My 3 generations of SLRs

[Doggiedog]

I was digging through my junk box and found one of my old SLRs. Since I am getting rid of my 20D after getting the 5D2, I figured I should take a last pic together. Left camera is a T-90 w/70-210 f/4.0, center is a 20D w/EF-S 17-85 f/4-5.6 IS and right is a 5D MkII w/EF 24-105 f/4.0L.

I've always been a Canon person and had an AE-1 and A-1 but dabbled a little bit with my dad's Contax RTS2. That was a sweet camera and lens.

 

[ElFenix]

my family

the rebel xti was sold last februaryish

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
my family

the rebel xti was sold last februaryish

Sweet!

That AE-1 Program brings back memories. I had the regular AE-1 with a broken light meter. That forced me to learn to guess settings on my own. What camera is that on the right? It looks like a 35MM predecessor to the G series.

Gotta love Canons!

 

[Koing]

I want a D700 equivalent for the Canon setup!

Koing

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: Doggiedog

Originally posted by: ElFenix
my family

the rebel xti was sold last februaryish

Sweet!

That AE-1 Program brings back memories. I had the regular AE-1 with a broken light meter. That forced me to learn to guess settings on my own. What camera is that on the right? It looks like a 35MM predecessor to the G series.

Gotta love Canons!

Looks like the Canonette like my parents had. It was the first camera other than an Instamatic that I got to use. Very nice rangefinder with a neat triangle on triangle focus screen, slightly wide lens. Great all around travel camera.

 

[ElFenix]

it's a canonet QL17 GIII. has a 40 mm f/1.7 lens (which is closer to perfectly normal than a 50 mm lens) that was sharp wide open. there were 1.2 million of them sold from 1972 to 1982. no idea when mine was made. it has a rectangular rangefinder patch, so i'm not really sure what camera you were using, ironwing.

http://www.cameraquest.com/canql17.htm

 

[IronWing]

Hmmm, I could have sworn it had two yellow translucent triangles that merged when in focus. I wonder if that was the Kodak rangefinder my parents had before the Canonet. I didn't use that one very much because it lacked a built in light meter and loading film was a pain relative to the ease of the Canonet. I'll have to go agoogling and see if I can figure out which Kodak model that was.



Maybe I'm getting old and superimposing how range finders (non-camera) work onto my memories of the Canonet.

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
it's a canonet QL17 GIII. has a 40 mm f/1.7 lens (which is closer to perfectly normal than a 50 mm lens) that was sharp wide open. there were 1.2 million of them sold from 1972 to 1982. no idea when mine was made. it has a rectangular rangefinder patch, so i'm not really sure what camera you were using, ironwing.

http://www.cameraquest.com/canql17.htm

Sounds like a beautiful lens. I've never heard of that camera. I guess I was still using cheap Kodaks with one time use flashbulbs then.

Best lens I've used was my dad's Carl Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 on his Contax RTS2.

 

[foghorn67]

Ah! The T90. It's the one that got away. I went from AE-1 and a T50 combo to a T70. I couldn't afford the T90 at the time.
I saw one in a store in EX condition. Tempting to buy that and a 50mm FD.
The T90 is the king daddy. Every EOS pro camera has it's roots from that.

But to be a picky SOB, you skipped a generation. You don't have a pic of a EOS film camera.

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: foghorn67
Ah! The T90. It's the one that got away. I went from AE-1 and a T50 combo to a T70. I couldn't afford the T90 at the time.
I saw one in a store in EX condition. Tempting to buy that and a 50mm FD.
The T90 is the king daddy. Every EOS pro camera has it's roots from that.

But to be a picky SOB, you skipped a generation. You don't have a pic of a EOS film camera.

I refused to buy an autofocus SLR back then. There were a group of us enthusiasts in HS that had the T-90 and another group that had the Minolta Maxxum 900 with autofocus. We'd always go back and forth on which camera was better.

 

[foghorn67]

Originally posted by: Doggiedog
I refused to buy an autofocus SLR back then. There were a group of us enthusiasts in HS that had the T-90 and another group that had the Minolta Maxxum 900 with autofocus. We'd always go back and forth on which camera was better.

I know what you mean. It was hard to give up on FD.

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: Doggiedog
I refused to buy an autofocus SLR back then. There were a group of us enthusiasts in HS that had the T-90 and another group that had the Minolta Maxxum 900 with autofocus. We'd always go back and forth on which camera was better.

no one used Nikon back then? I thought FM2 is like everybody's first camera.

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: andylawcc
no one used Nikon back then? I thought FM2 is like everybody's first camera.

K1000

 

[Doggiedog]

Originally posted by: andylawcc

Originally posted by: Doggiedog
I refused to buy an autofocus SLR back then. There were a group of us enthusiasts in HS that had the T-90 and another group that had the Minolta Maxxum 900 with autofocus. We'd always go back and forth on which camera was better.

no one used Nikon back then? I thought FM2 is like everybody's first camera.

Nah, those were the guys that were always picked on by the photo jocks.

 

[soydios]

Forgive the crummy quality and utter lack of flash metering, as these were taken with my point-and-shoot, but here's my generational gap:

2008 (the year I purchased mine) Nikon D90 with MB-D80 battery grip, SB-800 speedlight, and AF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G DX VR lens, next to a 1971 (the year my Dad purchased his) Nikkormat FTn with Nikkor Auto 50mm f/1.4 lens (I forgot to mount the Acme flash, but I kid you not I have one for it).

straight-on
quarter

I still have the warranty card for the FTn. It had a 14-month Nikon Worldwide warranty, good from February 1971. Obviously it has long since expired.

I learned the basics of photography with that FTn and 50mm f/1.4. Shutter speed and aperture, how ISO400 film looked awful when enlarged to 8"x10". It has a big bright viewfinder, because none of the light is diverted to autofocus or metering sensors. The split-prism means focusing at f/1.4 is a piece of cake, as long as you and your subject aren't moving. And that camera has feel: you can tell when you're a half-ounce away from tripping the shutter, and then you trip it and the mirror bounces all around. Everything still works, including the light meter.