Whether you've been shooting digital for a while and want to mix it up, or you're a student interested in taking a photography class, or even worse you've never taken photos with anything and figured you'd try film, 35mm is the place to start.
(Although if film is the first medium you chose to take pictures you are sick. You probably don't mind crank windows either. Buy a smart phone already.)
Most of us looking to start a new hobby aren't planning to spend a ton of money on something we don't know we love yet, and cameras tend to be expensive. But good news! The decades of popularity for 135 format film means that you, a likely broke photo nerd, can afford quality 35mm gear. The name brand SLR's that sold for $300 in 1977 (the equivalent of about $1200 in 2019) are popping up in thrift stores all around the world for sometimes as little as $15. Heck, you probably know someone that has one in storage that would love to donate it to you. If you aren't lucky enough to have a gift remove the choice, how do you choose which SLR to buy first?
I said "first" for a very important reason, but that's a discussion for another time. You've decided you want to take photos and made the respectable move to try film, but now you've found yourself at the fiery gates of the vintage camera market. Facebook Groups and Marketplace ads, eBay, Etsy, KEH, and various other auction sites flooded your search history. You've seen prices you wouldn't spend on a car and others that had you a-tap-tap-tapping your PayPal details into the checkout before you stopped and asked yourself if it was too good to be true. It is by the way. There's so much out there and it's hard to tell the gems from the total crap. Even within the same brand it's possible to read good things about a particular model and then buy the cheaper next gen that leaves you disappointed, and we take photos because it makes us happy, unless you're that crank window situation.
If you are a young shooter you may not have heard of some of the brands that went out of business before you were born. Admittedly, when I started my search I didn't know what a Minolta was. My Nikon-washed brain assumed they were cheap knock-offs of other brands. Who knows what deals I may have missed during that time, the thought of which still gives me chills. After some rigorous enlightening I learned that's not the case and I became the proud owner of an X-700.
Film camera technology had been developed for so long that your options range from horse drawn carriage to luxury sedan. Before you can decide which features you need it's important to ask yourself what kind of experience you plan to gain. If auto-exposure and auto-focus are the most important things to you, then buy a plastic 90's camera and accept that what you want is less-convenient digital. Dip back a little further into the 80's, drop the auto-focus and you find yourself with an example like the X-700, which is manual focus but sports both aperture priority and program modes on the dial to help exposure. But let's say you hate electronic intervention and you want full control to get the full experience. There's many cameras that fit the bill, but you also want affordable and compact with complete and utter reliability. Enter the Nikon FM.
The cliff notes from Nikon's history book basically say that Nikon realized filling the amateur market with pro-grade units was a lucrative move and thus the FM was born. Although it had a consumer price tag, it was widely accepted by pros from newspaper to fashion photographers even well after the birth of the FM2 and FM3 models.
Play with one for more than a minute and the reasons become very obvious. Every function on the camera body snaps into place with affirmative positivity, the finish is beautiful and rugged, the design is simplistic and user-friendly. It's comfortable and pleasing in the hands and small enough to carry every day. The notorious reliability of the FM is due to the fully mechanical operation, which means if you hike up mountains in arctic climates or are crazy enough to live there, the camera will still function without batteries aside from the light meter. This inspires confidence on extremely cold days or extended sessions and confidence inspires good photos. In the event your batteries have failed you and you didn’t remember to bring your light meter, you can always rely on the Sunny 16 rule. Crisis averted.
I don't mean to mislead or to blindly state that the FM is the best used camera on the market overall, you can easily spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on any of the other legendary cameras from this era and you will likely be satisfied. For a beginner the priority should be seeking affordability, functionality and reliability because when you remove worry from your gear you can focus on actually developing your skills. The FM excels at all three. And that's enough puns for one day.
When I started out with film I went on a vintage camera buying binge for a while to gain a little experience with as many manufacturers I could, since the popularity for these machines began to fade while I was a teenager. After chasing the perfect set up, and not being able to turn down a great deal, I finally realized I had all I needed right in front of me. Some may go through the same process regardless of advice from others but if you'd like to cut to the chase and begin your wholesome experience, start with the Nikon FM. If you want priority modes buy something like the Minolta X-700. Or if budget isn't a problem, buy a Leica rangefinder like everyone else with money. Whatever your choice may be, don't wait any longer to get out there and begin your adventure.
-S