New to DSLR, Some simple questions!

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Carlm90

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Hi all, I'm new to DSLR and these are probably going to be really simple questions, I would love if someone could put me out of my misery and answer them for me. :lol:

1. My Canon EOS 450D fires a preliminary flash before I take a photo, is this to determine the light there is available and therefore give the right flash?

2. Could anyone point me in the direction of a tripod on eBay they have picked up, I know there's a nice one out there somewhere that will recover my bank balance after buying this camera!

3. Could someone tell me a little more about my lens that came with my Canon? It's an 18-55mm and that's where my knowledge of lenses ends. Could someone point me in the direction of a tutorial about lenses and what the figures mean? like the f2.8 for example. Could someone tell me the f on mine?

4. I can't get live view to operate, I understand I have to press 'SET' but this is doing nothing. I am sure I remember someone pointing it out to me about a setting needing to be adjusted, could someone refresh my mind please?

5. I am learning about the aperture and also the shutter speed and how it effects the background of my target etc, I'd love to see an article that further explains this with example pictures. I can't seem to find a great one.

I know these are silly questions but I have to learn somewhere! :bonk: Thank you for your time :)
 
Have a wee look at this site, it has an interactive demo that allows you to adjust shutter speed, aperture and iso to see what effect they have on an image :thumbs:
 
Thanks for that! I'm just wondering about the menu on my camera. Do you think it needs a firmware update to display other tabs? I only have 4 tabs in my menu but in the manual and others screenshots of the menu, they have like 6-8 tabs that can adjust settings. Strange.
 
Carlm90 said:
Hi all, I'm new to DSLR and these are probably going to be really simple questions, I would love if someone could put me out of my misery and answer them for me. :lol:

1. My Canon EOS 450D fires a preliminary flash before I take a photo, is this to determine the light there is available and therefore give the right flash?

I think this is the auto-focus assist beam, which provides more light to make it easier for the camera to focus.

2. Could anyone point me in the direction of a tripod on eBay they have picked up, I know there's a nice one out there somewhere that will recover my bank balance after buying this camera!

this is a difficult one and more of a personal choice thing

3. Could someone tell me a little more about my lens that came with my Canon? It's an 18-55mm and that's where my knowledge of lenses ends. Could someone point me in the direction of a tutorial about lenses and what the figures mean? like the f2.8 for example. Could someone tell me the f on mine?

The 18-55mm is the focal length, ie the how far you can see through the lens, the f number is the maximum aperture, there is lots of maths involved but basicly the smaller the number the small the depth of field which means less of a focus distance, this is what you use to blur the background. For the 18-55mm i think its f3.5-5.6 depending on the focal length

4. I can't get live view to operate, I understand I have to press 'SET' but this is doing nothing. I am sure I remember someone pointing it out to me about a setting needing to be adjusted, could someone refresh my mind please?

you have to enable it in the menu settings before you can press the set button but i don't have a 450d so can't be more specific.

5. I am learning about the aperture and also the shutter speed and how it effects the background of my target etc, I'd love to see an article that further explains this with example pictures. I can't seem to find a great one.

I would recommend the same site as FiTP :)

I know these are silly questions but I have to learn somewhere! :bonk: Thank you for your time :)
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for such quick responses. It's all making more sense now, I've picked a lot up from shooting in London today and the forum. I will look at investing in a tripod tomorrow and I will need to play around with the settings to set Live View. I think I may need a firmware upgrade or something similar because I haven't got a lot of tabs in my menu option.
 
This is also a good site to simulate the changing settings on a camera and the effects on a scene. Show the changes of shutter speed on a moving image and the simulator closer replicates the camera viewfinder.

dslrsim.com
 
Carlm90 said:
Thanks for that! I'm just wondering about the menu on my camera. Do you think it needs a firmware update to display other tabs? I only have 4 tabs in my menu but in the manual and others screenshots of the menu, they have like 6-8 tabs that can adjust settings. Strange.
Click to expand...

You're clearly using one of the automatic modes. Switch to program mode and this will enable the other menus.

I would also reccomend the John Wiley "Digital Field Guide" on the 450D. You can pick it up from Amazon.co.uk.
 
Carlm90 said:
2. Could anyone point me in the direction of a tripod on eBay they have picked up, I know there's a nice one out there somewhere that will recover my bank balance after buying this camera!

I know these are silly questions but I have to learn somewhere! :bonk: Thank you for your time :)
Click to expand...

First of all there are absolutely NO silly questions in these forae... :suspect: ...just occasionally some rather dumb answers... :naughty:

Most of your questions have been more than adequately answered I think... :shrug:

If you are after a decent tripod at a reasonable price you ought to look at RedSnapper's site... ;) ...and he offers a discount to TP members... :thumbs:

His site is advertised in the Sponsors section at the bottom of the Home page... :D


HTH...




:p
 
carlm the way my dad taught me how to remember f stops and depth of field is as follows:

the smaller the f number, the bigger the hole (therefore the more light gets in) and the smaller the depth of field.

The bigger the f number, the smaller the hole and the larger the depth of field.

Repeat until it sticks.

Canon-EOS-400D-Digital-Rebel-XTi-Top.jpg


try it by setting the dial on the top to

Av

then use the thumbwheel on top next to the shutter button to adjust the Aperture number say, all the way to the left - take a picture, then use the thumbwheel to move it a stop down, take another picture. Do this across the whole range of the aperture and see how the choice of f number allows differing amounts of light in to the camera.

then set the dial on the top to

Tv

and use the thumbwheel to change the shutter speed - take picture, then use the next setting, then take another picture, until you go through the full range available.

with Av and Tv you can control the amount of light (Av) getting in to the camera or the amount of time (Tv) that the image is exposed to the camera. Get used to these first, then switch to M and try to combine the two Manually.

HTH
 
I bought the idiots guide when i bought my 450d and it's superb. You'll learn a lot.
 
I've been doing a lot of learning this morning, looking into more settings on my 450D. I've used P, AV and TV and I've learnt to set the white balance, ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed. It's beginning to stick but I guess with practice it will get better! I'm just wondering about scenarios now and what settings would be best. For example, if I'm shooting a plant on a cloudy day, what's the best settings for this? I need to try and achieve as much light as possible.

I've watched a lot of videos and used a lot of tutorials to learn about most if not all of the settings on the 450D. Just looking for my tripod and flash now and in the not too distant future, a new lens. :)

Thanks once again.
 
I've had mine over 12 months and I am still learning...

was doing long exposures last night on a tripod in the Garden...
 
mgdaviso said:
I've had mine over 12 months and I am still learning...

was doing long exposures last night on a tripod in the Garden...
Click to expand...

It's just started raining otherwise I would do exactly the same!
 
zoom said:
I recommend this book to help you get to grips with the basics:

http://SPAM/yzzg8vo
Click to expand...

I second zooms recommendation, I bought this just the other day and it's a fantastic read, well worth it.
 
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