So excited yet lost at the same time

[LivingtheWDWdream]

I got my gift from "santa" and it was a Canon Rebel Xti!!!!!!! I'm sooo excited But I'm lost as to where to start. I'm so used to my Point and Shoot that its going to take me forever to learn what all it can do!

Hope everyone is having a great holiday!

 

[Miss Kelly]

Congrats on the camera. Merry Christmas.

 

[El Nebuloso]

Congrats on the camera

I know that when I first got my Nikon D50 I felt the same way. Don't worry! Your new camera has a fully automatic mode that makes it no more complicated than your point and shoot. I really leaned on this heavily when I first got my camera and it really helps take the intimidation factor out.

Soon enough you will probably decide that you want to take more control of your camera and you will have the hardware to do so. In the meantime, enjoy what it can do for you in automatic mode and have fun

 

[mabas9395]

I But I'm lost as to where to start.

A lot of the time they can be pretty worthless, but the manual is actually a pretty good place to start.

There are also a bunch of good and free online sources. Luckily, most of the basics will be the same regardless of whether you shoot canon or nikon or something else.

http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=278&fromTips=1

http://web.canon.jp/imaging/enjoydslr/index.html

Then there are books. The one most suggested is this: http://www.amazon.com/Understanding...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198624250&sr=8-1

And last of all, just go out and shoot and practice. Its not like the days of film where mistakes were expensive.

And when you are ready to get more gear (lenses, flashe, bags, etc) just come back here for advice, the kind folks on the DIS boards are experts on spending other people's money.