new equipment celebration thread

[praline3001]

praline3001 - you might want to order a Short Courses book for your camera. Here's a link: Canon G10. It really expands on the little info you get in the manual that came with your camera. I got the Short Courses book for my Canon S3IS a couple of years ago and it was the best investment I made in my camera. I recently got the SX10 IS, and I'll be ordering the Short Courses book for it, too.

OH THANKS! Thats exactly what I was looking for!!!! Something specific for my camera. Are they easy to follow?
I LOVE the composition part of photography but the technical side is a struggle for me
you start throwing all of those ISO/shutter speed/Apature crap around me and I feel like your speaking a foreign language

 

[revrob]

I understand the whole head spinning thing around ISOs/aperture/shutter speed. My head has had a difficult time wrapping around all of it. But I thought I'd put in a plug here for a book that I posted about in another thread. Someone on this board recommended the book "Understanding Exposure". I picked it up, and started reading. It made sense very quickly! This book BEGINS in the manual mode and teaches you WHY you choose which settings. I'm a WHY kind of person so this works for me. I just thought I'd mention it so you can expand your knowledge about the technical aspect when you're ready.

 

[mamamzee]

I just wanted to say that when I read the title of your thread I was glad to hear I am not alone. I too got a new camera for Mother's Day and am feeling intimidated! My camera is a Nikon D60 and I have a long way to go to learn how to make the most of it. I am enjoying reading your progress and the suggestions provided to you here. I am also looking for a book to read, so will take the suggestions here and add them to my reading list. Happy Shooting!

 

[praline3001]

I just wanted to say that when I read the title of your thread I was glad to hear I am not alone. I too got a new camera for Mother's Day and am feeling intimidated! My camera is a Nikon D60 and I have a long way to go to learn how to make the most of it. I am enjoying reading your progress and the suggestions provided to you here. I am also looking for a book to read, so will take the suggestions here and add them to my reading list. Happy Shooting!

WOOHOOOO I am not in this alone
I did order those books but I have also found a great website that's easy to understand that I have been reading as well. Here is the link
http://digital-photography-school.com/

This book BEGINS in the manual mode

I haven't messed around with the manual mode yet. I am just getting the settings and basics down before I go all commando and click that *M*
I can mess with the ISO tons and use the scn or P settings (The P setting is like M for dummies )

 

[Khokhonutt]

Another option for learning your camera would be to check out something like, "Magic Lantern Guides: Canon Powershot G10". Amazon lists it for around $10.

I'm not sure if it's the exact same series as what I have, but when I got my Sony DSLR, I got a similar field guide. It was a great book to have because it basically translated the mumbo jumbo in the manual that came with the camera. Plus it had some general photography info, that helped. And the size was small enough to carry on trips, so I could use it for reference.

Jeff

 

[DisneyDayTripper]

My wife and I upgraded our camera today because we were able to exchange our expensive point and shoot that we had problems with and Best Buy helped us out and let us exchange it and put the $$ towards a Nikon D40 with an extra lense. I'm so stoked to head over to Disney sometime and try it out. We've been fiddling with it a little bit, but there's so many different settings I have no idea where to start. It takes amazing pictures just in automatic setting so we'll mess with it as we go.

I'm not going to have to watch these boards now for tips and tricks

 

[saturndb]

Congrats on the new camera now the real fun begins, learning how to use it and what it can do

Dave

 

[DisneyDayTripper]

I stood out on our front porch taking pictures for like 10 minutes of our school's bell tower at night. Just trying to tinker with the settings and what not....I have so much to learn lol

 

[Evad]

Congrats on the new gear!! Post some pics when you can!!

 

[Gdad]

Excellent! Enjoy- and post some pictures!

 

[My2Girls66]

Enjoy!
P.S. There is nothing wrong with using auto mode until you are comfortable with the manual settings. I love 'P' mode when there isn't really time to 'setup' a shot. The camera does a fine job most of the time.

 

[oregondaddyof2]

Awesome choice... I have a D60 (nearly the same camera) and have had it for almost a year... I just recently got the courage to take it off auto and play with manual... It will take amazing pictures for you either way...

 

[handicap18]

Congrats on the new toy and welcome to the wonderful world of Nikonians!! Take your time there is a lot to learn and the learning will never end. Stick around here for a while land you should learn a little. Lots of great people here to help out along the way. Don't be affraid of the camera. No worries about taking bad pictures. That will only help in the learning process. See what works and what doesn't work and ask questions along the way.

 

[donaldduck1967]

Congrats on the new gear.

 

[YesDear]

Congrats. Have fun! Play! Do not be scared to turn the dial! It is digital it does not cost you anything to take a picture! Take 100 and keep 8.

 

[DisneyDayTripper]

That's what I was talking to the guy at Best Buy about...I was like if film was still the only option I wouldn't be doing this because it would be so much more expensive to "play around" with the settings and see what works and what not...as opposed to simply taking 500 pictures just for fun to see what it does. My wife's only complaint last night was she ran out of things to photograph lol She was literally chasing our dogs around trying to get pics of them...it was about 10:30 and with 2 small yorkies (1 which sleeps 90% of the time) and the other which passes out after 9:00 P.M....they weren't too thrilled she was taking a picture of them lol

 

[kaffinito]

Congratulations on your new camera! I hope you have a lot of fun with it. Don't worry about the learning curve either - I went from an old point and shoot to the D60 and it didn't take me too long to figure things out!

 

[Swoop1]

Gratz. We got our first DSLR earlier this year and the first thing I did was learn to not use the Auto mode. Remember you don't have to go full manual, Av and Tv are great modes to shoot in and learn in.

But above all else get out there and shoot pictures, lots of pictures, like others have already said, it costs nothing but your time to take pictures with a digital.

 

[ColleenG]

My wonderful DH surprised me by getting me the Rebel T1i! I had planned on getting the XSi, but the camera shop didn't have one in so the sales lady talked him into the T1i. I was really happy to have it for our little get away!

One question I do have, when I started taking pictures it started numbering then at 3600 something. Shouldn't it start a zero?

Here are some shots from our trip today to Bushkill Falls, PA. DH was very pacient as I stop a million times to play with different setting. I think all the waterfall shots I did in shutter priority. I had a lot that were over exposed using the longer shutter speed to get that smooth water shot. I guess I should have lowered the ISO with the longer ss. Here are a few of the better ones.

This one I used the Macro mode

Let me know what you think. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[ColleenG]

Here are a few more.

This one was tough to get. I really wanted to get the detail of the roots, but there was so much sun light behind it that it got pretty blown out. Is there a way to balance the light?

Thanks for looking!