Canon 350d book

joel222 said:
After recieving first dslr today I feel overwhelmed with all of the things I need to learn. Is there a good book available that gives plenty of information on how to get to grips with the 350d?
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Congratulation on the 350D it's still an excellent camera.

This was my first DSLR and I used it for 5 years until I felt it was time to move on.

Assuming you got the manual with it that's an excellent place to start.

Just don't try to learn it all at once - get to grips with one thing before moving on to the next.

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Hi Joey, congratulations on your first DSLR. Where are you with your photography, what camera did you use previously and which mode(s) did you use?

If you're already familiar with the general principles of exposure and how a camera works then the owner's manual is well worth a study. If not then perhaps you'll need a little more help but not to worry, you've come to the right place.
 
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To be honest i'm on auto, i've been using a compact but when I tried to use manual settings on that it didn't make that much difference so thats why I bought a cheap dslr to learn. I've been trying to shoot with a shallow depth of field but it all just ends up blury. I've read the manual twice yesterday, maybe I need to study it a bit a time instead of ploughing through it.
 
joel222 said:
To be honest i'm on auto, i've been using a compact but when I tried to use manual settings on that it didn't make that much difference so thats why I bought a cheap dslr to learn. I've been trying to shoot with a shallow depth of field but it all just ends up blury. I've read the manual twice yesterday, maybe I need to study it a bit a time instead of ploughing through it.
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Hi Joel and congrats on your new camera. I've still got my 300D which gives very good results.

The green square (auto) is fine to use as you get to grips with it. I'd suggest taking a shot in fully auto, then look at the exit data to see what the camera chose as shutter and aperture, then alter the camera to Av mode (from green square) and replicate the aperture setting the camera initially shot at. You can then take various shots at different aperture settings and see what happens to the shutter speed (the camera will automatically adjust the shutter for you in Av mode).

You'll be able to see what happens with the photos, shutter speed, depth of field etc etc.

Don't forget, the rule of thumb if shooting hand held is the shutter speed needs to be no less than the focal length your shooting at - if your using a lens at 100mm, the 350 is a crop body and has a crop factor of 1.6, therefore your shutter speed needs to be no less than 1/160. You can go lower than this and if you have IS on any lenses this will also help, but it's a basic rule of thumb to follow for guidance.

Some of your shots may have been blurry due to camera shake / any slight movement when you took the shot.

Don't worry about all the bad / rubbish / poor shots you get, we all do even after years of practice. Keep with it and as you say, the more practice you get the better and more confident you'll get.

If you need any further help, just ask ...
 
Baby steps at first, but dont start with the green box. That mode is just for when youre letting someone else use the camera to make you look good.

Use P mode and get your focussing technique sorted first(choose your focus point). Then you can leave it in P mode and shift the aperture value to get your chosen depth of field.

By the time youve got your head round how that works you'll understand where P AV and TV modes can help you, butyou'll have discovered where the camera meter is fooled into giving you rubbish pictures. Then you can examine M or using exposure lock or exposure compensation to be in control of the camera.

Then you can really start to learn.
 
Good choice of starter camera - I've done the same thing (had mine just over a year now).
Phil's advice is, as always, very good - learn using P mode and work out what the different settings do.

There isn't anything particular about the 350D which you need to learn, it does things in a sensible way. Instead you probably want to be learning about exposure. A good book for that is called "understanding exposure" but there are many other alternatives. I went to my local library and got the above book and some others, they really helped give me a solid foundation understanding. Having said all that you'll learn a lot by just getting out and taking pictures!
 
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