I recently found my dads NIKON fm10 35mm film camera in the attic and started using it. It works great still near mint,and I'm starting to photograph and gettin into photography. Is this a good camera to use or should I switch and a NIKON digital something instead?
thoughts over nikon fm10 camera
- Thread starter jsandoval
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- Pat MacInnes
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Film is a great medium to use and anyway, what ever you use (film or digital) the same settings for shutter speed and aperture apply to get a shot so the learning curve in that respect is no different. I used one of these at university and it was a solid, reliable camera that got me plenty of shots. Most old-school manual focus SLRs from the like of Nikon, Pentax and Olympus (and others) will survive life better than their owners!!!
The thing is these days, the cost of film against digital media is so massive that to start out on film, although exciting, might actually work against you because it's far more costly to shoot film these days than it is to shoot to a memory card. The wait for films to come is nice - but also unnerving if you're starting out - and to get good processing and printing it may be a case if sending off instead of using a high-street shop, or using scanning services, which again will be costly per image.
Not trying to put you off it at all but if this is something you're still learning from scratch, a cheap digital SLR takes some beating as a learning tool because they are so convenient.
If you do have a go at digital (aside from keeping the FM for later) buying used is a great way to start; these days you can pick up a decent little 8-10 megapixel body for £250 (like a Nikon D60) and get a good kit zoom for under £100. If used interests you have a butchers at places like ApertureUK, MPB Photographic or Ffordes, as they have a good turnaround in used bodies
The thing is these days, the cost of film against digital media is so massive that to start out on film, although exciting, might actually work against you because it's far more costly to shoot film these days than it is to shoot to a memory card. The wait for films to come is nice - but also unnerving if you're starting out - and to get good processing and printing it may be a case if sending off instead of using a high-street shop, or using scanning services, which again will be costly per image.
Not trying to put you off it at all but if this is something you're still learning from scratch, a cheap digital SLR takes some beating as a learning tool because they are so convenient.
If you do have a go at digital (aside from keeping the FM for later) buying used is a great way to start; these days you can pick up a decent little 8-10 megapixel body for £250 (like a Nikon D60) and get a good kit zoom for under £100. If used interests you have a butchers at places like ApertureUK, MPB Photographic or Ffordes, as they have a good turnaround in used bodies
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I'd say the FM10 is not a bad camera and a great way to get into the enjoyment of photography.
Specialman is right though that film photography quickly mounts up. Taking 11 rolls of film at an airshow results in a costly day if you have to pay for development and prints.
But I would say that to get good you have to take photos. The more the better. Digital has the advantage you can snap away for ever basically for no outlay (once you've purchased the camera and lens).
However, you can pick up cheap manual lenses for film SLRs letting you get your hands on some great glass for very little compared to the automatic modern lenses. Also and most critically, with film you set a steeper learning curve, so you may learn faster. As you have to slow down each shot, and think it through more because you can't check it on an LCD on the back of the camera and adjust immediately and you can't afford to just waste rolls of film and then pay for development.
Personally I think the best way to really learn is to get a good book on exposure, get an understanding of the basics and then start shooting digital to get the basics drilled into you.
Then you'll come back to the film camera with a greater understanding and experience and waste fewer shots.
All this is just my personal opinion though. Every photographer is different and likes to learn in different ways. But that was the path I took.
Specialman is right though that film photography quickly mounts up. Taking 11 rolls of film at an airshow results in a costly day if you have to pay for development and prints.
But I would say that to get good you have to take photos. The more the better. Digital has the advantage you can snap away for ever basically for no outlay (once you've purchased the camera and lens).
However, you can pick up cheap manual lenses for film SLRs letting you get your hands on some great glass for very little compared to the automatic modern lenses. Also and most critically, with film you set a steeper learning curve, so you may learn faster. As you have to slow down each shot, and think it through more because you can't check it on an LCD on the back of the camera and adjust immediately and you can't afford to just waste rolls of film and then pay for development.
Personally I think the best way to really learn is to get a good book on exposure, get an understanding of the basics and then start shooting digital to get the basics drilled into you.
Then you'll come back to the film camera with a greater understanding and experience and waste fewer shots.
All this is just my personal opinion though. Every photographer is different and likes to learn in different ways. But that was the path I took.
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I'd keep the fm10 and then buy an inexpensive nikon DSLR. The FM10 isn't worth much ont he used market so no harm in keeping it. But learning on digital is much easier than learing on film because of instant feedback. You can chimp the display again and again to play with settings and know what is going to happen. You can take a bunch of pictures and compare them later at the computer with exif data.
Keep the fm10 so that when you think you want to try film, you can. Load it with some black and white film, manual focus everything, and go from there. You'll get tired of that quickly and go back to digital I suspect.
thanks
rick
Keep the fm10 so that when you think you want to try film, you can. Load it with some black and white film, manual focus everything, and go from there. You'll get tired of that quickly and go back to digital I suspect.
thanks
rick