Your best tips for a DSLR beginner?
Posted 11/01/2011 - 13:09 - Helpful Comment
Link
What photos are you taking? If you do landscape shots I would highly recommend a good Circular polarising filter, and a tripod for night shots. I have just purchased a K-r and love it. Look forward to hearing peoples tips....
Posted 11/01/2011 - 13:12
Link
Tmondhallie wrote:
What photos are you taking? If you do landscape shots I would highly recommend a good Circular polarising filter, and a tripod for night shots. I have just purchased a K-r and love it. Look forward to hearing peoples tips....
Hi thereWhat photos are you taking? If you do landscape shots I would highly recommend a good Circular polarising filter, and a tripod for night shots. I have just purchased a K-r and love it. Look forward to hearing peoples tips....
I will be taking all kinds of photos, but I'm really into macro now!
Posted 11/01/2011 - 13:34 - Helpful Comment
Link
Best tip would be to move the dial from Program modes to manual. This the best setting to learn about the impacts of different shutter speed/aperture combinations. Also check the histogram for each shot. Too far for the left would normally suggest under exposure. Too far to the right, over exposure. There are exceptions however. a coal cellar should be dar, and a ski slope bright. Remember it cost nothing to play with it. Not like getting a film developed.
Welcome aboard.
Welcome aboard.
Posted 11/01/2011 - 14:08
Link
read your manual fully to understand what your camera can offer.
Posted 11/01/2011 - 14:16
Link
and of course
Get out and take those pictures
Get out and take those pictures
let the education continue
proud owner of a couple of cameras and a few bits and bobs
proud owner of a couple of cameras and a few bits and bobs
Posted 11/01/2011 - 14:36
Link
only one tip....Practice, practice, practice.....and then practice some more,,
K-1Gripped K-1 ungripped K-5ii K7 Various lenses
Stuart..
Stuart..
Posted 11/01/2011 - 14:37
Link
get some old magazines, any kind of magazines, look at the better photos and take a ruler and draw tic-tac-toe lines across the page.....
now google "Rule of thirds"
now google "Rule of thirds"
Fired many shots. Didn't kill anything.
Posted 11/01/2011 - 19:06 - Helpful Comment
Link
My tip would be to try and understand Aperture value. This controls the amount of light that gets onto your sensor, your shutter speed and also depth of field.
There is/are a lot of jargon/technical terms related to DSLR photography. They can seem confusing and intimidating to the uninitiated but once you get your head round them they are quite simple to understand.
Google or get a book on DSLR basics for beginners, then read and read again until the basics sink in. Explore your different camera settings and don't be afraid to experiment. Study your manual, but you may find a lot of it confusing at the moment, I get more out of it after a few months learning and working with the camera.
Learn how to read a histogram and take the time to check it in camera. Plenty of info out there on that subject.
Also look at the shots in the Gallery and study the exif data, you can pick up an awful lot from that. Most of all good luck.
There is/are a lot of jargon/technical terms related to DSLR photography. They can seem confusing and intimidating to the uninitiated but once you get your head round them they are quite simple to understand.
Google or get a book on DSLR basics for beginners, then read and read again until the basics sink in. Explore your different camera settings and don't be afraid to experiment. Study your manual, but you may find a lot of it confusing at the moment, I get more out of it after a few months learning and working with the camera.
Learn how to read a histogram and take the time to check it in camera. Plenty of info out there on that subject.
Also look at the shots in the Gallery and study the exif data, you can pick up an awful lot from that. Most of all good luck.
Great simplicity is only won by an intense moment or by years of intelligent effort. T.S Eliot
Gear Not enough!!
PPG
Flickr
My not so new website
Gear Not enough!!
PPG
Flickr
My not so new website
Posted 11/01/2011 - 19:40
Link
Hi all,
Thanks so much for all your tips & advice, it's all very useful! I am familiar with exif, aperture and so on - I know the basics, it's just about combining them to get that shot I want, and how they relate to each other.
Thanks so much for all your tips & advice, it's all very useful! I am familiar with exif, aperture and so on - I know the basics, it's just about combining them to get that shot I want, and how they relate to each other.
Posted 11/01/2011 - 19:44 - Helpful Comment
Link
But yourself a cheap Pentax M lens say a 28mm or 50mm you will learn more in a day using it than you would in a month with a DA etc. There are loads on Ebay for very little money. Have fun.
Flickr
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" (John Lennon)
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" (John Lennon)
Posted 11/01/2011 - 19:51
Link
SteveEveritt wrote:
But yourself a cheap Pentax M lens say a 28mm or 50mm you will learn more in a day using it than you would in a month with a DA etc. There are loads on Ebay for very little money. Have fun.
Thanks for the tip - does "M" there stand for manual focus? Also, with Pentax lenses, can you buy ANY Pentax lens from any old Pentax camera, i.e. are the mounts all the same?But yourself a cheap Pentax M lens say a 28mm or 50mm you will learn more in a day using it than you would in a month with a DA etc. There are loads on Ebay for very little money. Have fun.
Thanks!
Add Comment
To leave a comment - Log in to Pentax User or create a new account.
22 posts
15 years
Pentax K-r is my first DSLR so I have a lot to learn.
What would be your best tip for someone who has just made the leap from a compact to DSLR? What did you learn along the way that you wish you'd known from the beginning?
Many thanks!