Originally posted by Deiberson <snip>
the k10 is a hard camera to learn on.
<snip>
So, the way to make it easy or easier is to simplify - part of that includes working out of doors, as lighting is a whole art in it's own right and outside the sun is there, big and free. Also don't try taking something that's running around - following action is another skill, and another complication.
I learnt using a Pentax ME Super which has two modes - auto (which is Av in modern speak) or manual. I always used it in auto, I learnt about aperture, ISO, shutter speed and how they affect camera shake and depth of field.
Any DSLR should be easier because bytes are cheap and immediate compared to film - it's not going to cost anything except time an effort to go and shot lots of versions of the same thing to explore the three main parameters.
For example:
- Set camera to Av, set aperture to somewhere between f8 and f16
- Set ISO to 100
- Point camera at scene and press shutter
- Set ISO to 200 - the shutter speed will change, don't worry
- Point camera at scene and press shutter
and so on up to (say) ISO 1600.
Take camera to PC, download the pictures, and have a good look at the difference in image quality between ISO100 and ISO1600 - it should convince you to use the lowest ISO you can get away with.
You can explore aperture in the same say except you are altering the aperture rather than the ISO between each shot and you probably need to set a medium-fast ISO - say 400 - so all the shots come out.
And you can explore shutter speed, by setting the camera to Tv, using ISO400 and again taking a series of handheld shots. Zoom in for this one. Start from 1/10 and work through faster and faster shutter speeds.
You can explore all these a bit more by using longer and shorter focal lengths. The manual will explain how to select Av or Tv modes, and how to set the ISO, aperture and shutter speeds.
In each case the images need looking at carefully on a PC monitor - don't expect to see what is going on using the screen on the back of the camera.
It really is not rocket science to get the basics of using a camera - any camera.
The really, really hard bit IMHO is working out what to point it at and when, to get a really good shot. If all one is doing is snap-shot photography then Canon make a big range of superb compact cameras (I still have my Powershot A70).
The point to me of owning a decent DSLR is to get far more creative control over my shots, plus of course better image quality in a far larger image. (the A70 produced pretty good JPGs though, and I never used it on anything but auto)
The other huge advantage we have now over 20 or 30 years ago is the amount of information on the Internet. OK, some of it is wrong (not much in the camera sphere) and quite a bit of it is poorly explained, but you can find on-line tutorials to explain just about any aspect of photography.
The other avenues are joining a camera club, and/or taking a course. For anyone in the UK the Open University still has a couple of presentations ot T189 to run, and while signed up you can get student software as well at a huge discount - my copy of Photoshop was about 1/3 a retail copy. It takes you through all the above sort of stuff, but more importantly now has a big emphasis on looking at other people's photos and commenting on them, to develop one's critical faculties. It's not clear yet if there will be a replacement course - it was/is very popular.
T189 - Digital photography: creating and sharing better images - Open University Course