Its something I've always fancied doing and feeling inspired by a friend I want to buy a decent camera to play around and experiment with. I literally know nothing about photography and don't want to absolutly break the bank on something I'm beginning with
What camera should I buy?

Also I want a polaroid. help me?

If you want to shoot film, definately hit ebay for inexpensive SLR cameras. You can get some decent ones for around £20. I've got an Olympus OM-10 that I got on ebay for £22, it's a great camera and there's always lots of them available. You can also get polaroid cameras on there for next to nothing, the film is a wee bit pricey though.
As for learning about photography, just trawling the internet and getting hold of books from the library is a good way to learn the basics, have a look at Welcome to Flickr - Photo Sharing. I think trial and error is the best way to learn though, just grab your camera and take lots of photos

^^^ What she said. Ebay, Olympus OM10 with Zuiko 50mm lens, should come in about £20 or thereabouts (lookout for cheap "buy it now" ones, lots of awesome deals). Buy film in Poundland (Ferrania Solaris 200) or Tesco own brand - it's great and really cheap.



As for Polaroids, again - check ebay. Go for a 600 system camera, they're pretty much any one made from about the late 80s onwards I think. 600 film is about the only stuff you can still get. It's hellishly expensive though - works out at about £1 per photo you take (10 shot film cartridge costs about £10-11).

Ones that look like this are the best performing, they come in about a million colours/model names, but are all the same camera. I got one off ebay a year or two back for £4.50, and that included the postage:



These ones are still pretty new (were made in the last few years) and are a lot more portable but not as good:

I want to say ditto to the Olympus. I've got an OM-1n that is 30+ yrs old and I prefer it over my Canon Elan7. The only thing you might consider to be a downside is that it's [Olympus] fully manual. I consider that to be a plus... especially for beginners.

You'll have to experiment to see which film you like the best, but I like Kodak Tri-X for black & white film and Fujicolor Superia for color film. I haven't shot film in forever (4 yrs), so things may be a little different when it comes to the film nowadays.

And of course, shooooooot shoooooot shoooooot. Everything and everywhere. I was just thinking this morning that I need to keep my camera with me at all times because you never know when you might see something cool... like I did today... without a camera.

Film cameras are way better for learning the basics. It forces you to either a) think about your shot or b) waste a lot of money until you can no longer afford NOT to think about your shot. I fourth the Olympus.