I did not “purchase” my first SLR until I was at university. (For those curious to know, it was the University of Texas @ Austin.) I put “purchase” between quotes because it was actually a camera swap. I had in fact borrowed my brother’s camera, a Canon Demi EE17 half-frame P&S (point-and-shoot) camera to take with me to university. The Canon Demi EE17 used 35mm film but recorded only on half of the frame, and had a bright 30mm f/1.7 lens. That camera served me well, giving me great images during the years I attended UT @ Austin. It was pocketable and easy to use.
Canon Demi EE17
During my last semester, I met and made a good friend who had a Minolta SRT100b. He had bought what he thought was the “best camera” at the time. However, the SRT100b was a SLR and he complained that it was way too complicated for him to use and get good pictures with.
Minolta SRT-100b
When he saw the images I obtained with the Canon Demi EE17, he instantly proposed a camera swap. I was dumbfounded and unwilling at first, protesting that it was an unfair swap for him, considering the price differential between the P&S and the SLR, plus lens. However, he insisted so much, saying that he was not obtaining good pictures because he did not really know how to use the SLR, etc…. and so we swapped cameras. And that is how I got my first SLR. 🙂
Lesson: Don’t go buying the “best digital camera” but the camera that is “best for you.”
How did you get your first SLR/DSLR, and did you regret or enjoy it?
2021-08-04 Correction to article: My memory must have been playing tricks with me. I thought I had swapped the Nikon L35AF but Nikon says that camera came out only in 1983, a couple of years after I attended UT Austin. So it must have been the Canon Demi EE17 that I swapped. I believe the Nikon L35AF must have been the camera I eventually purchased and took with me when I came to Canada.