[Tkshortee]

Hello everyone. I am happy to announce that I am finally the owner of a DSLR camera. I have always wanted one but couldn't justify spending the money on myself. Well, I just got a K30! I was supposed to wait until Christmas but my point and shoot broke and I read so many good things about this camera that I just had to get it NOW! So I'm getting my present early this year. (My husband has approved as long as he can have his extra computer monitor early to play Star Wars)

I ended up getting the kit with the 18-135 WR lens I thought this was the best for me because my father and my sister are both Pentax users and they have the 18-55 and the 55-200 (?300) so I can borrow those. I also plan on saving up for a 300+ because I am into bird watching and I would love a telephoto. I also want to buy a flash for my camera and I still need a nice bag that can hold my camera as well as my binoculars.

Any tips or advice for a new DSLR shooter would be great! I am not used to all of these buttons!

-Tina

[mee]

woohoo and congrats!

oh and welcome :c )

There is a beginners section here at the forums that can be useful.

I would recommend the book 'Understanding Exposure" Amazon.com: Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera (9780817439392): Bryan Peterson: Books

it will help explain when and how to actually use some of those buttons (well the really important ones) in order to take well exposed photographs.

I would also recommend shooting in RAW or RAW+JPG. RAW mode (DNG) is essentially a digital form of a photographic negative. You can fix your exposure and adjust colors and such really easily doing this with RAW files and a Post-Processing software.

Adobe Elements and/or Lightroom are recommended (by me) for processing. But there are a ton of different processing software. This is where the real work (imo) is done (lightroom is my work horse). Even if you get a proper exposure out of the camera, you can do so much with your photographs with the software.

The biggest thing you need to do, I think, is to use your camera. Don't be afraid to make mistakes.. you will make tons.. I've been shooting for a couple of years and I still make tons.. but you will learn over time. The book I mentioned will help get you up to speed a bit though.

[Ash]

Good choice. Enjoy the camera and welcome here! Above sentiments are echoed.

[oxidized]

Congrats!! Looking at all the buttons can be a little overwhelming at first, however take your time with your camera and read the manual. Soon enough everything will feel like second nature

[Tkshortee]

Thanks guys!