Yeah newbie- had point and shoots for years but my partners dad had a sony DSLR a55? and I saw what could be achieved and wanted to get into it. The maximum aperature on my one and only lense is 3.5, I was shooting on portrait/auto mode that day as the cake came out sorta quick and people didn't stay around long enough for me to play with settings. I went home that night and played around with the cat and the pot plant using AV/Manual Mode to get an idea of what the ISO setting, the aperature and the shutter speed does. I now know how to change these on the camera and what each of these does. For me the challenge is maybe knowing the limitations of my only lense and how to get the best out of it, as also is knowing what the current lighting situation is and thus which settings to change(rather than how to change them per se). I think I have got my head around the fact, higher shutter speed- less light, better for moving objects, lower shutter speed, good for landscapes stills/especially at light but can get issues with camera shake... It's been a flood of information.. but I DO NOT want to be one of those people who spends over a grand on a camera and just uses it in auto mode, i want to get the best out of my camera.
I bought the 18-270 tamron lense because my partner and I are going to the UK/europe at xmas and I wanted a fairly lightweight lense that could be used for touristy type photography and I wouldn't be put off from carying out as it is not too cumbersome . I hope to god I got this bit right as that was the main reason for that lense. I realised quickly that however, for my other interest, pets, potraits etc that it's probably no good and I need a faster lenses... If it was up to me I would go and buy it today but my partner is quite frugal. I am not
Thank you for your thorough replies, I will stick with the 550D as most replies have indicated i will not get an improvement in photos from the 60D and that the improvement will come with technique, lenses and light control/flashes. I had an inkling this may be the case but in light of feeling regretful about choosing a lower model I need to scope this out whilst I was still able to return the camera
You don't need to loose the superzoom. There will be plenty of time to add higher quality primes later. You can learn a lot with this lens. The image quality of superzooms, in general is not as good as prime lenses, (those with a single focal length) or zooms with a more limited range, but their advantage is the incredible flexibility as a result of their ability to go reasonably wide and very long without having to change lenses.
One distortion called chromatic aberration is fairly well controlled on your lens, as is something called lens flair. Barrel distortion is also lower on your lens than on some other superzooms. Vignetting is also fairly well controlled. Focus is a bit slow and if you zoom in without a flash in low light the focus may hunt a bit, meaning it struggles to auto focus. Make sure you leave the VC (vibration control) switch on unless the lens is on a tripod. In that case it should be turned off. The VC does make a fairly audible whirring sound when its working.
You may notice that at some focal lengths, especially at wider apertures, the images may be "soft" (not as sharp) near the edges. The images are generally sharp in the center. When you stop down to narrower apertures, (larger numbers) sharpness improves, to a point. I wouldn't goes beyond f14-18. The lens is very compact, very light and has enormous flexibility. It balances quite well on the T2i. Its not the ultimate in resolution, but is capable of very good results when you know what you're doing.
By the way a quick primer. High shutter speeds will stop action but will let in less light. Slow shutter speeds will let in more light but you risk blurring the image as you know. That blurring is useful though when you want to smooth fast moving water or clouds. A wide aperture lets in more light but gives you a shallower depth of field. A narrower aperture gives you greater depth of field, but a lot less light. The higher the ISO setting, the more light hits the sensor, but high ISO will also increase noise. Understanding, the relationship of these settings and how you can use them to get the results you want will come with time, experience, and education.
I would also get a book specific to your camera. I really like David Busch's "Canon EOS T2i/550D" book from Amazon. Everything you need to know about how to use this camera is in there. That and a good general book on photography, and you're all set.
