What was your very first camera?

While working for TV stations, I used the normal Sony Beta SP cameras.
When I left the staff job to start my own business, I bought my first camera
that was actually mine.....a Sony PD150. I still have it and it still works just
fine.
 
Mine was a 1980's VHS camcorder that I was given as a Christmas gift in 1995 when I was ten by my dad. He upgraded to 8mm, so I inherited the old shoulder mounted beast. I used that for 7 years until I bought a JVC MiniDV camera when I was 17 which I shot my first feature on when I was 22. After that, a Canon ZR800 that I shot feature number two on, followed by the T2i/550D for feature number three. I used that camera for six years and now upgraded to the URSA Mini 4K (Global shutter baby!!)
 
What got me into filmmaking was borrowing my parent's Sony handycam in the early 90s. This picture is my friend Jamie with his hand on it when we were freshman in highschool. We also used an RCA VHS camera (in the background) when shooting movies.
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The first I bought for myself was an open box Canon Video 8 camcorder with stereo sound.
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The first brand new (and digital video) camera I bought was a Sony TRV900 in either 1999 or 2000.
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Early 70's- Sears Super 8

sears.jpg

First video camera: Quasar, tethered to a giant VHS deck


First professional camera: Toshiba 3 CCD shoulder mount Hi 8

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David W. Richardson said:
Man, I'd love to see some of the films you guys shot on that gear way back in the day! Anybody game to put some of it online?
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Shot in 1975 with the Sears Super 8 camera pictured above. The inside footage is dark (doesn't look as dark on a movie screen) even though I had a light on top of the camera plugged into a wall outlet, equivalent to a car headlight! The 3 minutes of film was probably purchased for about $4 and developed at the local drugstore for about the same. Hard to believe that at one time there was a film lab in every decent sized town.


 
mainstreetprod said:
Shot in 1975 with the Sears Super 8 camera pictured above. The inside footage is dark (doesn't look as dark on a movie screen) even though I had a light on top of the camera plugged into a wall outlet, equivalent to a car headlight! The 3 minutes of film was probably purchased for about $4 and developed at the local drugstore for about the same. Hard to believe that at one time there was a film lab in every decent sized town.


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Cool! Good to see those old cars and moments of time captured. I like the music track you added :)
 
mainstreetprod said:
Shot in 1975 with the Sears Super 8 camera pictured above. The inside footage is dark (doesn't look as dark on a movie screen) even though I had a light on top of the camera plugged into a wall outlet, equivalent to a car headlight! The 3 minutes of film was probably purchased for about $4 and developed at the local drugstore for about the same. Hard to believe that at one time there was a film lab in every decent sized town.


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That was cool!
 
A Canon T3i.

lol, just kidding.

I owned a DVX100B for a bit. A Sony or two before the Panny.

But the T3i and then the 5D Mark II really got things going for me.
 
I teach in a high school, technology and media classes. I had a conversation with our music teacher a couple of weeks ago about "beginner" instruments -- much the same critique also applies to audio/video gear. When people are starting out, they naturally choose inexpensive instruments/equipment because they're not sure whether they will be serious about the craft over the long term, and don't want to commit too much to learning it. But these low-end instruments are much harder to play than expensive, professional gear, and the quality of the sound is often not very good. Valves get sticky, strings are hard to press, the overall mechanical properties are not very sturdy, the finishes wear off, and they go out of tune easily. "First" cameras are probably very much the same -- they don't make sharp pictures, have very accurate colors, or work in low light levels, or have manual overrides on important features (exposure, focus, audio levels, etc.). Important controls may be awkwardly designed or missing altogether. (I cringe when a student bring in a home camcorder to do a project and it doesn't have either an external microphone jack or a tripod socket. Really?)

Whether music or video, this places beginners at a double disadvantage. They don't yet have the skills or experience to express themselves fully and competently in their chosen medium, and at the same time, they're handicapped by the limitations, awkwardness and poor output quality of the equipment they have access to. Some persevere to overcome this and eventually move on to more sophisticated instruments, but I wonder how many give up because they find the experience too frustrating. It makes me think somebody needs to design an entry-level camcorder just for film students and the like -- sturdy and cheap, with good ergonomics, but maybe with a limited range of options like recording formats and color tweaks (or if they exist, buried well down in a menu and able to be overridden with a single button press).

One thing my music teacher friend and I agreed on is that buying quality used equipment when starting out may often be a far better deal than getting new but low-end stuff from the outset. It's likely to work better and have more professional features and design, and will probably retain most of its value if you decide to sell and move on for whatever reason (either quitting or upgrading).

This is actually a long-winded answer to why I'm not posting any of my old footage -- it looks so bad compared to what I'm able to do today that I'm genuinely a little embarrassed for others to see it. Much more a reflection of my beginner's skills than the equipment I was using, but both play a part. I've gotta say I liked mainstreetprod's old super 8 footage, though -- reminded me a lot of the stuff I did in those early years (and around the same time period, as well).

- Greg
 
firehawk said:
Cool! Good to see those old cars and moments of time captured. I like the music track you added :)
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For at least 20 years I still had an 8 track tape which was the original "soundtrack" to this (a project documenting my "DCT" class which got jobs for students).The track consisted of Alice Cooper's "Schools out for Summer" and Bachman Turner's "Takin' Care of Business". Eventually the tape got lost in a move along with my first 16MM masterpiece from college, "Dorm Stalker".
 
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A Canon L2, Hi8. Circa 1995. With detachable lenses it was the predecessor to today's C series....minus depth of field! Still a very decent camera for the time.
 
Greg Smith said:
But these low-end instruments are much harder to play than expensive, professional gear, and the quality of the sound is often not very good.
- Greg
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I taught my self one of Beethoven's 'easier' pieces on a piano with some broken strings, using a 78 rpm disk played on a 'wind up' portable player as a guide... I did take lessens for about 2 years after that... but the point being... use what you have access to...
 
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