Here's another shot I made at Mathessin State Park, of nephew exploring rocks. He moved faster than the rocks. I've told 'Chelle some of the other pieces of the story, but to sum it up, the old manual Mamiya NC1000 from eBay is not working well for the little guy. Somewhere between "broken" and "crappy teacher." Bottom line is that all of his mages from this outing were blank. I'm looking for alternative equipment for him. New cameras in the price range I consider appropriate for a 14 year old, (I think) are pretty shyttie. This little Mamiya, with full manual controls, and three interchangable lenses, seemed to be perfect. But seems to not really be reliable in practice. Something like the Pentax ZX-M, seems to be an ideal "learner" camera. But the reviews (of the plastic lens mount) are mixed. The old cameras from the 80's seem ideal, but I've already been stuck by eBay once. Any suggestions what to get a kid (who seems willing to work hard)?