It all started with a Russian Lubitel TLR. By no means a great camera, but it did get me introduced to the mysteries of aperture, exposure, depth of field and the like. Unfortunately, I do not have the camera any more.
Moving up into the world, I saved and saved and bought an SLR, a Praktica L. The most basic of SLR's, all manual, but I felt a real photographer. That one I still have, including a 135 tele. It served me well.
That was all a long time ago, but recently my interest in photography was revived, mainly due to KAP sites I stumbled upon while looking over kite sites.
My interest in photography had not completely disappeared, because in the meantime, I got hold of a French 9x12 bellows camera dating from the twenties, a 6x9 Kodak Retina model B using 620 film and a Yashica Mat 124-G.
The most recent addition is a Yashica T5, purchased mainly for use underneath a kite but for everyday snapshooting as well. Very easy to use, and far less intimidating to the subjects than an SLR. I have just finished my first roll of film with it, and I am pleased with the results. Now I've got slide film in it, just to see how good the metering is.
By the way, thanks Internet, for the help you have provided in choosing the Yashica T5.