As an instructor in a college commercial photography program and in
kids photography
programs, and a used equipment reseller, these are the reasons I
observe (in order of
importance):
1. due to instructors lack of knowledge of other suitable cameras!
2. because other instructors who have mentored them recommended the
K1000 and Canon AE-1
3. short attention span of students and/or lack of interest by
instructor for this subject
in the first weeks into a course
4. reluctance to mention any less common models (beside the K1000
and AE-1) which a student
might have to hunt around for
5. unsupported perception of reliability of the K1000 and AE-1*
6. nagging notion that some camera models have battery availability
problems, so they take
the keep it simple approach (and limit their recommendations) or
just pass the student onto
to some resident "expert"
7. availability of used lenses.
* I see lots of used K1000 bodies. My two biggest observed problems
are significant,
non-linear exposure meter errors from its very primitive CdS
photocell and shutter curtain
speed errors, esp. those leading to tapering (caping) where one side
of the frame ends up
darker than the rest of the picture. Then there is the AE-1 (and
all A series bodies) in
which about 500f all bodies need relubrication of the mirror
gearing to eliminate "squeek"
and slowly raising mirrors.
The most ironic thing about the AE-1 is that it isn't even a true
manual exposure camera.
Better choices here would be a Canon AT-1 (true manual) and an
earlier Pentax KX or KM,
which incorporates a self timer and often has a better, older SMC
Pentax lens (the only line
with a f/1.8), versus a smaller SMC Pentax-M or SMC Pentax-A series one.
My favorite cameras to sell are the:
Olympus OM-2000 with a 50mm f/1.8
Nikon FM-10 with a 50mm f/1.8 Series E
both of which require me to sell off the cheap zoom they are most
often obtained with. How
odd that Japanese manufacturers failed to supply these with 50mm lenses!
Other great choices are:
Minolta X-570 (the only true manual camera in the X series)
Pentax MX
Nikon FM and FM2/FM2n
Olympus OM-1n with battery conversion
among MANY others out there.
The fact is that many new photography students go out and buy a low
end autofocus SLR, like
a Canon Rebel 2000 with 28-80mm (probably Rebel Ti next semester) or
the Nikon N55 and N65
with zoom, or a Maxxum 5 with zoom. They are pretty quick to buy a
used AF 50mm once they
get going on assignments, because the students with 50's start
skunking them in available
light assignments.
I'll be doing a school Photography Club clinic this next semester on
buying a suitable
student camera. It really saddens me to see the junk they buy and
bring to their early
classes only to discover they have been ripped off.
Gary Reese