What Is A Good Non-Digital 35mm Camera To Start Experimenting In Black & White Photography With?

I WANT TO START EXPERIMENTING IN PHOTOGRAPHY, MAINLY BLACK & WHITE ARTISTIC QUALITY PRINTS. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT BRAND AND MODEL, INCLUDING MULTIPLE LENSES, I SHOULD START WITH. CANON, NIKON, PENTAX? LENSES? ALSO, IF YOU KNOW A GREAT BOOK/MANUAL TO LEARN ABOUT BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY OR PHOTOGRAPHY IN GENERAL PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

THANKS TO ALL THAT RESPOND.

Get a Nikon FM2. They are an excellent manual camera. They are not battery dependant and are highly reliable. They also hold their value, should you loose interest.

Bargains can be found on photography books of all sorts on eBay.

Good Luck :-)

I got a Nikon N-60 about 7 years ago, and it's lovely. Don't worry about getting multiple lenses when you start. Just get a 50mm, high quality lens (prices vary!) and get out there and take photos. The other thing -- take a printing class at a local school, where you can learn to print. That's half the fun! ENJOY!

DO YOU KNOW CAPS ARE RUDE?


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In the SLR department you can look at things like Pentax Spotmatics, Canon F-1, FTB, AT-1, Nikon F, Minolta SRT, just to name a few. Really old school choices include Leica rangefinders, Voightlander (inc. Bessamatic SLR), etc. A Yashica Mat 124G is a great twin lens that you can get a 35mm adapter for. What you don't need is a lot of electronics. A simple in camera meter is the most you want. What's really great about some of these older cameras (and I shoot a couple regularly) is that they don't need batteries at all. Your handheld meter does, but the camera doesn't and you learn to read the light and adjust the exposure accordingly. If you can find a copy of the old photography series of Time-Life Books that's a good starting point for understanding photography. Hopefully your local library will have a set you can look at without having to buy all of them. By the way, as far as lenses, stick with single focal length lenses and probably nothing longer than 135mm. I generally depend on 80-100mm for most all my photography. And welcome to the world of B&W.

I started with a second hand Pentax, cheap and easy to use! Even sold it on ebay at a huge profit afterwards lol!

Pick up a Pentax K1000 on ebay. Make sure the meter works, the lens is clean and not scratched or moldy. It's a great camera to learn on.

I'm a Nikon lover... And it really depends on how much coin you have, and features you're wanting...

For low $, I'd recommend a nice, vintage Nikomat (or Nikkormat, same camera) FTn or FT2. They're built like precision, high quality bricks!
Fully mechanical shutters, beautifully made and finished, and inexpensive. Perfect for B&W, and a great, vintage look and feel (handsome and tough, but heavy). For a little more $ (not much more) the FM and the FE. The FM2 and FE2 are a bit costly, but also excellent. They're more modern versions of the original FM & FE, and offer more features.

Since now's the time to buy a nice film camera ('cause they're now cheap), you could also consider vintage top of the line... Nikon F, F2 and F3. These are the professional quality cameras, and are really tough and customizable (the Nikomat, FM and FE series were advanced amateur cameras; also very tough, but not as customizable as the pro bodies). All the pro F series bodies are fantastic cameras; F3 being the most modern, with electronically controlled shutter. F2 are probably the most costly of the vintage professional F series, but very solidly built, and all mechanical. The classic, original F is a great bargain, and beautifully built... It really depends on just how vintage or modern you want your camera to be, but the above are my favorite film SLRs, and they're all super quality.

Nikon has made their F mount lenses since 1959 (lots of high quality lenses!!), and most can be used on all the above mentioned bodies (I think FE2 and FM2 require post '77 lenses). Main thing is to ask lots of questions, and not get one that looks beat up and abused. All the old cameras may need new light seal and mirror foam, but if you're at all handy, you can replace those very cheaply yourself.

Take a look at the older Nikon goodies on eBay, and have a look here:
http://www.cameraquest.com/nikonslr.htm

:)

Antoni,

be careful. If photoguy_ryan sees your comment, he's likely to go postal on you! :)

But...I digress to the posters question. Check out the Nikon N90s. I got a package deal - the N90s, a 35-70mm f3.3 lens and the sb-22 speedlight for $150. If you can find one, get a 50mm f/1.8(~$100)

Pentax K1000 with a 50mm 1.8 lens. Or, a Nikon FA with 50mm 1.8 lens.

Unless you already understand the various creative controls available on the more versatile cameras, I would recommend starting with a manual 35mm SLR and a 50mm or 35mm prime (i.e.non-zoom) lens. Used Pentax K1000 or Nikon FM series cameras, as mentioned by others, are suitable. With these cameras and lenses you can explore using all controls, including depth-of-field, creatively.
Also, using and developing your own traditional B & W films (silver halide emulsion films such as Tri-X, Delta 400, Delta100 etc.) gives more creative options than using C41 processed chromogenic films (Kodak 400CN etc.)

Get Introducing 35mm Photography by Kodak.

The Pentax XM-5 is a grate camera that has autowind, and is very light. It takes all standard K-Mount lenses.

Check you local photo shops. Most have boxes of film cameras no one wants any more.

I agree with everyone here who has said to start basic. When I was in high school, we learnt with the Pentax K1000 and a 50mm lens. Great camera. When I got to uni (I did a photography degree) we continued with these cameras until we bought our own. My first camera was a Nikon F60. It can be used as a fully manual camera, though it was too easy to leave it on automatic.

Later I advanced to the Nikon F80 and have now gone digital with a Nikon D70s. Although I have a digital camera, I still like my film cameras and am very disappointed in the things my digital won't do - it won't shoot B/W at the time of snapping - it does so on a PC later on. It won't take some filters and it won't shoot on the bulb setting without a special cable release.

Whenever I teach film photography I still recommend the Pentax K1000. I also have medium format film cameras and if you go down this path, I recommend the Mamiya C220.

Good Luck!

I could offer the brand name of an exquisite moderate-priced camera, but likely you'd lose it, as western hemisphere doesn't like citizens to possess or make use of such quality.