This is going to be a drawn out message but any aid I can get in making a sound decison would be infinately appreciated! Alright- here's my situation. Right now I own a nice, but very old (1968 or so) Pentax spotmatic SLR. It's fully manual, needless to say, and I want to upgrade to a new, more modern camera. My price range is about $600-1000. I'm 18 and I'm going to school, possibly with a photo emphasis a little later and I want something that's going to satisfy me for a long while. I think that's a reasonable expectation looking at the the camera market right now, right? As I began my search, my dad says, "I've got one word for you-'Nikon'" So that's my first bias. Then I hit the stores and they're fairly precise with their feedback- Nikon is not "user friendly" (I can get over that if there's some deeper value) and you pay too much for what you get and they're basically riding on a good name; Pentax isn't even really in the fast lane anymore; and Canon is the way to go being lighter with more options, lenses, etc. I've been looking at the Canon EOS- A2E, EOS Elan IIE, maybe the EOS 1nRS, the Nikon F4s, as well as the Pentax PZ-1P. I was very impressed with the Eye Controlled Focus on the first two Canons and with the Focus Tracking on the F4s. Are these potential hassles or are they fairly fine-tuned and useful? So I guess what I'm asking from you is what your personal experiences and biases are with these cameras, brand-names, etc.,etc. If you can help me, I would once again be grateful! Thanks,

-- Ian Roberts (r1223@corecom.net), June 21, 1998

Answers

There has been much discussion on Canon vs Nikon in http://db.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a.tcl?topic=photo%2enet

That is a general photography forum, with perhaps a bias towards colour transparencies. This forum is specific to Black & White, with a bias towards developing and printing yourself.

So, what new 35mm for B&W? IMHO, it matters very little. I personally use a Nikon F4S (among many other cameras), but don't use the auto focusing, auto exposure and motor drive much. That says much more about my style of photography than it does about the features of the camera. I also prefer fixed-focus over zooms, and spotmeters over TTL. Maybe I'm just old fashioned.

I have overheard camera shop salepeople talking about the merits of Canon vs Nikon, and much of it is bullshit. It got me wondering more about how much profit the shop makes on the respective systems, and commission rates.

Camera features do change rapidly. A top-end body bought now with really smart focus-prediction, flash TTL or whatever will be "old hat" in three years time.

IMHO, your best bet is to get a good manual camera, and spend the money you have saved on some really good lenses.

Good luck.

-- Alan Gibson (gibson.al@mail.dec.com), June 22, 1998.

I own a Canon Elan II because I had a Canon F1 for years and loved it. I also use a friend's Minolta 700si quite often. Some of my friends own Nikons, and I recently counseled another friend to buy a Pentax. They are all excellent cameras and all manufacturers make excellent lenses for them. Buy the system that feels best in your hands, and is built for the way you like to think. You don't want to read the manual every time you go out shooting. I set my Elan II to manual everything because I grew up on manual cameras and have no problem setting the aperture or shutter speed myself. Whatever you get, buy something that will allow you to override the settings, select aperture or shutter priority, and has at least center-weighted metering capability.

Start with a mid-range body such as the Elan II or Nikon N70 and spend what you save there for a better lens or two. If you are in this for the long haul, and especially if you may want to get into photojournalism, get a Canon or Nikon. You'll have a better chance of swapping lenses with another pro on location this way. This comes in handy and happens far more often than you might think.

I have no bias for brands. The photographer is much more important than the equipment. If you get a camera that feels good in your hands and works the way you think you will keep it much longer than if you buy something because someone else likes it.

Stay away from cheap zooms, espacially the third-party brands. Stick with the same brand lenses as the body you buy.

One more consideration, if your father says "Nikon," he might be more likely to buy you a lens for Christmas if you follow his advice than if you run out and buy something else. You could do much worse than Nikon, but it would be hard to do better.

-- Darron Spohn (sspohn@concentric.net), June 22, 1998.

I agree with Alan Gibson that lenses are much more important than bodies - espacially for amateures.

Additionaly, I would recomend you to conseder wether you really need an autofocus body. I yse a 12 years very old manual focus Minolta X700 and have eleven different lenses (from 17mm to 250 f/5.6 Mirror). I realy can't dream to have such assortment if I had used a modern AF camera.

I AF is wat you wish - Nikon still has one big advantage: most of the old manual lenses will fit and work! An old used 20mm will cost you much less than a new AF one - especially important if you use it only occasionaly.

-- Ze'ev Kantor (zeevk@netvision.net.il), July 11, 1998.

Nikon, Canon, Minolta, Pentax, Fuji, Olympus, feel better now? That was for the lies out there I've heard about quality. The point is simple - try the camera out and determine in your mind what you expect from the camera, and what you want to do with it. Your price range is excellant, so your choice should be excellent too. Ignore the people stores. Never buy a camera you haven't tried in the store - never. When the person tells you the total price....get a receipt.

-- Albert H. (ai312@freenet.hamilton.on.ca), July 17, 1998.