First camera (and the only one my parents purchased): A Brownie 127. That was when I was around 7. Five years later I accquired a 35mm from a schoolmate (which probably involved some parental funding).
This was a cheap-and-cheerful Hanimex-branded rangefinder, but it was a reasonable camera; max aperture f/2.8, four shutter speeds, and a built-in (but not coupled) meter. I believe the model was a Duomatic, but I'm not 100% certain. That (an an Olympus Pen half-frame) saw me through college. Then (with my first pay check from my first full-time job) I moved up to a Spotmatic II with the magnificent f/1.4 lens. Of course as soon as I had done this the Spotmatic-F came along (with full-aperture metering), and the seeds of enablement were sown. I resisted for a while, but in 1976 I succumbed to the temptation of an MX. I've still got that camera; the last roll of film I shot went through it (Royal Gold 25, in Yosemite). -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.

