Peter Parker is arguably the most famous fictitious photographer to grace the silver screen.
While complicated comic-book continuity and the evolution of the character mean he’s not always working as a plucky photojournalist, the most well-known incarnation of the character is with camera in hand, supplying the repugnant J Jonah Jameson with exclusive Spidey pics for the Daily Bugle.
When it comes to Peter Parker’s many big-screen adventures, he can be seen wielding a wide variety of cameras from the likes of Nikon, Canon and even Yashica.
However – very small *SPOILER ALERT* – Tom Holland’s most recent MCU portrayal isn’t a photographer and, despite some fans hoping he’d finally pick up a camera in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, alas Peter is still cameraless.
The Amazing Spider-Man (1977)
The web-crawler’s first feature-length outing was in 1977’s The Amazing Spider-Man, starring Nicholas Hammond as the titular character. This was a straight-to-TV outing in the US, but was released in cinemas in other countries.
According to YouTuber Azriel Knight, this version of Spidey carried an all-black Nikon F2. But if you thought that would be the only film camera to feature in Peter’s arsenal, think again…
Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002-2007)
I’m a child of the Nineties, so Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films are firmly within my era. My mom took me to the cinema to see Tobey Maguire’s debut outing as the webslinging superhero, and I’ve seen it countless times since, but the real treat was 2004’s Spider-Man 2.
I still consider this sequel to be one of the best superhero films ever made and, if you’ve not seen it, Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock might just be the best Marvel supervillain to grace the big screen. The less said about Spider-Man 3, though, the better…
Throughout Raimi’s trilogy, Peter is seen out and about with a camera an awful lot – but the manufacturer’s label is usually covered with black tape.
That said, I watched Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 again around Christmas, and I’m sure I noticed at least one moment where the Canon logo was visible. Still, the F-1 logo is very much visible, with Azriel Knight pointing out that it’s the Canon New F-1 released in 1981.
Tobey’s Spidey continued to shun digital tech throughout his tenure. And when Andrew Garfield took on the mantle in 2012’s excellent The Amazing Spider-Man and continued in 2014’s less-than-excellent The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Peter still hadn’t made the jump to digital. If anything, he’d gone backwards!
The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
Azriel Knight has identified the little film camera as the Yashica Electro 35 GSN, following a truly admirable amount of research and investigation (watch the video above to find out how he came to that conclusion). This Yashica is a rangefinder camera with aperture priority, released in 1971.
That brings us right up to Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you ask me, it’s a real shame that Peter hasn’t yet returned to his roots and picked up a camera. After all, he’s been a photographer since The Amazing Spider-Man issue #2 way back in 1963!
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Want more Marvel and camera links? Here are 8 Marvel movies shot on Canon cameras. For something a little more based in reality, here are 29 movies about real photographers. And if you're a vintage camera nerd, but film is simply too expensive, check out the best retro cameras.
