Just for fun I compiled a list of cameras that I have used to take photos in my iStock portfolio. It’s quite a list, due mainly to my habit of economizing by borrowing cameras from places that I have worked. In college, I was photo editor of the yearbook, so I used their (quite top-notch) gear. Thus my iStock portfolio contains images taken with the following camera bodies:
Film
- Canon “New” F1 (used back in College)
- Canon T90 (also in college)
- Nikon FE black body (tres chic, that was my own)
- Nikon FM2n (also mine)
- Olympus Stylus Epic (2 or 3 images)
- Widelux F8 (sold it, unfortunately)
- Rolleiflex 120 (2 wedding images)
Digital
- Canon D30 (borrowed from work)
- Nikon Coolpix 950 (borrowed from work)
- Nikon Coolpix 990 (borrowed from work)
- Nikon Coolpix 4500 (my first digicam)
- Nikon Coolpix 8400 (borrowed from work)
- Canon 20D (my main cam)
Also-rans
In addition to those, I have a Coolpix 700 I bought for the kids. During college I owned two Olympus bodies (a gorgeous OM-1 that I later gave away, and OM-10 and maybe an Olympus OM-2/SP) but my cheepie “Crapmaster” lenses were incapable of taking a sharp photo, so they have not made it into my iStock portfolio. I got the OM-1, actually, when I was working at the photo desk at the campus store. Some lady bought a new camera, and she didn’t know what to do with her old OM-1. I offered her $20 on the spot, and she accepted!
Oh, and I also owned a 4×5 Speed Graphic for a while in college, but the film was so expensive I hardly used it. And let’s see, my first camera as a kid was a Kodak Instamatic, and my dad gave me an old Agfa rangefinder when I was in high school (probably an Agfa Silette LK). And my dad had (still has?) a super-cool Canon FTb.
Finally, I owned a Canon Rebel XT/350D for about a week. I was all excited when it first came out, and bought it right away. But it felt like a plastic toy, not a real camera. I exchanged it for the 20D after taking 60 actuations with it.
At this point, all my film stuff has been sold, except maybe a stray Olympus Stylus Epic or two. Definitely never shooting film again, yuck.
