what inexpensive film SLR camera should I get that takes great blk and wht pictures?

Question

First off to anyone who answered my previous question I would like to say, duh! I course i used black and white film. I said that I could take color pictures to portray that the shutter and crap was in working order...
Any way I have a canon rebel that either takes sub par black and white pictures or nothing at all. I have used auto settings as well as adjusting everything manually and I'm still getting nothing. I'm also developing everything correctly. I'm thinking that my camera just sucks. What is a camera out there that is worth investing in?

Answer 1

Your question actually poses many interesting questions within. First, let me get the insulting part out of the way. Bear in mind that I do not know you and I do not know anything about your abilities or experience. The weak link in this scenario (to me) would be the fact that you are doing your own developing. Start out by shooting a roll and sending it out using a real photo finisher, like Rocky Mountain, etc., that you can find on the web if you do not have anyone locally. I say this, because you might find that all of the drug stores (etc) use the C41 process and this requires certain film and you probably can't do this at home. If you have a friend who always gets good results in the darkroom, ask that friend to watch you do EVERYTHING from mixing the chemicals to the final rinse of your film. You have ruled out malfunction of the camera, but not malfunction of the processing. I can't imagine a camera that can take good color pictures and lousy black and white pictures. True, color film is extremely forgiving, but B&W ought to be "not so bad" either.

The first thing that comes to mind is either strong developer or a light leak in your tank or procedure. Dark means DARK, like inside a bag while you are in a closet, unless you have a really light-tight darkroom set up. Go in the room and sit for about 2-3 minutes and then look at the door and any other potential light leaks. They will really darken your film.

If you do that and still find that your camera is not working, you can come back here and ask for a recommendation again. I'm a little mislead by the phrase "worth investing in." It sounds like you are ready to step up to a more advanced camera, but your question starts out by asking for an "inexpensive" suggestion. If you ask again (sorry), pleae tell us what you are using already so we will know what would be an upgrade and what lenses you already own, and then tell us how much is in your budget. We can be a lot more helpful with this information.

Try the processing thing first, though. I'd hate to see you get a new camera and find that your B&W is still not workinf for you.

Answer 2

go to your favorite camera shop and look for used good slr ... nikon, zeiss, minolta, and cameras from the 1970's and 1980's before they got too automatic are good for serious bw pictures .