I'm putting two kids through college. My son has the attention span of a
knat. That's ok, the Beaver is a very bright kid who, for this moment,
fancies photography. I surely want to encourage him and for $60, I believe
I'm a good dad and bought him a decent Richoh kit. It's what I could afford.
However, pay attention here, I have a limited budget. Tomorrow the Beaver
may want to go digital, or, God forbid, Canon, unless it's the old clasic
Rangefinder, which makes it OK.
The Ricoh KR-5 Super is an amazing camera - shoots at 2000 comparded to the
k-1000, mirror lockup when you use the timer - and last but not least, going
at about half the rate of a K-1000. The K-1000 was a great workhorse, but
simply a well-built no-frills camera. Age has not served it particularly
well because most K-1000s' metering is off, and the seals have
disintegreated. The Richoh is a far better choice.
--- Cotty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >> Get him the K-1000! It's nothing to do with what you want; it's
> >> everything to do with teaching youngsters the principles of
> photography.
> >
> >Only if you believe that learning only comes from failure.
>
> Not true IMHO. Depends who is teaching. I think there are many methods
> that can work, again it depends on the teacher and the pupil. I can only
> vouch for my son and myself. However, that does not preclude me from
> recommending the method.
>
> >> If you get him an automatic-this, automatic-that camera, what
> >> will he learn? How to compose an image? And what else?
> >
> >He might just learn that photography can be an engrossing and
> >interesting experience, rather than just a mechanical exercise
> >in aligning the match needle in the viewfinder.
>
> I have no intentions of limiting the method to a mechanical exercise in
> aligning the match needle in the viewfinder, and I have no doubt at all
> that he will find it an engrossing and interesting experience (not
> matching the needle).
>
> >He *might* even learn that he enjoys the creative and artistic
> >side of being a photographer.
>
> I agree.
>
> What I don't agree with is that by providing a tool that is way
> 'over-specced' for the task of teaching is the answer. In fact you have
> made me think again on one point: he'll be starting out with no meter in
> the camera at all. I shall remove the batteries. A seperate meter will be
> just the ticket. This will be much easier to illustrate the properties of
> light. Then at a later date we can move on to TTL metering. Thanks for
> that.
>
> >Show him how he can outperform the camera by careful and intelligent
> >choice of shutter speed and/or aperture setting, and you've provided
> >a powerful case of learning by example.
>
> As well as a manual (film) camera, I would hope to include (not in any
> particular order): pinhole camera, digital camera, film camera, video
> camera, and even audio recording at some point. And probably things I
> haven't thought of yet. In fact whatever springs to mind and is relevant.
>
> The way I see it, start off basic, work one's way up, learning and
> mastering the equipment and the technique along the way, graduating from
> level to level. As you suggest, it is perfectly possible to do this with
> a more sophisticated camera. As it happens, I choose, and recommend, that
> much more basic gear is used. It worked well for me and I see no reason
> to change it. However, I don't see anything intrinsically wrong with any
> other method - we're all different. It the shoe fits...
>
> To the chap who is wondering what sort of camera to get: I started out
> with very basic kit and in no way felt at a disadvantage. With the
> benefit of hindsight, I now believe that this is a great way to go about
> learning photography, and highly recommend it. As I said before: go for
> it!
>
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>
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