Photography experts?

mathey · Apr 12, 2005

My 13 yo daughter would like to get a nice 35mm film (non-digital) camera setup. I have absolutely no clue about this what-so-ever. Her friend has a Canon Rebel K2 that she's used before and really likes. I don't mind spending money for a good product, and even would consider "gently" used. She wants it to have the ability for auto and manual focusing...I've seen what she can do with a cheapie digital, so i think she has a good eye for it. In this situation, Ebay scares me, so i'm avoiding it right now.

Are there camera/photography forums you'd recommend in the multitudes that seem to be out there?

Online sites for good prices and package deals that aren't infamous for being rip-offs?

Thanks,
Mark

Gatorboy · Apr 12, 2005

My first question would be, why a film camera? I would think a nice Digital SLR (e.g. Canon Digital Rebel) that can shoot manual and auto would be more fun for her. She can shoot test shots and get feedback on them as soon as she downloads them onto the PC. With film, she is going to have to wait for Mom/Dad to run the film to the store, wait for processing, have Mom/Dad run back to the store to pick up the prints.

The digital SLR will cost a lot more than a film SLR, so that may be the main reason. I'm don't think I'd buy my 14 year old daughter a $800+ camera.

But for film, I know alot of beginners, myself included, that learned with a Pentax K-1000 (it's not auto). I'm not sure that's even still manufactured, but you can get a used one on eBay pretty easily. Canon, Minolta, Nikon all make decent film cameras. You want to make sure you can get one that not only focuses manually, but allows you to manually change apeture and shutter speed. She will need this so she can learn about depth-of-field, motion blur, etc.

As far as a good online site for buying cameras, I'd recommend B&H Photo.

_RaT_ · Apr 12, 2005

I'd go Canon or Nikon so that if eventually you go digital SLR, you can still use all your lenses. I have a digital Canon, my wife a film. One huge bonus of film is the lack of a "crop" factor on most digital SLR's. This is very important for wide angle. One huge drawback is the inability to have instant results. I have learned more in two weeks of doing flash with my digital then I could have learned in years of using film. If your interested in Minolta, I have a whole bunch of Minolta lenses all the way up to a f4 600mm prime lens.

dmccarty · Apr 12, 2005

Mathey,

In one word NIKON.

My first camera outfit was Cannon. I won't ever buy Cannon again for two reasons. When they started selling autofocus camers they changed the lens mounts so that you had to buy new lenses. Remember the body is cheap compared to the lenses that you buy. So the money I spent on lenses is wasted with new camera bodies. My dad bought one of the first Cannon autofocus cameras. It had a well known problem of running down expensive batteries. By the time he figured this out they would not support the camera anymore. I don't think Cannon stands behind their products like Nikon does.

Nikon on the other hand has not obsoleted their camera mounts. With a few exceptions you can take lenses built decades ago and use them on their latest and greatest camera body. Now that does not mean you can use all of the bells and whistles on the camera body like autofocus but the lense will still work in manual mode.

I would avoid Ebay and most of the mail order photo stores have had issues over the years. I have used B&H but I have had some rough times with them as well. I did have a really good local photo salesman who would meet B&H prices are come very close. See if you can build a relationship with a local store before going to elsewhere. The sales guy I used got laid off which is a real shame since he was so danged good.

Should she get autofocus? I really think if she is serious a simple manual everything camera makes the most sense. It forces you to think about aperature and shutter speed as well as focus and framing. Autofocus is not the end all and for fast actions shots in low light its problematic. Spend money on the lenses not the body. A good macro lense on an inexpensive body mounted to a good tripod provides lots of good photo oppurtunities while teaching fundamentals.

Digital or not digital is a tough choice now a days. The really nice thing about digital for beginners is that they can quickly see the pictures and critique them. Since there is no development or film cost it really makes for a cheap way to learn photography. The problem is that the "good" digital camera's that can mount quality lenses are not in expensive. I have spent hundreds of dollars on film and development just trying to take certain kinds of photos and ended up with nothing of value. With a digital camera it would have cost nothing. Its a tough call.

Try Photo Net for a decent photo website. They have discussion areas on the site. I have not been there in years but they where a good source of info. They are sure to have discussion threads about many of your questions and might have reviews of the equipment you are interested.

One rule of thumb is that if you get one good image on a roll of 36 exposures you are doing well.....

Later,
Dan

mathey · Apr 12, 2005

I grilled her on the digital vs. film thing last night...she wants to go with film...the digital SLR's are out of my range, though i'm sure with time they will become much more affordable...good points however on the "instant results", I can see where digital takes the advantage on that...I do have a photo processing lab here at work, so the time gets cut down a little.

I've been trying to read through this as time allows...pretty informative... Camera FAQ

Also excellent point on the lens switching...since her friend has the Canon, I figured they could trade accessories occasionally.

Also, seems BH Photo has a good rep...

Thanks for the info! all is appreciated...

slowzuki · Apr 12, 2005

Rat are your Minolta lens MD or auto focus? My father and I have a pair of x-700's, x-9, XK, SRT 101,102, 200 and a few other bodies too. I have a digital Sony with manual focus and exposure options that I use exclusively now but I see they offer 35 mm direct to CD developing and scaning for cheap now.

All my big flash's etc are not good on the sony and it don't think it has flash metering from my sometimes crappy fill flash work.

I also was given a Mamiya 645 with motor drive at xmas /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif my uncle is all digital now. I picked up a couple of rolls of 220 film but haven't tried it yet!

( I'd go Canon or Nikon so that if eventually you go digital SLR, you can still use all your lenses. I have a digital Canon, my wife a film. One huge bonus of film is the lack of a "crop" factor on most digital SLR's. This is very important for wide angle. One huge drawback is the inability to have instant results. I have learned more in two weeks of doing flash with my digital then I could have learned in years of using film. If your interested in Minolta, I have a whole bunch of Minolta lenses all the way up to a f4 600mm prime lens. )

_RaT_ · Apr 12, 2005

They are all autofocus. Many zooms etc. The 600mm retails for $8000. All are for sale. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

_RaT_ · Apr 12, 2005

In one word NIKON. 

Well Dan we could have a few discussions about that but I really do not want to go there. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Let's just say our experiences differ. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Gatorboy · Apr 12, 2005

In one word NIKON. 

Canon / Nikon battles are just as intense as Blue/Orange/Green battles. All I know is that Nikon is trying like heck to "catch up" to Canon in the digital world.

Jimbrown · Apr 12, 2005

Well I am not an expert but my wife is and has enough camera equipment to buy me a new Ford F450 Diesel. Most of it is Cannon and I use it sometimes. All of the old stuff read that film has been in the closet for a over a year the only thing we use any more is the Cannon EOS digital Rebel. It is a $1000 or so list. I am sorry but it is worth it. We shoot 10 or 20 pic of every shot we want, cull the good and bad, massage it with one of the computer programs and get really good pictures. To do this with film would be simply be to expensive. The film will cost more than the digital camera very quickely. I know you and your daughter are looking at the up front cost but that is very misleading in the world of cameras. Plus almost all of the good digitals come with very good software to manage the pictures. I guarantee you she will regret not buying digital. Just get a good one that will except interchangable lenses. We have a 18-55 (stock lens) and a 55-200 zoom. The Zoom might be out of range and have to be a present somewhere down the line. I am sorry but the present camera world is digital. I suspect she may be taking lessons perhaps at school or somewhere and the instructor is just not knowledgeable of digital.