DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Please recommend a good starter DSLR camera

**GennadiyRom** · 07-08-2012, 04:47 PM

An expensive camera does not a great photographer make. Kertész achieved amazing results using a Polaroid.

Without a firm grasp of the fundamentals and theory behind photographic image making, your imaginary friend will end up relying heavily on the auto features of his camera and his photos will look as banal as his subjects (like most DSLR owners/tech-geeks, mostly shots of garden flowers, pics from his vacation and of his pets.)

I'm sure your friend would be quite happy (and better served) with a 35mm SLR film camera and a few rolls of Ilford SFX200. A used Nikon F is a great camera and can be had for $300. And there's no reason why you should restrict your options to SLRs. Twin-lens reflex cameras like the Rolleiflex 3.5E or the classic 4x4 are still revered and used by photo enthusiasts. Even a simple pinhole camera would make a better gift.

Banality is not a function of owning a Digital SLR or Film SLR.

Other than very specific reasons (preference, or need for highest resolution via large format cameras) there's little reason not to with a digital camera like a DSLR. It actually makes learning photography techniques much easier/faster because you can do tests and practice easily.
- Image files automatically tagged with important metadata like exposure information etc that you can look back on.
- Faster feedback between taking a photo and examining its results.
- Little time/financial impact in doing tests/practice because you are not "wasting" film and spending hours or days developing them.

07-08-2012, 04:47 PM	#18
GennadiyRom Join Date Nov 2005 Posts 450 Senior Member	An expensive camera does not a great photographer make. Kertész achieved amazing results using a Polaroid. Without a firm grasp of the fundamentals and theory behind photographic image making, your imaginary friend will end up relying heavily on the auto features of his camera and his photos will look as banal as his subjects (like most DSLR owners/tech-geeks, mostly shots of garden flowers, pics from his vacation and of his pets.) I'm sure your friend would be quite happy (and better served) with a 35mm SLR film camera and a few rolls of Ilford SFX200. A used Nikon F is a great camera and can be had for $300. And there's no reason why you should restrict your options to SLRs. Twin-lens reflex cameras like the Rolleiflex 3.5E or the classic 4x4 are still revered and used by photo enthusiasts. Even a simple pinhole camera would make a better gift. Banality is not a function of owning a Digital SLR or Film SLR. Other than very specific reasons (preference, or need for highest resolution via large format cameras) there's little reason not to with a digital camera like a DSLR. It actually makes learning photography techniques much easier/faster because you can do tests and practice easily. - Image files automatically tagged with important metadata like exposure information etc that you can look back on. - Faster feedback between taking a photo and examining its results. - Little time/financial impact in doing tests/practice because you are not "wasting" film and spending hours or days developing them.
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