Modern film camera. Plz help!?

Hey James! Glad you're enjoying 35mm photography so much! Film is very fun and engaging as well as educational. Shooting film, particularly with manual cameras will make you a very disciplined shooter.

So you want a NEW 35mm SLR? I have a couple thoughts to share.

1--There is no such thing as a Leica A3 camera. Did you mean an M3? This is a legendary professional 35mm rangefinder camera. I use an M6 TTL which is much newer. You can certainly still buy Leica 35mm rangefinders new as you mentioned, not only the M7 but also the MP, both of which are available used but in great shape. I use an M6 TTL that was made in 1999 but I bought for $1500 barely used in the original box several years ago. So don't rule that out!

2--You can certainly still find new, never used, in the box vintage cameras. But I wouldn't recommend buying one if you did find one on eBay etc. Why? Cameras don't just work no matter how old they are and how little they've been used. Any Canon A1 that has never been used or even just hasn't been used in the last 20 years is likely to suffer from hardened internal lubrication that would jam the camera after just a roll of film or two. Plus, cameras like this command many hundreds of dollars more than well-used and LOVED versions of the camera. Collectors, not photographers, buy these New Old Stock cameras. Vintage cameras like the A1 and Leica M3 can work perfectly well after years of heavy use and a little maintenance and this, in my opinion, is the best example of one of these cameras to buy. In fact, I like to buy black cameras that have been used so much that the brass shine through the paint. They cost less retail and after a Clean Lube and Adjust by a professional repair tech, they can work like new yet have all that character written all over them!

3--Lomography is far from being for hippies. When I watch old Woodstock footage, I see a lot of photographers with Nikon F's and Nikkormats actually. There's nothing wrong with hippies and there's nothing wrong with Lomography. In photography, you're only hurting yourself and your own creative boundaries by ruling out genres of photography no matter how silly they may seem. Personally, I am all about high end optics but find that sometimes a vignette, lens flare or even a light leak can really MAKE an image SAY something. Don't limit yourself or buy into stereotypes and discrimination! Speaking of which "best" means nothing without a given purpose which leads me to my next point:

4--What is wrong with using your mother's Canon A1? That is a FANTASTIC professional grade 35mm SLR, among the best cameras made in the 1970's. Don't just buy cameras to buy cameras, or you'll turninto a collector instead of a photographer. Photographers identify specific reasons a particular body or lens is not doing what they want them to do and they find ones that do. I can't think of a single reason why a 16 year old with a functioning A1 would need another camera for many years. unless only to find his own identity with his own camera of course.

5--If you really want a newer camera, my personal preference is for fully manual, small, quiet 35mm cameras. So I'm a big fan of the Nikon FM line and the Leica M line. I'm not as much a fan of Canon because they stopped making fully manual SLR's long before Nikon who still sells the FM10. Canon lens compatibility is also an issue for those of us using 1960's-today's cameras. Since you've ruled out Leica, I'd suggest a camera that makes me thousands of dollars a year, the Nikon FM2n. This is a fully manual 35mm camera with the widest shutter speed and ISO range of any camera in its class. Yet it's very small and has a super bright viewfinder with easy to read light meter. You can use this for pretty much any genre of photography you'd like to try. And if you want some automation, try the FM3a, which is about twice the price but is very new (most were made in the 1990's).

I hope my words are useful, to the budding young film shooter. Your shot is great, nicely composed (in terms of lines) and introspective. I would recommend getting closer and cropping into the head of sad/serious subject though. This makes them more relatable and crucial-looking. Excessive headroom usually indicates happiness and loftiness whereas cropping into the head makes for a more intense and personal portrait. But it's all subjective.

Please email me at JohnnyMartyr@Hotmail.com anytime with questions or just to chat.

METAL AND MANUAL!

FILM FOREVER!

The Sony NEX cameras have a good reputation for videography.

http://store.sony.com/c/Sony-Alpha-NEX-Cameras-Acc...