My First SLR

Mine was a K1000......my fathers pride and joy....sent to ems!...hope she has some fun with it!

My first camera was a Zenit TTL, it is lurking on a book shelf supporting loads of camera mags, and still in full working order. I purchased it in 1979 I think for £140 after reading loads of reviews, the price dropped to £74 a week later.

Graham

My first was also a Zenit - for my 21st birthday.

My second was a long time later - a ZX-7 bought in Albuquerque after the guy in the shop said you don't want a Canon want you can have a Pentax .

So I am not a life long Pentax user, and never had one of the classics .

The move to the Ds was easy from the ZX-7.

First camera used was a Spotmatic, and I lusted after one for ages, finally getting several from ebay!

First actually owned was a second hand Zenit E, it's still around somewhere and it still works!!!

How things have changed from the '70s, now it can be as simple as point and shoot or as difficult as taking readings, setting aperture, adjusting shutter speed....

First I used, Dad's MV
First I owned, MZ-7 (18th birthday present)
First I bought, and also my only non-Pentax SLR, Ricoh KR-5 Super II (it has a K mount though)

Mid '70's Ricoh XR2, then quickly followed with a black Pentax ME as a 2nd camera. ME Super replaced the Ricoh mid '80's when the lens release lever broke apart - fortunately while I was putting a lens on, not taking it off, so I still have the lens!

ME Super was not in use long, before we moved and lost the darkroom, and mostly settled for more compact cameras for a decade or 2.

What about the Hotmatic? This model had a built in hand warmer for use in Arctic weather conditions. The battery was supplied in a wheelbarrow!

My first SLR was a Komaflex-S, which to my knowledge was the only 127 format SLR ever made! It had a 3 element (I think) f2.8 lens, leaf shutter, waist level finder, manual shutter cocking but auto film wind. It made super slides - which could be projected by a 35mm projector - which were very impressive. I still have it, in dire need of a CLA, which for such a beast is very hard to find.

I also have my father's Asahiflex IIb (I think that is the model number) along with a 35mm, a 50mm, the magnificent 83mm f1.9, extension tubes, bellows, etc. I need to find someone who can restore this ancient warrior to working condition.

My most recent acquisition is a Pentax 645n, along with the 75mm normal, and a wide angle and short tele. This will join the stable along with a K1000, ME-Super, MX, and the Mighty LX. Pentax rules!

Eric Hendrickson is probably your guy.

This is my first SLR and my first lens: an ME Super (sadly not now working) and a SMC-M 50mm f/2 lens. I shot my first 35mm roll of film through this camera in 1982. Kodachrome 64, naturally.




K.

Lovely camera, identical to the one I used to have, lens too. Wish I still had it.....

My first SLR was also a Zenit in the early 1970s followed within a couple of years by a Pentax SP500. Incidentally the official difference between the SP500 and the Spotmatic 1000 was the top shutter speed 1/500th sec as opposed to 1/1000th. In fact my SP500 also fired at up to 1/1000 although this top speed didn't show on the shutter speed knob. In the early 1980s I moved on to the MX, my favourite film camera, and a bit later the ME Super and a Z1 in the 1990s. I still have the ME Super and the Z1, now both lying unused.
David

My first was an me super second hand which i sold and bought a new p30 still got that. but just got 2 more me supers and enjoying playing wit them just checked and loaded one with film and the sun is coming out now so i'm off out.

I'd be amazed if it can't be fixed. Normally I'd say buy another one but when there's a sentimental attachment it's worth paying to get it sorted.

Just had a thought - you might have a slightly odd version of the 50mm f2 there Kris. Is the aperture ring plastic? If so, it's one of the last batch made before the lens was replaced by the A version. Dimitrov's site has a section about them which explains the differences.