Is getting a old slr worth it?

Question

I'm currently looking at the Canon AE-1 and the Nikon FM. I'm 17 and used to use old film cameras when I was a kid up to when I was 13. I loved using those cameras and they were great. The only camera I use now is a point and shoot by Canon and I love adjusting the settings on it to get a good picture. Would it be worth it to get one of these old cameras. I only have a $200 budget and these cameras seem great. I could probably get them much cheaper on Ebay too. Would they be ideal for taking pictures outside or for learning how to use a slr? I plan on getting the pictures on a Dvd so I can upload them to my computer too.

http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-FM-10-Camera-35-70mm-3-5-4-8/dp/B00006I5JN/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372039515&sr=8-1&keywords=nikon+fm

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-AE-1-Manual-Focus-Camera/dp/B001NPCCH0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372039893&sr=8-1&keywords=canon+ae-1

Answer 1

Film cameras can be so so cheap, but be prepared to give them a little love and attention. Anything much older than 20 years, be prepared to change the light seals. It's usually a fairly cheap and easy job to do yourself. Check lenses for fungi.



I have two digital SLR cameras, but I also use film cameras. 35mm film is still easily available and can be cheap. I pay £1 for AgfaPhoto Vista Plus films (77 US cents). Getting them developed can be more problematic, but there are still many local independent processors with a photolab machine, and if not, many postal developers. Lots of people however opt to shoot in true b&w and then develop themselves. Either way, it's worth buying a digital scanner. Many flatbeds have film masks, and lamps built into their lids, to scan negatives or slides. Then all you need is the negatives.



120 roll film is still available, but if you think that you will ever use it, try invest in a digital scanner that can scan 35mm or 120 film negatives. Again, 120 b&w negatives can be developed at home.



As for price, I find Ebay a little expensive. The cheapest places here in the UK are 'car boot sales' - sort of mass yard sales. Examples of working film cameras that I've bought over the past twelve months:

Pentax ME Super - £10 from Ebay

Olympus Trip 35 - £5 from a car boot sale

Olympus XA-2 - £0.50p from a car boot sale (38 US cents)

Kodak Retinette 2A - £2 from a car boot sale

Lubitel 166B TLR - £2 from a car boot sale (yes, I paid less than a few dollars for a medium format film TLR!)



You get the drift, they are VERY cheap, just be prepared to clean them up and replace light seals, which can be purchased online. Film is not as 'instant' or convenient as Digital, but it is a whole lot of fun, and worth enjoying while it's still around.

Answer 2

I suppose you could have most of the easy solutions. You probably have an curiosity in images, this will not be an extraordinarily exciting digicam considering that, as Canon cameras of that generation go, this is the least ready SLR camera they made. No longer that it isn't a just right digicam, it's only that it was a response to a specific niche market need, and the design is confined to meeting that want. Accordingly, the AV-1 best has aperture priority auto-publicity, flash and bulb. Why Canon didn't make this a more competent digicam can most effective be guessed at, but it was now not for lack of abilities. They had presented their first auto-exposure model, the AE-1 three years prior, and the A-1 used to be presented the yr before. For its time, the A-1 used to be an tremendously bendy camera, delivering shutter pace-priority AE and aperture-precedence AE modes, as good as fully automatic software AE mode, preset aperture-precedence AE, flash AE mode, a utterly guide mode and bulb. The AE-1 did not furnish program or aperture-priority AE modes, but did present the others. With this heritage, one could have notion that Canon would have offered a handbook mode on the AV-1. However they failed to, and what you could have is the late 1970s an identical of a point and shoot digital camera, or on this case, factor, center of attention and shoot. There's little you are able to do to override the camera to reap any unique result that you need, as you might with all of the other SLR cameras Canon made at the time. If you're all set to accept this issue, and need to shoot film, it's going to provide you with entry to a probably the most satisfactory lens techniques of the handbook center of attention era from both Canon and different lens makers equivalent to Vivitar, Tokina, Tamron and many others. You'll find these slightly cheaply on-line or at good 2nd hand shops trading in used digicam equipment.

Answer 3

IMO, getting a 35mm SLR isn't worthwhile because the visual quality isn't that good -- certainly not better than a good DSLR -- and it's inconvenient. But medium format film IS worth it. If you want to start cheap, get an old Russian Lubitel in good condition for about $60 to $75. It uses 120 film -- still available -- and the quality is much better than digital.



PS a cheap light meter will help, too -- or use your DSLR for a light meter.