10 Tips For Making The Most Of (My) Your New Digital SLR
So just in case you don’t know yet I got my paws on a shiny new Canon EOS 450D D-SLR camera today. I’m like a kid at Christmas. The only downer is that I know bugger all about how to take advantage of my new toy. So what’s a guy to do?
I Twittered my network to ask some advice on how I can make the most of my new camera, and these are the collective results:
- Find a friend who knows – photographers are almost religious about their craft. Somebody will be willing to share some tips and hints over a beer – take advantage of it!
- RTFM – this is one of those occasions (especially for the guys) that it may be worth your while to read that damn manual
- Take as many photos as possible – experiment with your new toy and ’shoot from the hip’ – you simply can’t take too many photos with a digital camera
- Try weird angles – while you’re firing off all those .jpegs, try doing it differently to any way you’ve seen before
- Don’t buy cheap lenses – if you’re going to upgrade lenses spend money on them, and get lenses with IS – Image Stabilising (or is it Stabilisers – help me geeks)
- Get some photo-editing software (Photoshop is obviously cool but pricey – there are alternatives) and learn how to use it
- Get a really great camera bag – after spending your life savings on a camera you’re probably going to want to protect it
- Get a Flickr Pro account, or join a Flickr community – try utata: http://www.utata.org/ – or use Picasa
- Live on the “P” setting. It’s far more customizable and will try use the best auto settings without using the yucky flash! (according to Mark)
- And lastly, make sure you can swap batteries with one hand! (I have no idea why this is important, but it was a suggestion)
I hope you enjoy your camera as much as I’ll be enjoying mine!
Popularity: 8% [?]
[...] Product Reviews | Digital Camera Reviews, LCD Revews, Gadget Revews and more wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt [...]
by 10 Tips For Making The Most Of (My) Your New Digital SLR
on 10. Jul, 2008
Followed the twits. Oops. Tweets.
Agree with some, but also caveats:
* Points 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 – fair enough. There is no alternative to Photoshop. Really. Piss off GIMP weenies. Can you spell “warez”?
* RTFM. Let’s say that again. RTFM. Focus specifically on the sections on exposure and focus systems. If you don’t understand, read them again. Take test shots in the differnt modes to understand them. You don’t get exposure right and sharp focus, you don’t have a picture. End of story.
* Learn the habit of getting exposure, focus, shoot. Choose your exposure point, lock it. Choose your focus point. Lock it. Recompose and shoot. You can do this in one fast natural motion (select, AE lock, select, focus lock, compose, fire). You’ll be amazed how much your “got the picture” ratio improves.
* Shooting vast amounts of pics blindly just means you have thousands of shit pics, that take hours to go through and suck up storage space. It’s no different from film days — make your shots count. So take lots of pics, but not blindly.
* Change the battery one-handed? What ever for? Your battery will last about 1000 shots between charges.
* Lenses – good lenses are f**** expensive. IS (Image Stabilized) is nice (allows you to shoot in slightly less light) but a cheap crappy IS lens is still cheap and crappy.
* Learn to use white balance — the auto WB is a bit useless, but you can set modes (tingsten light, flourescent, cloudy, sunny, etc). It’s fast and easy to set.
* The built in flashes are pretty much useless for anything except simple fill-in and catch-lights. If you want to shoot in the dark, buy a Speedlite
* PRACTICE with it. Try different settings, see what they do, fiddle with it. If you don’t know how to do stuff quickly, you’ll miss shots desperately fiddling.
by d0dja
on 10. Jul, 2008
I recently got the 400D and I’m loving it. I was also so crap scared of the damn thing but I’m starting to get the hang of it all. I already want to buy a new lens….
by Justin Hartman
on 10. Jul, 2008
160 characters to respond on twitter was not enough. Prepare for the longer response
Point 1 is probably the best of the lot. Nothing beats hitting the road with a buddy who knows their way around the camera. Not only will you learn how to properly use the thing (P mode is not where you want to be BTW) but you’ll get a different perspective on what makes a good shot.
Having a digital camera is good and bad. As you say in point 2, shoot as much as you can. The problem with that is that when you get back and offload your images, you’ll have 500 dodgy shots and 1 good one. But you won’t know what you did different to get the good shot, especially of the camera is thinking for you in P mode. Start with one of the priority modes (shutter or aperture) as a jumping point into full manual. Having someone with you who knows how they work will help. Knowing how to compose and get the shot you want is far more satisfying than lucking into the shot.
Oh, and it may be a digital, but get some of your shots professionally (read: not a home photo printer with photo paper) printed. It really looks a lot better printed on 6×9″ matt
enjoy!
by Allan
on 11. Jul, 2008
Immediately buy a skylight or UV filter for each of your lenses. Install it and leave it on – this will protect your front element.
Buy a book – there are several DK books that explain how the camera works, how your lenses work, composition and post process. These typically also have projects that you can complete to hone your skill.
Don’t shoot on RAW unless you are au fait with post processing technique. Shoot on Large and Fine for now.
Consider taking a class. The Photocollege offers an intermediate course that introduces you to your camera and gets your shooting on Manual. This will elevate you from clueless to Guy With Camera status – you’ll be able to get the shot you want most of the time. You won’t be a professional tog yet, but you will be able to at least use your camera.
by Timmee
on 11. Jul, 2008
…i’ve been waiting for the 450D to arrive for a while now. Glad to see you got it… off to the shops this weekend.
by matthew buckland
on 17. Jul, 2008
treat yourself to to a Sigma APO DG 70 – 300mm 1:4-5.6 Macro lens. Compatable to CANON ……stunning pic’s
by Cobus
on 08. Oct, 2008