rkamantas Loc: Beverly Shores, Indiana

I'm new to digital. Have a Canon A-1, AE-1 and F-1 with a variety of some good lenses. I had a darkroom in my mothers basement but strictly B&W. I considered myself an "Advanced Amateur" When I left home in 1980 I packed the camera's and darkroom equipment up and haven't touched it since. Now 35yrs later I want to get back into photography...digital photography. Doing a little reading/research I've narrowed down my choices to two beginner cameras. Canon T5i or Nikon D3300. Will any of my old prime lenses work with any of these DSLR's? Canon vs. Nikon? What about a beginner/inexpensive printer? Is there a market for any of my old cameras and lenses or should I pack them up to show my great grandchildren in 20 or 30 years?

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

RK, Welcome to the Hog!
No , none of those lenses will work without an adaptor. Unless those old lenses are L lenses, probably not worth adapting, as they will all be full manual. Some like manual for some types of shooting.
There are no good outlets for old film cameras unless they are very rare collectables. Check eBay for what they go for. Or check on KEH, they buy as well. Some donate old stuff to schools for students to use for film classes.
As for a new body, choosing by body alone is a little shot sighted. Personally I shoot a Canon, even if I'm told its the worst camera made.
I shoot Canon because there is a better more proffesional assortment of lenses. I can get lenses as fast as f1.0 and f1.2. NOBODY else has that. Canons big teles have better focusing and are MUCH lighter than ALL others. There are more 3rd party accessories for Canon than any other brand. Their high end flashes use radio technology, nobody else has that either. There is also probably twice as much used stuff on the market for Canon than any other brand.
So I wonder why they sell 30% more DSLR's than any other brand?! :lol:
RK, if the only thing important to you are the minute differences in the entry level bodies, then just line them all up and throw the old proverbial dart, won't matter where it lands!! :lol: :lol:
RK, does that answer your question? :lol:
Again, welcome to the Hog! :thumbup:
SS

oldmalky Loc: West Midlands,England.

Luckily sharp shooter can never be called biased.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Old, those are not opinions or bias, you can look them all up for yourself.

I take it back, that thing about the dart, that was my opinion! :lol:
SS

oldmalky Loc: West Midlands,England.

If as you say it is fact then is it also fact canon was the first on the market and as such was bound to build up a large fan base, but what happened when nikon appeared and a great many pros swapped from canon to nikon and nikon also took some of canons sales, then surprise surprise along came Sony and they took even more of the canon fanbase so because they were first it certainly didnt make them the best and the others are catching them up, as for plenty of second hand stuff out there that is because people are changing over to the other two.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

yada, yada, YAADA.........! :lol:
SS

amehta Loc: Boston

Do you want to get back to being an "advanced amateur"? Might you be better getting a camera at a similar level? A significant difference between the two is speed of operation and access to controls. For example, there is one command dial on the D3300 but two on the D7100, so changing aperture and shutter speed is more natural in manual mode. On the D7100, there is a button to change the ISO, while the menu is needed with the D3300. With more advanced cameras, once you start shooting, you may not need to touch the menus.

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

"I can get lenses as fast as f1.0 and f1.2. NOBODY else has that."
Except Leica!

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Mogul, I agree, except I'm referring to Auto-focus lenses. ;-)
SS

skiman Loc: Ventura, CA

If you would have bought Nikon 35 years ago those lenses would still work on the new Nikon camera. 😃

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Skiman, why would anybody want to use those old manual lenses. Kind of like punishing yourself just because you have them. You can play landscape purist, if you're into that kind of thing. All that uncoated, purple fringing glass. The only silver lining, is there is always some old nostalgic guy that's got to have'm and will buy them from you, so you can get real glass! :lol:
SS

Pablo8 Loc: Nottingham UK.

I have got an f/1.2 Nikon lens.......... Fits my film, and digital bodies.

pecohen Loc: Central Maine

Another thing you should consider is some photo-editing software. Given that you used to do your own lab work you will be amazed at what you can do in the digital darkroom. Raw Therapee is surprisingly good for free software, but I generally use Corel's Paintshop Pro which sells for about $60 though it often goes for less. Most people use one of Adobe's tools, Photoshop or Lightroom.

My advice would be not to jump into getting a printer immediately but to learn your camera and your editing tools first. If you are like me, you might find that you rarely need prints. With a decent monitor you can view your results and if you really need a print there are many shops (and web sites) that will produce inexpensive and pretty decent prints.

I doubt you will get much for your old equipment, but perhaps you have something of value to a collector.

cmc4214 Loc: S.W. Pennsylvania

There is also probably twice as much used stuff on the market for Canon than any other brand.

SS[/quote]

I wonder why so many Canon users are selling their gear LOL

rkamantas Loc: Beverly Shores, Indiana

Hey SS, Thanks for the advice on the DSLR's . I forgot to mention that I also have a budget of about $1200-$1500 for the body and whatever lenses I can afford not including a printer. I'm favoring the T5i so far...what lenses would you recommend for me. I live right outside a national park and dunes area and I enjoy landscape/wildlife/botanical photography. I also have a large, close family with many functions to attend throughout the year. Not into sports or action photography that much. Please include at least one "fast" prime lens...maybe a 50mm...?
About a printer...how much will I need to spend on a middle of the road one? What about ink? Keep in mind that I'm a disabled vet and live on a fixed income so cartridges must be easy to get and inexpensive.