With respect to the question of what would be the best SLR for a beginner, there seem to be lots and lots of folks who say that it ought to be a totally manual camera like the Pentax you mentioned.
I don't belong to that religion :^)
I think it's important that the first camera (and every camera, for that matter) have the ability to be put into a manual mode where you can explicitly control everything -- shutter speed, aperture, focus, et cetera, because not only does that mode provide a good method to learn exactly how a camera works, but the greatest photographers in the world will, from time to time, want to override some or all of the automatic features.
But in day to day use, I usually have my camera set in modes that are almost fully automatic. If I know the scene is too white or too black, I'll diddle the exposure. If my target is moving too fast, I'll change to a different shutter-speed/aperture setting than what the automatic settings would be, and I might put it into manual focus mode since auto-focus probably can't keep up. When I'm shooting tiny objects in a macro mode, I have the camera almost totally in manual mode, other than the TTL flash (and sometimes even that).
But 90% of the time, I have the camera in 90% automatic mode, and if I'm at a party where I just want "snapshots" and want to enjoy myself rather than think hard about the photography, the camera will be in 100% automatic mode 100% of the time. Or if I hand the camera to a stranger to take a photo of me, you can be sure the camera is in 100% automatic mode!
I think that some teachers of photography like the fully manual cameras since they force the students to learn what's going on. I figure that if I'm being "forced" to learn something, I probably shouldn't be in that class :^) If you want to teach yourself photography, there are any number of books and tutorials out there that tell you how to learn: "Set the camera in full manual mode and take five photos of the same thing with the aperture set from two stops too small to two stops too wide, and look at the results."
I basically taught myself this way, and since I wanted to learn, I did those exercises. If it turns out that your daughter doesn't like photography as much as she thinks and owns a fully manual camera, it'll probably gather dust in a drawer since it's such a pain to use. If the camera simply has optional manual modes, she can set it in fully automatic mode and it'll be like a very nice point-and-shoot with the additional advantage that if she does rekindle an interest four years from now, she'll still have a camera that has the flexibility.
Also, I don't think you save too much money by getting a fully manual camera. Maybe a little, but since so few of them are sold, the manufacturers have to charge relatively more for them. And most of the stuff that makes a camera automatic is based on a few computer chips and we all know just how much more expensive computer chips get every year :^)
Return to the beginner's guide.
Return to my home page.