One of my younger cousins has decided to enroll in a Black and White photography class at his university and came to me for help on finding him an SLR camera since he's seen my D90 and thinks i'm a pro. Sadly this isn't the case, I'm far from pro and still learning.

Anyway his professor requires that students buy an SLR camera with the ability to choose Shutter speed, Aperture, have interchangeable lenses, have manual focus (split image is fine) and load at the least ISO100 and ISO400.

I was looking at amazon for one and they had a Vivitar one for 45 bucks including a 35mm-80mm lens. Anyone have any suggestions on one for him? Nothing to expensive and something that will last in the hands of a teenager...

BTW if you guys want I'll scan some of the stuff/info his professor hands out to maybe add to the guide if the professionals think it's good info...

 

Any Nikon F-mount or Canon EF-mount film body would be my choice. Both offer a huge selection of lenses and accessories at every price point, and they can all be used on the newer DSLRs too.

 

Take a look at craigslist, you can find some older equipment there as well.

 

Are you sure your cousin isn't supposed to come up with a film SLR? I ask because you explicitly mentioned it's a B&W class.

 

SLR, not dSLR is what he asked.

 

also check out keh.com for used (and new) cameras...awesome selection...

 

I'll probably look at nikons that way he can borrow my lens if needed to help him save some money...

SLR only, no DSLR's are allowed in his class, the syllabus makes this pretty clear with it in bold, underlined, italicized and in blood red!

^awesome!

 

A little warning about keh.com, they are slow and have been losing face with a lot of previous buyers. I have not had a problem with them, but they have started to get a bad rep for falling off the great service they use to give.

As mention slow to act when you purchase items from them, via their website or by phone. They have also jacked up their shipping charges.

 

that's neat

 

Does it have to be 35mm?

 

OK seriously, if you're willing to ditch the possibility of using lenses with new gear down the road, then your choices will open up some. The old Minolta SRT and Olympus OM bodies come to mind.

 

On second thought, any camera should be good. I don't think his professor will have him buy lenses that I may want in the future (macro/telephoto) since this is B&W basic photography...

 

the photography class i took in school a couple years ago, we could only use an SLR camera and we never had to buy extra lenses during that time. the point of the class was more about composition and using your camera's functions (aperture, shutter speed, etc.) to achieve different results...not so much "here's what this lens can do...and now try this one for this project..."

 

He has class again tomorrow so I'll ask him to ask his professor if he'll need any other lenses besides a simple one that comes with the camera...

 

I went with him and got him a Nikon N4004S AF camera w/ 30-70 lense, the person we bought it from still had the original receipt for 400 dollars, and he bought it 19 years ago! Functions well and the guy said to see if for a week, if we didn't like it we could return it.