thomas_hardy1 Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 My daughters are both on the yearbook staff in high school this year. I thought about getting them both film SLRs and then scanning the film since they mentioned digital. The older daughter let someone break a cheap compact digital last year and I shudder at the thought of having the same thing happen with a digital Rebel or similar expensive camera. Have any of you ever given a digital SLR to a teenager? What do you think about the shoot film and scan idea? Thanks for your comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo7hs2 Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 Try keh.com for used Canon film SLRs. I've seen them go for under $40 in decent shape. Another option would be a pentax k-1000 knockoff, which can be picked up on ebay for a few bucks, and the lenses are considerably cheaper. But, they are totally manual. Joshua Szulecki [ Alabama Waterfalls - http://waterfalls.szulecki.com ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo7hs2 Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 Shoot and scan or shoot and photoCD will work fine for them, and for your wallet. Joshua Szulecki [ Alabama Waterfalls - http://waterfalls.szulecki.com ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will_perlis Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 "What do you think about the shoot film and scan idea?" IMX, scanning is great as long as someone else is doing it. Have you done the time and blood-pressure calculations, allowing for jams, resets, dust removal, etc. if you do the scanning? Can they do it themselves? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben conover Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 I agree that shoot film and scan works fine and gives excellent results. But in the long run it is more expnsive and requires learning how to use film etc. Kids wanna do that? doubt it, they want to see results and learn fast. The slow contemplative approach of the F64 club is not in keeping with being a kid! Perhaps get each of your daughters a used Pentax istD and hope they can be careful. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennyboy Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 Tell then you'll give them the resale value of their cameras in cash once the year is up - they may take greater care of them then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 The high school girl next door uses a used DRebel, slowpoke kit zoom, and a fast cheap 50mm for indoor sports stuff. She submits sports photos to the local paper by email to make a few extra bucks too. <BR><BR>The film scan event using a film camera may not work well with a teenagers impatient ways, BUT you can get many decent used film slrs today at a song. I got a Nikkormat and 105mm for 75 bucks ebay to "lend" to her to temp her to the dark side of using film :); the dark side of using a Nikon :), if it breaks the world is not going to stop. <BR><BR>Some schools also just use P&S digitals too, another kid here uses her dads old Olympus 5050, it has a fast lens too. Folks need to have a vested interest in their tools, to reduce breaking them. If "daddy" always buys them a new camera, dropping them gets them a newer camera! :)<BR><BR> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo7hs2 Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 You know, a used dSLR isn't a terrible idea. Keh.com has some istD's in the five hundred dollar range, and you might find some considerably cheaper on some auction sites. They also have dReb's (300d) for under $430, and dReb XT's for $600. The only problems are that they might break them in good use, or worse, lose interest, oh, and the up-front cost. I have the Rebel XT and recently dropped it when I twisted my ankle, it physically held up pretty well, only minor (expensive, but repairable) damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas_hardy1 Posted August 13, 2006 Author Share Posted August 13, 2006 You know, some drug stores scan the roll of film and put it on a disk. I have a film scanner but don't really like the idea of all that time sitting here scanning, processor hangup, rebooting, etc. I'll look into all the ideas presented here, thanks so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 The local C41's 1 hour labs scans may be good enough for small prints, but often the resolution is abit poor for larger prints and or cropping. Here I have the girl next door using Fuij 800 print film if she is using a film body, the evil Nikkormat :). <BR><BR>A used DRebel and used film EOS body might be researched. For group shots of a school club, band, team a 50mm on a drebel might have not enough angular coverage, but wider with a dumb film body. See if any local labs have higher end scanning, to scan film frames that need enlarging more. One can burn alot of film to get some keepers, so consider the film/processing/scanning costs too. If they are going to later work in photography deeper, having skills in old film and new digital is cool.<BR><BR> I shot 35mm in High School with an Exakta VX and TLR too, abit ancient history to my neighbors dRebel she uses. In both cases a quick 50mm F2, F1.8 lens today still is a nice inexpensive extra lenses for indoor work. <BR><BR>To many teenage girls their "camera" is just their cellcam, and any P&S digital camera worlds better in quality. <BR><BR>One buddy I gave an old Nikkormat to for his teenage daughter, gave the darn thing back. They dont want the expense of film and processing. Many schools have dumped their darkrooms too, so the old soup the tri-x event at school isnt possible in many schools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo7hs2 Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 Thomas, having the local drug store or Wal/K Mart or Ritz or whatever develop the film and scan it for you is certainly a viable option, and is what I meant by photoCD/pictureCD above. I usually do this when I am forced to shoot film for some reason, but know that the results don't merit professional development/printing. Unless you think they will remain interested in photography for a while, I would go for that route (photoCD) with a used film SLR like a Rebel 2000 or Elan I/II. Keh sells them for very reasonable prices. Eb*y is a great place to pick up used pentax and pentax knockoff equipment, which is usually incredibly cheap if not name brand.I know they might not be as excited about a film camera, but chances are it will be cheaper and more logical unless they stay interested. I usually run $15-20 a roll for film, processing, and scanning to CD with local mini labs at 24/roll, so they wouldn't break even on a used dSLR until around 20 rolls of film (6-700 shots or so, not figuring for film camera cost) would be run through a film camera. If you think they will shoot more than that, then you should consider the dSLR instead. It all rests with how long you think they will continue shooting, and if you think a dSLR might encourage more interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m_barbu1 Posted August 13, 2006 Share Posted August 13, 2006 How is she with taking care of other things? Were those things bought for her, or ones that she bought herself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas_hardy1 Posted August 13, 2006 Author Share Posted August 13, 2006 "How is she with taking care of other things? Were those things bought for her, or ones that she bought herself?" At the time it was her mother's camera. She said "a friend" turned the control knob on top and broke it. I think she has a problem saying no to people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m_barbu1 Posted August 14, 2006 Share Posted August 14, 2006 OK, but what about her <b>other</b> things? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mars c Posted August 14, 2006 Share Posted August 14, 2006 Why not just say to your kids that if they break it(camera), They'll gonna pay for it , through deduction on their allowances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athinkle Posted August 14, 2006 Share Posted August 14, 2006 Given the situation, especially the fact that your daughters are on the yearbook staff, I'd say that an entry-level DSLR would be the best idea. Granted, I did the "shoot film and scan" thing for awhile, and it does yield very good results. However, I scanned my own film and I was experienced with SLRs before I started. Considering the fact that your daughters' apparent lack of SLR experience would result in an initial low percentage of "keepers" the cost of film and scanning could add up very quickly. A DSLR would allow a lot of room for error and would speed up the learning process considerably. As far as the risk of the camera becoming damaged, places like Ritz do offer all-inclusive extended warranties on cameras. The policies aren't cheap, but they do cover everything short of loss or theft. My recommendation would have to be either a Nikon D50 or whichever Pentax istD series is cheapest these days. The kit lenses on those cameras are good, and I'd imagine that your daughters wouldn't be buying a lot of lenses in the immediate future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthias_meixner2 Posted August 14, 2006 Share Posted August 14, 2006 Scanning film was the way I started to "digital photography". The problem here is: Flat bed scanners do not deliver high quality scanning film. Either you scan prints or you need an expensive film scanner. Then scanning film is very time consuming. It took me about 3-5 Minutes per slide (preview scan, setting the scan parameters ....). So scanning say 100 slides is real work. And then you miss one of the most important benefit of digital photography: direct feedback. With a digital camera you can immediately see the result and learn from your errors which is not the case with film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovcom_photo Posted August 14, 2006 Share Posted August 14, 2006 Don't give them a film camera...any film camera....inexperienced teenagers can really benefit from the immediate results of a LCD on the back of a digital camera. Don't waste your $$ on a DSLR....just get them a point & shoot digital camera. This will allow the quality to be better then film because with film, they will not be able to determine a missed shot until you pay $$ for the processing....you could burn through lots of $$ since they probably have no sense of exposure, etc. A film cam will not make sense. A dslr will not make sense. A cheap P&S digital is the best bet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovcom_photo Posted August 14, 2006 Share Posted August 14, 2006 Thomas, did you hold your daughter accountable by demanding she pay for the repairs to your wife's camera? I have two teenaged daughters, so I can empathize ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucecyr Posted August 14, 2006 Share Posted August 14, 2006 This is one time when Dan is probably right -- why would they need dSLRs? Inexpensive p&s digitals are the best compromise for you and them. Digital provides immediate feedback for learning and gratification. P&S zooms provides light weight and great facility. Its been a long time since I've been around teenage girls, but back then they weren't into geeky things like film cameras, which will no doubt "cost" them a great deal of face cred with their iPodded peers. If they "take" to photography, you can get the dSLRs later on -- maybe as an alternative to paying for weddings (if you're a bit of scroundrel :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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