SLR Camera Virgin

[SheSaidDutch]

Well I've currently got a digital camera that I purchased last Christmas,but I need an SLR Camera for a Photography course in September.
any suggestions?

What Should I be looking for in an SLR Camera
Brand new or 2nd hand (I'm leaning towards 2nd hand esp considering price and features)
Brandnames esp lenses
I'll probabaly say atm my budget is between £80-120 maybe at a push abit more.

[greg]

Hey, a photography discussion!

I have a Canon AE-1 Program. What I like about it is that it has the option for automatic aperature and shutter speed, so you can use it like an automatic camera for quick shots. And of course it has a hot shoe contact for camera synchronization. I used to have a Minolta, but I sold it when my fancy lens broke. Minolta actually still makes traditional-style SLR cameras, so you can buy a new one if you like. Still, I highly recommend getting a Canon AE-1 Program. You don't have to fork out lots of cash on a Nikon.

Also, keep in mind that lenses are compatible only with certain cameras. Canon has wide support, more so than Minolta. And the prices for the lenses are better. I got my Canon for under $150 US, if I remember right.

[llabnip]

Well I've currently got a digital camera that I purchased last Christmas,but I need an SLR Camera for a Photography course in September.
any suggestions?

This is going to sound dated... (and being a classic retro-gamer it makes sense coming from me ) but I've had amazing success with the Pentax K-1000. The camera was first made in 1976 and was discontinued in 1997 - but for those 2 decades it was a well-respected entry-level SLR that was great for learning photography. It's all manual - and so you really have to learn how to deal with F-stops, shutter speeds and the like. No batteries are truly needed to operate the camera! The only battery was a small watch-cell that controlled the built-in light meter - but once you got good at framing subjects and evaluating lighting conditions, even the meter was not needed (however, the small battery lasted like 10+ years in the thing). Anyway, not having auto-focus, auto-shutter speeds and auto-fstop forces you to really learn how to understand the camera. I think it can be had used fairly cheaply - I got a used K-1000 body and 50mm lense many (many!) years ago for like $70. I have no idea what they cost now, but I'm guessing they are still reasonable used.

[SheSaidDutch]

Thanks greg and llabnip much appreicated

I was looking through e-bay and came across a Pentax P50 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 2&rd=1[url]



[/url]

[greg]

Yeah, they haven't made truly manual cameras since the 70's. The Minolta one I used to own had the option for automatic aperature. My Canon was made around the late 70's. I usually don't use any automatic settings on it unless I'm lazy. I find that the automatic settings can get me in trouble, no matter what camera I'm using. It's always best to stick to one shutter speed and do the F-stops manually.

Being a photography hobbyist, I find that digital cameras just can't capture truly artistic photographs like my manual camera can. They're best for snapshots.

[SheSaidDutch]

Just Purchased a Canon EOS 500N for £47 via e-bay

[SheSaidDutch]

Managed to sell afew things to purchase a 28-80mm lense

While I'm here bumping this rather unloved thread

rather than going to the darkside/expensive digital SLR, I was wondering would a scanner be a good idea to upload/edit photo's for a film SLR?

would this be a viable solution?

greg,llabnip have you guys got any photographs scaned etc,so that you could post afew

come on people this thread needs some loving!

[greg]

Yeah, I have a scanner. It's a Canon CanoScan LiDE20. Here are some examples of pics I've taken in Japan on my Canon AE-1 Program:

Akihabara in Tokyo:


Shibuya (it was misty after a summer rain):


Dotombori in Osaka (my personal favorite):


Actually, these were scanned on an old generic scanner many years ago. You can adjust the contrast and colors to liven up pics with a decent imaging program. I use Adobe Imageready (I think that's what it's called). I'm sure I can make these look better if I were to rescan them on my new scanner.

And of course, these were only scanned at 100dpi. You can scan them at higher detail.

[Icarus]

I used to have a Canon EOS 500, and I loved it to bits. Long since gave it to a young family member to help them develop their photography interest.

Nowadays I use a digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 5700. It's not an SLR, but I'm investing in either a Canon EOS 10D, 20D, or a Nikon D-SLR of some sort in the near future to use for my work, travel, research and play. I use Photoshop CS2 to retouch photos, and to merge some into panoramics (which reminds me, I need to crack on a bit and get the rest of them done )

Nice photos of Japan by the way Brings back memories of my trip last year.

[SheSaidDutch]

Really amazing pictures there greg, I esp like photo 2 with the contrast of the people and the urbaness (also for the coca cola van )

I bet Dotombori in Osaka looks beautiful inthe night

speaking of panoramics Icarus, I'll try and find a program I came across, It's supposed to be much easier than using photoshop to create panoramic photo's. I'll post it here for everyone to checkout.

[Icarus]

speaking of panoramics Icarus, I'll try and find a program I came across, It's supposed to be much easier than using photoshop to create panoramic photo's. I'll post it here for everyone to checkout.

I prefer to do my panoramics by hand, as I find I have a better level of control over joins, cloning and other fixes than a program which can often botch up the simplest of joins. Some of my panoramics are in this thread, with a few more to come.

Besides, doing it manually teaches me a lot more about using CS2 than doing it automatically (although the autostitch is nice for when I can't be bothered )

[SheSaidDutch]

I managed to find the site

http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html

Any good books and/or sites on either famous/cotempory photographers?, which also include their work etc.

One more question

Can anyone explain what exactly are Lomo camera's e.g Holga? and their use etc

[Icarus]

Can anyone explain what exactly are Lomo camera's e.g Holga? and their use etc

A Lomo is a cheapass camera that's great for doing some really fancy photography. The camera is well made but features cheap technology, and the lens makes all the images slightly blurry, slightly out-of-focus and slightly overexposed. Great for more soft-focus imagery, as it renders an almost dream-like style to landscape photography (especially if you shoot on a misty morning or during sunrise/sunset) as well as fun-looking portraits and quickshots.

I recommend you browse this site: http://www.lomography.com/

You can do all the same kinds of imagery with a bit of SLR trickery, but nothing gets the right effect than a cheap Lomo

A pro photographer I know has a "toy" camera that does weird unexpected stuff to the film, such as random cropping, blurring, strange focus, over or under-exposure, sometimes merging parts of or full seperate shots into one composite image. I'll try and get the name of the camera, as it's cheap and really good fun to use.

[SheSaidDutch]

Thanks for the link and information Icarus

I'm in an impulse mindset atm so I'll probably end up with a Holga inthe next few days..