Canon EOS D30

[Trainer]

A while ago, decided to move up from the "small" digital cameras and get a more "professional" one.
Opted for the D30 (a little while later Canon discontinued it). Also bought 28-105mm
lens and Speedlite 550EX Flash. Now, I must be the worlds worst photographer because none of my photos are anything special. In fact, the photos from the "small" cameras were much better. I spend hours on the computer using different Photoshop plug-ins (of which I have many) just to make them look good. Any comments?

[Jon]

Can you post some examples? What's "not special"? Are they out of focus? Fuzzy? Not sharp enough? Not contrasty enough? Not colourful enough? Not interesting? It's kind of hard to evaluate what may be happening without some examples and without knowing what you're dissatisfied with.

[Trainer]

Well, here's an example. This is my eldest son at a party in a school hall. Look at the state of the photo! I used P mode to take it.

[Trainer]

oops, where's the photo? I just uploaded it.

[PeaPicker]

I've had the dRebel since November and was almost ready to throw it out when it finally dawned on me. Put it on manual run up the shutter speed open up the lens keep the meter in the middle and finally get some sharp pics. It's not the camera.

[Mark Kemp]

I have taken a few thousand pics with mt D30. Not all are masterpieces and some are terrible but a lot are pretty good. I got an LRPS distinction with a panel including several D30 shots and the standard for that is pretty high. The camera was always the same, but what I did with it made the shots good or bad.

Have a look here http://www.m-kemp.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.html

I usually find that the images are a little soft straight out of the camera so my routine is

Remove JPEG artifacts
Sharpen with unsharp mask about (100, 2 and 5 settings)
Show the histogram and pull in the ends to make best use of the dynamic range

Sometimes for a bit of drama increase the contrast and colour saturation a little if the subject suits it.

All these are quite subtle tweaks, the image needs to be well focussed and exposed with no camera shake to start with. You can't rescue a picture that was ruined in the camera however good you are with Photoshop.

An SLR can give you more control and adapt better to difficult circumstances than a 'point and shoot' compact. The problem is it makes it easier to get it wrong as well, with all the choices an SLR gives you it also forces you to make those choices and understand why. Learning how to do this is a lot of the fun and challenge of photography. Try asking more questions here and reading books and magazines and even joining a local camera club - all good ways to learn.

[aggarcia]

I have been using a D30 for almosta year. If takes superior pitures to my old P&S digital, but like others it requires more attention to having the proper settings and when the shutter is released.

The biggest help in finding my problems was showing my pictures to other DSLR friends and taking a few night classes at an local adult education center.

On of the biggest issues that moving to a DSLR is that in general there is post-processing involved with was not necessary with P&S. Some people confusing this post-processing with the ability to save inproperly exposed pictures. The D30 is a great camera and I will use it as a backup once I find the right 10D. Good luck.