I think my original post as an anonymous coward dissapeared into the ether so I registered to try my post again.
Anyway, I totally agree with the parent on this one but first a little background. Hobbyist photographer for the past 10 years (25 yo), yearbook photo ed for 4 during high school, visuals editor for my university mag for 2 years, and now photo researcher at a national magazine for 2 1/2 years.
The Pentax k-1000 is THE workhouse of the photography community. I still know of many professional photographers who take their $50k worth of photog equipment out to a shoot and still bring their K-1000 with a 50mm lens just in case something happens. I've had my K-1000 handed down to me by my father who had it since he immigrated to Canada 30 years ago and it still works exactly the same as the day he bought it. It has never had a single problem even though its been treated poorly, been dropped in a river twice, been used in 30+C and -30C weather and been dropped on the ground numerous times. In fact, on the occaision that I dropped it in the river the first time I just kept shooting my film and it worked fine (true there were scratches on the emulsion but hell it still worked!).
The only complaint I would have about the K-1000 is that the shutter is extremely loud compared to other 100% manual cameras. I've seen the Nikon FM-2 listed here as another option and that's a fantastic camera as well with a much quieter shutter but it's difficult to find a used FM-2 body for a reasonable price (last time I checked it was at least twice as much as a new pentax k-1000 body).
To avoid the problem of having to buy new lenses later on I would get a $20 solution... a pentax to nikon adapter ring. You can find these at almost any pro shop. True you can't make use the the autofocus interface but remember the k-1000 is a fully manual camera =)
With regards to which is faster... manual vs say aperture/shutter priority vs fully auto.... i'd have to say it depends on the shooter. Personally when I shoot I typically shoot outdoor in the day so if something catches me by surprise I can usually catch a photo of it by keeping the depth of field set as wide as possible for current conditions... that way even if you're aren't exactly in focus in the viewfinder you'll still get the subject in focus thanks to the miracle of DOF. As for not being able to see the effect of the aperture in the viewfinder... come on... you HAVE to learn the effect of aperture on a photo anyway and once you learn it you'll be able to visualize the effect! It's like saying to a newbie web designer that all you need to design a webpage is frontpage... that''ll only get you so far. You eventually have to delve into the hard code. Same with photography... auto everything will only get you so far.
Also.... don't learn how to shoot with black and white film. Learn to shoot with COLOR film. It's so much easier to go to black and white from color than from color to black and white. Now granted this is totally subjective and you could argue it all day but frankly if you can get contrast and composition done nicely in the full spectrum of colors, you'll find it easier to do so in the limited spectrum of black and white.
Slashdot Mirror
I think my original post as an anonymous coward dissapeared into the ether so I registered to try my post again. Anyway, I totally agree with the parent on this one but first a little background. Hobbyist photographer for the past 10 years (25 yo), yearbook photo ed for 4 during high school, visuals editor for my university mag for 2 years, and now photo researcher at a national magazine for 2 1/2 years. The Pentax k-1000 is THE workhouse of the photography community. I still know of many professional photographers who take their $50k worth of photog equipment out to a shoot and still bring their K-1000 with a 50mm lens just in case something happens. I've had my K-1000 handed down to me by my father who had it since he immigrated to Canada 30 years ago and it still works exactly the same as the day he bought it. It has never had a single problem even though its been treated poorly, been dropped in a river twice, been used in 30+C and -30C weather and been dropped on the ground numerous times. In fact, on the occaision that I dropped it in the river the first time I just kept shooting my film and it worked fine (true there were scratches on the emulsion but hell it still worked!). The only complaint I would have about the K-1000 is that the shutter is extremely loud compared to other 100% manual cameras. I've seen the Nikon FM-2 listed here as another option and that's a fantastic camera as well with a much quieter shutter but it's difficult to find a used FM-2 body for a reasonable price (last time I checked it was at least twice as much as a new pentax k-1000 body). To avoid the problem of having to buy new lenses later on I would get a $20 solution... a pentax to nikon adapter ring. You can find these at almost any pro shop. True you can't make use the the autofocus interface but remember the k-1000 is a fully manual camera =) With regards to which is faster ... manual vs say aperture/shutter priority vs fully auto.... i'd have to say it depends on the shooter. Personally when I shoot I typically shoot outdoor in the day so if something catches me by surprise I can usually catch a photo of it by keeping the depth of field set as wide as possible for current conditions... that way even if you're aren't exactly in focus in the viewfinder you'll still get the subject in focus thanks to the miracle of DOF. As for not being able to see the effect of the aperture in the viewfinder... come on... you HAVE to learn the effect of aperture on a photo anyway and once you learn it you'll be able to visualize the effect! It's like saying to a newbie web designer that all you need to design a webpage is frontpage... that''ll only get you so far. You eventually have to delve into the hard code. Same with photography... auto everything will only get you so far.
Also.... don't learn how to shoot with black and white film. Learn to shoot with COLOR film. It's so much easier to go to black and white from color than from color to black and white. Now granted this is totally subjective and you could argue it all day but frankly if you can get contrast and composition done nicely in the full spectrum of colors, you'll find it easier to do so in the limited spectrum of black and white.