I just want to learn how to take and develop my own pictures the "old fashioned way". Yes, the Canon AE-1 is a great camera, as is the Pentax K1000, but they are both over 20 years old and you would have to shop used and hope for the best.
If you are shopping new and "cheap," buy either a Nikon or Canon camera, such as a Nikon F-80 or N-80 (autofocus), Nikon FM-10 (manual focus), Canon EOS Elan 7N (autofocus), or one of the Canon Rebel cameras.
My reasons for suggesting Nikon or Canon is so that you can have the widest possibile selection of high quality lenses available to you. Once you have really gotten into photography, you will have a few lenses and then you can keep your top quality lenses and upgrade to a more expensive camera in the same line. Pentax is another fine camera with a huge line of lenses and I always owned Pentax film cameras, but I think you have even more to choose from in Nikon and Canon, so these are the brands I have recommended to my own children.
Get one "general purpose lens" of a wide-to-tele zoom of the same brand as your camera in the 35-70 or 35-105 range.
The Nikon FM10 35mm SLR Manual Focus Camera Kit with Nikon 35-70mm f3.5-4.8 AIS Lens is a good student kit which is available for about $250.
The Nikon F80 35mm SLR Autofocus Camera Kit with Nikon 28-80mm f/3.3-5.6 G-AF Lens is an autofocus camera and lens which is available for about $370.
The Pentax K1000 is certainly a proven student camera that would serve you well, but you'll have to shop used, as it is not a current model. It has been replaced by the ZX-M, which looks like a good student camera. It is a manual focus only camera with four exposure modes: Program AE, Aperture priority, Shutter priority and full manual. The camera body sells for about $160. A Pentax lens worth owning is the Pentax Zoom Wide Angle SMCP-FA 28-105mm f/3.2-4.5 AL IF Autofocus Lens which sells for about $210. This makes the Pentax "kit" cost about $370. You might also consider a "normal" Pentax 50 mm f/1.4 lens instead of the zoom, but that costs slightly more money. Personally, I prefer the 50 mm lens for a student, but that's just my vintage taste.
Here are a couple of suggestions:
Canon EOS Elan 7N 35mm SLR Autofocus Camera Kit with Canon 28-105mm f/4-5.6 EF Lens
Nikon N80 35mm SLR Autofocus Camera Body with Nikon Zoom Wide Angle-Telephoto AF Zoom Nikkor 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5D IF Autofocus Lens
See kehkohjones's answer http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;... The Cannon AE-1 is a great camera to start with, it's inexpensive, pretty much bullet proof and will have just the right amount of features and will not over whelm you with electronic nonsense. Back to basics... Enjoy! |
