The £1000 film look.

I get asked, at least once a week “What camera should I buy? I’ve got about a grand to spend”

Well, you could go and buy a nice Canon EOS 600D and add a perfectly usable lens, maybe you’ll have enough left over for a little bag too. In a year, one of two things will have happened – you’ll have got bored/disillusioned with digital because it doesn’t quite give you that ‘look’ you keep seeing OR you’ll have got really interested/disillusioned with digital because it doesn’t quite give you that ‘look’ you keep seeing….

Either way, you’re going to end-up wanting to shoot film. So here’s my advice – take your £1000, buy a £200 digital compact (because you still want to shoot snapshots at parties,etc). Then invest another £150 in a good, second-hand Nikon, Pentax or Olympus 35mm SLR camera and a 50mm 1.8 lens. Another £150 will purchase you a film scanner. Blow another £100 on 30 rolls of film.

A roll of film costs £4.44 at Peak Imaging for a develop only – just have a couple less drinks at the pub every week, or stop smoking.

This leaves you with £400. £400 will get you a long way on a train or a bus.

All the images in this article were taken on a £10 Nikon TW20 compact or a £79 Olymus OM1 SLR and 50mm lens. All shot on Kodak Portra or Fuji Pro 400 film and scanned on a £150 Epson v500 scanner. None of the photographs have been cropped, edited or altered in any way.