so ive been tossing around that i need a hobby but not just any ol' hobby. i want something that challenges the mind and allows it to be free. im not the typical artsy person but i work in the streets of baltimore, and every day i catch myself staring at something and allowing that object/sight to take me somewhere that i like so therefore i want to capture it and keep it forever. no my problem i dont even own a camera nor do i know the first step to turning my vision into a print . i have a pretty low budget so what would be the best starter camera digital or film what kind of lens? i would like to think that there is a lens out there that can catch what my eyes see that broad of a spectrum. -please let me know and i thank you now for all your help sorry so long
well to keep costs low and to see how well you might like photography.....start out with a point and shoot camera and advance from there. hope that helps.
p&s cameras are cool but you could pick up a used film slr off craigslist for next to nothing but with the p&s you can avoid the cost of developing film and see how your images came out right away. i recently picked up a film body and have had fun with it so that would be the way i would go.
Also the first camera that came to mind for me. I am looking into a point and shoot for instances when my DSLR is simply too big/fragile/valuable, and this seems like a solid choice for someone who wants to "get serious" using a point and shoot. It is far from the smallest camera out there, but you trade size for features while keeping a low price point. I would not recommend a film SLR. I learned photography with a digital SLR and I have a friend who is trying to learn with an old film SLR and there is certainly a learning curve difference, not to mention considerable running costs. Once you get the basics down with your point and shoot, I would consider moving into film just because you won't be throwing away as much film. A search for "Nikon N75" on eBay will show you just how cheap you can pick up a film SLR these days.
If you are series about photography, and really want to learn from the ground up I would recommend a film SLR. Get a 100% manual camera and a cheap light meter. By forcing yourself to learn on a completely manual camera you will slow down and understand light, composition, and how shutter/aperture work together produce an image. Keep a log of the images you take writing down the shutter/aperture/film so that when you develop it you can see the differences. The problem with learning photography on a digital camera is that people tend to shoot an image, look at it, make some correction and shoot again. This process continues until they get the right image. Or they shoot in completely auto mode letting the camera make the decisions. Yes, they get nicer images right away but they do not understand why or how. Before people attack I would like to make a disclaimer. Yes you can learn photography on a digital camera, and many people do and are successful. From my experience teaching I have seen that people learning on film generally understand what goes into making an image better. Digital cameras can be set to auto way to easily if a person is upset with the outcome, thus not learning from there mistakes. Also you can get a manual film camera and a few old manual lens that work just as good if not better than new lens for really cheap. Than you can develop your own film (which is extremely easy to do at home), and either get them printed or scan them into your computer to make digital images. Either way have fun, and experiment. Once you get your first camera you will be sucked in for life. Just to help out when I teach someone new to photography I start them out with a Holga (medium format film camera that costs $22 dollars). This camera has very limited settings, a film point and shoot really, but it help teach them lighting and composition. Then we move on to a manual film SLR with a fixed lens 35mm, 50mm, etc. This teaches them how to work a camera shutter, aperture etc. After you master that you can use any camera and produce great images.
I would recommend a point and shoot camera with manual override. I own a Kodak for just almost a year now and I actually go for drives to spend my day taking pics. I now think I am interested enough to spend the money to pay for a DSLR and all the costs associated with the upgrade in equipment. And if you own a computer it is a cheap and easy way to see your interest. Once you own the camera you can shoot until your hearts content. When I was doing B&W pics I would get maybe 2 pics I really liked out of a roll of film, but now I can shoot 300 pics in an outing (and still have to empty media to spare) and I may like 20 or 30 and it costs nothing to keep them. It also depends on what space you have available, and I have more than enough, even if you need more space and exernal hard drive these days can be had for cheap if you shop around. You will need the HD space anyway when you go to DSLR. Film can be a costly way to go, I owned my own black room and rolled all my own film and it was a costly hobby 20 years ago. And more than likely you have a basic photo editing program that will do you for now. Keep your costs to a minimum and see if you have a real interest.
My friend got a Figi Film camera for under 200 dollars, its okay 8.3 megapixles and you can change lenses. So I'd recomend that espesially since it has auto focus and most of the fetures as the "High Tech" cameras
