Camera for a beginner

kittex

My fella has talked for a while about getting into photography properly. So, being a good girly, I want to buy him a camera for his birthday to help him get started.

He might do a course in Digital Photography next year and will mainly be shooting people, still life and band performances.

Can anyone give me any pointers?
With the budget around £100-150 sterling, I may be looking to Ebay.

zod

pick one here :

http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/xx/xx/150-330/1/1/criteresn.html?s=xx&m=xx&t=150-330&categorieid=1&cat=1&startrow=&sortBy=ASC&orderBy=Prix

then google the make and model for a review

good luck!

kittex

Thanks Zod.:)

Would any cameras in that price range be Ok then? Also, how can I tell if the cameras can be used with additional lenses?

Sorry for all the questions - I don't want him to have to stump up for another camera if he does the course.

melekalikimaka

realistically at that price your tight on options, if i had to reccommend anything id say a film slr, second hand, so when he gets into it and he wishes to upgrade, the accessories with be compatable...as long as you buy nikon/canon

elven

Yup, if he's going to be into it seriously I think an film SLR is better than a digital compact, for that money. You won't get anything digital that will take different lenses for less than £400... and a compact will be a lot more limiting than using film.

peter1892

I'll 'third' the SLR recommendation. For the amount of money involved the only digitals that would be available would be compact cameras with little or no manual over-ride on them. Fine for most people but limiting if he wants to get creative.

A 2nd hand Canon or Nikon 35mm SLR would be good. Stick a 50mm lens (not zoom!) on it & that'd be a nice starter camera. He can get the films scanned when they're being processed or else invest in a scanner & work on them that way on a computer.

Oriel

Folks, she said beginner, definitely not an SLR. I'd recommend the Fujifilm S5500. That's the camera I started off with and it's great. You can get it new on ebay for about £160 or so.

melekalikimaka

sinecurea wrote:

Folks, she said beginner, definitely not an SLR. I'd recommend the Fujifilm S5500. That's the camera I started off with and it's great. You can get it new on ebay for about £160 or so.

also said photograhy course, a p and s isn't usually reccommended for those

Oriel

I know I'm going to get flamed for this but I think a digital camera is the best way to go for a beginner. There are a lot of mistake to be made as a beginner, and if you have a film camera, these are very, very expensive mistakes! With digital, you can play about and experiment with various exposures and the like without having to remortgage your house.

Oriel

melekalikimaka wrote:

also said photograhy course, a p and s isn't usually reccommended for those

It's fully manual too.

melekalikimaka

i dunno, i guess we really need more details on the guy

elven

Yes, indeed, digital speeds up the circle of feedback. But there are so many people that start from a digital compact, they move up to a DSLR, and they haven't a clue what to do with it apart from the 'scene' modes. Film mistakes being expensive is what makes you think twice about just clicking away like a monkey with a toy - it forces you to consider the outcome instead of saying 'oh I'll just take it and see how it comes out anyway'.

I remember speaking to a guy who was doing a course and used medium format - he said, 'at a fiver a pop, I'm going to make damned sure I don't take the shot til I'm entirely happy with what I see through the viewfinder and know I've got my exposure spot on!'

As you say mele we would need more details to know just how serious he wanted to get into it before giving a suggestion on what to buy. If there's any inclination there to go beyond 'oh look, that's pretty - click' then I would say, go for a 35mm slr and a bunch of cheap film. But people just want it easy these days I suppose.

(gawd i sound like I'm old or something. But when I started out only 5-6 years ago you couldn't get a dslr for less than two grand - sterling that is)

kittex

Hey, thanks to you all for your help and tips.

He's a beginner in the sense that he's planning on doing this properly for the first time. Although he has always had an interest in it, he's never done anything about it other than taking forever while he tries to make pictures a bit more professional looking.

The course isn't for a year yet, so he won't have darkroom access until then, hence thinking of the digital option.
I'd like him something that he could get to grips with, get to know all the hows of picture taking first, before he got to know the rest.

So maybe I don't need to worry about lenses etc?
I was thinking of a 2nd hand semi pro type thing and for a really good deal could stretch the funds further £200 sterling would be the max though.

Ah, sure, I have 2 months to trawl Ebay...

But again, thanks for all the advice so far.

peter1892

kittex wrote:

Ah, sure, I have 2 months to trawl Ebay...

If you see anything you're interested in then pop a link on here & someone will be able to advise you on it.

kittex

Thanks peter1892. I'll do that.