PhotographyBLOG: Your First Digital Camera

In a blatant rip-off of a story that was on Engadget yesterday about people’s first ever cellphones, I thought it would be interesting (and a bit of a laugh) to find out what was your first ever digital camera. I was late to photography, never-mind digital cameras, so my first digicam was the Minolta DiMAGE 5 (pictured), a 3 megapixel model that I bought because it offered a lot of photographic control and because I couldn’t afford the 5 megapixel DiMAGE 7. The Minolta DiMAGE 5 cost me about £500 a couple of years ago - how times have changed!

So what was your first ever digicam, or are you too embarassed to own up to it? Post a comment below and share it with everyone…

UPDATE 11/08/04: As this story has proved so popular, I’m promoting it to be the lead story for the next few days

Published: Thursday, August 12, 2004

Reader Comments

1. The Minolta E223 - I took this back because I didn't like it, then I got the Canon A300 - which I liked very much, apart from lack of optical zoom - now I'm after one with a 10x Optical zoom - my search for the "perfect" digital camera continues...

   Josh at 10:51am on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

2. Mine was a Fuji MX-2700 - seemed great at the time!

   Richard Earney at 10:58am on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

3. Hi everyone,
   
   I think it was 2001, and my first digicam was the Nikon Coolpix 880. Amazing camera, I have great memories of this model. 3Mp and manual control over the shot (2 possible apertures, lots of possible speeds). Exposure meterings were amazingly accurate, and lens sharpness was terrific, as well as white balancing. And what about the 4cm macro mode.... in that time that was almost unbeliaveable for me. The only problems were the camera speed (it was slower than a turtle), LCD Screen (no anti-reflective coating... unuseable under direct light, and noise at high ISOs.
   
   A reflection about picture quality.... I've used several digicams since my Coolpix 880. None of them has surpassed the image quality of it. I think that CCD and Lense quality in those times were better than nowadays, even if we have now more megapixels. So, camera makers, please!, come back with nice bigger CCDs, and better, more FAST lenses (the usual F4.8/5.2 telephoto lenses we find today are really SLOW!).

   Rafael Torcida at 11:08am on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

4. Casio QV-11, 480x240 pixels of poor quality photography. I am such the early-adopter!

   Mark at 11:10am on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

5. I started with a Canon Powershot G2, 4megapixel. Nice camera with nice picture quality. Just switched to the Nikon D70 because the Powershot was not fast enough with little kids:)
   
   

   Jeroen van Cromvoirt at 11:18am on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

6. It was a Hewlett-Packard Photosmart C912 (also marketed as the Pentax EI-2000), a 2.2-million-pixel camera, which I bought for the true optical ttl viewfinder and the great ergonomics / handling. I liked that it came with useful gadgets such as an infrared remote control, a hotshoe- and a viewfinder-cap. I liked that the lens was threaded to take filters. I liked that it saved portrait-oriented photos as such on the memory card, so I had not got to rotate them manually. I liked the fact that it was big enough to hold without shaking. I liked its unbeatable macro performance. I liked that most functions were accessible without having to activate the menu, but... I didn't like that it was draining batteries in the blink of an eye... I didn't like that the lens had awful barrel distortion at wide-angle, even though it was only a 3x zoom... I didn't like that the automatic white balance was so unreliable, and that there was no manual wb option... I didn't like the poor quality of the otherwise big rear LCD... I didn't like the unreliable af... and I didn't like the silly implementation of the mf function. Plus I was disappointed by the limited dynamic range (limited even though the sensor was a 2/3" ccd, rather big for 2,2 million pixels, and even though it also had a 12-bit a/d converter). So I sold it after one year. But I still miss the feel of the perfectly designed body in my hands.

   Árva-Tóth, Zoltán at 11:34am on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

7. Oh and if anyone is interested, I wrote a rather extensive review of that first digital camera of mine over at epinons.com. The URL is: http://www.epinions.com/content_133000171140

   Árva-Tóth, Zoltán at 11:52am on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

8. Fuji Finepix 1300, bought in 2000 or 2001 I think. I'm pretty sure this photo was taken with it.

   Donncha O Caoimh at 11:55am on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

9. My first digital camera was a secondhand Sony Mavica FD-7, purchased in 2000. Only 0.3 megapixels and stored images (slowly) to diskettes. Still it had a nice 10X zoom lens and no shutter lag to speak of, so I was rather surprised at the terrible shutter lag of my next camera, a Fuji FinePix S304, purchased in December 2002. That was a great little camera and I took many wonderful photos with it. I wanted more manual control though and two months ago I bought a Fuji FinePix S7000 and a bunch of accessories. I had wanted a DSLR but couldn't stretch my budget far enough. I will use the S7000 for the next 18 months to two years and then probably get a DSLR.

   Steve Crane at 12:19pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

10. Mine was the omnipresent Canon A40, the one leading the way for Canon's great sellers A70 and A80. Great colours and overall quality, and an even more impressive array of manual controls.
    
    That was 2002, now I own a G3 and am waiting for this autumn's releases to transition to the DSLR realm. I would go for Canon (300D or D20 ), but that Minolta Maxxum 7 Digital looks *really* interesting.

    Adi at 12:26pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

11. My first digital camera was a 3.2mp Canon Powershot S20, which cost me around £600.
    
    I bought it as I'd just returned from a somewhat successful trip to Las Vegas and had the money burning a hole in my pocket.
    
    I still have the camera, although it's rarely used.

    Jon Read at 12:29pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

12. My first digital camera was a Fuji MX-700 in 1998 the year my first son was born. I didn't want to think about how much money I would spend on film taking pictures of my first child. Ironically, I'm on my 9th digital camera (and many thousands of $$ later) and one I hope to stay on for a while - Canon Digital Rebel.

    John Dupre Jr at 12:49pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

13. My first digital camera was a Canon A20. It may seem strange, but I still really like it! Of course it rarely gets used and is only 2 MP, but it had a lot of good features

    matty at 12:59pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

14. I'm only 4 months into owning my first digicam... a Canon Powershot A80. Bought after years of drooling through camera magazines and months of reading internet reviews I decided this was going to be my first one as soon as I read the specs. I don't regret it one bit - the A80 is a great little camera and it allows me the extra creativity I like with the swivel LCD.
    
    As for my next one... well I'm a Canon fan (I had an EOS 1000F before I went digital) and I'm waiting to see if there'll be a A95, or a G6, or a S2 IS. I'd like a longer zoom, and image stabilisation would be really useful as I don't like carrying a tripod.

    Rose at 01:07pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

15. Nikon Coolpix 995 after years with an OM4 Olympus. Moved to CP5700 then most recently to D70.

    Patrick Hildreth at 01:20pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

16. I have into photography since 1969 when I purchased my first SLR. My Digital camera was a Nikon Coolpix 950. I have gone completely digital since, and never regreted a minute. I love knowing what I shot before I get home!

    Lee urmy at 01:30pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

17. My first was a Casio QV-100 purchased in 1996. This was the "high end" 640x480 model (The low end was the QV-10 with a lower resolution.) No flash, no zoom, no removable medium and still I loved it. It wasn't replaced until 1999 (by a Casio QV-2200UX).

    Daveed Vandevoordep at 01:35pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

18. The first digital camera that I used was the Olympus D-600L.
    1.3 Megapixel (1280x1024) SLR like. It was great for 1997 Technology. The thing cost about $1000. The hard part was trying to sync an external flash through a slave. That worked about 50% of the time.

    edwaste at 01:37pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

19. The first digital camera I worked with, was the Canon Powershot Pro 70, around 1997-1998. About two years ago I have purchased a Nikon Coolpix 995, it was on sale since the 4500 was introduced. For about 650 euro (and a fight with the supplier and the Nikon distributor) it was mine. It was a relative cheap way to get more familiair with digital photography, since I did everything on film. Last year (almost exactly a year ago) I got my Canon Eos-10D (and I changed from Nikon to Canon). Now I am saving money to buy the Eos-1D Mark II
    But I do have experience with a lot of different cameras, the advantages of being an editor for a photomagazine

    Bas at 01:40pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

20. Hi to you all : )
    
    FujiFinepix 6900.
    
    Not being able to afford a digi-SLR and all the lenses, I opted for something that was a good compromise, IMHO.
    
    I liked the macro function, the zoom and the high resolution.
    
    I grew to dislike the proprietory battery.
    
    Last year, I upgraded to the S7000...closer macro, more resolution and more zoom. Standard batteries too.
    
    On the down side, either I am trying too hard and pushing the camera too far whilst trying to improve technique BUT, I don't think the pictures are as sharp.
    
    Anyone else got one and agrees / disagrees? Let me know.

    Anthony J Baker at 01:46pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

21. My first and only digital camera is a Canon PowerShot G5. It's an amazing small (well, sort of…) camera - has enough mega pixels, a fast lens, RAW, flash hot-shoe, lots of manual controls and a swivel LCD! Ten months and more than 5.000 pictures later, I'm still learning about (digital) photography...
    
    The next one will be a DSLR, no more P&S;cameras, the one I've got is a keeper...

    twin at 01:50pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

22. I got my first digital camera essentially on a whim. It was April 1997 and I got a Kodak DC-120. I had seen the DC-40 and DC-50 (and maybe Casio had a consumer camera or two at the time) but the DC-120 produced real pictures and I took a lot of them with it. It was an odd shape, the LCD was terrible, but I had tons of fun with that camera.

    Tommy Williams at 01:58pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

23. My first digicam was the 2.1MP Olympus 2100z (the "Uzi"). I loved the thing. It had 10x zoom and Image Stabilization. My only beef was I couldn't manually focus - well at least not well. I bought the Digital Rebel last september and retired my Olympus. (I gave it to my mom - who thinks it's the greatest)
    
    It's funny, when I used the Olympus I thought it took the greatest pictures, of course compared to my rebel they are full of CA and the color is not even close. Ah well. It was a great first camera.

    Zara at 02:01pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

24. ABSOLUTELY NO ONE HERE WILL MATCH MY STORY!...my first camera is the Dimage 5 too!...technically though, i did own an Oregon Scientific CardCam that was once so-named the slimmest digital camera in the world!(ahem..course at 1.3mp and i bought it like a bundle gift more for the fun of it then ..cough..)..my first real digicam would have been a Canon A310, did so much research on it, but atlas in the end, i got a real good price out of the blue (back then 6mth ago, yes in early 2004) for a display set Dimage 5 which still offer full international warranty. so went for it. soon everthing broke down! the CCD and Processor Chip were replaced in the first couple months, next two mths saw the eyepiece and the Barrel grip. last visit was the Internal power chips which were short! incredible isnt it!?...on the bright side, it gave me a real great learning curve and many many great shots when it worked. however as i grew, i realised the Cam is short of a satisfactory resolution, AF assist, respectable image stabliser, and a good image & noise processer. then again its already top of its line back then, just that comparatively its glory days are over...I bought a 3600HSD flash with Omnibounce to go with it and its even better now!!! but the buying bug is already
    creeping up my nerves and one good bargain i 'll be gone!!! but i will never forget my Dimage 5...ooo...

    bigsnapper at 02:33pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

25. 1. Coolpix 800 (website pictures of Nova Scotia).
    2. Coolpix 990 (website pictures of the Netherlands. I should have kept this camera. It was the most convenient for travel snapshots.
    3. E-100rs (website pictures of Disney Worls and Sea World). I still have this camera; I use it for snapshots of my grandchildren's sports and drama activities. This would be an ideal camera for a small newspaper. Too bad they did o further development.
    4. Coolpix 5000 (website pictures of Scandinavia). I didn't like this camera. Too many dark pictures. Fortunately they were easy to fix in Photoshop.
    5. Minolta 7Hi (website pictures of western Canada). Soon to be replaced; I think I need need image stabilization.

    John Urian at 03:02pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

26. While not new to photography, my first digital camera was a pair of Meade digital photo binoculars I received as a Christmas gift in 2002! I found the whole thing of trying to judge focus and composition within the binocular format to be incredibly difficult; the need to shoot quickly before the so-called battery saver kicked in is a royal pain in the arse and the lack of control -- well it wasn't for me.
    
    This Christmas we gave ourselves the Fuji S5000 and so far - so good, except for the slowness. I shoot manual 35mm frames 3:1 to the digital. Flash photography is even slower making it extremely difficult for candids at a wedding. Aside from those two issues - I love the thing. Great optical zoom, good optics, good control features, superior LCD viewer. We've put a little over 1600 shots through it and even the wife admits she loves it way more than shooting to film - she adores the "instant feedback" of viewing the picture after it is shot.
    
    Wish I'd made the jump sooner but money is always a big issue in our lives.

    wil at 03:54pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

27. My first "digital" camera was a Canon Xapshot 640x480 still-video camera, it captured still photos on tiny floppy discs and I imported them into my Amiga via a video-capture card.
    
    My first real digital camera, nearly ten years later, was a
    Canon G1.

    Charles Bandes at 03:58pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

28. My first camera was also a 1.5MP Fuji MX-700, also in 1998. Here is a panorama taken with that camera:
    
    http://www.majid.info/mylos/stories/2002/11/15/louvrePanorama.html

    Fazal Majid at 04:03pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

29. Yikes, my first digital "camera" was gift back in Christmas, 2000 of an Aiptek Pencam that my parents bought from the Home Shopping Network. Great specs like 640x480 resolution, 16 MB of internal, non-expandable memory, no LCD just something posing as a viewfinder, little plastic lens with an aperture of... what's an aperture?
    
    Took useable pictures in broad daylight with some pretty saturated surreal colors. A lot of fun, kind of like a digital Lomo or Holga -- encourages you to "don't think, just shoot."
    
    My first real digital camera of any real use was a Fuji Finepix A101, purchased on clearance for $80. I broke the flash by dropping it on concrete, though the camera itself still works. Although just 1.3 MP with little manual control, it reawoke my interest in photography enough to push me to buy a much better Olympus Digital Stylus 300 and start stashing money away for a Nikon D70.

    Paul Riismandel at 04:39pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

30. My first digital was a Jam Cam 3.0, which I bought in Anchorage, Alaska. It cost $50, and was OK for e-mail. Forget prints!
    
    I still have it, now decorating a shelf.

    m gottlieb at 04:44pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

31. Olympus C2020 (not actually mine but I used it all the time)
    
    Fuji S602 (still my primary camera)
    I wanted to buy a Dimage 5 but decided this was a better camera. Didn't have the money for a D30
    
    I have borrowed D60 on several occasions, 1DmkII, 10D, D2h, Contax N Digital, Sigma SD9, Nikon D70, Pentax *istD, Minolta D7Hi and various compact digicams.
    
    I would like a rangefinder or similar digicam and a 5fps, 1.3x crop, fast AF dSLR but it may take a while before that dream comes true

    Mad@TT at 04:54pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

32. Nikon Coolpix 800. Still a great camera other than the fact it's only 2MP.
    
    -S

    Samir at 06:07pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

33. The first digital camera I purchased was one for work back in 1996. It was the ancient Kodak DC-10. The experience with the DC-10 turned me off from owning my own digital camera for many years. It was too big and too bulky, and the quality was far worse than 35mm.
    
    My first digital camera purchased was the Sony MVC-CD1000, a 2.0 megapixel camera which used small 77mm CD-Rs as the storage media. It had 10x Optical Zoom and Manual Focus control, as well as SteadyShot image stabilization. It cost US$1199 at the time, but given that I still use it to take professional quality shots, it has been an incredible value.
    
    Last January, I purchased a Canon A200 to use as easy to carry camera. I found myself sorely missing the 10x Optical Zoom (A200 only has 3x) and found the quality of the picture to be lesser compared to the Sony.
    

    Mike Huang at 06:20pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

34. I too, as Mark, came to photography late in life (later than Mark I'll wager
    
    My first digi-cam 3 years ago was a Kodak DC4800 (3 MP/3X Zoom) Fell in love with the instant gratification and no cost (or low-cost with the amortization of the hardware) of pictures.
    Since I don't "print large", I found the 3MP to be more than adequate 99% of the time . . . severe cropping being the 1% exception.
    
    Have now upgraded to a Minolta A2 and an Epson R800 printer. Couldn't be more pleased.
    
    Art

    Art Black at 07:34pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

35. I was late to the digital game. My first camera was an Olympus D-510z. 2.1 megapixels, 3x optical zoom, SmartMedia storage. It was bulky and a pain to carry around, but took mighty fine photos. I never even appreciated its strong flash performance until I traded it in for a Minolta Dimage Xt. I was in love with the Minolta's form factor, but never really liked the photos it produced. It was fine for shooting in bright daylight, but forget anything indoors. The flash was next to useless. I still have it and occasionally carry it around because it slips so easily into my back pocket and disappears, but for any semi serious picture taking, I bring out my new Sony DSC-V1. Now I have a problem with the flash being waaaay too bright, even when I dial it down via the controls.

    DM at 08:19pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

36. I came very late to digital as in this year. I am using an Olympus C765UZ with telephoto conversion lens (about 600mm in 35mm camera terms) which is perfect for the wildlife shots i prefer but doesnt break the bank. Small size and weight combined with a light weight tripod is perfect for hiking. My biggest issue is its low light capability. I am having fun though.

    Tumrumble at 08:55pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

37. My first digital camera was I think made by Casio or some other strange asian brand. No idea what the model number was.
    All I remember was that it was in 1997 (1996?) and the camera was capable of a whopping 320x240 or a resolution in that range.
    
    I bought it from a weird shop in China Town SF and got it at a knockdown price. Unfortunately it was very poorly made and the power button broke mere weeks after buying it, rendering the thing totally useless. No change of getting it fixed back in Europe either.
    
    After that I laid off digital camera for quite a while until I got the horrendously expense and battery-problem-prone Sony P1.
    When it battery finally died I gave up on the whole thing again, until april this year when I bought a Minolta A1, that I've been extremely happy with since.

    Tao at 09:42pm on Tuesday, August 10, 2004

38. Epson PhotoPC 600, back in 1997. It was the second, smaller Epson (the original one was a huge brick that took really bad photos). I remember being totally amazed that it could put as much as 42 high rez (not quite a megapixel - 1024x768 size) photos on the CF card - coming from the world of 24 or 36 photos on film! (nowadays, I have 1gb cards for my Canon dSLR).
    
    Actually, an okay camera for the time. Colours were much better than the crappy Apple and Sonys out at the time, tho they still sucked bad. No zoom that I remember (except digital zoom), but it looked like a normal camera, save for the LCD in the back.

    Mark Prince at 04:43am on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

39. Hi Everyone!
    
    My first digital camera was the Kodak DC-50. It wasn't even a Mega-Pixel camera, but it was fun. I still have it today. I don't use it that much, but I bring it out once-in-a-while whenever someone shows-off their new wizz-bang digicam. It gets lots of stares and quickly becomes the center of attention at parties -- the person with the new digicam is quickly abandoned and everyone wants their picture taken with it. Most people think it is a spy camera or high-tech pair of binoculars. I think I purchased it in 1995 or 1996 for about $599.00 or so...
    
    Aloha!
    
    
    

    Russell A. Gonzales at 04:56am on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

40. My very first was THE very first consumer digital camera, the Logitech Fotoman (see http://www.digicamhistory.com/1990.html) I bought it when it was already old (probably in 1992). It was of course a revelation to use, something completely different, but the 376x240 pixel grayscale images were really too small. So I went back to the shop and exchanged in for a handheld colour scanner, which was also quite novel back then. Ten years later I bought my first usable digital camera, the Canon G2. I still use it as a second camera (beside a D100), since it is a superb piece of equipment.

    Edwinek at 05:23am on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

41. Very amusing thread here!
    
    My first digicam was the Olympus C-3030, back when 3 megapixels was *just* coming out. It was also back when I was *just* able to afford to get a digital camera. I convinced my dad to help pay for it for a photography class I was taking. A few months later I switched to a film SLR (Pentax ZX-30, which began my obsession with Pentax) for my photography classes so I could learn how to develop and print on my own. Last fall I switched back to digital with the purchase of a Pentax *istD.

    John at 05:28am on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

42. Mine was a Kodak Easyshare DX3700. I got it for Christmas while my family was vacationing in Italy and it was one of the best gifts I've ever gotten. I must have filled that card up 3 times a day everyday. Great camera!

    Andrew at 06:48am on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

43. My first digicam was only a year ago. It is a Canon G5. It takes great pictures but I long for (and occasionally return to) my beloved Olympus OM4. These digicams are just too slow.
    
    Now that I have discovered that I can use my Zuiko lenses on a Canon digital SLR (albeit manually, even manual stop down), I will be upgrading to a real camera in the next few months.
    
    Andrew

    Andrew at 08:20am on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

44. Fuji 1400. Bought as refurp in August 2001. Did a lot of homework before buying, and was very pleased. Compression used on this camera is unusually low, so its 1 MP pictures are impressive, unlike the compression used on many newer Fujis(and many others). Got a Fuji 2600 6 months later because first one didn't shoot movies. One other thing I love about Fuji is their exposure metering. These cameras were noisy though, and impossible to use indoors. Got a Canon A60 in October 2003. Wow! Everything I ever wanted.

    EP at 11:28am on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

45. First digital was a Nikon 2500. Great little camera that I still carry everywhere I go. Now I also have a Canon G2.
    
    I am thinking hard about getting a 300D and an OM adapter so I can use all my old Olympus lenses in the digital world.

    Ed Garrard at 12:19pm on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

46. Bought a Konica 400Z a couple of months ago as a pocket notebook. A true 4Mp for a whisker over a hundred quid seemed too good to resist. Overall, I've been very pleased with it.
    Ultimately I want to replace my Canon A1 with an EOS 10D Mk2, but there's a little matter the cost...
    First ever real camera was a Zorki 4, followed by a Pentax Spotmatic, followed by a series of Canons. I went from an A1 to an F1 at one stage but didn't like it as much so switched back.

    Steve at 12:38pm on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

47. My first digital camera was the Apple Quicktake 100. See http://www.digicamhistory.com/1994.html for more info.
    640x480 images, so so quality, odd camera, bought by my university. I bought an olympus mju soon afterwards, then a nikon SLR and then moved to Canon and an EOS 30. Not convinced by current digital SLRs, I like the 24mm view point too much to work with the 1.6 crop.
    I've got a canon A70, which is fine for what it does, but real photography for me is still on slide film and then into my Scan Elite 5400.

    Gavin Bell at 12:59pm on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

48. I have used film cameras for years and now have a graveyard of Canon Eos cameras which according to my local camera shop have become almost totally worthless.
    It all began when Dell offered a Kodak Easyshere 4210 digital camera for a very tempting price if one bought one of their computers. At first I thought this camera was just a toy (only two megapixels). However, I was quite frankly stunned by the results I could obtain. I have since bought a Minolta A1 and use it constantly. Hoorah, no more chemicals, being locked-up in the darkroom for hours or chosing grades of paper. I am in total control and in broad daylight as well! So, in short, my first digital camera which I felt rather embarrassed to be seen with opened the doorway to the digital revolution and there's no going back now.

    Pascal at 01:59pm on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

49. Coming from medium-format film, I waited until something of decent enough image quality came out, with enough manual camera settings to keep me in control. It was the Canon Powershot G2, and I smoothly learned all about digital photography, dealing with sensor noise, and RAW workflow on that camera.
    
    Nowadays my Canon 10d DSLR is my main camera, I was very close to spending on the 1d MKII, but am deciding to wait and see the other cameras coming out soon (Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D, Epson Digital Rangefinder, etc).

    Steve at 03:19pm on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

50. My first digital camera was the Canon Powershot A5 (the origional one with no zoom) I bought brand new in 1998. I took that camera everywhere until I bought my 2'nd camera (Olympus C-4000). The poor Olympus was quickly overshadowed by the Canon 10D last October and now usually sits on a shelf unless my wife feels like taking it along.

    Dutch at 03:59pm on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

51. My first digital camera was a Nikon Coolpix 900 back in July 1998, before then I had been 'grabbing' digital images from a camcorder and a still frame grabber at 640x480 from 1993! In 2001 I upped to a Dimage 7 because I wanted the manual control and the 28mm equivalent lens was irresistable. Earlier this year I upped again to the Canon 300D, the larger senors size giving me less noisy images. Now I've just got to save for all those lenses I really want.

    Rob at 09:13pm on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

52. My first camera was an Olympus D-340L, which I bought 'cheap' whilst in New York, I think ni 1998. It cost around £450 and was a 1.3MP thing with a nasty 2xdigital zoom - no in between - just 1x or 2x. The picture quality was actually quite good, considering, and it lasted me years until decent digtal cameras came along and I got a Nikon coolpix 5700 - what a difference! No looking back now!

    Roger Attrill at 09:26pm on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

53. Fuji DS7. 640x480 power! Paid about $300-400 for it back then, financed by one of my first web projects back in the early 90s.. Those were the days

    Henry Delion at 10:13pm on Wednesday, August 11, 2004

54. As a Nikon photographer for 30 years I wanted to get into digital. I sold all my Nikon gear 3 years ago when I bought two Sony F707's(one for me, one for my wife). When I started shooting digital I could not use film. So I sold the gear. Last summer I sold one of my F707's to buy a new camera. First there was announcement of the F828 from Sony then the Canon Digital Rebel.
    
    I waited to Christmas to see the F828 and that is when the D70 was rumored so I decided to wait till I had my tax refund and see what played out. Finally some samples of the D70 came out and I compared them to the DRebel and the F828. I felt the DRebel had the best picture quality of the 3. (I really like the CMOS look vs. CCD, more film like) The F828 was too noisy. Did lots of tests but could not get past the noise.
    
    I looked at the better burst capability, black design, higher flash of the Nikon D70, but I bought the DRebel because of the picture quality and accessibility to the Canon lens system. Canon has some great glass. I have started with the Kit lens and bought a 70-210 F4 on eBay and a 50mm F1.8 Mark1.
    
    One my homepage there are some of the first Images taken with my new DRebel. Also alot of my F707 images to which I have been using for the last 2 1/2 years. Also I decided I wanted something different becase I have the F707 already. I like long lenses as well.
    
    One bonus of the Canon over the Nikon is that you can meter with manual lenses. Nikkors. I have a Woco F8 500mm that I had bought for $30 many years ago at a camera colectors swap meet in Puyallup WA. It had a Nikon T-Mount on it and I switched to an EOS T-Mount. Works great in manual mode. The Drebel is very easy to use in manual mode, even the light meter works unlike the Nikon D70. It was very fustrating with the N80 not to be able to meter with old non AF Nikkors.
    
    My wife is using the F707 (which I still love).
    

    halfmac at 12:01am on Thursday, August 12, 2004

55. Fuji S1 Pro. Bought it refurbished for $1000, sold it a year later for $800. What a deal!

    d.a. at 12:45am on Thursday, August 12, 2004

56. My first digital camera was Canon Powershot A50, 1.3MP, 3x optical zoom. I paid about $500 for it. I liked it because it was very compact. My kids now use this camera.
    
    This was in fall of 99.
    Now I have Canon Powershot G3, excellent camera 4MP.

    Robert Zanzerkia at 12:52pm on Thursday, August 12, 2004

57. My first digicam was a nikon 950, it's was pretty good, paid about $200 CAD for it second hand. worked ok, make acceptable 8X10's thought I had arrived. then went ot 995 also second hand. Still not enough manual controls.
    
    finally an E-10, after much reasearch. Have used it in the last year, having a love hate relationship with it. I think I will have to bite the bullet and buy a fuji S3 pro when it comes out. the contrast range thing sounds really interesting and the body seems really well thought out.
    
    Just for yuks got a Canon A-80 for happy-snaps with the family.
    
    Truth is, I haven't really made a smooth transition in to digital. Still feel "safer" shooting film because after shooting for 30 years in film, still learning the digital ropes.
    
    Yours in Analog
    
    Dave

    Dave at 02:43pm on Thursday, August 12, 2004

58. It started with a Finepix A201, bought it in 2002. Next was an Olympus C50Zoom. 1 week ago the Nikon D70 arrived..... All 3 cameras are still in use. Have reached the end of the line, no more cameras to be purchased (just accessories....)

    Ben at 05:06pm on Thursday, August 12, 2004

59. My first digital camera was a 1.3 Mpixel Olympus with smart-media and no zoom lens. I used it only for snapshots at parties, and for more serious uses I stuck with my Canon EOS.
    
    My second digital camera is much more satisfying: the Digital Rebel. It takes beautiful pictures, and uses all the lenses from my other Canon.
    

    Shane Todd at 05:47pm on Thursday, August 12, 2004

60. Minolta Dimage 7i - got it late 2002.
    Reasons: more camera-like operation than competitors at that time (manual zoom and focus rings), good zoom-range, good and relatively fast APO lens, good resolution and RAW recording.
    I still have the camera (saving for a DSLR in the meantime).
    I am mostly satisfied with the camera, but I am disappointed with the relatively high noise levels and poor RAW performance.

    Gabor at 08:03am on Saturday, August 14, 2004

61. My first digital camera was & is a Nikon 4500, a fine, versatile tool. I make 13X19 prints on my Epson 2200 & display them to the delight of family & friends. Nikon discontinued this camera about 5 months after introducing it & no longer markets a swivel-lens camera. What a shame. My second, even more versatile camera is a Minolta Dimage A1. This was replaced by Konica Minolta by the A2 about 4 months later. I'm waiting for Canon to market a black digital Rebel so I can put my many EOS lenses to use.

    digitalmdr at 02:39pm on Sunday, August 15, 2004

62. My photography started in 1954 with an old Agfa folding job and I earned my living in the trade. Ever the cynic I didn't think digital was for me but bought a Nikon 950 in December 1999. Took some good shots despite its obvious limits but it started to fall apart after just two years - battery cover and the card holder, useless! Compare that with my ever faithful 30 year old OM1 and even older Rollieflex! Now my Sony F828 is reviving my faith.

    Mike B at 01:09pm on Saturday, June 25, 2005

63. Just before my 18 month old was born I thought we should have a digital to send photos to family & friends out of town.
    Not thinking I would make a switch to digital, having always been a film guy, I picked up a middle of the road Fuji Finepix.
    It was not too bad at first but after a while I got tired of the shutter lag giving me shots I didn't want... so when my son turned one year old I captured the moments at 5 fps with my new Canon 20D... it's great!!!

    Phil Zygiel at 09:48pm on Friday, July 29, 2005

64. Mid-1998 I bought a Ricoh RDC-1 second-hand on Ebay. It retailed for $3000 new and I only paid $350 so I considered it a bargain. Let's just say it wasn't. 448x754 pixels (or something like that), proprietary NiCd cells that lasted for about 6 minutes with the display on. Two months later I bought a Canon Powershot A5, which was a great little camera.

    Lars Vinberg at 01:09pm on Monday, August 08, 2005

65. Nikon Coolpix 4500 - the last of the twistin' kind.
    
    I wonder why Nikon abandoned that design?
    Now with better sensors now at excellent resolution, higher ISOs, better battery life for larger LCDs, they should bring this style back, instead of the 8700/8800 style with a flip out LCD.
    
    The 4500 took some nice photos are 4 MPs, and it had a non-protruding zoom lens.
    
    And the machine looked cool. I thought the 4500 was built really well too.
    
    Oh well for me, it was a nice learning tool to bring me finally in to digital. Now I shoot with DSLR.

    Bollocks Mate at 06:40am on Friday, August 12, 2005

66. My first camera was the Canon S1 IS, which I bought about 4 months ago. I love it. Though I think its probably necessary that I upgrade now, since I have a job with a photographer, who asks me to take shots from alternate angles, or simply has me do my own thing when she is busy (with weddings there is something always to be done). Though Im thinking I need to move up to a DSLR, or simply the Panasonic FZ20/30. Anyway I love it, it takes great photos and when ISO 50 is used noise is not an issue. BTW any suguestions as to what I should upgrade to. Anyway that is my story.

    Mark at 12:14am on Wednesday, August 24, 2005

67. My first digital camera was an Olympus C-2500L. About a year after using that, I got the Canon D30 and I'm now looking to upgrade to either the 20D or the new D5. All depends on the coin in my pocket.

    Becka at 08:06pm on Sunday, September 11, 2005

68. Canon EOS 10D. It was and still is a great camera. Full featured single lens reflex, fine resolution at 6.3 megapixels. Pictures are sharp and automatic exposure works great.

    Michael Greene at 12:53pm on Tuesday, September 27, 2005

69. I was working for Casio late 1995 when I was show an early QV10, scheduled to sell for almost £800.00! QVGA (320x240) 2mb built in memory, fixed lens, no flash, no viewfinder....
    I uesd one on a holiday the next year and still have some photos from it. I had to convert the files from the Casio propriatary CAM format to JPEG.
    My current cameras are Fuji S5000 and Fuji E550 - fraction of the price of the Casio and 10's of times more powerful.

    Tony M at 07:59am on Friday, September 30, 2005

70. I still have my first digital camera, bought from Dixons for around £300 GBP, with all of 640 x 480 resolution - equals just over 300,000 pixels ! The camera which I still have was a Panasonic NV-DC1000.
    
    Dan

    Dan Mitchell at 04:09pm on Friday, October 07, 2005

71. I bought my first digital camera in May of 2001 - a 3.1 MP Sony DSC-S75. I liked the looks of the camera from the get go and the writeups were very positive. I had a ball with it and took some great shots. I have since moved on to the Sony V3, which makes the S75 look like a dinosaur but there's nothing quite like your first digicam.

    Ram at 07:26pm on Monday, October 17, 2005

72. I agree with you the way you view the issue. I remember Jack London once said everything positive has a negative side; everything negative has positive side. It is also interesting to see different viewpoints & learn useful things in the discussion.

    size genetics at 11:16pm on Wednesday, October 19, 2005

73. My first digital camera was a Vivitar 3632. It was part of a "digital photography starter kit," which included a Lexmark Z705 printer. The latter lasted just past the one-year warranty period before the belt broke and I found it Lexmark did not repair those printers. The 2.0 megapixel Vivitar took acceptable pictures in bright hazy light outdoor light conditions. Otherwise, forget it. The flash appeared to lack any form of automation. Only pictures taken at a rather precise distance of something like 6 to 8 feet were usable. Closer subjects were totally washed out - farther were underexposed and lacked proper color balance being exposed almost entirely by existing light. The 16 fps 320 by 240 videos were dull and no better than the numbers would suggest. The 5-way toggle button for previewing was terrible. It was almost impossible to hit in the direction you wanted to hit it in. There were several other bugs with the Vivitar - most of which I can't remember. The camera took a ton of pictures of my garden, etc. and more than paid for itself. Actually, when I complained about the loss of a few pixels in the sensor, the retailer, Canadian Tire, credited my account for $50 without even looking at the camera. So, the old adage about getting what you pay for certainly applied. The old Vivitar still works. Even the bad pixels came back to life after a few months. I now have a Casio EX-Z750. This camera is not perfect either, but, if you score it an 8 on a 10-point scale, the Vivitar would be closer to 0 than to 1. I think there should be some restrictions on manufacturers bundling their defective products with other products in order to dump them on us. If they are as buggy as this, don't sell them at all.

    Arch Parsons at 02:26am on Thursday, November 03, 2005

74. Back in 1996/1997 - KODAK "DIGITAL SCIENCE" DC40 Camera was the first one I used but I didn't own it. My first real digital camera (not counting web cams) didn't actually arrive until Dec 2003: a Canon A80.

    phule at 03:10am on Thursday, November 03, 2005

75. My first digital camera was Canon G3, a wedding gift. My second digital camera is Nikon D70 and I am very happy with it.

    Seattle Wedding Photographer at 08:40pm on Wednesday, November 23, 2005

76. What I really like to own is the upcoming Nikon D200.

    Seattle Wedding Photographer [www.yiphoto.com] at 08:41pm on Wednesday, November 23, 2005

77. First Digicam: 2001, a Polarioid fun 320 (no flash, qvga res, 20 pounds as part of the Cosmopolitan makeover software), the shutter went after a couple of months but the timer button (the only 'Feature'on it) worked, and amazingly, snaps from a moving car came out crisp. A year later bought a cheap Jam Cam 3.0 (£25 notes as a clearamce from D d d d d d d d Dixons)flowed by a DOA 2mp Polaroid 2070 sawapped for a terrible 1.3 Konica Revio KD100 as Argos couldn't guarentee supply on the p2070's (came in a week later, wouldn't let me swap back). After a bit of hassle, got a refund (and a ban from store) so bought a Jenoptik JDC 2.1 (great camera for the price), was given a 2 MP Ixus 300 by a truly blessed Christian friend, and bought a great 3 Mp Fuji A330 (good for begginners), which I sold after I bought my 5 MP HP photosmart M415/printer bundle(great printer average to poor camera).

    Callan Cool at 01:53am on Sunday, February 05, 2006

78. Hi, I've taken the plunge and bought a second-hand panasonic LC-1 digital camera.
    It's a 5mp but having tried and tested this marvel, seems better than this rating. Images are beautifully smooth and any noise looks like film grain. The lens is the best I've used! It's pin-sharp to the edges and I have easily managed A3 size prints. I love the traditional 35mm layout of the camera, feels a bit like a Leica M6 but digital. Raw pics are slow but with my sandisk ultra plus card, waiting time is about 5secs. Quality is worth waiting for. Alex

    Alex at 12:36pm on Sunday, February 05, 2006

79. A Nikon Coolpix 5000, it still makes great images.

    Michael at 10:33pm on Saturday, February 18, 2006

80. My first digital camera was a Fuji @xia 100 puchased from Jessops in the UK for £99. It was a 1.3mp camera with no LCD or zoom! (This was at a time when digital cameras were very expensive compared to their film counterparts.) The results were surprisingly good for a basic camera and convinced me that digital was the way to go. Today I use a 4mp Canon Powershot and find this is more than adequate for my needs. I paid the same for this camera as I did for the Fuji, which just shows how digital cameras specifications have improved whilst at the same time dropping in price.

    Eric Lewtas at 06:51pm on Friday, March 10, 2006

81. It was in the late 90's and I was on vacation in San Francisco without a camera. This had to be remedied so I paid an outragous amount of money for a Casio QV770. At the time I was told it was a 4mp, but when I look at specs now they all say 3mp or 3.5. Of course they also say it had no zoom, and since I used the zoom, I know that to be incorrect. I then switched to an Olympus which I loved but that stopped working a couple of years ago so I got a 6mp no brand name point and shoot off of ebay that is quite good actually. Most recently I aquired an Olympus evolt e500 which I am hoping holds up some better than the little one I carried around Europe on a bicycle. So far I am loving this evolt.

    Maurine at 09:54pm on Friday, April 14, 2006

82. Hi. My first digital camera was a Coolpix880.
    I bought it in January of 2000 and many cameras later I still love it. Specially the macro is outstanding for such an "old" equipment.It cost me around one thousand Euros. It was very slow but image quality for 3,34 millions pixels was superb. During the next two years I mainly used my Canon EOS 5, but here and there I shot with the modest 880. And always with good results.
    Today, I lend it very often to anybody who wants to try a digital, although, old camera.
    Thank you for your time.

    Manuel Freire at 07:49pm on Friday, April 28, 2006

83. My first was a Nikon Coolpix 2500 sometime in 2003. 3MP? It eventually failed (extremely disappointing) and was replaced by a Fuji Finepix 602Z not all that many months later. I recently bought a Nikon D70s which has been the best buy.

    Nathaniel at 08:22pm on Tuesday, August 01, 2006

84. My first was one of the Kodak Easyshare DX3700 cameras that Kodak made a mistake with the pricing of on their website. They caved and sold it to those who ordered after about a month of implying everything from a hack of their system to people using cached pages to get the cheaper price.
    
    Not a great camera, but for £100 at the time, a good price. No optical zoom and no manual controls other than the choice of flash or no flash, but it worked and as far as I know, still going strong after I sold it to a friend for a tenner. I got a Fuji s5500 last year to replace it. Much better..

    John Bailey at 02:11pm on Friday, August 18, 2006

85. My first digital camera was a Nikon Coolpix 2100 (2.1MP). That camera because toast the very first summer. I tried a housing for it, and on the very first test run in the pool (before I even took it diving), the housing leaked and bye bye Coolpix.
    
    Depp insurance finally replaced both camera and housing, but it took almost a year to do so. And now the replacement was a Coolpix 4300. And just last month I finally got to try it underwater on a real dive, with real strobes.
    
    Results? I'm gone back to my Nikonos V and film.
    
    Oh, and I won a Sony 6MP camera recently, but gave it to my wife.
    
    Digital? Bah.

    Jim at 02:46pm on Friday, August 18, 2006

86. My first was a Konica Minolta Dimage z3, which is still my main camera. I love it, but I really want to get a really nice DSLR. I have been using my father's Minolta X-300 for a while, but I really need to go digital.

    Stewart Bywater at 08:42pm on Tuesday, August 22, 2006

87. 2001-2: a Fuji Finepix 2400, which was only 2MP and used Smartmedia cards.
    
    2003: a Canon Powershot S40 - still a fantastic little camera if only 4MP, built like a tank, used CF cards, manual control.
    
    2004: gave up my Nikon F70 analog SLR and traded it and a Sigma 24-70 lens for a new Sony T3! 5MP, uses tiny MemoryStick cards and is like a spy camera - great for street photography. Gave the S40 to my husband, who is still into film.
    
    2004: a Nikon 5400, a prosumer replacement for the F70. Good solid camera, bought mainly for macro / still life shots, have also used it for infrared. Not happy with shutter lag though.
    
    2005: a Fuji F810 to replace the S40, for 6MP, manual control, ISO 800 and 4x zoom. Metal body, well-designed.
    
    2005: a Pentax Optio WP, for rainy-day photography and true underwater capability (although I haven't got around to trying this yet!).
    
    2006: an Olympus SP-500 UZ, the final prosumer addition to my panoply of digital kit. For 10x zoom, EVF, lens thread. Great compact design, fits so well in the hand that lack of IS is not a problem. Also runs on AA batteries!

    Lisa Larsson at 09:31pm on Thursday, August 31, 2006

88. Hello,
    
    My first digicam was the Sony DSC S50 back in 2001. This was a new way of taking photos for me who had already worked some with Canon A1 and AE models. I really enjoyed taking photos with it. Then at Christmas 2005, I bought a Canon S1 IS. The picture quality was much improved and I am still learning all of its features. But, I still have my eye on a high quality DSLR that will allow me to change out lens.

    Liz at 04:58pm on Saturday, September 02, 2006

89. My first digital camera was a Coolpix880.

    Johnson at 12:26pm on Wednesday, June 11, 2008