Most recommended film camera slr?
I'm not quite sure which film camera i should buy. I want it to be an slr, so i'm looking at nikon, canon, and pentax. Which one is the most recommended?
Those brands are all good. Go to a camera shop, hold them in your hands, work the controls, and see which one you like best.
Nikon and Canon, since there are so many of them available and they are also the gateway brands to professional photography.
Any 35 mm Nikon or Canon SLR with standard zoom lens will cost about $50 to $150 on craigslist in a city near you
Minolta. They made the best (and first) auto-focus SLRs. Loads on eBay going for nothing and hundreds of A mount lenses to fit it.
You can use the Minolta AF lenses on Sony dSLRs.
The canon Elan 7E 35mm has price dumped at the auctions due to digital. The lenses used on it will work on canon digital cameras in the future should you switch.
Most folks who are interested in film are into fully mechanical cameras which can operate without batteries and only use electronics for the meter. Reason being that, automation can be done with a digital camera but the feel of using an all manual camera and getting fast with it is very rewarding and provides a great education. All manual/mechanical cameras and film seem to go together because they are both about really using your hands and brain with no distractions orinterruptionss.
After about 10 years of shooting and buying and selling many different model 35mm slr's, there are two fully mechanical ones which stand out to me as the most reliable, easy to come by, easy to resell and easy to find accessories for but also aren't too expensive for someone just starting out yet give professional results when used properly.
They are the Pentax K1000 with Pentax SMC-A or M 50mm f2 or 1.7 and the Nikon FM with Nikkor 50mm 1.8 or 1.4.
I have owned many of these cameras as well as other similar models but these served the functions I described the best, in my opinion. I feel completely comfortable suggesting them to a student and knowing that they will get their full value of both learning and enjoyment out of these models.
You can buy them at www. KEH.com and there are tons of great reviews of these cameras if you search for them online.
You can download users manuals for them for free and you'll want to pick up a basic photography manual also.
If you are not comfortable buying vintage cameras, Nikon still sells the Nikon FM10 brand new, which costs nearly twice as much as the K1000 and original FM but may be lesshasslel in some ways than an old camera. Be sure if you get the FM10, you also pick up a Nikon 50mm 1.4 or 1.8 to learn on instead of the zoom lens they come with. The Vivitar V3800N is also a new all mechanical 35mm SLR. It's a bit cheaper than the Nikon FM10 and comes with a proper 50mm lens instead of the zoom. It takes Pentax lenses.
When you buy vintage Nikon and Pentax lenses, you can keep them for a digital camera you may buy later because they are compatible with new models. This makes buying into these brands a little nicer for the modern film shooter than other brands.
I hope that whatever you choose to buy, you enjoy learning about film photography and do some work you are really proud of. Feel free to email me at any time for questions.
JohnnyMartyr@Hotmail.com
You can buy this one
The Canon EOS 7D is an 18.0 effective megapixel APS-C crop CMOS digital single-lens reflex camera made by Canon.
Features:-
1.) Canon's best ergonomics ever. The 7D is a joy to shoot and never gets in the way. Images, as expected, look great. If I was in the market for a 1.6x Canon, I'd get the 7D in a heartbeat: it's worlds ahead of the old 50D.
2.) Quick Control Screen makes setting the 7D fast and easy, without menus.
3.) Great LCD.
4.) Three Total Recall camera state memories, recalled instantly with the top dial.
5.) Movies are easy to shoot, much easier than with the 5D Mark II.
6.) Great pictures!