Nikon D700 V Praktica PLC3
So many photographers will relate to this…
I can remember my first camera, a Polaroid circa 1970. Things seem to have moved on slightly since those days, but to me, it was my pride and joy.
This one (image) is a step up on mine, I think it came out shortly after but a quick search for a pic on the internet proved fruitless. Mine was plain grey with no pop up flash affair.
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I can remember nagging my mother to oblivion and back for it, then one christmas day it was there… nearly (probably did) wet myself with excitement. It was literally the start of a lifetimes obsession. Photography.
I can’t remember the model number of my next camera but I do remember that it was a Praktica.. My first SLR. My biggest memory of this time was announcing to the world that I was going to become a professional photographer. I remember that I was about 9 or 10 and my father (never the great encourager) saying that “you will never make a living out of taking snaps – do your homework”. He still says that forty odd years later (well, not the homework bit), and some days I agree with him.
Something like this… ish
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My move to Nikon equipment was written in the stars, I saw an article in National Geographic Magazine about a war photographer, he stood there in some shelled out city (sorry, I was only young and gave no thought to the poor people around him) with a camera around his neck and he looked so damned cool. Emblazoned across the camera was the word “Nikon“, that was good enough for me. I didn’t know what Nikon was, no internet in those days, but I wanted one. Now 40 odd years later I look at the D800 and think the same thing – I want one. In the meantime, I still love my D700.
I know that technology has come on leaps and bounds, but I think that we had a great advantage over the youngsters of today. In my day (sounds like my father), we took a roll of film and then took it down the chemist to be developed. A week later I would go back to pick them up and to put it frankly, they were normally rubbish. Out of focus, over or under exposed, bad composition… they (the faults) were all there to see. What that meant was that I had to learn quickly, no way were my parents going to pay for a film to be developed if the only result was one good photograph. Today, the youngsters (sounding old) just have to take a photograph, look at it, delete if rubbish and move swiftly on. There is nothing wrong with that as such, it’s the world they inhabit, but I do think they miss out on the whole process.
So the title said Nikon D700 V Praktica PLC3 ….. What were my findings?
In truth, we could also put into the mix the Polaroid, the iPhone, Canon, Sony, in fact anything that can take a photograph…. The best camera is the one that you have in your hand. If you can catch a moment in time that gives you pleasure – you’re onto a winner. Enjoy your memories – enjoy your photography.
my first camera was a Practica STL2, but I remember seeing a b/w photograph of Don McCullin near a bombed out building with a couple of Nikons and I needed one too. It took a few years but I got a Nikon at last (can’t remember which model it was)…excellent article, thanks for the memory