Well, my daughter is taking photography in college

[Major Nikon]

At least the first course is not that much different than when I took it. Manual everything film camera, B&W darkroom, and other basic skills are taught.

I dusted off my old Nikon FM2. I only have one remaining MF lens, which is my old Nikon 55mm f/2.8 Macro, which should be the perfect lens for this. I still have some AF lenses with the aperture ring which would work, but there's nothing like a real manual focus lens. So it's a good thing I have a proper camera and lens, but I still had to shell out over $250 so far just for film and supplies (not counting the book). It should be fun for both of us at any rate.

[Curmudgeoness]

1. Do they seriously have to find manual film cameras

for this class? Wow. That should be an interesting search. I can see the reasoning behind learning it this way, since you may never get the real understanding of all the basics if you are just using a digital camera with auto everything. But this is wild.

I hope she enjoys it.

[Major Nikon]

2. Nikon still makes the FM10

Or rather Cosina makes it and Nikon puts their name on it. The only way you can get it is with a crappy 35-70 lens bundle. If you didn't have a camera, I think the best way to go is something like a Nikon F3HP or FM2 on the used market that's maybe beat up a bit, but is still fully functional. Pair that up with a manual focus 50/1.8 or 50/1.4 and you'd have a pretty nice setup for around $200 that you could unload on ebay and not lose much money once you are done with it.

[jmowreader]

3. Another thing it does for you...

It completely eliminates the ability to just "turn up the ISO."

[Major Nikon]

4. Or just leave it in auto without even realizing what it does

My daughter took photography in high school and I bought her a D3000. Although I tried to show her how to override the automatic functions and take more control of the image, the temptation of letting the camera do all the heavy lifting is just too hard to resist.

[belcffub]

5. My school's Fine Art Photography program still uses film as well

I work at a college and actually enrolled in the photo program... I figured I would take some courses while working... but I dropped after the first one because of film...

I took photography years ago with film... did that... do not want to do it again...

I actually spoke with the chair of the department and he is very into film... says he was keeping it film because it aloud big prints which are what people want...

I disagree with him... My newest 36megapixel camera does great prints upto 5 feet on the shortest side... I just did a 300 megapixel stitched pano that will print 15feet square.

So I will be back once they go to digital...

Tell her to get through the dark room... learn the basics of the camera (which so many photographers do not know)... and unless she loves being in the darkroom to get to digital... Oh and to have fun