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Affordable amature camera for film-esque experience

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I was considering getting myself a second hand camera for shooting with film but decided that in the long term it would become too expencive of a hobby and I would probably end up stopping. Do you guys have any suggestions for non point-and-shoot cameras (I would like to be able to change the lens) that I can play around with that is good bang for the buck and if possible has a "film-esque experience", ie it has a nice heft and click feel? Sorry for being so specific, any other suggestions are very welcome :)
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Stevem415
17
Aug 30, 2018
If you are going digital, there are a lot of 2-3 year old cameras that you can get like a Canon 7D (not Mark II) which has a lot of manual controls (more like film cameras) for $300. If you are using the manual controls you can use a wide range of old or new lenses. But if you really want a film experience go for film; shooting digital and making it look like film doesn't give you the experience. It gets costly if you are taking a lot of photos without thinking. Good thing is that film cameras are cheap and you never worry about not enough megapixels. You can save money by developing film at home and buying a used scanner. My film cameras are over 20 years old and I am most often surprised and delighted every time I get roll developed.
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BF_Hammer
717
Aug 27, 2018
I think most any Canon/Nikon DSLR from the past 12 years could be a candidate. If you have a camera shop nearby they normally take trade-ins. I do not know if you are more interested in a full-size sensor or an APS-C sensor, it will make a difference when shopping for lenses. For Nikon, I would look at D70, D80, D90, D7000, D7100 in the APS-C category. They have a lens auto-focus motor in the body that will allow you to use older film lenses with the autofocus capability. The cheaper Nikon bodies omitted that and they relied on lenses with their own autofocus motors (which most have now).
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