Hello All,

I am looking to buy my first film SLR, up until now I have been using a relatively decent manual digital camera but not and SLR.

I am looking to buy a camera which is capable of long shutter speeds, to expose and image for up to 12 hours. When looking around I really do not know where to start, in order to get a camera capable on these sorts of shutter speeds do I need to by a 'professional SLR' or is this something which a slightly lower end SLR is capable of?

Any help or advice on this would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks very much for your time,

Tom

What you need is a "bulb" setting and remote release

The bulb setting (an old term but still used) basically means that the shutter will remain open as long as the button is pressed

You could keep your finger on it for 12 hours, but alternatively get a remote release that you can lock.

I've got a canon eos 300 with its remote release and you can do this. You put it onto bulb - fire the shutter using the release, and then there's a slide on the release that locks it. It'll stay like that with the shutter open until you come back and let it go.

You can pick up an eos 300 on ebay for 80-90 with a lens, and the release will be 20-30

This is just canon - most systems will have something equivalent

Glyn

A manual SLR camera goes for a pretty slim dollar these days.
I learned on, and now swear by my Nikon F, which is a total workhorse. Film speeds up to 6400, shutter speed as low as the bulb, 1 second, half a second.....

You should be able to get the camera you need for under 100 canadian dollars... even my F was only 300 and something with a lens.

The older the manual camera you find, the more use you'll get out of it. The parts were cast then, just overall, well made, built to last, instead of built to break in a few years so you'll buy a new one.