New camera.

[Spellbinder]

Hey guys, i know you guys are awesome at photographing and cameras and such and i just got a Canon 550D as a birthday gift. I have read a few threads here before about cameras but i dont remember their name, any way does any one here knows the pros and cons with this camera. Bare in mind though that this is to consider as a "first" camera for me. Sure i got others before but nothing advanced. Tell me what you think of it. Thanks.

[-HP-]

It's a very good camera spelly!

Do you got a stock 18-55mm? You can do a lot with these lenses, pro's will tell you to ditch it and buy better lenses, especially prime ones, but fuck them, but you have time for that.

Learn your body, and learn your lenses and then you work your way up and get a prime 50mm or whatever.

Just start with the AV mode, mess with diferent f-stop values, (TV and M are almost useless for begenirs) see what they're like, try diferent ISO modes with diferent light situations, just fuck around with it and master your body, it will take a couple months but fuck me it's a lot of fun.

This is a great website to browse btw: http://photo.tutsplus.com/ Also, don't forget to read the PDF manual of your camera, it will help a lot.

Check your PM, I'll send you a few good intros to photography I got here.

PS. If you're on a party and you just wanna point and shoot, just set a good ISO value and use the P mode!

[Spellbinder]

Thank you very much HP! This was exactly what i was looking for here. Some tips and stuff, yes it's a 18-55 mm and i will use that. I don't have to much money so it will have to do. AV mode was what i thought to, but after that i don't know really how to go forward to learn how to set different stuff so i like that you gave me some specifics i could think of. You say master your body and i figured you didn't mean my arm and legs i guess but the cameras body, by that do you mean all the different buttons and wheels and stuff? Unless you actually meant MY body, how to stand and hold the camera? Thanks for the link and even more thanks for the PM!

Edit: I'll answer that PM in the morning, it's getting later over here and i'm old you know

[Spellbinder]

Any one else has advice or tips and tricks? Any one else tried it and if so how did you think it was?

[PogoP]

I lived with a load of media students at university and quite a few of them had and loved the 550D. It's a great camera, good for stills and video! I would highly recommend a low aperture, wide angle lens. They're so useful