I need camera body advice

<p>The vast majority of the better mechanical SLRs have now reached a point in their life cycle where function may be impaired in ways too subtle to be readily apparent to a beginner, or even someone with extensive experience in photography, until the film is developed and things don't look quite right. Some of the recent production Nikon F3's are an exception to this, but short of finding someone willing to part with one of these units at a fair price, you'd do much better with any 2000's era professional grade AF camera from either Canon or Nikon. The electronic systems of both cameras will be perform with considerably greater reliability than any old mechanical camera that hasn't been recently serviced by a skilled professional, and can also be employed in full manual picture taking mode with no loss of user control.<br /> <br /> Some people here simply prefer the feel and dynamics of all metal mechanical cameras and lenses, and while I find myself in sympathy with such sentiments, the fact is that from a practical and economic point of view, it's difficult to justify a classic camera that will require costly calibration and adjustment at regular intervals when there is a glut of perfectly functioning cameras of recent make at our immediate disposal for a small, probably one time investment; literally scores of perfectly functioning Canon Eos-3's, 1n's, 1v's; Nikon N90s's, F100's, and F5's, now available for literally pennies on the dollar, and offering as an additional bonus, full lens compatibility with many of the most recent generation of digital SLRs.</p>

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<p>The vast majority of the better mechanical SLRs have now reached a point in their life cycle where function may be impaired in ways too subtle to be readily apparent to , or even someone with extensive experience in photography, until the film is developed and things don't look quite right.</p>

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For most cameras, it isn't hard to tell if the shutter is working well enough for black and white film. You might want to actually time it for slide film, which has much less latitude. It might be hard for a beginner to tell, but it isn't hard with some experience. One problem that has been around for years, and is about as true for electronic cameras as older ones, is diaphrams that don't close down (not hard to see), or don't close down fast enough (harder to see). <br>

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But yes, if you want to be really sure, run a roll through it and see what comes out. There are a lot of cameras in the $10 range from Goodwill and similar stores. Some come up on the shopgoodwill.com auction site, or other popular auction sites. If you find auctions from a nearby store, you can pick them up and avoid shipping charges. </p>

<p>I'm coming kinda late to this party, but after browsing through the posts here, I thought I'd add a few observances and comments of my own.</p>

<p>Since the OP stated that he could lend Nikon glass to the friend's son, I'll stick with Nikon. I'll also shy away from autofocus or much of auto-anything for that matter. Especially since his friend specifically stated that he wanted his son to learn about how exposure worked.</p>

<p>I disagree that an old SLR might not be suitable for use because of certain hard-to-spot faults. If the camera is stopping the lens down properly, that's half the game. You can time shutter speeds with your ear up to about 1/30 second. It's a pretty safe bet that a mechanical shutter's mid-range speeds will be close to accurate. If the shutter is electronically controlled, chances are good that the speeds will be exactly correct. That's been my experience, at any rate.</p>

<p>As for which cameras I would recommend, first thing I would have done would have asked about a budget. But let's assume they don't want to spend much. In which case I'll recommend something fairly basic, like a Nikkormat or a Nikon FM or FE or FG. The Nikkormat(s) I would recommend would be the FTn or FT2. The FT3 is uncommon and would likely cost too much. I prefer the FTn over the FT because the FTn uses Nikon's standard meter weighting pattern, whereas the FT has none, it's just straight averaging. The FT2 is basically an FTn with a hot shoe. </p>

<p>The FM remains a popular camera, but it can be picked up for a reasonable sum at places like eBay. The same is true for the FE and FG. They all sell for basically the same amount. They all use Nikon's tried and true 60/40 metering pattern. The FM and FE use needles for determining exposure, whereas the FG uses LEDs. Of the three, I actually prefer the FE because of its match needle method for providing correct exposure: one for shutter speeds, one for aperture. Bring them together and you have correct exposure. The FM uses a single needle coupled to both the shutter speeds and aperture. With the FE you just line up the LEDs.</p>

<p>I would try to pick the camera up with a normal lens -- often the best price will be found that way and it's also not unusual for that normal lens to be a 50mm f/1.4, too, which is a nice little boost in performance. But regardless if it's a 1.4, a 1.8 or a 2, any will be a good optic, performance wise. You just want to make sure that, whichever lens and body combination you go with, the lens's meter coupling will be the same as the body's meter coupling. Pre-AI, where the post on the camera couples with the prong on the lens's aperture ring, or AI (and later) where the tab on the camera fits up against a longer circumferential tab on the lens's aperture ring. Many (most?) AI lenses will have the prong, so they can be used with earlier cameras. Few Pre-AI lenses have been retrofitted to work on later cameras.</p>

<p>Okay, finally I want to touch briefly on hand-held meters. You know, I can think of no better way to teach a person the concept of exposure than by showing the inverse proportional relationship between aperture opening and shutter speed on the dial of an analog exposure meter. So, if a camera's meter is nonoperational, so what? It gives you the perfect excuse to to introduce the budding photographer to one of the fundamental principles of photography via an analog hand-held meter. So, heck, maybe the best way for the guy to learn is to start with a totally manual camera with no meter at all.</p>

<p>I agree with the handheld meter idea. Well, a neck strap, or other way to keep from dropping it, would be nice.</p>

<p>The FM and most of the Nikkormats will work without a battery as manual cameras. Most of the Nikon electronic cameras have a 1/90 non-electronic shutter speed without a battery. </p>

<p>There are some good Canon choices available at low prices, too. The FTbn is pretty nice , and reasonably priced. The FD lenses are often priced less than the older Nikon lenses, as the Nikon lenses still work with newer cameras. </p>

<p>My experience is that cameras either work well enough, or it is obvious that they don't. For black and white, you don't need the shutter to be all that close. </p>

<p>Michael McB - you've got the FM and FE metering systems wrong. All of the fully mechanical FMs (FM, FM2, FM2n) use a "+0-" LED exposure readout - no needles. The FE has two shutter speed indicator needles - one coupled to the meter and the other indicating the set shutter speed. The selected aperture is indicated by the direct readout window in the viewfinder.</p>

<p>David, sorry, I was confusing it with another model. I remember the difference now. The FM had LEDs beside the + 0 - indicators, whereas with the FM2 the LEDs had become the + 0 - indicators. It reduced the possibility of errors at low light levels.</p>

<p>Your statement about the FE's needles is incorrect, however. Both needles are not connected to the shutter speed dial. The wide, translucent blue needle is connected directly to the shutter speed dial and its setting does not affect the meter. Whereas the thin black needle responds to the light entering the metering area AND the positioning of the aperture ring. So, it's possible to get the black needle to move independent of the aperture value set if the light entering the metering area changes. Nonetheless, correct exposure is when the blue and black needles have been brought together.</p>

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