need to start from scratch

[flipflopmom]

My new panny fz28 will be here today. I need to know EVERYTHING! I know the manual is ok...but a tomb. Like noiseware? When you do it, does it save your editing so that the picture is now the better picture when you have it printed? This camera shoots in the RAW, and I know that you can process better that way, but I don't even really have a clue what that means. Live in a SMALL area, and nothing available here for me to learn. So basically......

Any recs on a good basics online course? Preferably free I really want to learn, not just point, shoot, and hope for the best.

You guys are great!

 

[jann1033]

step one is even if the manual is as big as war and peace you still have to read it to learn how to use your camera read it with your camera in hand so you can push the buttons as you read

i like the pod casts from 7 photography questions they interview a photographer every week or so. some of the stuff isn't basic but there usually is a point or two i pick up.
for basic stuff you can find tons of sites.luminous landscape has a good
" understanding " series http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/

raw is just a different type of file. it holds more information so you have more to work with when you are working with a file( ie to correct exposure,also has more color shades). it takes an additional step to convert it to jpg but it only takes a minute or two usually. not sure what software comes with your camera but it should include raw conversion software. you might need a raw viewer to see the actual raw file as a photo in your folder. you can get them free from microsoft or someplace although some only recognize certain cameras so you have to make sure it recognizes yours. you have to convert the ones you want to print from most places or view on the web

noiseware community edition is free and saves your file with the file name with "filtered" added to it so you have both files,noisy and less noisy