Hi,

I'm fancying a go at photography guys, complete and utter newb apart from the old point and shoots but would like to get into it further for myself.

Been looking at dslr's tbh but i'm wondering if its too big a jump for a beginner like me?

Had my eye on the canon 1100d, any advice whether these are any good? Read a few review and they seem to do ok.

Dont wanna go daft and spend a load on a super duper camera if i'm not going to get as much use as i would like too.

Any advice would be great :-)

Cheers

Daz

The 1100d will be more than enough to learn on. I'd perhaps say push for the 600d if you have the funds, but I don't think you'd notice the differences for a while if you're starting as a beginner anyway.

• Learn that a lower shutter speed lets more light in but can cause motion blur (and vice versa).
  
• Learn that a smaller aperture (higher number) lets more light in and makes Depth of Field (part of the image that's in focus) smaller (and vice versa).
  
• Learn that a lower ISO needs more light but creates less noise (and vice versa).
  

Then you pretty much have all the knowledge you'll need to start playing. From a technical standpoint photography is just balancing those three variables (at least for a beginner, anyway).

You always have automatic mode on the DSLR for point and shoot, so the jump is only as big as you make it. I'd say go for it!

Hi,

Thanks for the sound advice there Mort :-).

Well i took the plunge and have purchased a Nikon D3100 with the 18-55mm lens for a really good price.........and a dummies book for it haha.

Looking forward to getting to grips with it, heard a lot of good things about it.

D3100 is a very nice camera.

http://digital-photography-school.com/

Have a look there for some useful beginners tutorials. Not specific to your Nikon but a few decent tips.

Definitely a good purchase. I also bought a Nikon D3100, A great camera for beginners and once you've got to grips with it you can get some really nice shots.

As you are very new to photography, I would suggest deciding on your equipment quickly so as not to get bogged down in the Nikon or Canon debate.

I use Canon and I have a mate who uses Nikon, both are good but are slightly different to use, menus and functions are in different places. I chose Canon as the lens line up is huge, I would also recommend good quality lenses as the image quality greatly improve with lens quality.

As for learning how to use a DSLR, there are plenty of tutorials on youtube, but as I have done today, a couple of us went out to Dunham Massey to photograph deers, not the most exciting things in the world but good to learn about depth of field, shutter speed and ISO and how they all affect each other and your image, so if you have any mates who have a DSLR then it is good to learn from each other.