All the gear, no idea! Where do I start?

[prelude4ws]

I recently inherited my Grandfathers (RIP) old camera gear; he was very much into photography and used to do everything manually. So now I have 2 boxes of old kit and from it I've put together a set of all the good stuff.
So far there is:
Nikon FM black body
50mm f1.8 Nikkor
28mm f2.8 Clubman
70-200 f5.6 intercity (?) (This I may Change for a Nikkor 70-200 f4 Ais its the only thing that looks used)
2x Teleconverter
Gossen "sixtino" light meter
Nissin tw360 flash with remote adaptors
Bunch of filters (orange, green, blue, UV etc)
Tripod flash mounts
Remote release cable

Box full of other odds and sods!

All of it is in near mint condition, so far I’ve run a film through the camera just to check it all works OK and given everything a good (and careful) clean. The FM is fantastic to use really solid and a few of the pictures I took on that first film are really sharp, the others are crap due to user error!

What I need now is some idea of how to get the best out of it, I'm hoping I could really learn something with it, I have already found you have to really slow down and think about everything before pressing the button! Where do I start? Any suggestions for film to use, websites to read, places to get film developed, anything really?

[andy-xr]

Dont take this the wrong way, but maybe a second hand D80 body only might be a way to use the kit more effectively and learn from mistakes without having to wait for film to be developed?

Presume the lenses would fit fine

[StupitHeed]

Even a second hand D50 or D70 which you could get for less than £200 would be able to take advantae of the majority of that stuff.

[prelude4ws]

I should have added I already have a Canon 300D, this was more of weekend toy, to be used when I had time to just enjoy taking pictures and hopefuly learn something good along the way. The thing is so nice to hold and use as an object it feels like it would be a waste for it just to sit in the cupboard and never get used!

[Simpo Two]

Possibly the 50mm f1.8 but I'd be surprised if it's AF, and manually focusing through a DX-size viewfinder is tricky.

As you already have a Canon my advice is 'sell', eg eBay. Don't expect much: I sold a Nikon EM with 36-72mm zoom and got about £35. Of course you may decide to keep it for old time's sake - I have a trunk full of similar old stuff!

[CivicMan]

Simpo Two said:

I sold a Nikon EM with 36-72mm zoom and got about £35.

Blimey, that was a bit of a result ....

[Andy M]

Try to find a good photography course (Emma P may be able to recommend) and have fun shooting some film.

Don't get rid, it'll be worth fook-all anyway, have some fun with it - there's a significant chance you'll come to appreciate photography a lot more if you get to grips with such a camera.

[jackal]

FM is a fantastic camera to learn on [+]

probably about the worst thing you could do is leave it in the loft and use a modern day DSLR instead