I did a of pictures with the Kodak EasyShare Z8612 IS. She takes actually quite good pictures. It has Apurate mode, Shutter mode and a manual mode. They are easy accessible without having to go into any menu. It does not have so many function as a DSLR has, but a lot of them can be as beginner confusing and are not necessary. If you have the money to buy a SLR and the money to buy film rolls and a place to develop them, then do so other wise practice with the kodak. play with the different settings and try to shot as many picture as possible in manual mode. I still have the camera and like to use it ounce in a while even though I have a dslr camera. Here you can see picture that I took going the first time up to Mauna Kea (Hawaii) https://plus.google.com/photos/116164152477477099875/albums/5687632089923490225?authkey=CNucwOCf6sagVw