35mm (still shot) camera advice......

[Jay Rodriguez]

I need to buy a pretty good 35mm camera (still shot) for my wife for X-Mas. Where the hell do I buy one from that's good?

[scharky]

Well, your not too far away from B&H. If I lived out where you are that would be the first place I would go. Do you have any lens preference, ie canon or nikon? How experienced is she with photography.

[x-angel]

I would go with a Nikon Digital SLR. FWIK, they lens mounts has never changed, so you are able to use even non-digital lenses from a long time ago on them.

[xl70e3]

35mm as in FILM camera? :shocked: Why?
Go digital, you'll never look back (or your wife). Canon Rebel XT, Nikon D70, Minolta Dynax 7D, there are tons...

But, if for some reason you really want a film camera, I love my Nikon F5. Haven't even seen it for a while, but a couple of years ago when I still used it, it was the shiz. Come to think of it, I should probably try and find it...

[Jay Rodriguez]

I'd like to grab a Nikon for her. She's not advanced at all either but it's something that I'll most likely use more than her so I'd like to grab something decent.

x-angle, I'm looking up the Nikon Digital SLR right now.

[MattC]

If she's new to the whole thing, you might want to check out Nikons D50 offering. It's a nice little kit to get started with.

[xl70e3]

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Nikon/

[Mythfit]

I have the Canon EOS Rebel 35mm, I like it very much for the pricepoint. It also has the same lens mounts as the digital version so I can still use my lenses when I upgrade the body.

[Slimothy]

I'd like to grab a Nikon for her. She's not advanced at all either but it's something that I'll most likely use more than her so I'd like to grab something decent.

x-angle, I'm looking up the Nikon Digital SLR right now.
LOL. That's what my dad used to do. He'd buy us an XBOX then say, "Oooohhh lookier here, the new Gran Tourismo, lets give IT a whirl". We all hate racing games :)

[delfino]

What ever brand you buy, get a digital camera.

[Beat Takeshi]

I hear the D70 is decent and is used professionally. I think Jarred sports one also.
Check this place out.

http://www.dpreview.com/

[Chayse_Irvin]

I just got a old school Nikon FE for $300 and its wicked. Highly recomend it. Forget the digital. 35mm for life!

[greeches]

nikon d70, thems is pretty

[blckhawk542]

Yeeep...while you all upgrade to ur fancy digital cameras...im still kickin butt with my old Pentax.

I've blown up a picture to full rez of the film once to see how big it would come out...suggestion..dont blow it up to full rez...the picture wont fit in the car on the way back home....something you probably cant do with a digital yet......are they still on 8 mega pixels now? or did they reach 10 yet?

[scharky]

Well, unfortunatly Blackhawk, that isn't quite true. Now I'm as big a supporter of film as they come, but comparing digital resolution and film resolution is much more complicated then just blowing up the picture. I work mainly with medium format, in fact, I don't even own a 35mm camera any more, just my medium format and my Digital rebel XT. Using a Drum scanner I have scanned my 645 medium format frames at approximatly 170MB. Now that is a big ass scan, but guess what, that is far beyond the limitation of the film. I am basically down to the individual film grains. Now I can blow that image up as large as I want, in fact I made a series of 40x40in prints that looked pretty darn good, but you are basically just making the film grain larger. Digital is a much different beast. While most Prosumer SLR cameras are around the 8 to 12MP range, which is between a 14- and 20 some odd MB, no comparison for a 170MB film scan right? Wrong, Digital can be blown up an extensive amount before becoming objectionable. Why, well, there is no film grain. So a 8 and 10MP camera is very close in resolution to a 35mm frame scanned at full resolution. Now there is the 1DS MK II wich is a 16MP camera which will far surpass the resolution of film.

NOW I am not saying that it looks better, that is still based on personal preference, I personally prefere the look of film to most digital images, especially when blown up large, but that is just my preference.

Whatever works for you. If you really want to go big time you could always get a medium format Digtital back weighing in at 25MP and about 30G's. :)

[blckhawk542]

wow...16 mega pixels already?? damn...my uncle jus got some Canon like a year and a half ago..and its 8...but 16..thats crazy.

the day i become a professional photographer..ill get a 20 MP cam. :)
..but film is exspensive!..and i only get 24 shots a roll!! ..but digitals are maddd crazy money...maybe i should sell my Pentax and get money for a Nikon D70 or suttin..

[MattC]

Look into a used D1X. I'm still shooting the D1X and love it. Of course I also like the canons....

Or you could just go digital medium format at 22mp. Of course that'll set you back around $25,000.....

[Jay Rodriguez]

Well I bought a Nikon N80 35mm..... It's for the wifey and will suit her well. Thanks everyone for your input. If I had more $$ I would of bought the D70....


Check it:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/n80.htm