From a Disposable to a Canon Digital Rebel

[Bubba]

Liz,
Your the nicest Moderator on any forum that I've looked at. I've figured out that the learning curve is fairly steep and that I have some work to do. I really appreciate your supoport and direction. I look forward to coming back here with some good results and hopefully some tips for others.
Thanks,
Bubba

[Liz]

Bubba,
That's very kind of you to say! You made my day........

I hope you won't go away.....stick around while you're learning! People around here are good at answering questions.....good luck with your learning.

Liz

Liz,
Your the nicest Moderator on any forum that I've looked at. I've figured out that the learning curve is fairly steep and that I have some work to do. I really appreciate your supoport and direction. I look forward to coming back here with some good results and hopefully some tips for others.
Thanks,
Bubba

[stew]

I also have the Digital Rebel - the first camera I have ever owned! I love it.

One of your original comments caught me - that the pictures on auto tend to come out on the dark side. I remember, during my camera research before buying the Digital Rebel, I read somewhere (one of the review sites) that when the exposure is in the middle (help with terminology here), the images tend to be about 1/3 stop too dark in that reviewer's opinion. Seems to jive with your experience.

I have found this as well, even though it's hard to make a rule of it. I have been using Manual settings almost exclusively myself. I figure the best way to learn is to plunge into the water! To generalize my experience: I usually dial about +1/3 or +2/3 stop to make the scene have the right exposure. This may be especially true if there's a bright spot somewhere (like the sun is factoring in) as I think the built-in light meter is keying off of the brightest spot, or some average thereof. Again, that's a general rule for myself but usually produces good results to start.

Good luck with your camera! As I mentioned before, I love mine, and I hope you get many many hours of enjoyment from yours as well...

-Stew

[Bubba]

Stew,
Being the neophyte that I am when it comes to photography (especially the digital kind), I tend to keep thing simple which means I would always turn the dial to "AUTO". After reading comments within this forum (like Liz below), I have now ventured into what I once considered the "dark side" by turning the dial to some of the manual settings. My picture quality/clarity has improved dramatically. I still have a long way to go on the learning curve, but I've found that taking pictures and then hooking up to my computer, then taking more pictures and back to the computer allows me to see what does and doesn't work. This is great stuff. Thanks for taking the time to post and help.
Bubba