27, sterted with LF in 2006. A "serious" amateur. I do hope to have the possibility doing the LF when I am 50 and there are MANY factors in the game. If it will be still allowed, of course ...
Tri-Chem Packs and Velox in 1959, negatives on Verichrome Pan from a Brownie Hawkeye.
By 1961, Plus-X in a Nikon S1, enlarged in a reconstructed DeJure 5x7 using window glass and tape for a negative holder, printing on Army-surplus Haloid and DuPont papers.
In 1965, up to 6x6 in a used, $60 Yashicamat, making Tri-x negatives as a stringer for the local newspaper.
At last: 1966, and a derelict RB Portrait Graflex, complete with glass plate holders and septums (and a few unexposed glass plates!) . (Somewhat mystified at the time by the "soft glow" look of the prints, due to the Velostigmat Series II lens that was on the camera when I got it.)
First (and only purchased-new) view camera in 1968, a Calumet 400.
2002: a demo Cambo 8x10. Sobering to think that a month's worth (back then) of pictures (36) from the Nikon is about the same amount of film as one exposure in the Cambo.
I consider the Nikon to be a relic; it is 54 years old and I'm 58. But the Graflex was born in 1928, and it is still going....
I am 73,
I acquired a Ciroflex in about 1945 or '46. Was camp photographer in the summers and did street photography with the Stuyvesant High school (NYC)camera club.
My first SLR was a Contaflex with a ring light purchased during my residency. Any one interested in 3-500 clinical slides?
After the Contaflex died in in 1977, I acquired an OM2 with a bunch of lenses.
I was "Pickered" in "78, but even though the "Master" scorned I kept the SLR.
In 1980 I spent two weeks in Yosemite with Mr. Adams (call me Ansel, sonny). After this workshop, I succumbed to the LF virus.
Still infected, and looking forward to two weeks this June in Montana with messers Barnbaum,et,al.
Wow....this thread really *is* old. I'm 25 now, still shooting some 4x5 here and there, and aside from that a mix of 35mm and MF B&W and color with my Canon digital. Sold the 8x10 and am switching from my Linhof monorail to a field camera. Still obsessed with photography every bit as much as I've ever been.
I'm 51 and I've shooting 4x5 since 1984. Last month I got my 8x10 and next month I'm advertising for a sherpa to carry the bloody thing. LOL. When I got my first 4x5, I had to show the staff at the "professional" camera store how to collapse it and I hadn't used one before.
Mike
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