Hello i am wondering what is the best Regalar camera and digatal camera for a newbie intrested in photography?

I don't kknow exactly what your interest is, It depends on just what you want to do, but for a SLR 35mm film camera, I like Nikon. But Canon is good too.

[ 06-12-2003, 01:56: Message edited by: t_bob38 ]

& I prefer Canon but nikons ok too

I think a lot depends on what you want to do with the camera. Also, when you say "best camera" you may be adding $2-5K to the price. :-)

I am more familiar with Canon cameras and will use their products as examples. Other companies will have very comparable cameras in the same price range.

If you just want to play around with an SLR, likely some of the Canon Rebel price range camera's would do fine to get your feet wet for about 300 USD.

There are many point and shoot film cameras that are out there and can give good results. Some are waterproof/resistant and that might be a factor.

With digital cameras, the non SLR ones that I have seen have shutter lag which makes action pictures more difficult to time. The most of the SLR's allow you to interchange lenses which might be a plus later. Almost all of the digital SLR's, there is a magnification factor that is a plus in some situations and a negative in others. The Non SLR's are easier to carry which is a plus.

The Canon D10 would be an digital SLR to look at at about 1,500USD.

A Canon G3 or G5 would likely be good choices in the non SLR types--they have some fast lenses which would be a plus in low light situations. I have had good luck with a Nikon 995 and 5000 on trips. Also, there are some smaller models that might be the ticket when weight is a problem.

There is likely to be no "right" choice and you may have to play around with cameras a while to see what you really want or need.

It depends - if you want to learn the theory & practice of photography as an art and a science, sign up for a college class and they will probably start you on an all-manual 35mm SLR - the old Pentax K1000 was the classic but I started with a Minolta SRT 101 and 201.

If you want a point & shoot, there are many - if you want weatherproof the list gets a lot shorter. The Yashica T4 Super has such a good reputation that they now sell on eBay for more than they did new.

For digital, I really like my Canon S45, it has so many options that you really can learn a lot about photography in general, with a high degree of "instant gratification."