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"SLR photography"

im starting an A level photography course on tuesday and need an SLR camera. I was advised to get a Pentax MZ - M but cant find one anywhere. any ideas?

I did an A level in photography last year (well only the AS cuz it won't fit in with my timetable this year so i can't carry on), i started off not having a camera which meant i had to share which was really annoying. I got mine of ebay, dunno how much as it was a present but it was a pentax and I find its quite a good to use. Hopefully you'll have a better teacher than I did, seeing as he didn't really teach us anything (that's prob why i got a bad mark).

Indeed. So why not get a digital camera and a photo printer.

I have!

And anything I can't do, PhotoBox will.

Depending on where you get your photos developed, everything is digital anyway.

Any newer Kodak developing point works with digital negatove scanners straight into a windows 2000 PC :-).

I've no doubt that's an awesome camera.

I have the older F505V and even that produces stunning images.

Bought myself a camera recently. It isn't an SLR, it's a digital still camera (lazy, see), but it's still a little beast and I look forward to getting some great pictures with it.

Have a butchers : [URL]http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscf717/[/URL]

Get a digital, tell them film is dead, and they need to get with the times.

had my first lesson today. it was alright, mainly just admin stuff and then getting on to how the cameras worked. had to compile a scrap book of my favourite photos at home, which was interesting. looking forward to really getting stuck in. so far, im optimistic!

thanks for all the tips! it was my first day back today but i havent got a lesson till tomorrow. i'll speak to my tutor on different cameras and let you know how i get on.

The main thing I'd keep in mind when buying your camera is make sure it has manual settings as well as the automatic ones. For example allowing you to open and close the aperture and changing the shutter speed. I know it sounds obvious to anyone slightly interested in photography, but I've seen plenty of cameras without the options to "take the picture yourself".

Go to Jessops. If you want a good one, get a Nikon or a Canon. My personal preference is a Nikon. A really good one will cost £250-300. You can get cheaper ones for about £170, it depends if you want the camera after the course. Get a case and a screen filter, but don't let them talk you into anything else you may need.
I did photography at AS, as I've seen some others write it's certainly not a doss, I got fed up with people saying "Oh, that must be easy!!1". It's alot of work, especially the journal things.

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