Originally posted by andretan
Well, my advice is to start out with a normal SLR, like the EOS 300.
Once you have got the real hang of it, understand the f-stops and shutter speed stuff and blah blah, AND is able to shoot serious + better photos, then maybe it's time to upgrade. Else, practice more. Practice makes perfect.
FYI: I'm speaking from personal experience.
I agree very much with Andre that practice makes perfect. I guess a lot of the choice whether you start with film or digicam depends on how you learn best.
I had been thinking about learning more about photography for more than 5 years. Considered getting an SLR a few times over that period. In the end, I bought a digicam.
My problem is that I'm not a very good or patient learner. If I need to make an adjustment, write it down in my notebook, and then wait 1-2 days for the film to come out to see the results, I loose interest very quickly. Some people can learn like that, I cannot. Some people like the anticipation of waiting for the film to be developed. I'm too impatient.
I need immediate feedback. Take a picture of a sunset and meter on the sun - oops, everything else is too dark. Try meter on foreground - better but now sky is too bright. Try meter on sky - much better
I find it much easier to learn this way. I blew about 80 exposures on a sunset (bracketed every shot). But after that, I got a much better feel of what I was doing wrong, and I didn't cost me anything on film or developing. The best shot turned out a little under-exposed. Nevermind, adjust the levels a bit in photoshop. Now at least nice enough to develop into a photo and paste on my office cubicle
Motivation to carry on shooting.
Working on composition is also easier on PC. I generally shoot slightly wider and then crop on PC. Many helpful comments from others like, "maybe if you go for tighter crop...", "what if you put the subject on the right side of the photo", etc. Open photoshop and try it out. As I slowly get better, I tend to need to adjust the composition less.
Of course I'm still just a newbie (only had my camera for 2 months), but I'm sure I would be even greener if I started on an SLR.
Good luck, Hyde! You should choose something you will be comfortable learning with. Something that matches your learning style. A pro with a kiddy camera can easily best a kiddy with a pro camera.