To each his own... I don't think you would want to waste your money developing photos that were over exposed or underepose, would you ? Just get get yourself digital DSLR, also manual SLR will also be stopped being mancufactured soon. One of the top brand whch has announced that they will stop thier manufacture is Nikon. What I say might not be of much help to you as I have also embarked into photography quite recently.The cameras that I have used extebsively are : Sony DSC F717,Sony DSC F828 and Nikon D70s The URL below might help you understand also better your phtograohy skill. http://www.chapelhillnoir.com/mani/techs/mmtechs.html http://bop.nppa.org/2006/ www.pbase.com www.betterphoto.com http://neverareality.net/Photographer2/sub_slideshow.php?lvl01=7&lvl02=0&page=1 http://www.photocol.com.sg/photolinks.htm http://www.clubsnap.org/ I hope they are helpful. Cheers mate !