David Reed wrote:
>To all;
>.................We live, very modestly
>compared to the lifestyle I lived in Las Vegas in the '80s when I was
>single, in a double-wide mobile on 5 acres in the Southwest corner of
>Missouri in a town of barely 5K souls.
>
>
Welcome! We have members all over the world and a reasonable
representation in middle part of the US. One of our members, Barry Bean,
lives in Peach Orchard, down in the bootheel of MO; fewer than 100 folks
there, I believe, so your town isn't all that small. :-)
>My point in joining the list was to A) help her find a used camera and gear,
>
Should be easy enough. I and others have spare gear we might let go.
>B) dust off my old skills and knowledge to assist her
>
Certainly lots of skills and knowledge here, all 'ya gotta do is ask.
There are also a lot of on-line resources the list has built up over the
years. In addition to the ones Jeff mentioned, there are:
Gary's lens tests <http://members.aol.com/olympusom/lenstests/default.htm>.
The list archives. <http://lists.tako.de/html/Olympus-OM/>
>C) interest her in the community of artists that she might find herself a part
>of.
>
>
It's a mostly guy group, not by rule, but apparently by self selection.
We've had a few women members. A recent young one went off to another
type of camera. Our only vocal woman at the moment is a professional
cellist in Germany. There are always lurkers who listen but don't speak,
but we don't, of course, know who they are. Certainly there are some
wonderful photographers, some of whom share their work with the list.
>Any tips, suggestions or ideas you would like to offer would be greatly
>appreciated.
>
>
The eSIF body group features table gives a pretty good overview of the
bodies
<http://olympus.dementia.org/eSIF/om-sif/bodygroup/bodytable.htm>. The
OM-1 through 4, single digit, bodies are the pro bodies with very high
build quality. The two digit bodies are built to amateur quality
standards but some are excellent cameras. To Jeff's excellent comments
on the OM-2 and 4 series bodies, I would add that the OM-10, especially
those over serial number 2 million, and the OM-G (also labeled OM-20
outside the US) are excellent beginner's bodies on a budget.
>Arguments for or against a digital unit vs a film unit are also hepful,
>as this is question she will face.
>
>
Beginning photo courses used to require use of a fully manual camera to
start with. Some even limited students to a single 50mm lens for early
assignments. Not a bad plan at all, to focus attention on the basics of
light, exposure, etc., before flying off into auto everything land. The
OM-1(n) is as good a camera for that as was ever made.
It is also perfectly possible to learn using a digital camera. Some say
the immediate feedback is a big help to learning, others disagree. From
an equipment standpoint, anything less than a DSLR is less than ideal
for learning, although some of the more advanced Prosumer cameras do
have most manual features. In any case, either solution is more
expensive than a film SLR.
Moose
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|