My college student daughter's birthday is coming up. She has mentioned a camera...stepping up from her iPhone. It has been a long time since I've messed with this subject. My photographers at work are split between Canon and Nikon. My wife is a mostly Nikon hobbiest. The last camera I used in earnest was a D100, 15 years ago. So....budget is $500 max and I'd love to find a better option. My used camera equipment experiences have not been great, so leaning toward new. What say ye?
I just noticed the d3300 has recently been replaced by a new model....looks like that might be a good sub $400 option?
What sort of photography does she do: landscape, portraits, street, sports,...? A lot depends on choosing the right tool for the job.
If your wife already has some Nikon lenses then I'd stick with Nikon. If you're looking at starting from scratch then don't overlook Sony. We bought our daughter an A58, now replaced with the A68, a few years ago and she couldn't be happier. The old Minolta lenses fit the Sony A mount so she's been able to pick up a really nice collection of glass for pennies on the dollar.
In reply to 02Pilot:
Is shooting general life a good answer? I don't think she has a specific "thing" she will shoot. She is a soccer player so I could maybe see action type images being a thing.
In reply to Wayslow:
I was leaning that way too. My wife has a big bag of Nikon lenses. I am looking up the Sony now....new territory!
In reply to jh36:
Shortly after buying her the Sony a58 she bought an old Minolta Maxxum 35mm film camera for $40. It included a 28mm 2.8 and a 80-200mm Minolta lens along with a decent Vivitar adjustable flash. I think she gave the Maxxum body, 50mm lens and camera bag away. Not a bad deal. She does a lot of horse photography so she's gone on to pick up some really nice telephoto lenses that she's paid a fair bit for but still well under new cost.
I shoot Pentax. I learned a lot from a good DSLR and a pretty junky 28mm prime that has no means of communication with the camera. Manual focus, aperture ring with no control method from the body, and the body had no idea what the selected f-stop was. It was made in a time when Pentax had gone away from M42 screw mount to their K-mount and 3rd party vendors didn't always know that they shouldn't paint the mount. Long story short, I had to use a piece of tin foil between the lens and the mount so that the camera knew there was a lens there.
In any case, I can't find a brand new camera body from Pentax that fits the bill. I trust KEH as a source of used equipment. I have used them and have been very happy with what I got from them. What I would like to suggest is something like the K-S2 or K-50 priced like a clearance item. From there, something like an old Pentax M 28mm should be cheap and offer real learning frustration, if she's up for it. A good used option, and what I have carried for a few years, is a Pentax K-5II. Excellent condition from KEH, I think one would run about $350, but they only have a K-5 right now. K-3's are good as well although I may prefer the older model.
Out of the few Canons and Nikons I have picked up, I felt like the Canon control layout made more sense to me. The SL1 is quite small and has plenty of features (or gimmicks...). There's an EOS Rebel and both seem available new from good vendors for $400. Canon has a nice little 24mm prime, their STM lens, that I would consider. Probably some other options as well. The 24 STM and an SL1 would be about $550 I believe. I personally don't like the SL1 as it's too small for my hands; my sister bought one and loves it.
Nice...my girls were into riding a few years back. One gravitated to dance and the other devoted most of her spare time to soccer. The horse phase was pretty cool. Now the soccer player is ready for some HPDE experiences....looking forward to that! But I digress......I am pulling the trigger on the d3300. Your point on the lenses was very valid. Thank you. Case closed.
In reply to pres589:
Remember k1000? That was us back in day. Bulletproof. Still have it.
jh36 wrote: In reply to pres589: Remember k1000? That was us back in day. Bulletproof. Still have it.
+1
My GF still uses here K1000 regularly. They are damn near indestructible and the K-mount lens options are excellent and relatively cheap.
As far as the digital choices go, I'm sure the D3300 will be fine for general purpose use. The biggest issue with DSLRs is that they are, well, big. Too often people choose not to carry them because of the size, and the best camera in the world takes crappy pictures when it's on a shelf at home.
In reply to 02Pilot:
I was looking to upgrade from my iPhone and went with a D3300. It is nice when I use it but it has sat since August at this point. Although I would trade it all for a proper b&w darkroom and my AE1 to get fixed.
Brian wrote: In reply to 02Pilot: I was looking to upgrade from my iPhone and went with a D3300. It is nice when I use it but it has sat since August at this point. Although I would trade it all for a proper b&w darkroom and my AE1 to get fixed.
I don't have a full darkroom, but I shoot film almost exclusively, develop at home and scan. It's not perfect, but it takes up a lot less space and I can get the results that I want (which is always a struggle with digital). And my Leicas fit in my pocket when I have a collapsible lens mounted.
Getting the AE1 serviced may be the bigger problem. I'm not sure who works on those any more. I suspect you could probably buy a working one relatively cheap.
I send my stuff to this guy: http://www.garryscamera.com/
His prices are reasonable (cheap enough I don't even bother doing light seals myself) and his turnaround is pretty good.
So far, he's serviced my Minolta X-570, X-700 and XE-7 (Leica without the tax) and they've all come back working like new.
He has a couple bad reviews on line but I've never had a problem.
In regards to what Wayslow mentioned: Only the Minolta Maxxum (autofocus) lenses will work with the Sony cameras. The earlier SR mount lenses (SR and X-series cameras) will not.
A B&W darkroom isn't as hard as people make it out to be. I process B&W, C-41 and E6 at home, then use a film scanner.
Shawn
I have shot semi-professionally in the past and I would say that, to this day, the best entry level DSLR is still the Nikon d40. Yes the 3300 is basically an evolution of that same camera, but it's seriously not worth the extra dollars I don't think.
The bodies can be had for around $100 and the rest of the money should go to a good lens or set of lenses. It doesn't have an internal focusing motor, so older Nikon stuff won't autofocus, but that's the case with most entry level stuff. If she gets seriously into the art and wishes to upgrade later, she can step up to a d7000 (or whatever the new model will be at the time) or even full frame.
With that said, I also still shoot film and think I prefer it from a tactile sense. I also like that limited shots makes you more deliberate about what you're shooting. Lots of times when I'm shooting digital, I think "well, let's try this" which is kinda lazy and doesn't involve the critical thinking technical skills that made old school analog photography appealing. Older f-series nikons can be had for ~$50.
TLDR; find an older, smaller bodied DSLR and get a good lens. Alternatively, she may want to try film.
Thanks for all the feedback. We ordered the D3300. It was a relatively decent deal. I think it will make a good starting point for my daughter. And yeah.... still have the k1000 if she gets hooked and wants to try full manual film! Thanks to all.
Film is great, processing at home is even better.
I have a whole bunch of Velvia 50 in my freezer.
I have five rolls of Ferrania P30 coming soon. Can't wait.
02Pilot wrote:Brian wrote: In reply to 02Pilot: I was looking to upgrade from my iPhone and went with a D3300. It is nice when I use it but it has sat since August at this point. Although I would trade it all for a proper b&w darkroom and my AE1 to get fixed.I don't have a full darkroom, but I shoot film almost exclusively, develop at home and scan. It's not perfect, but it takes up a lot less space and I can get the results that I want (which is always a struggle with digital). And my Leicas fit in my pocket when I have a collapsible lens mounted. Getting the AE1 serviced may be the bigger problem. I'm not sure who works on those any more. I suspect you could probably buy a working one relatively cheap.
I took my A-1 in a few years ago and may as well have brought them an abacus. I ended up leaving with an F-1 for $100.
I still have my A-1. When she's ready, yeah, introduce her to the K1000. We used them in high school photo class. Awesome camera.
There's tons of micro 4/3rds cameras out there that are small, cheap, and take great photos. I've got an Olympus PEN E-PL6 that was dirt cheap and takes better-than-iPhone-pictures for pennies.
I think a K1000 would be good from what I've read of it. I've only used two Pentax cameras; my K100D, and my current K-5II. I have old lenses but the K-5II is from 2012 or 2013 I think; purchased it used from KEH after the K100D was stolen from my home.
I believe my "junky" 28mm lens was made somewhere between 1975 and 1980. Information online is basically nil and I have never seen mention of a k-mount Kalt 28mm which makes it "rare junk". I have a Pentax M 50mm 1.4 which is from about 1983, and I just purchased a Kiron 28mm f2 which is probably a couple years newer. So I've got old glass on new bodies. I also have some pretty modern lenses as well. I'm thinking about buying a couple Helios 44's and playing with those next with a possible "franken-Helios" project that may or may not be easily completed in mind.
Regardless of the camera used, I'm a big supporter of the idea that it's not really a photograph until it's printed. Photo printers are cheap (ink, not so much), and there's nothing quite like looking at a physical print. Apparently some of the younger generation feels the same way, as Fuji's Instax stuff is flying off the shelves (if only Polaroid could have held on for a couple more years...).
Glad to see the OP got what he wanted, but since we are on the subject, anyone using one of the newer superzoom cameras?
I LOVE my Nikon J1, but they never came out with longer lenses for it like I had hoped. (OK, they have one now that is 2x the price of the camera) I find carrying around two lenses is kind of a pain. Sony offers some pretty serious specs on these cameras, and for all-in-one convenience with a bit more creative control than a point-and-shoot, I see no downside.
Last year, I dove in and bought a refurbished Nikon D3300 kit and a 55-300 AF zoom lens. It also came with the wireless adapter. Everything was right around $400, and everything has been great so far. They did release a D3400, but I'm not sure what the differences are. The D3300 is probably even cheaper now.
Canon and Pentax are both great as well, and all of their beginner DSLR's seem to be solid. I went with the Nikon due to the fact that my buddy has a ton of lenses I can borrow whenever and it does 5 FPS burst rate. Canon cameras seem to be a bit easier to use, but sacrifice some features. Pentax has an entry level with a sealed body which is really cool, but their lens choice is less than Canon or Nikon. Still not bad though.
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