Between a Nikon N80 or a Pentax K1000 I would vote for the Pentax. Pentax as a company is notorious for keep excellent compatability between MF, AF, film, and digital cameras. Believe it or not but an old Pentax lens from the 70's that fits on a K1000 will also fit on a modern Pentax D-SLR. Some functions may not work across the board like Autofocus or whatever but Pentax always has big bright beautiful viewfinders so it doens't much matter.
Professional photographers rant and rave over the quality of Nikon lenses but I would dare to say official Pentax branded lenses are probably better and cheaper (especially used). Pentax has never been as 'plastic happy' as Nikon. A straight 50mm Pentax prime purchased for $50 will probably deliver the sharpest results you could possibly get from 35mm.
I just did a search on ebay and found more K1000's then I could count for under $50. These things never ever break and rarely need cleaning. I have one that I've owned for over 12 years and it still works perfectly. If I were to pick up 35mm again this would probably be the first camera I'd grab from the cabinet.
Another camera I recomend looking at if you want mostly manual, but the option of a few automatic functions is the Minolta X-700. It's very similar to the K1000 but has the added bonus of auto exposure or aperture priority exposure if you're feeling lazy. Minolta manufactured these little gems up to about four years ago so the used lens market is plentiful. The X-700 was made back when Minolta had their shit together so its a good one.
Again, I just did a search on ebay for the X-700 and found tons for $50 bucks or under.
Whatever you do, if you go the fully manual route, make sure the camera you buy has the original branded 50mm prime. No zoom lens will ever match the sharpness you get from such a lens and though you don't have to use it often, it's good to have for those moments you want something ultra-sharp. Trust me, if you compare the two you'll never go back to zooms. Ever. I guess for special events or concerts they have their place and all but man oh man do they look soft in the focus department.
Anyway, there are other cameras I could recomend or comment on if you're looking at something specific. I know I tend to ramble about this stuff. :-)
Professional photographers rant and rave over the quality of Nikon lenses but I would dare to say official Pentax branded lenses are probably better and cheaper (especially used). Pentax has never been as 'plastic happy' as Nikon. A straight 50mm Pentax prime purchased for $50 will probably deliver the sharpest results you could possibly get from 35mm.
I just did a search on ebay and found more K1000's then I could count for under $50. These things never ever break and rarely need cleaning. I have one that I've owned for over 12 years and it still works perfectly. If I were to pick up 35mm again this would probably be the first camera I'd grab from the cabinet.
Another camera I recomend looking at if you want mostly manual, but the option of a few automatic functions is the Minolta X-700. It's very similar to the K1000 but has the added bonus of auto exposure or aperture priority exposure if you're feeling lazy. Minolta manufactured these little gems up to about four years ago so the used lens market is plentiful. The X-700 was made back when Minolta had their shit together so its a good one.
Again, I just did a search on ebay for the X-700 and found tons for $50 bucks or under.
Whatever you do, if you go the fully manual route, make sure the camera you buy has the original branded 50mm prime. No zoom lens will ever match the sharpness you get from such a lens and though you don't have to use it often, it's good to have for those moments you want something ultra-sharp. Trust me, if you compare the two you'll never go back to zooms. Ever. I guess for special events or concerts they have their place and all but man oh man do they look soft in the focus department.
Anyway, there are other cameras I could recomend or comment on if you're looking at something specific. I know I tend to ramble about this stuff. :-)
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