# What piece of gear..........



## 480sparky (May 9, 2015)

............do you have that you've owned the longest?  No, not your _oldest _piece of gear......... the one that's you've continuously owned the longest?

Mine would be the Northeast Instruments shutter timer / tester I bought back in '81.


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## TCampbell (May 9, 2015)

Mine is my Canon AE-1 camera... I got it in 1977 or 1978 (I don't remember which year).


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## Dagwood56 (May 9, 2015)

My Yashica TL Electro that I got back in 1974.


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## vintagesnaps (May 9, 2015)

Ricoh Singlex II


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## Derrel (May 9, 2015)

My first "good camera", my Kodak Pony 135-B, bought in the 1974-75 school year. I payed $16.95 for it used. It had a 51mm f/4.5 Kodak Anaston lens, with shutter speeds of B 25,50,100,200, and front cell focus by estimation...manual shutter cocking, knob wind and rewind.No rangefinder, no meter, not much of anything except the basics. The camera was at least 20 years old when I bought it, since that model was only made from 1950 to 1953.


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## Buckster (May 9, 2015)

The piece of gear I've actually owned the longest is my very first camera, a Kodak Instamatic I bought in 1969 when I was 10 years old.


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## SCraig (May 9, 2015)

Kodak Signet 40 rangefinder camera.  My first 35mm given to me by my mother for Christmas in 1965.


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## limr (May 9, 2015)

Pentax K1000, bought in 1993. But I also have possession of my father's Land Camera 100. It wasn't always mine but it was there in our family when I was born and I did take shots with it as a child, though more often I was just peeling apart the film or changing the light bulb in the flash. So the Polaroid is the one piece that's been in my life the longest - quite literally by entire life


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## snowbear (May 9, 2015)

Got it new in 1974 or 1975.  Yes, that's art tape covering the hole where the hot shoe should be.


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## table1349 (May 9, 2015)

Has to be my Homer subminiature camera.   Won it in a Claw Machine in 1965 at a carnival that came to town every year. 
Mine is identical to this one.

I also have my dad's Minox IIIs that he bought in 1955.


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## Torus34 (May 9, 2015)

Minolta Autocord.  Purchased in `55.


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## syaudi (May 9, 2015)

Canon 20D. received as a birthday gift in 2012...I'm feeling out of place here.


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## pgriz (May 9, 2015)

Practica  Super TL.  owned since 1967.  The plastic thumb grip on the advance lever is long gone.  The fake letherette on the film back is mostly gone.  The shutter release has no more paint on it, and the rewind lever has long ago went awol.  But it still snaps.


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## PWhite214 (May 10, 2015)

Pentax K1000, bought new in 1977 or '78 to replace my dead Pentax H1A.  

Phil


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## webestang64 (May 10, 2015)

Pentax K-1000 I got for X-Mas from my parents in 1980. It started it all for me and it's been quite the ride!


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## bratkinson (May 10, 2015)

I think this is sort of an ambiguous question:

Oldest piece of gear I have (but don't use any more) - my grandfathers Kodak camera that takes 616 film that was passed down to me when he died in 1957.  That's the camera that got me started in photography when my mother decided it would be something to keep me busy in summer school when I was 10.  I learned the photography basics, metering, and even learned how to use a darkroom that summer!

Oldest gear that I sometimes use...my Velbon tripod I bought at Target about 1976 or so.  It's built like a tank, cost about $19 dollars, if I recall, and it's still the only tripod I've ever owned.  These days, it gets used 2-3 times a year.  With the higher ISO capabilities afforded by todays' DSLRs, for most of my shooting, hand held with faster shutter speeds is sufficient.

Oldest camera gear?  Does a 1993 vintage Canon EF 80-200 f2.8 lens that I bought 3 years ago count?  If not, then my EF 24-105 f4L would be the oldest, bought 3.5 years ago.


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## 480sparky (May 10, 2015)

No, not the oldest piece of gear you have in terms of manufacturing date.  The piece of gear you've actually had possession of the longest. If you bought a new camera last Friday and a 100-year old lens yesterday, then the camera would be the gear you've had the longest.  

Whether you actually use it is not a qualifier.


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## sm4him (May 10, 2015)

The Kodak Brownie Junior that belonged to my grandfather. It become "mine" in an official sense, probably about 1972 or 73, when my grandmother decided I should be its new owner. But I'd been getting to shoot with it for a few years before that.


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## D-B-J (May 10, 2015)

My laptop is older than any of the gear in my bag, I think...


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## alal9566 (May 11, 2015)

مراحب


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## petrochemist (May 11, 2015)

I think the bit I've owned the longest would be my first SLR a Pentax ME IIRC this was given to me in 1983 - I think the M50/1.7 lens I got with it is still used occasionally, but as I've now got multiple copies of this lens I'm not quite sure which was my first one...
 I also have cameras that used to be my fathers & were around the house throughout my childhood. I think the Carl Zeiss Werra 3 has been around longest of those, My father used it routinely before switching to a Pentax MX (now also mine).


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## SnappingShark (May 11, 2015)

... since I moved to the US, and only arrived here with one suitcase 3 years ago, I don't have anything OLD.
So, the first thing I bought, that I still own, is either my air blower, or sekonic 478d


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## DarkShadow (May 11, 2015)

Nikon 35mm N75 bought New around 2004 still looks new with the Nikon grip.There had only been a few rolls shot from it.


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## rexbobcat (May 11, 2015)

SMC Takumar 55mm f/1.8

It was one of the first lenses I bought after my 85mm f/1.8 (sold that cuz it was broken) because I was super cheap and liked the construction of older metal lenses.

Bought it for like $40 on Ebay.


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## Solarflare (May 12, 2015)

480sparky said:


> ............do you have that you've owned the longest?  No, not your _oldest _piece of gear......... the one that's you've continuously owned the longest?


 Some full plastic Afga film camera with 2 controls total (dont ask me how it works at all, I got no clue) that I got as a child (I dont remember on what occasion) and most likely never used.


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## Patrice (May 12, 2015)

Kodak bakelite Brownie I bought second hand in 1966 with saved up allowance.


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## teemulaumanen (May 12, 2015)

Lots of nice things lost when moving a round. I guess mine is eva sawing machine. Its been with me maybe twenty years now


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## PropilotBW (May 12, 2015)

I sold all my gear, the oldest thing in my bag now, is a MeFoto tripod, Circa 2013.


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## waday (May 12, 2015)

The piece of gear that I've had in my possession the longest is probably the original Canon ELPH APS film camera, which I bought new in the mid-90's.

I've had various Polaroid and cheapo film cameras through the ages, but I don't have them in my possession.


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## Wizard1500 (May 12, 2015)

My Bronica ETRS, that I purchased when I sold my Mamiya 645......sometime around 1981 or so.....


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## DanOstergren (May 12, 2015)

My 85mm f/1.8 lens.


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## minicoop1985 (May 13, 2015)

A pair of crappy light stands.


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## jowensphoto (May 14, 2015)

syaudi said:


> Canon 20D. received as a birthday gift in 2012...I'm feeling out of place here.



Lol, me too... My longest owned gear is a T2i! Oldest, in age, are a few Minolta bodies.


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