What Cameras Were You Using Ten Years Ago?

NikJuli1

The Nikon FM3a with MD-12 Motor Drive and 50mm f/1.2 AIS Nikkor and a print from the combo. My dream kit in 2006 🙂

Hi good people. You might think with all these “extracurricular” postings that we have run out of cameras to review. Not by a long shot! But…

Just like we and Elvis “can’t go on together with suspicious minds,” I can’t go on with these long late night postings 🙂

As I’ve said before, it’s a labor of love, I get very little if anything financially from this site. Only the satisfaction that someone may have benefitted from the info posted here.

I’m not saying I’m stopping, just explaining why sometimes it takes a while before you see a new review.

But I’d like these pages to be seen as something more dynamic than your typical review site which is why I created series such as “The Best Camera I Never Knew” or the ever popular “Tuesday Titans” and now the random “Photo Of The Day” series.

With that said, today we take a look back at the cameras and lenses used back in 2006.


WHY 2006?

2006 was a very exciting year for me as far as cameras and lenses go. Digital cameras were really coming into their own. Cameras like the Nikon D1X, Canon EOS-1D Mark II, and Olympus E-1 ruled the day and indeed, the Nikon D1X and Olympus E-1 were my go-to cameras in 2006.

I got my first Canon L lens, the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS which I got off a poor college student on Craigslist. I sold this later to fund the purchase of an Epson R-D1, which was the world’s first digital rangefinder camera. While I don’t regret the R-D1, I did regret selling that Canon because subsequent copies I got were never as sharp as that first one!

I was also fascinated by the Sigma Foveon technology and had just acquired an SD-10, which was actually released in 2003.

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“Sinner” 2006. Sigma SD-10, Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8. A man known as “Samir Abu Charupa” contemplates on why he cannot give up his bad habits. The reason? He is a mere mortal, a sinner 🙂

I loved the files, but I was not so thrilled that to get the best out of the camera you had to use the Sigma X3F (RAW) files and the slow Sigma Pro software. Surprisingly, even today ten years later, Sigma has the same paradigm: Superb files, slow processing. It’s amazing actually that they have not been able to improve this to a level competitive with today’s cameras and this is indeed the reason I gave up on Sigma.

SDPancake

Adapting lenses have taken off in recent years, in large part due to the popularity of mirrorless systems. I’ve been using adapted lenses for a long time. Here in 2006, was my Sigma SD-10 with an adapted Pentax 40mm f/2.8 Pentax-M manual focus pancake lens.

Ten years ago, I was (and still am) into film cameras. I was shooting a Bessa R3a, which I hated at first because I was getting soft focus until I fixed the rangefinder on it. I sold it off plus a few other items to buy a Nikon FM3a. I saw this camera as an investment too as it was Nikon’s last all manual classic camera. I also got a Nikon Fm2n with the 50mm f/1.2 AIS Nikkor for $90 total on Craigslist. Steal of a deal, deal of a lifetime! 🙂

For my point and shoot, I was shooting film with my trusty Konica Hexar AF which  I got in 1997. And in 2006, I got the Ricoh 8.1mp GRD which I have written a lot about. Both are my favorite point and shoots of all time.

CelesteCan

“Take My Picture” 2006. The joy of photography with the (then) new Ricoh GR Digital 8.1mp camera.

So, ten years ago, what did you shoot with and how did it affect your photography? Take a moment to think about that and if you’re not too shy, then feel free to post your results in the comments to share with others. Thanks and have a great week!

 

15 thoughts on “What Cameras Were You Using Ten Years Ago?”

  1. Ten years ago I was just getting back into collecting cameras after a long hiatus, but had also gone digital for the first time. I was out doing some rural exploration with my camera and film processing was killing me. It was less expensive long term to buy a point-and-shoot digicam for that. So I bought a Kodak EasyShare Z730 Zoom and used the living tar out of it for several years. But my everyday film camera then was an Olympus Stylus Epic Zoom 80. I was just, just starting to transition from collector to photographer then.

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      3. Yes but its different. Everyone today is a photographer. Good photograps are invisoble in this amount of media flooded the internet. Many ppl decided that if they will start to use film their snaps will be better so. The prices to film are rise up. And im a little bit drunk now 😉 life is good anyway. Thank you for your posts !

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      4. Hey, you got a good point there!! I saw this phenomenon happen too. All these great cameras came out, and all of a sudden everyone is a photographer. Very good point! Thank you too for your keen comments!!

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  3. In 2006, I was all Pentax….manual and autofocus. Mostly film but I did get my first “serious” digital camera…a Pentax isT D*…the original…and in October started posting shots from it on Pbase. Then in 2008, Raddy Daddy lent me a Nikon FE
    with a 35mm F/2 Nikkor Ai…….. :-)))))

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  4. In 2006 I was using a Konica Auto S3 and Yashica 35 electro. I shot a lot cross processing like many did at that time. A Holga I also made some good shots with. I used mostly film as there was no really good small digital cameras. Had the Ricoh grd 1 but I did think it was to slow saving to the card with raw files. But nice b&w files. Also the Panasonic LC1 I had. I loved that one. My most used digital at that time was Nikon D50 and the 20/2,8 and 35/2 AF Nikkors.
    Have a nice day. Greetings from Gothenburg, Sweden

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    1. Hi Jens, thanks so much for your input! I love all the cameras you mentioned! I have both cameras and am planning to do a write up on them in the future. And you reminded me of the LC1, a camera I got in 2005 and still have! Love that camera! I’m not sure if you saw it, but I did a short write up on it on these pages, just use the search bar on the side.

      I did have issues with the GRD when I first got it regarding RAW, but I just learned to live with its jpegs.

      Nikon D50 and D70/D70s were fabulous cameras in 2006 and still are, in my opinion. Thanks again Jens, always glad to hear from folks around the world!

      Best Regards, Sam

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      1. Yes, I saw your write up of the LC1. Googling it led me to your site I think.. Love the fact that you can go back and dig up older digital cameras and see their strength. Not an easy task when so much is going on in the photo industry. I believe most people never see the strength and really learn using their cameras before the next models arrive. 10 years back it was the Hexar AF and Contax G, for me at least, that were the stars from the past. Some are led to believe that digital cameras are disposal cameras. Just not true.
        Greetings!

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      2. Hi Jens, thanks for your insightful comments! In the early days of digital and perhaps even now, there is a tendency to think of digital as disposable, as you said. But once people accept that we are living in the digital era, they can appreciate more that digital stuff need not be disposable. Especially now, in a crowded market, I’m much more selective than ten years ago, because the cameras today are all super capable! Thanks again, and always good to hear from you 🙂

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