My high school kid wants a camera

[LarryP]

Bill, If he is amenable to a different p&s to replace the old one I saw a pentax iqzoom 90 wr on the auction site for $35 shipped. I used to use those on construction sites for documentation and found them to be fairly decent little cameras for a p&s. I have no connection to the seller and have not done business with him but here is the link.http://www.ebay.com/itm/PENTAX-Zoom...809992585?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item43b5a05589

 

[Bill Burk]

Dug yer own hole eh?

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

So now what?

Yup, I sure did and now I have to make it right somehow...

At the time I thought I'd just give him one of my point and shoots...

Then I realized the only auto anything I had was the ESII and OM-4 with auto exposure.

 

[MattKing]

In our area, I would just take him shopping at our local thrift stores. $5 would buy any of a number of them. You could check them out for him and he could decide.

 

[Peter Simpson]

Buy him what he wants, then get a Nikon F3 and leave it on the table by the front door

 

[dsmccrac]

I know a fair bit about snowboarding and I have to be careful how much I steer what board my daughter gets. I will try to steer the choice towards a handful of boards that are OK and not too expensive and then I let her choose even if it is not one I am 100% crazy about (I am not keen on rockered boards if their are any shredders out there) because I know if she does not like it she will not snowboard. So if you are steering away from a camera male sure there is some buy in. Eg if he wants a yucky zoom you may want tort that ride. Most of us thought zooms were cool at some point.

 

[tkamiya]

Why not get him what he thinks it's perfect?

If he's in high school, he is well into establishing his own identity. Right or not, that's what he wants.

You could give him a Haseelblad Super EX-Plus with f/1.2 10 - 280 mm premium zoom with 4000 guide-number nuclear flash but hey... He wants a p&s. There's nothing wrong with that. When he feels the limitation of what he has chosen, he'll be in better position to want something else and he'll appreciate it that much more.

I'm sort of against choosing the best for him based on our ideas.

 

[Bill Burk]

Bill, If he is amenable to a different p&s to replace the old one I saw a pentax iqzoom 90 wr

Thanks LarryP for the idea...

 

[Bill Burk]

Why not get him what he thinks it's perfect?

I'm sort of against choosing the best for him based on our ideas.

Ideas like this are good..

 

[EKDobbs]

I'm a highschool senior and I started out on a minolta X-700. Perfect combination of P&S, plus a little manual if you want to get fancy. The aperture indexing finally kicked the bucket on mine, but not before I took it to germany and abused it greatly.

I believe I'm the only person under 18 who regularly uses and prints from an RB67. It's a strange state of affairs.

(and before you think "entitled", I paid for all of it myself or got it for free. Worked at Waffle House for much longer than any normal human should have to.)

 

[Bill Burk]

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..."

Well, thanks to flatulent1, he's got a Minolta Freedom Zoom 140EX with fresh batteries and color print film.

 

[markbarendt]

Another family crisis averted.

 

[AndreasT]

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.

With a bit of luck he will soon want a more expensive camera soon, that is a lot of garden work getting done.

 

[Bill Burk]

I'm a highschool senior and I started out on a minolta X-700. Perfect combination of P&S, plus a little manual if you want to get fancy. The aperture indexing finally kicked the bucket on mine, but not before I took it to germany and abused it greatly.

I believe I'm the only person under 18 who regularly uses and prints from an RB67. It's a strange state of affairs.

(and before you think "entitled", I paid for all of it myself or got it for free. Worked at Waffle House for much longer than any normal human should have to.)

EKDobbs,

Meant to give you props for getting into 6x7. Take lots of pictures of your friends and the places you hang out. If you can stand it, take pictures of family too. I've found as I get on with life, the photos from the old days, are the ones I like the most.