Thirty-nine years have passed since the day I bought my first camera; however, I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a momentous day in my life, I still have the camera and the 50mm f1.8 I bought with it I still use to this day.
The camera in question here is my Olympus OM2n, which I bought, including a 50mm f1.8 lens from Fox Talbot at Trafalgar Square for the then princely sum of £190. It was my Christmas Bonus…here’s the tale of my first camera purchase.
Decisions, decisions…the whole process of selection was made over a period of weeks, if not a couple of months, or longer. In 1983 £190 was a goodly sum of money, I was working part time at Marks & Spencer’s and the money to fund my purchase came from the Christmas Bonus (a month’s salary) the company generously gave us each Christmas. The situation to buy a camera had arisen from the fact the camera I had been used to using for the past year was going to India with my parents for a few weeks. The camera, an Olympus OM 10, was my dad’s.
My dad was a generous man and I had just about taken over the OM 10, he never complained, in-fact my dad was pleased that I had taken an interest in photography, an interest I had inherited from him and he encouraged my early efforts.
So, the OM 10 would go to India with my parents, the trip had been “announced” months ago and gave me time to start my research for a new camera. In 1983, there were no digital cameras, no mobile phones, no social media…, no home computers and no internet. Electronic? digital? That meant you owned a digital watch!
Research into what I was going to buy was carried out simply by reading reviews in magazines and also – very importantly by going to visit the plentiful camera stores that existed at the time, trying the cameras in my hands and talking to people. The cameras I considered were: Olympus OM2n, Canon A1, Nikon FE2, Pentax ME Super and Minolta X700. The list was soon narrowed down to the Olympus, Canon and Nikon, as the main contenders and I handled them as much as I could, spending all that money was a big deal and I wanted to ensure I made the right choice.
My feelings to this day, are still when you’re buying something like a camera, getting the “feel” of it is so crucial – many years later I bought and Olympus EM5, it felt wonderful (quality) in my hands, but I didn’t enjoy shooting with and eventually sold it. Any of the cameras in my short list would have been good a choice – and it was a tough choice, but the simplicity of the Olympus “called” to me, and as you know, that’s what I went with.
On many of my trips into town (London – I lived in Battersea, a London suburb), I was accompanied by my good mate Pete, who lived at the other end of my road. Pete, had no interest in photography, but we went many places together roaming around the streets of London. When the faithful day of my (first) big purchase arrived, Pete, was of course with me. Needless to say, my excitement was off the scale!!
Pete called round at my house and we set off to the bus stop to catch the no 77A bus to Fox Talbot at Trafalgar Square, going along Wandsworth Road past Charles Barret Shop Fitters – for years I had read it as Charles Barret Shop Lifters and wondered how they could advertise the name and not be caught by the police. Dyslexia will do that.
...I used my OM2n, along with an OM2 Spot Program for many years, I sold the Spot Program, but my trusty OM2n was retired in 1993, when I bought an autofocus Minolta Dynax 7000i. I never had a day’s trouble with the camera or lenses, which I still use. We have travelled many a mile together.
A few years later, Peter mentioned that day to me, saying (at the time) he thought I was out-of-my-mind spending all that money on a camera. I did raise an eyebrow, as Pete had more camera gear than I did, when he said it, we had also taken camera classes and studied photography together. So, what was it then? Pete explained it was a religious conversion.
Although we live in different countries now, Pete and I are still friends, we both have children and both our adult daughter’s shoot film – mine casually, after taking one of my film cameras. These many years later…Pete’s daughter Amy (who is a little more serious about photography than my daughter), along with Pete and I, shoots with an OM2n.
My Olympus OM2n body has been retired for many years now, however, as mentioned earlier - I still use the 50mm f1.8 I bought that day, the last time was a few hours ago, this morning...!