canon 40D first camera

Limerick Bandit

Hi all

I just bought canon 40D yesterday
I have never used a good camera before
Can anyone suggest a good web site for learning how to use it?

Thanks
Donal

helios

The manual that came with it. Seems like you went all out for a camera you don't know how to use

AnimalRights

For starters look no further than Canon's own one for the basics/
http://web.canon.jp/imaging/enjoydslr/part1/1B.html


Then try these
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm
http://photo.net/community/


And when you want to buy or think about future lenses

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/
http://www.cameralabs.com/

Limerick Bandit

helios wrote: »

The manual that came with it. Seems like you went all out for a camera you don't know how to use

Yip I did I decided I want to get in to photography and I didn’t want to buy a cheap camera and be sick of it after a few months. Im going through the manual it’s going to be a steep learning curve.

AnimalRights

Limerick Bandit wrote: »

Yip I did I decided I want to get in to photography and I didn’t want to buy a cheap camera and be sick of it after a few months. Im going through the manual it’s going to be a steep learning curve.

I won't beat around the bush it took me agesssssssssss just to get to grips with certain things....
But when it does all come together it's very very satisfying.

Most things in life are 1 to 10 learning curve/stuff to learn
Photography is 1 to 100 for me.



Oh my manual is the gospel for me too, I have 2 of em, one for the car and one for the loo!

Ponster

The manual is ok but as a first camera the 40D (and for that matter almost any DSLR) has a steep learning curve (IMHO).

I bought the "Canon EOS 40D Guide to Digital Photography" book from Amazon. This tells you what settings to use to to take good photos as opposed to the manual which just explains the different settings available.

Turbodreams

sorry to hijack, i have also just purchased this camera- can any of you guys please advise as to the best memory card and also(most likely a stupid question) do you need to buy a high speed memory card, e.g. 40mb/sec to utilse the 6.5fps- or does that just apply to uploading to pc? thanks

Someone posted this site before.Great for getting to know the basics
http://www.berniecode.com/writing/photography/beginners/
Now get out and about Limerick and post some shots

Ponster

The write speed of the 40D is 16MB/sec. The internal buffer of the Canon can store 17 RAW images (~75 jpegs) before it needs to transfer to the CF card. Reviews say that with a 40/mb card you can still shoot at 4fps (jpeg) when the buffer is full.

gandalf

Have you ever shot using manual settings on a camera before. If not I would suggest doing a photography course. I did the one in the Dublin Camera Club and learnt quite a bit from that.

The best bet is to start using the manual side of the settings and experiment with them and learn what settings do what.

Freddie59

Limerick Bandit wrote: »

Hi all

I just bought canon 40D yesterday
I have never used a good camera before
Can anyone suggest a good web site for learning how to use it?

Thanks
Donal

Buy This Book. You'll never look back.:) Check your PMs.

Freddie59

Deleted User wrote: »

http://www.berniecode.com/writing/photography/beginners/

Tha's a great article. Thanks.:)

oshead

Put the camera in P (Program) mode and stick with that till you can understand a lot of whats going on. That way you'll still get good results and not have the camera doing everything for you. After that (could be months...). Move on to AV & TV. Keep away from full auto and all the other auto settings. You won't learn anything from it.

Dave OS

oshead

Freddie59 wrote: »

Buy This Book. You'll never look back.:) Check your PMs.

I second that....

Dave OS

maco

Hi,

Waiting for my 40D as well, it should be coming this week.

Not sure if you have seen this ;

Here is the quick overview of 40D

http://cpn.canon-europe.com/content/masterclass/eos_40d.do

and DPP tutorial

http://www.usa.canon.com/content/dpp2/index.html

PixelTrawler

OP

First of all well done on getting the 40D as a first camera - i made the mistake of getting the 400D, realising its limitations in a few months and then getting the 40D - expensive lesson. Although its useful having the second body to stick a lens on...

One of my flatmates just got his first DSLR and on my recommendation he also went straight for the 40D - hes picking it up pretty quick

In my opinion the 40D should be no more difficult to learn then a 400D and may even be easier due to improved control layouts.

What took me a few months to get in my head is a model of how cameras work - apeture, shutter, iso, depth of focus etc. Probably a good 6 months to get a good understanding

If you plan to start with landscapes, stick it on Av mode, set the apeture to about f8 or f11, set iso to 100 and blast away - take lots of shot varying the settings to see what happens. Av is a good mode as the camera takes care of the shutter... if the lights a little dark, raise the iso etc. Theres endless combinations of settings to work from there.

Best of all, have fun with it, good luck and post of some pictures while your at it.

kgiller

Turbodreams wrote: »

sorry to hijack, i have also just purchased this camera- can any of you guys please advise as to the best memory card and also(most likely a stupid question) do you need to buy a high speed memory card, e.g. 40mb/sec to utilse the 6.5fps- or does that just apply to uploading to pc? thanks

http://www.picstop.co.uk/Compact-Flash-CF/SanDisk-Extreme-III-30MB-sec-Compact-Flash---4GB

Great price for this card. Cheapest ive seen at €20-25 delivered.

Limerick Bandit

nilhg

This weeks Amateur Photographer has a short guide to using and getting the best from your new 40D. On the shelf now.

Limerick Bandit

Thanks to everyone for all the info, so much to learn

heres a pic of my peleco