how to drive?

daiixi

Well I'm after buying myself a SLR however now I need to learn how to drive it.. can anyone recommend a good course in Dublin? Ta!

Fajitas!

Congrats on the purchase, what did you get?


Personally, I'd reccommend joining a camera club rather than a course

Feel free to ask questions here, and take photos, post them up for comments and critique.

Check out www.flickr.com too, nice place to upload, and a great sense of community there

daiixi

Canon 30D .. probably a bit silly considering I don't know how to use it but I could afford it so I went for it.

Any recommendations on a camera club?

Fajitas!

Not too familiar with Dublin's clubs, but I'm sure someone here can recommend you...unless you're in NCAD in which case mine'll be starting in 2 months :P

How do you find the 30D, Rymus shoved his battery grip down my throat and has convinced me to buy one...

Fenster

Join Flickr and make thyself known to our group here. The activity on the group has gone down a little recently, but we all seem to be as active as ever individually. Which is to say that if we add you as a contact we'll personally come and look at your photos. And tell you, "why, that's an excellent photo of a rubber duckie," only for you to break down in tears and tell us its actually your late gran.

Take lots of photos. Then more. And then some more. That's basically the secret to being a good photographer. You take thousands of photos and show people the best few. As you get better the crap:good ratio will improve a little, but that's the essence of it.

What gear have you, sir? Camera? Lens(es)? Memory card? Any other important accesories?

What OS are you using? Importing software? Processing software?

We crave information.

Fajitas!

Fenster talks good.

rymus

I shoved naaathing... naaathing I tell you!

daiixi

Well first up "sir" is a "miss"

otherwise I'm finding it a great camera.. a part of me is thinking that it's a little large but I think it's going to just be a matter of getting used to it rather than my little pocket sized point and shoot.

I basically got the package deal which came with the 30D and EFS 17-85 lens. Also got a 1gb card with it. Haven't had the funds to purchase a long distance lens (will do that with xmas bonus I think - any tips?)

Will find a moment to join up to flikr so you can all see how uhh... pretty(?) ... my rubber duckie shots are !!!

FinoBlad

daiixi wrote:

Well I'm after buying myself a SLR however now I need to learn how to drive it.. can anyone recommend a good course in Dublin? Ta!

Why not do an online course like this one for the 30d;
http://www.betterphoto.com/photocourses/JWH05.asp

Or get a book dedicated to the 30d when they are published like this one;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/157990971X/202-7791589-6067009?v=glance&n=266239&s=books&v=glance

That will get you started, try joining a club or going on the boards outings when you're more confident with the camera.

Enjoy

Fajitas!

Next Dublin photo boards trip come along. It's good to learn off other photogs in action.

If there are any events around, pop along to them and fire off a few shots. You can point your camera at people easier at events like festivals and performances than on the street.

There must be someone here in the know about Dublin Camera Clubs?

bp_me

Fajitas! wrote:

There must be someone here in the know about Dublin Camera Clubs?

http://www.irishphoto.ie/ipfclubs.html


I notice the waterford club is missing from the list

colmranger

HI i am in the very same situation, I used a Canon 300D for work the last few years and i took the plunge recently and went and bought the Canon 30D.

I too would like to find a good training course in using the manual settins as my job is prepared to pay for treaining but i am having difficulty finding one, i reckon there should be lots of courses starting up soon as September is usually a good month for it.

Anyway in the meantime if your interested here is a link to a good training DVd that i bought from Ebay, it seems very good but i haven't the time yet to look at it all but it seems to be very comprehensive.;)


http://cgi.ebay.ie/CANON-EOS-30D-Training-VIDEOs-DVDs_W0QQitemZ280015734168QQihZ018QQcategoryZ43454QQcmdZViewItem

daiixi

Cheers, you've all been very helpful. I spent some of Sunday mucking around pressing buttons and changing numbers and details and stuff and seem to have figured out a few things. Not quite sure what I've figured out but the photos are different! Nothing worthwhile posting yet though.

dazftw

daiixi wrote:

Cheers, you've all been very helpful. I spent some of Sunday mucking around pressing buttons and changing numbers and details and stuff and seem to have figured out a few things. Not quite sure what I've figured out but the photos are different! Nothing worthwhile posting yet though.

Yea thats the best way to learn! Thats what I did and it worked.. Also use manual mode as much as possible... Try not to get use to auto..:D :rolleyes:

Dimy

daiixi wrote:

I basically got the package deal which came with the 30D and EFS 17-85 lens. Also got a 1gb card with it. Haven't had the funds to purchase a long distance lens (will do that with xmas bonus I think - any tips?)

One I recommend is the Sigma 70-300mm APO DG Macro lens, you'll find it in camera shops in Dublin for around 200 euro! It's a cheap, but excellent starter telelens. I've got one myself at the moment and for the money can't really complain about it. A lens everyone here will recommend you is the Canon 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, it'll cost around 100 euro online and around 150 in the shops. It's an excellent lens for portraits and low-light conditions.

Personally I wouldn't recommend a course, just buy camera magazines (plenty of them in Easons) and start taking pictures! When shooting digital, photo editing software is a MUST have, try to get Photoshop, you won't get anything better than that.

Good luck