From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!npois!alice!rabbit!jss
Newsgroups: net.rec.photo
Title: reply on novice camera request
Article-I.D.: rabbit.576
Posted: Tue Jun 29 13:06:49 1982
Received: Wed Jun 30 01:31:31 1982

Subj: New Camera

	I'm a more or less experienced SLR shooter.  I periodically
will photograph a party for a friend, etc., but frankly most of
what I shoot is for me alone.  So: a brief summary of camera
brands and some tips I hope will be valuable:

	NIKON: Generally good, though I'm told prone to breakdown.
		Is a status simbol (sort of), but leaves you in
		the lurch in terms of flexibility, as they de-
		liberately made their lens mount different from
		everybody elses, which to my way of thinking is
		an attitude which does not bode well for the
		company.  Reality: you dont need all of the 
		fancy add ons for good pictures.  Most people
		can't use them effectively anyway, they are
		just not that good or hypercritical.  Face it,
		a 1/2 f stop screw up can and should be fixed at the
		enlarger.  Further, NIKONS are dependent on their
		batteries, which leaves you really screwed when
		you're shooting in the woods and it dies.

	Olympus:  These are generally more expensive than they are
		worth unless you are a professional who is really
		fantastic.  My advice is forget it.

	Konica:  Their breakdown rate is phenominal and they can't
		be fixed correctly by anybody I've ever met, 
		including the konica company.  The only one which
		is solid is not SLR, which you will want given
		that you shoot two vastly different types of shots.

	Cannon:  More adaptable than NIKON, but generally the same
		things apply.  Also battery dependent.

	My personal favorite is the Pentax K1000 or the Pentax K1000 SE
(special edition)  These cameras are simple (no fancy useless add ons)
are not battery dependent, and are uniquely rugged.  Reality is that
a camera is a delicate piece of precision equipment.  It isn't 
theoretically designed for backpacking.  Fortunately, the K1000
series seems to be virtually indestructible.  It is the camera
most photo course teachers will purchase to loan out to a class
with people who dont own their own cameras.  The base price is reasonable,
and the lens mount is normal, so you can shop around when you eventually
decide you want to expand.  If you plan to use it as a +1 cudgel,
I would reccomend you burchase the metal case version, as it is even more indestructable
than the normal one.  To give you an idea of how good these things are,
I know of one (metal case) which has been abused by high school students 
for 12 years, has gone n for routine maintainance once, and is still
as good as ever.  This seems about typical.  For an individual who is 
halfway careful; it should last damn near forever.  My bet is you could
safely will it to your grandchildren and expect it to be viable.
Getting the picture...?

	For the kind of shooting you describe, you would want to buy
a wide angle lens in addition.  These give some great effects. Drop
into your local bookstore and pick up a camera book and look.
	The K1000 SE has an extra (and I think useful) additional
focusing mechanism.  I reccomend it over the normal.  Besides which,
the warrantee is twice as long, always worth the extra $15 you may
pay for it.  It turned out that when I got mine (the SE) it was actually
cheaper than the standard, so...

	A note regarding blow ups, etc.  If you shoot with a 110
instamatic, forget it.  The negative is just to small to get good
resolution when you blow it up.  Grain is not a linear effect.
You are blowing up an area, not a line, and its therefore exponential.
Even with the best of cameras an 8 x 10 will show grain under ideal
conditions.  For that you're getting into a whole new and expensive
line of specialized cameras, but for the number of pictures people
want to blow up to 8 x 10 in the normal lifetime, dont bother.

	Further, the machine processing done by kodak or anyplace else
is MURDER on film.  It leaves incredible SCRATCHES, DUST SPOTS, etc.
If you really get serious about quality, shoot black and white and have
a friend develop it.  Generally if the person has experience he will
get better results than kodak, and he will know how to optimally 
develop a given picture and will be willing to give eaach one a look
which the machines dont do yet.

	With regards to flashes: DON'T BUY VIVITAR.
		I personally reccomend any Sunpak flash.
		If you are willing to spend the money, the 
		Sunpack 422D is excellent and allows for future
		expansion/changes.

As this article is admittedly not without slant, I'm looking forward
to hearing from anyone else who disagrees, has comments, etc...
--Jon Shapiro, Bell Labs, Murray Hill N.J.