What is the best and affordable film SLR camera for a beginner?

In search high and low for a SLR film camera that is extremely affordable to the hard working person (LOL), easy to learn and use, will take great pic's and has red-eye reduction, and can be upgraded as I get more and more experienced.|||Film? I recommend against it.





Go digital. Nearly every professional has. Even the many top fashion photographers have.





Some of the concepts are different with digital, but it still comes down to proper exposure, proper lighting and good composition.





Go with a Canon EOS series. That is what the PROS use.





But if you are still HELL-BENT on film, buy a used Nikon from eBay. Go with a seller that has LOTS of positive feedback, and not just low price. You want a camera that WORKS.|||canon EOS rebel|||Canon Eos Rebel or Nikons equivilent I think it is a N 50|||First question you should ask yourself why buy an analog (film) camera, and not a digital SLR?





But I guess you have your reasons....





Basically there are two brands you can consider best for your needs. Those are Canon and Nikon. Why those? Just because they are marketleaders in de dSLR market, and that is your future upgrade eventually. By choosing one of the mentioned brands you know for sure that the working of the analog model will be in part equal to the digital version. Also the lenses from Canon and Nikon can be used on a digital version. So investing in original lenses is not a waste of money.





But, getting a analog Nikon or Canon is difficult. Best way is to go to eBay and buy one second hand. An EOS 300 (Rebel) or 33/30 are good choices, and are not that expensive. Please check the lenses, if you have the money buy original lenses.|||For a beginner. It's nice you want to learn film. Somehow until now Film still have advantage over digital.





However as a beginner I would recommend you to do Trial and Error. This will increase your processing and printing cost skyrocket (no joke). For this reason only Digital will be a better choice.





If you're a complete beginner a digital APS with manual control will let you try all different settings.





However if you really want to use film basically any slr is good. Camera produce great photo only if the photographer know what he's taking. Anyone tell you buying a $3000 camera will make you a pro definitely not a pro (or even close to one)|||Do you mean a digital SLR or a regular one? I have a Minolta ST si Maxxum and I don't like it, it behaves too much like a basic 35mm point-and-shoot. Pentax is my favourite camera, they make some good, basic SLRs without all the bells and whistles. As for digital, I couldn't be bothered.|||Well, it's easy answer for you because there's not too much exsisting companies out there that is still making SLR film cameras.





The most affordable one for a novice will be the Canon EOS Rebel K2. They use the EF series lenses which can also be used on their EOS Digital SLRs and their higher end SLR film cameras. It's cheap in terms of getting a camera bundle with a lens for less than $300.





Nikon, Kodak, Fujifilm, %26amp; Olympus stop producing SLR film cameras for consumer line. Nikon still producing SLR film cameras for the professional line of F6 and on, but it'll cost you quite a bit.





It can do all the features of what you need and you can upgrade to a different camera when you are more experienced. The Canon lenses are some of the best.|||Having taught camera courses, I question the reason that you want film over digital SLR.





1. What makes you think that cost is more expensive for digital over film?


You must consider the total cost of ownership. Beginners make lost of mistakes and need to burn a lot of film to learn. Film cost money. Film development takes time and money. Time lost from something like nature shoot may not be recoverable.





2. What makes you think that Film is better for begineers than digital?


Learning how to correct for exposure or framing mistakes takes time and practice. Practice takes film. Film takes money. Learning how to correct for lighting takes practice and film...film takes.....





Let's take a practical example:





Film Camera:


Canon EOS Rebel 35mm film with 28-90mm lens. $200.00





Digital Camera:


Canon EOS 350 Rebel with 17-85mm EF-S lens. $700.00





Film costs (film + developing):


35mm Kodak MAX 400 ASA 36 exposure rolls. Wholesale 50-pack = $87.00


developing costs for 1800 pictures locally = $324.00





Average Beginner will need to shoot between 5000-7500 shots while learning. total learning film costs $1143-2286.





Digital Film costs:


2 - 2GB compact flash cards = $98.00





Total cost of Film education = $2586.00 max ($1343.00 min)


Total cost of Digital education = $798.00 max





digital savings $1788.00





So which is really cheaper?|||learning photography really need to know the basics, that is, film. but some people will hell bent on arguing against that. for film, try something like nikon fm10, or nikon FG (very rare now), nikon fm2a or nikon fm3. those are the lines of nikon's manual film camera. for auto-focus camera, get a nikon f80 or f65. im not sure about canon though. btw, only cameras with built in flash have the red-eye reduction, or you might have to get a flash unit that has that capability.|||I always used Nikkormats and Konicas. They can be found on eBay for very good prices. Because they have interchangeable lenses they can be upgraded. No red-eye reduction, though, as they do not have built-in flashes.


But if you are concerned about affordability, consider the fact that a good digital camera, once purchased, costs almost nothing to operate--no film, no processing except for the prints you decide to make--and your darkroom is sitting on your desk as you read this.