I'm new to photography and I just acquired a Nikon FG film camera. There is what looks like to be a serial number on the bottom: 8897319. And was made in Japan.
I know nothing about cameras and I was hoping to find out if this camera is worth anything? Not nessessarily in cash value but I wanted to know the quality of the camera. Is it a good camera to use for professional grade photos? How does it compare?
I ask because I'm in a private art school and will be taking photography courses next semester and they require professional grade equipment.
Thanks!
Answer
When this was introduced, it was a lower-end amateur-targetted model. But, that doesn't mean it's not any good. You're going to have to ask the school exactly what their requirements are for "professional grade". Many photographers have made astounding work with much less — and for that matter, many professionals these days use low-end DSLRs, because they offer great price/performance ratios and can be easily replaced. So, it's important to know the real requirements.
Unlike an digital camera, the film you'd use with any 35mm camera is the same, so for image quality, the body doesn't matter much. What matters is whether you'll have full control over the exposure factors. This camera offers both a full manual mode and some convenient automatic modes (including aperture priority, which many people like) — so that's good.
On the downside, the viewfinder only has 92% frame coverage, and while the finder will be nice compared to many low-end DSLRs today, 100% coverage is nice for composition.
So anyway, it's likely that the body is okay, but it really depends on what they're asking for. A bigger concern is likely lenses — you'll probably want some fairly fast (wide-aperture) lenses. Did it come with a 50mm? Is it f/1.4?
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