recommendations?

Hi all,
This may be really vague, but im a photo student. Right now im taking photos with an Olympus OM-10 and some various lenses. I've learned the whole black and white process, from taking the shots to developing to printing. My favorite type of photography, the style I want to stick with, is "people shots". I really like taking shots of people and their candid expressions...downtown NYC, for example.

I want to upgrade my camera..I don't want to go digital, and my budget is about $300.

Any vague suggestions?

thanks!


edit: I saw this and read it too: http://www.photographyreview.com/Learnguidesslrcrx.aspx

Are you wanting to upgrade your current outfit - or replace it outright with something newer and possibly better?

A $300 budget these days will put you into a mid-line Body with one or two lenses, from any of the major manufacturers. Pricing and features are pretty competitive, and they all make excellent equipment.

My personal 'flavor' is Minolta - to which I am 100% and heavily committed. You'll find others here equally committed to Canon, Nikon, Pentax, etc.

I would bounce over to B&H's website, and start comparing outfits that fit the budget. Study the fine print on features, and start narrowing it down. Then come back to us with any questions that arise.

I think that many people who like taking candid street shots like an inconspicuos rangefinder with a mildly wide to wide lens. You don't have to carry alot of gear around and if you preset it for standard conditions, it doesn't take long to get it into action for those fleeting moments. Used rangefinders ought to be fairly readily available as well.

Chunk is on to something here - a good way to see if you like working with a rangefinder is to get a Canon GIII QL17, well under $100 on ebay. Just make sure that there are no light leaks (can be fixed) and use Wein Zinc-Air batteries to replace the no longer available mercury batteries it was designed for.

What doesn't the OM10 do that you need it to do? Olympus made some nice cameras and glass; if it suits your needs I think I'd buy some lenses, and maybe the Canon rangefinder.

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Originally Posted by another view

What doesn't the OM10 do that you need it to do? Olympus made some nice cameras and glass; if it suits your needs I think I'd buy some lenses, and maybe the Canon rangefinder.

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I'm still not sure that it doesn't do what I need to do...all I have right now is a 49 (50?)mm standard lense, a wide angle lense, and a telephoto lense.

Any suggestions of lenses that would "optimize" my performace with the OM10?

The "49" is probably the filter size of the 50mm lens. Olympus is known for making great glass - depending on the lenses you've got you might look at some fast prime (as in non-zoom) lenses, maybe better than what you've got or add some focal lengths to what you've got. Since this system isn't made anymore you can probably get bargains on ebay. With that type of work you'll love fast lenses like 50 f1.4 and 85 f1.4 or 1.8 (not sure exactly what's out there for Olympus OM series though).