Epic Edits recently kicked off a photo project, challenging photographers to obtain a film camera for under $50, take photos, and publish them along with a review of the camera. My first thought was, “film, yuck!” For all you who are fans of film, I’m sorry, but I haven’t exposed a roll of film since May of 2003 when I bought my first digital SLR.
After I thought about it, though, I remembered how I originally made “the jump” and started learning how to go beyond what I could do with a point and shoot camera. I had a vague notion that there was something called aperture, and shutter speed, and…. well there was “more” to photography than pointing and shooting. I wanted to learn, but I had never taken the next step because I always thought that point and shoot cameras were all I could afford, and SLR’s were way too expensive.
So, I asked a photographer friend of mine if there was any way to find something used that would not break the bank, but would let me start along the path of knowledge and enlightenment. He recommended a couple older Minolta SLR models that could usually be found on eBay fairly cheap, and my quest started.
I have now come full circle. I read the particulars of the photo project on Epic Edits, and started trolling on eBay to see what cheap cameras could be found. I was surprised to find some older SLR’s on there, and eventually decided that was what I had to do this article on. I hope that this will break the notion in someone else’s mind that you have to spend lots of money to learn photography.
I do want to warn you… even though you can get a camera to start out with for very little money, once you are hooked on this hobby it may start to become expensive! Email me about my current inventory of cameras, lenses, and accessories if you have any questions!!!
Where was I? Oh yes, eBay. So there I was trolling on eBay. I was finding Canon AE-1’s that were starting under $50, but they kept going over that barrier. To be fair, I was also making sure that the camera stayed under $50 even after adding on the shipping costs. So I tried, and failed to get a couple different AE-1’s. They are going just over $50, and would make an awesome camera for someone. But they did not fit this project. I currently shoot with all Canon equipment, and would recommend them highly to someone getting started. I did start finding Minolta’s that were staying under the $50 cut-off for the project, and finally picked up a Minolta X-370 for $44 and change, including the shipping charges. This was very similar to the Minolta XG-M that I purchased (and still own) as my very first SLR camera.
The X-370 came with a fixed focal length lens and a flash. A fixed focal length lens, for those of you that don’t already know, is one that has no zoom capabilities. These are also sometimes referred to as a prime lens. If you’ve been using any kind of modern camera, you have probably gotten quite fond of zooming in to get closer to your subjects, and are wondering what good a fixed focal length lens is. Well, first of all, they give you images that are tack sharp. Second of all, they are inexpensive. They are also small and light. The beauty of an SLR, though, is that you can buy additional lenses, including zooms, as you get more interested in the hobby (remember, I warned you about how this can become expensive later!!).
Here’s what I got for my money:
So, what photos did I get with my first adventure with traditional film in over 5 years? Here are a sample of images from one roll of film, for which I used Kodak Tri-X. The rest of the photos from this project can be found on flickr.
 
 
As I said at the beginning of this review, I haven’t shot a roll of film in over 5 years. So, how did I like it? I remembered things that were difficult with film that are easy now. Like using a camera with a maximum shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second in daylight with 400 speed film does not allow you to easily shoot with a large aperture of f5.6 or higher to get shallow depth of field. And if you want to change the ISO setting you’re shooting at, you need to finish the roll of film you’re on and then load something different in the camera. But overall, it was fun. I hope that I’ve shown people that they can experiment and learn the basics of photography without spending a ton of cash, at least not right away!