My high school kid wants a camera

Bill Burk

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Not sure if I should drag him down with me...

My high school kid wants a camera. His idea of the perfect camera is a Minolta Freedom Zoom 140EX. He wants to shoot color.

But seeing Massimo's daughter's shots with SLR and Tri-X makes me think I should put something better in his hands.

He's an artist in his own right, drawing, but not that into photography, he just wants to take a few snapshots.

I don't think "letting him use one of mine" is fair, since I'd worry about the good ones and the other ones are hard enough for me to use. Besides, I still resent my dad not letting me "have" the Spotmatic II all those years ago...

Something he can toss in his pack and just shoot...
 

Chuck_P

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Be sure and give one that you don't mind him dropping! But I think it's great, maybe another analoger to be..........
 

Vaughn

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Olympus XA?
 
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Bill Burk

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I'll put the Rollei 35 in his hands, see if he likes it...
 

E. von Hoegh

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Let him do what I did. Mow lawns to earn the money to buy a Kodak 35, give him an old selenium meter, and let him mow more lawns to buy some Velvia.
If he can get good results with that combo, he'll be able to use anything.
 
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Bill Burk

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Haaa, I could give him my Kodak 35, not worried about that. But I hated that camera you know, it's the camera I had to use because dad wouldn't let me take the Spotmatic to college.
 

cepwin

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I love both my Nikon FG and Yashica rangefinder...both < $100 on ebay. The nice thing about the Nikon is you can find a lot of nice lenses it can use for good prices although it's manual focus only (as is the Yashica...but that is fixed lens.)
 

Nicholas Lindan

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When he grows up he will complain: "My Dad wouldn't let me have a Minolta Freedom Zoom 140EX, that was the camera I really wanted. Instead, he gave me a Pentax Spotmatic II - I hated that camera."
 
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E. von Hoegh

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Bill Burk said:
Haaa, I could give him my Kodak 35, not worried about that. But I hated that camera you know, it's the camera I had to use because dad wouldn't let me take the Spotmatic to college.
Click to expand...

Seriously, I got one of those when I was 13 or 14. The cheapest option for film was Kodachrome or Ektachrome. It sure taught me how to use the ca. 1938 Weston meter my great uncle gave me. I still have those slides, and that little camera did a damn good job with it's f:3.5 lens.
 

markbarendt

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There is one of those exact Minoltas on Amazon right now for $18.

He will be more likely to use something he actually chose. IMO
 

removed account4

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hi bill

you might just him a leica
it seems that puddle jumps are easy enough for a monkey
snappies willbe easy for an art-leaning HS student
 

mr rusty

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get something like a minolta x300/370. Cheap as chips on fleabay. But a decent camera all the same, and of course excellent lenses available. And they're really light.
 

Mr Bill

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markbarendt said:
There is one of those exact Minoltas on Amazon right now for $18.

He will be more likely to use something he actually chose. IMO
Click to expand...

I agree. Let him be his own person, and let him see how his choice works out. Let him see what he can do with it.

There was an old race car story that is related (I think I may have got it from one of Caroll Smith's books). Back in the day, the specific tire compounds for a major Indy-car race were based on the choice of one or two racers doing tire tests for the main tire maker (such as Goodyear). The choice was made, and race tires were produced. During practice week, the tires were causing problems for nearly everyone. Couldn't get grip, the tires were overheating and chunking off tread, etc. They all said the tires were crap. Except for the guy who picked the compound; he was flying, nobody could understand how he was doing so well. Later, someone asked him how he did it. Well, he acknowleded, the tires really were horrible. But since he was the one who picked them, he couldn't complain - he HAD to make them work! So he somehow found a way to do so.
 
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Bill Burk

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Nicholas Lindan said:
When he grows up he will complain: "My Dad wouldn't let me have a Minolta Freedom Zoom 140EX, that was the camera I really wanted. Instead, he gave me a Pentax Spotmatic II - I hated that camera."
Click to expand...

That's just so true it makes me cry...
 
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Bill Burk

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jnanian said:
hi bill

you might just him a leica
it seems that puddle jumps are easy enough for a monkey
snappies willbe easy for an art-leaning HS student
Click to expand...

Well, there is that possibility. I need to learn to let go...
 

Stephanie Brim

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Buy him a point and shoot with a good lens. Is he completely set on a zoom camera? Something with a 35-40mm f/2.8 may be better.
 
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Bill Burk

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He doesn't care much, as long as it shoots color...
 

MaximusM3

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Nah, Bill...give him a good one! If he's into it, and you know he'll make good use of it, why worry? Having said that, I gave my daughter the FM3A because there was no way she'd get get a Leica, and even that came with some serious threats
 

John Koehrer

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It's not going to help by forcing him to use your sort of camera, it'll end up like the FG.
 

pbromaghin

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Let him have what he wants for now. If he figures out it's not all that good, then you can push a good camera in front of him. Hell, it's less than $20.
 

Stephanie Brim

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I would look at the lesser known autofocus P&S. The Olympus Stylus Epic may be a little pricey right now, but Canon, Yashica, and Konica all made something similar.
 
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Bill Burk

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At the bottom of this page you can see why he wants this particular camera...

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

I took it away from him and gave it to my mom...
 

markbarendt

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Bill Burk said:
At the bottom of this page you can see why he wants this particular camera...

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

I took it away from him and gave it to my mom...
Click to expand...

Dug yer own hole eh?

Can't say I haven't done that kinda thing.

So now what?
 
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