I have a full setup of Olympus OM gear that I'm looking to sell if you're interested (shameless plug).

 

I use to use both. Only time I use film now days if I want to shoot super hires with my medium format. Even when I use my 645 I still scan the slides. Go digital, film will end up costing you more time and money in the long run.

Sam

 

Check out used dSLR's. The Fred Miranda forum's a great place to find very good quality gear. Used Canon Digital Rebels can be had for around $500 sometimes. You'd need new lenses, but you'd learn so much faster because it'd be so much cheaper to experiment.

 

$8*52 = $416 not that far from the $500 in your example. Once you try digital, you'll notice yourself taking a lot more shots and sorting them out later. You don't have to deal with "is this worth a shot" question at all. You can take chances and end up with some very nice shots. I'm a big fan of digital. My wife usually takes anywhere from 100 to 300 pictures on one of my track days. In film that would cost a bundle to develop. Digital is free . Maybe I'll post a couple of her pix later to give you a taste of decent digital camera quality.

 

KGB, I understand what you are saying and I would like to go digital. My point is that 8 bucks a week is not very hard to come by. But if someone said give me an extra 500 today it would be harder for me. I still haven't decided what I want to do. I've shot a couple more rolls on the old olympus and want to make sure this is something I want to put money into. I find it enjoyable but i've thought i was "getting really into something" before and ended up with buyers remorse a few months down the road.

I still think I made a valid point in my last post regarding going from film to digital once the entry price is cheaper. If I buy canon and stay with canon for digital I will have lenses etc already and I just need to swap out the body. Any thoughts on that strategy? I know I would lose money but if the price of entry of digital comes down I would just about break even with my loss and then gain on the cheaper digital body.

 

i have a minolta maxxum system for sale. pm me.

 

If this gets to be a serious hobby, all your money is going to go into the lenses. The camera body will only be a small portion of the investment. Plus the body is getting cheaper all the time (c'mon a dRebel for $500?!?) while lenses are actually getting pricier. I'd still suggest going with a nice used body, maybe even with the kit lens. As you get better, add to the system and/or swap out parts. You're really not going to learn very much shooting 1 roll of film per week. With digital, I easily shoot 1 roll's worth in a few minutes if I'm experimenting.

You can go ahead and invest in lenses first, but be sure you pick a brand and stick with it. It's pricy to switch. I like Canon, so I'm going to suggest them. Plus it's easier to find cheap used Canon bodies over cheap used Nikon bodies.

 

i'd go digital just for the sake that you can immediately see your results and experiment as much as you want without having to worry about buying more film.

 

Nikon Just came out with a D50. You may want to look at that. I haven't checked the price yet but it should be a good comprimise.

 

people are saying $720-750 body only