what does a nice like 300 dollar digital camera do on average?

 

It depends. If you want to learn about photography through using manual controls and stuff I wouldn't recommend starting with a digital point-n-shoot. Get a used 35 mm film manual SLR and a 50 mm lens then go to town. You can do tons of stuff that way, then you will know the fundamentals before worrying about the digital crap.

 

 

:werd: good advice.

you can pick up a nice 35mm SLR with a lens or two for $400, probably with a flash on ebay or your local camera place that sells used equipment.

then take a class.

I would actually go one step further and say get an older camera like from the 80's that doesn't have any automatic settings at all.

 

Dude, "older" and "from the 80s" ain't the same thing.

Most of the cameras that were sold in the 80s had some kind of automatic exposure control and electronic shutters. That's cheating. Start with a completely mechanical camera and a 50 mm lens, nothing more is necessary.

I would look at the Canon FTb series or Nikon FM series, or a Pentax K1000.

 

so substitute the world manual in :fawk:

 

I was spoiled though, my first SLR was a Nikon F2 Photomic which came out in 1971 and at the time was a bigass sturdy professional camera.

 

i learned photography on my uncle's Nikon F1 h:
(or was it F2? :dunno: )

 

manual world? :dunno:

 

The original Nikon was simply called the Nikon F. It looked like this. (non-metered on left, metered version called F Photomic on right)



The F2 replaced it, and it looked like this. (same deal, no meter on left, F2 Photomic with meter on right)


I had an F2 Photomic, like I said before.