this photo is circa 2005 and I still use most of it.

[Kenneth Wajda]

We Leica guys have more photos of our cameras! My sweet old M2.

[Salvador Moreno]

Just yesterday, and after using a lot of cameras, I ordered a tool, nothing new, pretty or exciting, just a tool. A nikon D7100 with two cheap lenses (35mm DX and 50mm 1.8 AFD). Still waiting for it.

[Michael Dunne]

Quite timely as I have just become the proud owner of a 1982 Canon A1. I just ran my first roll of film in ten years through it and it meters perfectly. Picture and text at http://michaeldunne.me/2016/03/12/retro-time/

[Robert Rust]

Hi Mike,

http://www.steeringtheelephant.com/wp-content/uploads/2016-3-19-Yashica-12-BW-470.jpg

I was listening to a video interview with Ansel Adams and the three books under the camera were referenced relating to the Zone System. I wrote them down so I would not forget. I then read your request, went off to find the enclosed, and left the camera on my desk. This afternoon I noticed the placement and thought, "Why not, they seem to go together".

While you were using a Contax, I chose the Yashica. I sometimes wonder how different this lens is from the 50mm 1.7 T*.

[Tony Rowlett]

Leica Model I - 1930 - still has some Tri-X loaded. It's very small and handy. 50mm/3.5 non-interchangeable lens.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonyrowlett/25284559444

[Steve G, Mendocino]

Mike:

My newest camera and lens, a Sony A6000 and the Sigma 30mm (45mm-E) f2.8 . The combination looks and works so well together that one almost suspects some engineers from Sigma and Sony getting together in a quiet bar and colluding.

Image taken with my favorite camera for 'phoblography', an iPhone 4s.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5s3ebwgcn6kbhv2/A6000wSigma.jpg?dl=0

[John Daw]

My first Olympus circa 1976, and my most recent.

[MikeR]

@Dave Levingston
For my LX100, I use a Manfrotto pouch that has a belt loop. I also have the three "petal" lens cover on the camera, as you do on your GF7. It ain't bad.

[Chris Nicholls]

Hi Mike; I've nothing new to speak of in the last few years, but here's my oldest camera, a Rolleiflex Automat from about 1937-39. It doesn't get a lot of use, but when I do take it out I get lots of comments and questions about it.

[marlof]

Mine shouldn't be too much of a surprise as I announced it before.

[Mark Roberts]

While impatiently waiting for the new Pentax full-frame K-1 I bought an old Pentax full-frame (film) camera. The original Pentax "K" from 1958.

[Roger Bradbury]

No time to give you pictures, but the latest camera is a 1953-57 Brownie Six-20 Model E. Quite versatile for a Brownie, it has a close up lens for 5-10 feet, an optional yellow filter, flash contacts, and a tripod bush.

It lacks a choice of apertures, but I think I can remedy that. Of course, it is built for 620 film, but after some experimentation I think that converting it to take 120 film will not be too hard; the main problem seems to be the larger holes in the end of the 120 reel.

The oldest camera I have is a 1919 No.2 Brownie, model E.

I don't have my first 35mm camera, a Dacora Dignette, more often seen here rebadged as an Ilford Sportsman. As a fair substitute I have a Sportsman that used to belong to a deceased relative. I know that it was bought on 10th May 1962, because I have the hire purchase agreement for it. The cash price would have been £15 4s 9d, about the same as the average weekly wage.

[John Lehet]

Here's my new rig, photographed with Ctein's new rig (EM5ii) (and with the 45/f1.8 Oly lensl). I've been enjoying these tulips (as well as other subjects) for lens testing with the new beast.

Ctein: the EM5ii is not JUST a camera. Wait. You'll love it. Favorite camera I've ever used. We'll see if the Sony edges it out for me.

[Mark Cotter]

Sorry, no picture: too bogged down with work this afternoon (in the UK) to stop for a bit of photography. However, thought I'd share that my newest camera is a Digital Holga. I backed the Kickstarter campaign and the camera arrived a couple of weeks ago. I've not yet had a chance to take more than a couple of test shots but it behaves exactly as you would expect a Holga to behave and half the size.

[Dave Wilson]

Olympus Pen F:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidswilson/25626258400/

[Mike Kukulski]

My first camera was a Yashica Electro 35 GSN, a Christmas gift from my parents in 1977.

My current collection of cameras (they all have their own specific use and charm) is at:

http://notquiteinfocus.com/my-equipment/

[Adam Richardson]

Here's the camera I've owned the longest, my Canon T-90, which I bought new in the late 80's. I think it's still one of the best looking SLRs ever made, and Canon still closely follows its pattern, thirty years later.

This is an Olympus O-Product I've had just for a couple years, it dates back to 1988, the 70th anniversary of Olympus for which it was made to commemorate.

More of each at http://www.massmadesoul.com

[thomas hobbes]

not really a new camera, but i recently got the third lens of my contax g trio into a proper manual focus body for use on my sony a7.

camera in action with the contax g 28 (it's actually taking a long exposure):

also shown is my tripod. ;)

[Alex Mercado]

I recently bought an OM-D E-M10 Mark II with a Panasonic 20mm f1.7 lens, and will say it is the most fun I've had using a camera since I first used one in grade school.

[Steve Smith]

My most recent purchase was a Bronica S2 with two Nikkor lenses. Seen here with the Nikkor 200mm and sitting on my father's Linhof tripod from the same era.

[robert quiet photographer]

This was my first "serious" camera, when i bought it was about one month of my salary...I still use it sometimes...
By the way the SRT 101 was also first Leibovitz camera!
robert

[robert quiet photographer]

And this is the latest I bough, just a couple of weeks ago...
robert

https://flic.kr/p/EQXXWP]senza titolo.jpg[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/50036802@N04/]robert[/url], su Flickr"

[Andrea Costa]

My last buy:

It is a Bilora "Stahl Box", a German copy of a Kodak Brownie. It is from 1952 and perfectly working. It costed me 18$.

[Matt]

Just got a Pentax K1000. This will be my first film camera since probably high school (I'm in my early 30's), and the first time I've shot film since I began really learning photography. I'm pretty excited to see what kind of results I get.

[Doug Chadwick]

The reason I never shot with the beautiful #8 Cirkut was that I use a #10 Cirkut, here I am at work recently. Sorry I don't know how to post a direct link,
http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2016-02-03/story/florida-house-approves-campus-carry-open-carry-bills
Then click the image for larger.
Thanks, Doug Chadwick

[Steven Kasow]

Here's my Zeiss Ikonta 521/16 6x6 folder. I have enjoyed shooting B&W and slide film with it, and I adore the square format. Hasn't been used in a while, and this thread is encouraging me to fix that. Thanks!

[Wjcstp]

Agfa folding camera i got for $15 many years ago at an antique store. I've shot many rolls of 120 Tri-X through it, it's a really nice departure from my usual digital shooting.