What's a good professional camera for someone who's interested in
photography but never had the chance to learn formally?

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 12 Dec 2005 21:46 PST

Approximately what's your budget? Are you wanting a film camera or a
digital camera? What kind of photography are you likely to be doing
(mostly portraits? landscapes? weddings?) The more we know about your
needs, the better we can help.

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Clarification of Question by qp27-ga on 14 Dec 2005 09:33 PST

I want to spend less than US$1000.00, preferably a film camera, but if
there's a digital model that's great, I'll be interested too. The type
of photography is probably just everyday fun picture taking, scenery,
artistic shots. Hope this helps!

Dear qp27-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. My wife
happens to be a professional photographer so I posed your question
directly to her. Together we looked online and, as an amateur
photographer?s first professional-level camera, she was impressed with
both the features and price of this Canon 35mm camera, which
coincidentally advertises that it ?satisfies the needs of
photographers with a wide range of skill levels - from advanced
amateur to absolute beginner and everyone in between.?

Canon EOS Elan 7E 35mm SLR Autofocus Camera
FROOGLE
http://froogle.google.com/froogle_cluster?q=beginner+camera&pid=4834532080214633536&oid=7887374478516438885&btnG=Search+Froogle&lmode=&addr=&scoring=p&hl=en

You will note that on a rating scale of 1-5 this camera ranked an
impressive 4.9 among users who, like yourself, purchased the camera
because they wanted a relatively simple auto focus device that takes
professional quality photos.
http://froogle.google.com/froogle/reviews?fq=beginner+camera&cid=9efec3927da8c0ec&hl=en

You can see a great overview of the camera?s features on the Canon
website. Please take note of a fascinating new feature called ?eye
control? that is included in this device. Essentially it enables the
camera to discern what you are looking at and it automatically focuses
on that subject for you with little or no effort. Very nice indeed (in
fact, I may buy one myself).

CANON
http://opd.usa.canon.com/html/cameras_slr/elan7_index.html


I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

CANON EOS ELAN 7NE USER REVIEW
http://emedia.leeward.hawaii.edu/frary/canon_elan7ne.htm
http://emedia.leeward.hawaii.edu/frary/canon_elan.htm
Note the actual photo samples at the bottom of the page (on the second link)

SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

Camera

Amateur

Beginner

Review

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Request for Answer Clarification by qp27-ga on 14 Dec 2005 14:08 PST

Actually, when I said "never had the chance to learn formally," I
didn't mean that I'm a beginner at using regular cameras. I have
experience using both film and digital camera for many years. However,
I have never owned a PROFESSIONAL camera used by advanced professional
photographers, and I'm not too familiar with those types of cameras,
which is the reason why I asked the question. For example, I wanted to
join the photography club back in high school, where we take pictures
and develop them ourselves in the black room. That's the type of
camera I'm interested in. I apologoze if I have been ambiguous in my
question. And I agree with myoarin-ga about the use of digital cameras
with the professional photographers because I've been in picture
studios and seen the photographers using digital cameras instead of
film ones, but they just have very, very high resolution and pixels
(unlike our normal Sony S500, for example). I was hoping to find a
professional camera with those standing pods to take more quality and
advanced pictures. I hope you can continue helping me with my
question. Thanks!

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Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 14 Dec 2005 14:46 PST

Maybe I misunderstand you. If it is a film camera you are looking for
you will note that the Canon EOS Elan 7E utilizes standard 35mm film
which can indeed be developed in a dark room. It is not digital. In
addition is it tripod ready (simply mount it on any universal tripod)
and is also compatible with Canon's professional accessories.

http://opd.usa.canon.com/html/cameras_slr/elan7_access.html

tutuzdad-ga

I am sure that Tutuzdad's (and wife's) recommendation is an excellent choice.
These days, however, digital cameras are not only popular but also
gaining acceptance by professional photographers since the number of
pixels has increased and become reasonably priced, allowing "analog"
quality prints for most use.
(I am sure some will argue with me on this, but Qp27-ga is not a
professional, and I know professionals who use digital.)
The advantage for you, Gp27, is that you can immediately observe the
results of your work without the expense and delay of getting film
developed.  You can "shoot" in volume  - like the pros do, who can
charge for their expenses.  You can use your photo-software to crop
photos to get the artistic format you want  - again without the
expense and learning to do this in a photo-lab yourself.
Some may feel that that is part of the exercise, but it doesn't have to be.
With a digital camera, you will probably be more generous in
experimenting, learning, and continuing with your new hobby, which may
otherwise suffer from the "stutter" of waiting for the results and
cringe at the cost.

I don't want to start an argument here, just want to try to present
the alternate possibility.
Regards, Myoarin