What Is The Oldest Piece Of Equipment You Still Use?

My hands!

Ha! Shirley, nice answer!

OK, let's talk about artificial equipment. ☺

Many of my paint brushes are older than 35 years.

Sorry Colin, I couldn't resist.

I have brushes that have been passed down to me from artists that have passed away. I have an easel that is very primitive but it's like a friend to me.

I also have a Minolta SRT 101.

I have several Olympus lenses from the early 70s that with the proper adaptor work just fine with my DSLR.

I have a Weston Master III exposure meter from the 1950s. I don't use it that often, but it still works in a pinch.

@Shirley, My very first SLR in the late 60s was a Minolta SRT 101, I loved it, I don't even remember what I did with it, it was soooo long ago.

Bob

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hwkphoto/16119568832/in/dateposted-public/

Zenobia 6x4.5 folder. I have a few things in this age range, so I'm actually guessing that this may be the oldest I use regularly. It's either
this or my Crown Graphic. (I may have to research...)

I'll see Shirley's hands and raise her my pair of eyes.

My easel...passed down to me in 1976, still going strong.

Bob, I have an exposure meter from the 50s (from my aunt), too. And it works.

Oldest piece of equipment that I bought new, in 1978, and still use is my Minolta Flashmeter III.

Oldest in general that I use, occasionally, are some Wollensak Verito lenses from the 1920's.

The oldest thing I have and actually still use is my Domke f4 bag. But it is only about 18 years old. The cushioning insert is long gone and the straps are a bit frayed, but this is my go to landlubber bag.

Colin, I got mine from my father. It's in "like new" condition except the front leather cover that's almost falling off. If I was swinging back and forth for 60 years I'd be falling off too.

Used to be my 1940s Graflex press camera but that's been on the shelf for 20 years now.

My staple gun for stretching canvases. I bought it when I was a sophomore at Drake University in 1972. The art store had a full sized cutout of Carly Simon. Not sure why, except to promote her music. Still remember it though. Oh, and still use the staple gun.

My Bogen/Manfrotto tripod, 20+ years old,

And then for artifical stuff, my brain...............

Rich

me

i was going to say my computer... but i keep everything up to date. brain would be a good choice, but i update that every second.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

I actually have a fan paintbrush that I have had since I was 13. Still one of my favorites.

I just retired a french easel box I've used for 30 years or more. Brushes also older still, maybe 40 or more years.

A crappy tripod for night time stills and occasional video. Had it since I first got into photography seriously in 1999

My Pentax 50mm Ashai box lens (60's) inherited from my father, the best lens I have at the moment. I have given the lens (my first) a good try for two years and now I am ready for a better len(s).

55mm Nikon 2.8 micro from 87-89ish. It's an amazingly sharp lens. It doesn't autofocus on my D5100 so my girlfriend uses it a lot more than I do on her D7100 w/internal autofocus motor.

Hiya guys,

When I was 19 years old, some 54 years ago, I bought this nickel plated 36" ruler. I'm still using it. I paid $65 for it. I can't even guess what that old ruler would cost today.

HP 1200 series laser printer

I was in high school in 1979 when I bought my first camera an Olympus OM10 and lens. I still use it. :)) I love the sound of the shutter clicking.

For no good reason I was out of photography for a period of time. Before that took place, I was shooting mostly film and was basically not impressed with most of the digitals that began to appear at that time. I got back into shooting about two years ago, got a digital and started shooting with all of my old lenses from my Nikon F4 days - auto exposure, auto focus lenses and they all three of 'em worked fine on my Nikon (of course Nikon) DSLR. The lenses are all Nikons. Some of them go back to the '80s btw.
A number of photographers have expressed surprise over the fact that my old Film AutoFocus lenses all are fully functioning on the digital.

Photoshop Elements 4. It came bundled with my Cintique. I'm still using it because it's paid for, but lately it's been crashing a lot, and none of the fixes I've tried work. :P

I'm still using the tripod I bought when I worked in a camera store while I was in high school. I graduated from that high school in 1965,making my tripod just over a half century old. :)



---------------
~ Bill
~ US Pictures .com

I have my dad's old Brownies. Took my first photo with one of them when I was 5. I've been wanting to try them. I don't see why they wouldn't still work. They're just a box with a shutter. Would need to find some 120 film (that's what they take, right?).

Depends on the brownie. Some were 127, and some other formats. Should say inside. And yes, if the shutter fires in a snappy fashion, it will probably still work. 120 is very easy to buy online. 127 less so. Not sure about 620... (anyway look inside) Ideally you'd want a nice wide latitude, probably B&W film.

Alfred Ng - Many of my paint brushes are older than 35 years. How do you do that? When I paint (oils) I seem to wear out a natural hair brush in five or six paintings, and I am not talking about bucket shop items.

When I am doing some carpentry or wood sculpting I could be using tools over a hundred years old. I have tools dating back to the 1800's and I still use them because their steel cutting edges are excellent, and they feel so good in my hands.

For my painting the oldest piece of equipment is a fourty year old easel.

"Not sure about 620... (anyway look inside) "

If you can find the metal 620 spools, 120 film can be reloaded onto them in a darkroom.

Just be sure to put the exposed film back on 120 spools before sending it to a lab if you're not processing it yourself.

It appears that my crown is a 1956. (I wasn't curious enough before to try and nail it down.) The zenobia is also mid 50's. So still could go either way.

Hey,
It's nice getting in touch with you. Here's my email address Eva.kuol@hotmail.com. Please contact me directly.i will send you my
pictures. beside there is something very important i will like to tell you when
you contact me on my email address here
i will respond to you.waiting to hear from you.
Eva

.

A cheap plastic Holga camera. 15 years old.

My kneaded eraser. I've had it for 35 years and it still works. Although it snaps when pulling on it to clean it rather than stretching like the fresh ones do.

This thread made me chuckle. Call me superstitious, but I have been using the same monitor to create/manipulate/adjust photos/etc. for over 10 years. I've made a ton of sales, so you cannot argue with success! I've had 3 new computers in that time, but I keep the same monitor! I tried a new monitor about 5 years ago and did my thing and listed my work and it looked like crap. I tried all sorts of adjustments in color and saturation...all the settings for the monitor and nothing worked. Everyone said my work looked horrible. So I went back to my old monitor and have been with it ever since! My husband joked the other day that when it dies that we will likely bury it next to all of our dogs in the bamboo garden....LOL Fingers crossed it lives on for a good long while! It is such a tiny screen, but makes my art look great as the final product. :)

I use to use an 10 year old computer to upload images because, for some reason, my new computer had a long idle that would freeze the upload half way through the upload. Just yesterday, I received an automatic upgrade to version eight on my newer computer and I can upload from it now. Yay!
Btw, I hear version 10 is coming out soon and worth the upgrade. The Geek Squad guy told me so. Said it was like 7 and 8 had a baby and it's way better...well, you know geeks.

My favorite palette knife. Given to me at age 14, which was in... ahem...1965. So that makes it 50 years old this year!!!
I keep it clean, but still, it must have been good quality to last so long.

I have an antique (large) Easel which was handed down to me, and various palette knives and tools which are probably about 50 yrs old. Things my parents had, though I'm not sure they used them for art purposes.