Congrats Mary!

I hope you figure it out well enough to teach it to me! ;)

Beth,

I bought the Canon EOS 20D and still playing with it. Is there a book for the EOS also that you would recommend.
Thinking of taking a course at a local camera shop on digital photography especially with the EOS.

Alicia

Alicia, I don't know about the books, since I just got this thing yesterday, but I did spend a couple of hours in the wee hours this morning on www.photoworkshop.com and it was a fabulous tutorial if you haven't already done it.

I'm having a hard time getting good indoor pictures that aren't coming out blurry...with the tripod. The dang flash keeps popping up, and when I put it on the no flash mode it focuses OK, but not great. Any thoughts? Coming straight off a point and shoot, it is going to take time to learn all the manual focusing, so I need to know this camera can do the trick without me being a camera whiz.

I asked about this in a rebel forum and they thought I was nuts wanting to know why I would want to take portraits without a flash when portrait photographers had all sorts of flashes.

Mary I just sent you an email.

Alicia, I figure with the three of us we can beat this thing!

The one book I recommend is:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel it is a series in the Magic Lantern Guides.

It is much easier and comprehensive than the manual.

Two sites I recommend:

for anyone shooting photo reference:

Glowluzid's Portrait Tips

for Canon owners:

Photoworkshop

Have fun!

Hi Mary,

Thanks for the link, no, I haven't gone there yet. I haven't tried to take pics yet without the flash. I am not having a problem with blurriness but I will try to take some without the flash and see what happens. I don't have a photo shoot for a couple of months (thank goodness).

For what I paid for this camera it should be able to whistle "Dixie" and I'm sure it can, just have to learn all of it's capabilities. When I download the pics they are coming out way too dark, look ok on the LCD screen on the camera though. I then have to lighten them up in photoshop. Guess it is something to do with the white balance.

I have an old Minolta SLR with a portrait lens that takes incredible portrait shots and a Canon Rebel point and shoot. The digital, once I get the hang of it will be a time saver. No need to run back and forth to the processor.
Alicia

Hi Beth,

My camera is the Canon EOS 20D. You and Mary have the Rebel? I know they are pretty similar. I will check out the info, thanks so much.
Hard to keep up with all the new electronic, digital, poddie, faster, smarter gadgets. Trouble is, my brain is not on the same fast track as the new toys.
Alicia.

Alicia, like all LCD screens what you see isn't always what you get. So check and see if when the images is up (after it was shot) you can push an information button. This should give you a histogram that displays the accurate information for exposure.

The Rebel also has an auto feature for bracketing white balance and f stop exposure which is helpful it takes nine images for each shot if you use them both at the same time - light, med, dark - red, normal, blue. I just pretty much keep my white balance on auto.

I am getting very frustrated with trying to figure this out. It isn't like they are so blurry that I could't paint from them if I had to, but I shouldn't HAVE to. And considering I didn't have this problem with my fuji point and shoot, it is wearing my nerves down. When rooting around on Rebel forums they are telling me I need another lens. A 55mm 1.8? I know, that in the long run, if I ever get the hang of an slr that I will be glad I did this, but right now I want a point and shoot..especially since I have to take pictures tomorrow....maybe I'll be using the fuji for the time being and erasing the dots in photoshop until I get the hang of the slr.

Beth and Janel..what other lenses do you have besides the 18--55?

Mary I have a 28 x 200 to help with distortion, your lens shouldn't be causing any bluring. I'll send you a pm for more details.

Hi Mary... I've got a Rebel with the 18-55 and a 55-200 lens. There's a little AF/MF switch on the camera side of each lens, you might want to check that yours is set to AF (Auto-focus). Set the dial at the top of the camera to 'P' (no flash) and you should be able to basically point and shoot.

When I first got the 55-200 lens, I thought I'd gotten a bum lens because just about all of my photos where just slightly blurry. Realized later on that the heavier lens was a bit much for the tripod so the camera was vibrating when I pushed the shutter button. I've since tightened all the adjustments on the tripod and now use only the remote trigger release to trip the shutter and the pictures come clear. (If I need to adjust the camera, I'll give it a slow 10 count once done before taking any pictures.) Hope this helps!!!

P.S. If you press the shutter button half-way down, the camera should beep and if you're looking through the viewfinder, the autofocus 'dots' that are activating will blink red. You can use this to see what your camera is focussing on. (this works on the on the wired remote too) Unless you manually change the settings, I think the camera will focus on the nearest contrast that's in one of those dots.