p.1 #1 · I repurchased the first camera I ever owned, from when I was 6.
So, I've been slowly collecting a handful of older cameras that were important for me photographically. Some I somehow still held on to (like my first 35mm film camera, a Samsung Zoom 77i, which I still own and still works). I repurchased a Kodak DC3400 (my first digital camera), and recently a Canon Digital Rebel (my first DSLR). But a camera I never thought I'd be able to get again was my very first camera - an old 70s/80s era 110 compact camera that I first got for Christmas from my grandpa when I was 6 years old in 1983.
I lost that original camera probably sometime around 1992, and haven't seen it in well over 30 years.
I would never have remembered the model number (I wasn't even serious about photography until the early 2000s, and there were probably hundreds of different 110 rectangular film cameras made in the 80s.
But I had one picture of it - from the morning I got it, which showed just enough of its distinctive shape:
I went on a Google image search and initially came up empty. I found several that looked close, but nothing perfectly matched up. After a bit more digging, I came across one camera museum article that showed a camera that looked to be a match. All black with silver front? Check. No flash except the socket for external flash cubes? Check. Orange shutter button? check. Slightly tapered side edges? Check. It was a Prinz 110 Luxe. Interestingly, a camera that was a UK house brand. Likely my grandfather picked it up when he was in England and gifted it to me.
So then I looked on eBay and nothing. Not surprising....it was a cheap pocket 110 camera, and one somewhat obscure model among all of those that existed and had been discarded. But a general search turned up a listing for one from Kamerastore, based in Finland - and for $13, plus about the same for shipping, it was on its way. It arrived today.
I have to say that when I ordered it, a part of me was still thinking 'yeah, it looks like it is definitely the right camera, but is it really?' And then I opened it, and when I looked at the bottom and saw the flat thumb operated film advance / shutter cock sliding mechanism, it instantly transported me to my childhood. This was 100% the same camera, and I don't know - even though I will likely never run anything through it (or if I do, it'll be one roll...110 film + development is like $30 for 24 exposures of pretty much garbage quality), it just filled me with joy to feel that winding again. Just wanted to share.
Operationally - it's wild. It has a 26mm f/9.5 (so 52mm 35mm equiv) so the lens is already well into diffraction limited territory. It has one shutter speed: 1/120s. (it switches to 1/60s if a flash cube is used). That's it. One control in the shutter button, and a manual film wind/shutter cock on the bottom. This one appears to be fully operational. I can see the gear move that would wind the film. The shutter cocks and fires, and appears to operate fine.
p.1 #3 · I repurchased the first camera I ever owned, from when I was 6.
Hah, I still have my original Kodak Ektralite 10 from when I was about that age...last time I powered it up, the flash completely exploded inside of the housing and now it's just a shelf piece
p.1 #4 · I repurchased the first camera I ever owned, from when I was 6.
The first camera I used as a child was the Bornie Hawkeye Flash. It was already obsolete and used some weird 620 film. As a bonus it had a crappy lens. What I learned at 6 years old was that the viewfinder was not accurate. I did not understand about parallax at the time, but it bugged me and I still remember that photo. Later we had a 126 instamatic (314) which was fairly decent. 110 was just too small for good IQ. Negatives were grainy for prints and the tiny slides were a joke.
My first SLR was the original Polaroid SX-70. Split image and ground glass focus screen, 1:2 focusing and 1:1 with the close-up lens. I also had the tripod adapter. After the main usage was done, I used it for many years to get a preview of multi-flash setups. It worked quite well and was nice to operate compared to those expensive fiber optic polariod backs with their tiny outputs. That SX-70 is probably still around somewhere still but they have not made film in decades.
p.1 #6 · I repurchased the first camera I ever owned, from when I was 6.
My first camera was a Pentax H1a. Used Tri-Ex 400 and developed prints in
a basement darkroom. This was the late 1960s. Loaned the camera to my brother for a trip.
The camera was damaged in a car accident. Don' recall what specific lens I used.
p.1 #7 · I repurchased the first camera I ever owned, from when I was 6.
My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic in 1972, and I took it on safari in Kenya. Not in a hurry to revisit that mode of photography even if the cartridge film is still available. My pair of cameras after that was a Halina Paulette (35mm film) and a 1946 Franka Solida folder (120 roll film). Yup, I was shoot dual systems even back then. MF folders are a real thing even today: think the recent release of the Fujifilm GF670 (aka Cosina).
p.1 #8 · I repurchased the first camera I ever owned, from when I was 6.
My first camera was an Olympus OM-1, that I bought in Halifax, in the mid-seventies. I used it up north, where I worked on CHS survey ships, and later while I was a student in London, mostly to take photos of rock climbing on the cliffs and craigs around the UK. I lost track of the camera when I moved back to Canada in '79.
Anyway, a few years ago, I revisited the OM-1. This time, I upgraded from my original, silver/black OM-1 to the sexy all-black OM-1N MD, shown below. The 'Distributore Polyphoto SPA' decal on the front port-side was the official Italian distributor for Oly in the 'seventies (and they still are !).
p.1 #9 · I repurchased the first camera I ever owned, from when I was 6.
In that same era I also looked at Olympus and Canon for a first SLR, but ended up with the Nikkormat EL. The "Nikon" had aperture priority and 1/125th sync speed which was quite fast for the time, and the deciding factors. The 6V battery was behind the reflex mirror, which locked up mechanically. Crazy designs they had back then.
p.1 #10 · I repurchased the first camera I ever owned, from when I was 6.
Good on you for the perseverance in your quest! Several years ago I decided to get the 1st camera that really started me in photography. Not the Brownie that I had for a year. I really didn't do much with it. It was the Argus C3 that my dad gave me circa 1957. I took black & white images and used all my allowance and money that I earned from odd jobs to get those rolls developed. Had that camera through college (learned darkroom skills from the newspaper photographer). I retired it when my soon to be wife gave me a Yashica Electro 35 in 1970.
It was easy for me to find a C3 as there must have been a million made
p.1 #12 · I repurchased the first camera I ever owned, from when I was 6.
Great story - enjoy the memory!
Just pay the $50 to get a crappy cartridge and get it developed. I grabbed some 127 film years ago for one of my early cameras that I still happen to have and it was just a real mental trip using it. The feel of winding etc was worth the cost... and yeah the pictures were crappy but not the point (I never bothered to scan them even).
p.1 #13 · I repurchased the first camera I ever owned, from when I was 6.
So as I mentioned, I've been slowly collecting some cameras I've previously owned that were important to me. Here's what I have at the moment. From front, left to right:
1) Prinz 110 Luxe: My very first camera of any type
2) Samsung Zoom 77i: My first 35mm camera (got for my 16th birthday I believe)
3) Kodak DC3400: My first digital camera
4) Canon EOS Digital Rebel: My first DSLR
5) Canon EOS 30D: My first "high-end" camera; second DSLR
6) Olympus OM-D E-M5: Early mirrorless, first one I owned with IBIS
7) Nikon Z5 II: My current main body
Not pictured in this, but should probably do so is my Mamiya C330f, which is my current film camera.
What I'd like to do for the 'history shelf' is eventually get some of the other key bodies, but current costs make it not a viable purchase for something that will get very limited use. Those I'd eventually like to re-buy:
1) Canon 1Ds Mark II - this camera was the white whale of my early photography, and I eventually owned one in late 2009 - it was my first full frame digital camera. Current prices are reasonable for what it is, but hard to justify spending $250 for a camera I won't use much if at all
2) Olympus E-P1 - my first mirrorless camera, and an absolute classic. Unfortunately, despite being severely crippled in many ways as a camera, because it's cool looking, used prices are still over $200 for a decent copy.
3) Fujifilm X-T1 - my favorite Fujifilm body I owned, and one of my favorite cameras of all time. Like the previous two - not worth the cost for a shelf at the moment, but this is the most likely one for me to re-buy for nostalgia, since I simply loved it.
4) Sony A7 II - my first full-frame mirrorless camera.
