Just bought first digital camera ever...I'm scared, very scared

[Jillpie]

I've never, ever used digital before. My DH and I have been researching for the past month and finally went with a Olympus C-4000 4MG. He opened up the box, put the batteries in and I walked away . I just came to my comfort zone, right here on the Dis . New stuff scares the heck out of me. He loves it and will play with this thing for weeks. I have got to get over it and learn it because once I do, I know I'll love it.

How do I get over this hump of thinking its impossible to learn everything there is to know about digital???? Its a whole new scary world. HELP!!!!!

 

[Mskanga]

You said it, once you figure it out , you will love it.
I have an Olympus D460 , I have had it for 4 years and I love mine, very easy to use and takes excellent pics. Then I also have a vivitar vivicam 3715, more megapixels but not as easy to use. I like my olympus better , but I won't complain because I won the other one at a county fair this summer.
Just play with it , you will make yourself comfortable with it really quick.

 

[Dan Murphy]

If the 4040 is similar, I recommend this book. Check and see if they have one for the 4000.

http://www.shortcourses.com/bookstore/olympus/book_olympus4040.htm

And read the intruction book to see what the cmaera can do and how to do it. Take time, take LOTS of pictures, they are free.

 

[Indyman]

Jillpie, don't be afraid, technology is your friend.

 

[debster812]

jillpie--you know what the BEST thing about this is. You can play play play to your heart's content, and the just DELETE all the pictures, and start over. That is the beauty of digital. It is a win win situation.

Good Luck, Have Fun, and get posting some pictures.

 

[Amy]

Don't feel bad jillpie - we STILL haven't got a digital camera. Nothing like being behind the rest of the world, huh? I just keep thinking that we'd have to get a much better printer at home so we can print the pix we like, and probably a bigger hard drive to store the pictures we want to save..........sounds to me like a much bigger investment than just the price of the camera!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Amy, printing at home is good, generally only for a few quick ones now and then. If you are really wanting to get prints of a lot, the way you would with film, where you get them all, (no choice), is to use an online service, or just bring the memory card to a Walmart, Wolf Camera, or wherever you get prints now. As for hard drive, you can get an 80 or 100 gig drive today for less that $100 (if your drive is small) and that will hold 10's of thousnads of picture files. I just added an 80 gig recently to my pc (it has a 40, so toatl now 120). It was $69. I have over 17,000 pictures on my 40 (and lots of programs too) and still have 6 gig left there.

Go check out those digitals, you'll see some great offers in the weeks ahead.

 

[Jillpie]

But Deb, delete? Haven't found THAT button yet, lol. I'm afraid to play with it, probably break the thing. This is so funny, cuz I'll probably be the first to start posting pics here and never stop.

Dan, thanks for that link. The thing that worried me last night was taking a look at the prices of the memory card, mmm I think thats what its called, joking. I want to take a huge amount of pics in January on our trip, but took a look at the back of one of the cards and said (256 mg) 126 pics? And DH said thats the amount of pics at the highest resolution...so we have to buy like 3 of these things at 65.00 to be able to take at least 500 pictures (thats at least how many I want). I was getting so frustrated. So do you have to always put it at the highest resolution or is the normal ok too? I can't see buying more than two 256 cards?. Please, our son's track state championship meet is on Saturday, please tell me how many cards to buy and which one?? Easy words my friend, easy.

I'm sitting here needing a big ol relaxant.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Check memory prices at www.ecost.com and www.buy.com . Also maybe www.amazon.com .

I always take my pictures at normal setting, and I get approx 1,000 pictures on a 256. That setting, with a 4 meg camera, should be more than fine for anything up to a 5 X 7. Others may say otherwise, just my experience. If you want to shoot big, you can, memory is cheap.

 

[Amy]

Thanks for the hand-holding, Dan! Jillpie mentioned another thing that concerns me - how many pix the memory card can hold. Cripes, when we go to WDW I take like 15 or 17 rolls or film (usually 36 exposure); how many memory cards would I need for that? Next summer we're going out west to the Grand Canyon; can't imagine how many rolls of film I'll go thru then!

I know---maybe I'll buy DS13 a digital camera for Christmas and see how HE likes it. Get him a real basic one. Hmmmmm, now my brain is in gear. Time for some research.

 

[Jillpie]

Oh thanks Dan, that makes me feel so much better. 1000 pics is more like it!

Amy, check out this month's Consumer Reports issue at your library. A great new article rating dig. cameras. Thats where we found ours.