beginner camera

want to get into photography, planing on doing a 10week course in dun laughaire after christmas
Need to get a camera first though, and as im only a beginner i dont want to spend more than 150euro
What could any of you recommend me?? and where could i get it???

JackKelly

Digital or Film? SLR or point and shoot?

Shrimp

Get a good digital Point a shoot imo...

JackKelly

not if it's a course around SLR's, which it could well be. In that case you should be able to pick up a nice film camera fairly cheap.

Merrion

Get a good digital Point a shoot imo...

I'd go the other way myself - take the money down to the second hand camera shops and see if you can get youself a canon EoS film camera. Get yourself some good black and white film and some good slide film...
...that way if you get some good photos then you are responsible for their quality - not some microprocessor.

ShayHT

if you only want to spend 150 then definitley a film SLR, secondhand though you'll probably only get a Centon or similar. Or try a secondhand Nikon or Canon.

Shrimp

Well, I'm just giving my opinion from my experience, I've got a digital cam, mind you it's quite a good one, so it has all the capabilities of SLR, I think it'd suffice for that course. I know the one your are talking about the.. good course.

dubtom

Buy and sell usually have a lot of used SLR's for sale. Eos 500 n or 300 are cheap. If you do decide on an SLR, try and get a brand name- Canon/Nikon,that way in the future if you do go Digital the lenses etc will be compatable.

excuse my ignorance, whats SLR???
I was hoping on getting a film camera and also hoping on taking black and whites!

dubtom

Single lens refex. That's the type you can attach lenses to.

FinoBlad

josco da walrus wrote:

excuse my ignorance, whats SLR???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-lens_reflex_camera

josco da walrus wrote:

i dont want to spend more than 150euro

In Buy and Sell this week.

Nikon F60. Leinster Wicklow €160.00
35mm SLR, mint, zoom 28-70mm nikkor lens, user manual & magic lantern user guide, scene, ASPM modes, auto/man focus, timer, €160. e-mail [clip]

Oriel

Folks,
Merrion, if you're starting out in photography, then you don't get a film camera. You make a lot of mistakes when you start out, and these are very expensive when you develop every photograph you take. Now that we have the choice and luxury of having a digital camera, it's the best option to go for in terms of cost. The ideal would be a digital SLR, but then obviously the cost and complexity would be far too much for a beginner.

josco, getting a point and shoot camera is ok for weddings and snapshots, but not for "photography".
Therefore I suggest you go for a semi-SLR. This is a camera which allows you to control certain things on the camera, which other standard cameras don't let you change. Fujiflm seem to have a good range of these, so have a look into them. Their S5500 would be perfect, but little over your budget.

S.

FinoBlad

sinecurea wrote:

Folks,
if you're starting out in photography, then you don't get a film camera.
S.

I totally disagree with that, maybe it didnt work for you but lots of people and most students still start with a film camera. Most students will learn more from their "bad" photographs than clicking, looking at the LCD, deleting and trying again.

Digital is great, dont get me wrong but you dont HAVE to use it to learn unless youre lazy or impatient [or both]

FX Meister

Shrimp wrote:

I've got a digital cam, mind you it's quite a good one, so it has all the capabilities of SLR.

No, no it doesn't.

Merrion

€150 spent on a digital camera would be €150 wasted.
If you have at least 10-15 times that much then yes, digital is a sensible option...

Oriel

Merrion wrote:

€150 spent on a digital camera would be €150 wasted.
If you have at least 10-15 times that much then yes, digital is a sensible option...

So you see no merit at all in the FujiFilm S5500? Bear in mind, it's for a beginner.

FinoBlad

sinecurea wrote:

So you see no merit at all in the FujiFilm S5500? Bear in mind, it's for a beginner.

This is silly, how can anyone see depth of field in a LCD viewfinder?
Some rubbish manual focus.
No distance indicator on the lens and absolutely no indication of whats in focus at any given aperature.

In all fairness guys this is not remotely suitable for anyone learning photography.

FX Meister

But FinoBlad, if it's quite a good one, it will have all the capabilities of SLR. As mentioned above

FinoBlad

FX Meister wrote:

But FinoBlad, if it's quite a good one, it will have all the capabilities of SLR. As mentioned above

Indeed they actually look identical [from a distance of 200m:D ]