How difficult is it to learn to use a DSLR? (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

Thanks for the advice guys.


Nice to see there is some free online tutorials

from Nikon. Thanks, Sam.


....oh, Sam, I should have gone for that $5k camera.


Damn!

 

[Brett_B]

Ron,


Have you thought about the book, "Nikon D90 for Dummies"?


I recently purchased a Canon T1i, and bought the "Dummies" book for that camera. It is very well laid out and I feel it will answer alot of your questions (especially if you are a beginner with DSLR).


http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Dummies-Julie-Adair-King/dp/0470457724/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1280611719&sr=8-1-fkmr2

 

[Michael_K_Sr]

It's not difficult to learn to use a DSLR, but it takes time and practice to start taking really good photos. As some other people mentioned, there's no need to start shooting in manual mode right away. Although I used shutter priority for a short period of time when I first got the camera, I shoot almost everything now in aperture priority mode. The only time I regularly shoot manual is outside at night and if I don't have a fixed focus point (such as shooting fireworks.) Sometime soon you are going to want to buy a decent tripod to help you shoot solid long exposure shots.

 

[Sam Posten]

Lets not scare him off by discussing 'good' tripods. My tripod and head cost more than his camera.


On the other hand, don't cheap out on a tripod, you will just regret it as you buy your second and third tripods =) buy the good one first round and live regret free.

 

[Thomas Newton]

Originally Posted by Sam Posten

Lets not scare him off by discussing 'good' tripods. My tripod and head cost more than his camera.


On the other hand, don't cheap out on a tripod, you will just regret it as you buy your second and third tripods =) buy the good one first round and live regret free.

As I understand it, there are two levels of regret involved in buying cheap tripods (like the one I have):


1. The 'mild' level, when you realize that you want a better tripod.


2. The 'severe' level, when the tripod drops a particularly expensive and prized camera body or lens upon the ground, breaking it.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Will add that D90 for Dummies Book to my list.


Thank you.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Gents,


About to pull the trigger on Amazon. Will getting both
these books be sort of redundant?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470457724/ref=pd_luc_mri?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER


http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-D90-Digital-Field-Guide/dp/0470449926/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280675927&sr=8-2


If you guys think this is what I need to get started I will order.

 

[Carlo_M]

Ron - I think so. I don't think you need more than one book about your specific camera. What would be an ideal mix is a book about your camera, and a book or two about photography in general.

 

[Sam Posten]

Originally Posted by Thomas Newton


As I understand it, there are two levels of regret involved in buying cheap tripods (like the one I have):

Best essay I know on the subject:

http://www.bythom.com/support.htm

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Here are the three books I am going to buy on
Amazon in the next 12 hours unless anyone argues

anything better:


Mastering the Nikon D90

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Nikon-D90-Darrell-Young/dp/1933952504/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280682151&sr=8-1


The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Photography-Book-Scott-Kelby/dp/032147404X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280682201&sr=1-1


Understanding Exposure 3rd Edition by Bryan Peterson (COMING IN AUGUST - went with 3rd edition hoping for updated information)

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-3rd-Photographs-Camera/dp/0817439390/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280682240&sr=1-2

 

[Carlo_M]

Ron - your selections look fine. Regarding the Kelby book, you do realize it's vol 1 of a 3 volume series he wrote, right?


Here's vol 2

And here's vol 3


And I wasn't kidding about going to your local B&N or Borders and looking at any books you're thinking of buying. Borders with their free Rewards Membership often gives 33% coupons which get me close to the Amazon price and I reward Borders with my business (and get instant gratification in the process).


The reason I recommend browsing them is that when I first began researching what I thought I wanted to buy, the list of books I first generated is nothing like the books I ended up buying. That's because when I saw them in person, I realized some writers wrote more to my liking, and the examples in certain books were more to the style that I wanted to learn to shoot.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Yeah, saw the two other volumes.


Might have to buy the 3-volume set.


I may also go to Borders to take a look.


Thanks

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Ron,


Besides the books already recommended to you, you might also want to consider checking out certain sites like Luminous Landscape at some point:


http://www.luminous-landscape.com/


I found LL's Understanding Series to be excellent in helping one reinforce and expand from what's initially learned of the basic principles. Maybe you'll find the same as well...


_Man_

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Man,


Looks like a good site.

My camera arrives either today or tomorrow.


Probably won't play with it till Sunday.


You know, done a lot of reading through photography

books I was able to get PDF versions of.


It's amazing how much of it I don't understand.


I know photography is an art that cannot be
mastered quickly.


However, is it really rocket science to learn how

to use a camera in partial of full manual mode?

It really seems like it.


Or, once I start playing around with the camera

it should all make sense to me.


I mean, they have photography classes to learn

how to shoot with DSLRs. How can I expect to

really understand this stuff on my own?


I do have to say that the Scott Kelby books

are great. At least his books gives you a situation

and then tells you what settings to use. Fireworks

is something I want to try one day.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Hey, Ron.


It's not rocket science, but being comfortable w/ a bit of math and science can certainly help. OTOH, there is also an art to it all. Personally, I find photography to be a very nice blend of both art and science w/ a touch of zen-ness thrown in.


_Man_

 

[Patrick Sun]

Can't really learn to drive a car by reading a book, but a book helps with the rules of the road. The same goes with a camera. Just keep shooting, and don't be afraid to experiment to get the proper exposure levels (or intended exposure levels if you want to get into the art side of things). Make mistakes, make lots of them, you'll learn a lot from your mistakes. Make sure you know how to get to a photo's EXIF info so you can later review the settings used to achieve the shot, and roughly what lighting conditions the shot took place under.


If you're unsure of the different settings, put the camera in Auto mode, and see what settings the camera picked, and use that as a baseline and deviate the settings from there to see what impact changing just one aspect of the controls makes. Read up on exposure bracketing, it'll fill up your SD card, but at least you'll get 3 shots of different exposures to pick from for each shot.

 

[Thomas Newton]

Originally Posted by Patrick Sun
Make sure you know how to get to a photo's EXIF info so you can later review the settings used to achieve the shot, and roughly what lighting conditions the shot took place under.

It should be possible to look at many of the settings -- and at a histogram -- even before you transfer pictures from the D90 to a computer.


The histogram is a useful tool for checking exposure. If you see the three curves bunched up at the left ("dark") side of the graph, it often means that the exposure was too dark -- and that you've wasted some of the dynamic range available. If the curves are pushed up flush against the right, then you may have clipped (blown) the highlights. What you'd like to see is for the curves to take up most of the graph (doesn't have to be all) without scraping against the right side.


An advantage of using a digital camera: if you check a photo and its histogram "on the spot" and the exposure looks wrong, you may still have time to adjust the exposure (e.g., with exposure compensation) and to take it again. With film (when not using flash), you could not see how a picture was going to turn out until it came back from the lab.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

In addition to using the histogram (which I find very useful), your camera also should have a setting where it will indicate which areas of the photo have been overexposed by blinking in those spots.


Learning photography takes a combination of study and practice in order to improve your skills. As Patrick said, don't be afraid to try different settings to see how it affects the outcome. That is the beauty of digital photography -- you get instant feedback on your results, and it costs you nothing when you make a mistake (except maybe a lost photographic opportunity).