Hey all,

I'v been thinking about getting into photography for a while and i found a couple deals on craigslist and was wondering if anyone had any advice on the cameras being offered.

the first one i found was a Pentax ME slr with a standard lens and an external flash for $25. Looking up the reviews it seems like this is a good camera for beginners. the only thing i'm not sure about is because the seller hasn't identified to me if its an ME or an ME super. From what i'v read online the ME is good, but the super also had manual shutter speed control which i think would be very good. Some of the stuff I'v read online though has seemed to indicate that the regular me has shutter speed control too, but maybe its through the aperture settings .

My other option is a minolta srt201 with a standard and zoom lens for $25. My friend has the 101 and has been really happy with the camera and has recommended i get it. I think it will come with all the features without worrying about which model it is.


I'm not sure if anyone here has used either of these but i thought it might be a good idea to just try and see. Thanks for any help

 

I had a film SLR, but never got very good with it. Too much of a delay between shooting and the result - and because of that I just left it in automatic exposure mode.

Once I got a digital SLR, I was able to experiment with the exposure settings and started to get an understanding of how everything works together. If you want to start out and learn fast, I'd go digital. You'll spend more than $25 up front, but you won't be burning $10 or more every 24 pictures to see what you ended up with.

 

I've got a SRT-MCII which is Pretty much the same as the SRT-100 models, but it was sold at sears and wall mart. My uncle found it in a alley and gave it to me when I started a photography class.

It is a very basic camera though. It has a light meter, shutter adjustment, and aperture adjustment. That pretty much sums up it's features, other than being built like a tank.

I love it and I would definitely recommend one to a beginner. Film is getting expensive though, it's becoming more and more of a niche market.

 

yea it does suck about film. I guess the digital is nice for immediate results but i feel like theres something a bit more to working with actual film. I always thought that if i got into photography i'd do it with film, but i guess it is more expensive.

but for now 25 for the camera is much more in my price range than 500+ for a dslr.

 

Hmm I forgot I have a old pentax MV too, It came a year or two after the ME, and was slightly stripped down.

This one in particular was my grandpa's camera and didn't give him any trouble for 20 years. I never got around to using though as it doesn't have adjustment for shutter speed. It still lets you be pretty creative though as you can still select the aperture you want.