[keanej6]

i want to buy a fairly cheap manual camera. i'm borrowing my friend's at the moment which is a canon EOS elan II. I've looked them up on ebay and they seem to be around $100. Are there any better entry level manual cameras for cheaper or is the elan II a good place for me to start? thanks.

 

[jewman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by keanej6 /img/forum/go_quote.gif i want to buy a fairly cheap manual camera. i'm borrowing my friend's at the moment which is a canon EOS elan II. I've looked them up on ebay and they seem to be around $100. Are there any better entry level manual cameras for cheaper or is the elan II a good place for me to start? thanks.

Check out the Pentax k1000. It's widely considered one of the best cameras ever made. Go to KEH. They are a very reliable photography source, and their prices are reasonable.

Hope this helps!

 

[c0mfortably_numb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jewman /img/forum/go_quote.gif Check out the Pentax k1000. It's widely considered one of the best cameras ever made. Go to KEH. They are a very reliable photography source, and their prices are reasonable. Hope this helps!

The K1000 is great camera, I would also recommend looking at it's replacement the P3N, usually can get a better deal and it's a great camera, I shoot with one when I'm not shotting with one of my old Russian range finders

Also if your going to buy an older canon, you need to be very careful, allot of the older canons develop a problem with a rubber seal and leak gunk onto the shutter, it's called sticky shutter, and is very common. I bought an EOS650 used, it didn't have the problem when I got it, but after about 6 months of use it happened to mine

Edit Pics
Here is my P3N

And this is Russian range finder (I have quit a few but love this one, been fully restored)

 

[keanej6]

sorry i meant an automatic slr film camera. my bad.

 

[c0mfortably_numb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by keanej6 /img/forum/go_quote.gif thank you guys, sorry i should've mentioned that i'd like an automatic manual camera.

Almost any of the automatic SLR's can go to manual mode, for around $100 I'd stick with an older Nikon N60 or N70 Here is a N70 with lens on eBay

 

[keanej6]

are lenses pretty much universally compatible or are no? my mom works for canon so if canon cameras only use canon lenses then i'm going to stick with a canon so i can take advantage of her employee discount if i decide to buy lenses.

 

[gz76]

I don't know how old you want to go, but the Canon AE-1 is a great camera to learn with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_AE-1

 

[lz7j]

Get an ELAN2e.
Or if you want MF, get the Canon A-1.

 

[keanej6]

i'm thinking of getting this. but now i must decide on a lens. i want one that would be most versatile as i experiment with photography which is still new to me. many of the lenses say f/2.8 - 4 or f/4. - 5.6. does that mean if i bought one of these lenses, i can't go from like f/3.5 - to f/22 like i've been doing on my friend's camera?

 

[dj_mocok]

If a lens says f/2.8 only, that means the widest aperture it can have is f/2.8 (so it won't go any lower than that)
Of course you can do incremental increase from f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6,... to f/16 or f/22 for example.

When a zoom lens says f/2.8 (eg. 17-35mm f/2.8), that means it can always perform at f/2.8 no matter what focal length you use. Although some lens may have an exception, like Tamron 90mm 2.8 for example. It can only do a constant 2.8 if you are within a certain range from the object (3m or so), but when you do a very close macro, its minimum value will change into f/5.6
But basically, when a zoom says f/2.8 only, that means it can do f/2.8 all the time (which is really what you want in a lens).

But if a lens says, eg: 70-300mm f/4-5.6, that means that lens will have the minimum aperture value of either f/4 or it can be f/5.6 depending on the focal length you choose. So sometimes the aperture won't go any lower than f/5.6 when you change focal length.

Basically what you want is the focal length(s) to be as low as possible (or constant), but this is reserved mainly for pro-grade lens (more $$$ compared to non-constant ones).
So when buying zoom lens, consider the f value it offers, because the range it covers might sound good, but it can actually be a painfully slow lens.

Maybe if you are shooting mostly in bright daylight, it's not much of a problem to have slower lens, but when it's a tad cloudy or during late afternoon, you might find that the non-constant one will be too slow to take a sharp shot (because you need to use slower shutter speed), and it that kind of situation, you will want a fast lens (so that's when the f/2.8 will show one of the benefits)

Basically, lens aperture doesn't depend on the camera, but on the lens itself.

If you don't have the budget to get a constant aperture zoom, but you want a fast lens, other option is to have a couple of fast primes, since they are generally cheaper. Although that means you have to change lenses to get the focal length you want. But for film, I think you'll be fine if you have 24mm and 50mm primes for a start. Used ones are not that expensive.

I hope that helps.

 

[Joshatdot]

Minolta X-700

 

[keanej6]

dj_mocok, thank you very much.

 

[PerformanceFirst]

Quote:

Originally Posted by keanej6 /img/forum/go_quote.gif are lenses pretty much universally compatible or are no? my mom works for canon so if canon cameras only use canon lenses then i'm going to stick with a canon so i can take advantage of her employee discount if i decide to buy lenses.

You must consider the lens mount. Currently, Canon use the EF lens mount, and only the cropped frame DSLRS use EF-S lenses. Any EOS System camera will use these but if you're looking at older ones, they won't. This won't be an issue though because I think older cameras don't have autofocus.

 

[c0mfortably_numb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PerformanceFirst /img/forum/go_quote.gif You must consider the lens mount. Currently, Canon use the EF lens mount, and only the cropped frame DSLRS use EF-S lenses. Any EOS System camera will use these but if you're looking at older ones, they won't. This won't be an issue though because I think older cameras don't have autofocus.

The first Auto focus Canon is the 650 circa 1987, but if your going Canon I would say stick with the newer models like the EOS 3, Elan 7, Elan 2. I don't think the newer Canon models suffer from the same sticky shutter problem that I mentioned with my 650.

Edit:
This is what I mean by sticky shutter


You can carefully clean it with alcohol, but it still gets some gunk on it as you continue to shoot with it over time. The gunk can prevent the shutter from firing fully and ruin your shots.