First shots from the 40D

I finally had my dream come true, and now have my first DSLR as of last night. First impressions were great, as it handled fairly similarly to my PowerShot S1 IS. Pretty easy to navigate the menus, and was able to get a decent shot right off the bat. I think I'm going to love this camera. So, if I have questions, you guys don't mind helping out a newbie, do you?

Here's the obligatory duck shot!!!

Welcome to the DSLR world, love the duck, and don't go near the lense forum, unless you like filing bankruptcy

Lazuka wrote in post #6494395
Welcome to the DSLR world, love the duck, and don't go near the lense forum, unless you like filing bankruptcy

From your listing, I'd say you would have a pretty good reason. LOL I'm planning on getting the nifty fifty as my first prime. You like it?

Welcome!! Looks underexposed and the WB might be a bit on the warm side.

Nifty is a great prime. I have one, and have really enjoyed it, especially for the price. One of the great things about it, is that you will learn to "zoom with your feet" which will help you learn shot composition better. I have been going out with this lens for this reason alone. I also like it around the house to take pictures of my son. Since I live in an apartment it often is zoomed in too close, but for the money I can't complain. I would like to pick up a 35mm f/2 lens for the close up shots. You'll love the 40D. It is just a solid performer.

Yeah, I know. I am going to have to read the manual. I knew how to fix that with my S1 IS, but there are so many menus on the 40D that it will take a little bit of reading. I didn't dare expose for much longer, since that was handheld and already a long exposure due to the lack of light. It also didn't help having a toddler bouncing on my back. This shot was done within 15 minutes of me unpacking the camera AND the lens. I opened the lens up all the way, but it was still underexposed. The learning curve is going to be pretty steep, but I like the challenge of technology. It's one of the reasons I'm a lab tech, since I like to problem solve issues with our medical instruments.

drevilsmom wrote in post #6494414
From your listing, I'd say you would have a pretty good reason. LOL I'm planning on getting the nifty fifty as my first prime. You like it?

It's been said by a lot, but by using primes, and limiting yourself sometimes to 1 prime in a shoot out say in a park? you learn so much more about composition and theory than you'll ever learn with a zoom. The nifty fifty is an amazing lens, the build isn't that great, but for the price, you get fun bokeh and good IQ.

40Driggs wrote in post #6494424
Nifty is a great prime. I have one, and have really enjoyed it, especially for the price. One of the great things about it, is that you will learn to "zoom with your feet" which will help you learn shot composition better. I have been going out with this lens for this reason alone. I also like it around the house to take pictures of my son. Since I live in an apartment it often is zoomed in too close, but for the money I can't complain. I would like to pick up a 35mm f/2 lens for the close up shots. You'll love the 40D. It is just a solid performer.

I want more primes as well, i'm looking at a 85 1.8 probably, the L is too much for me right now, especially since the way the economy is.

drevilsmom wrote in post #6494446
Yeah, I know. I am going to have to read the manual. I knew how to fix that with my S1 IS, but there are so many menus on the 40D that it will take a little bit of reading. I didn't dare expose for much longer, since that was handheld and already a long exposure due to the lack of light. It also didn't help having a toddler bouncing on my back. This shot was done within 15 minutes of me unpacking the camera AND the lens. I opened the lens up all the way, but it was still underexposed. The learning curve is going to be pretty steep, but I like the challenge of technology. It's one of the reasons I'm a lab tech, since I like to problem solve issues with our medical instruments.

One thing to remember is that you now have a full range of ISO to choose from. Crank the ISO up if you need to for enough shutter speed. You can shoot iso800 all day on the 40D and get great shots with very little noise. 1600 works nearly as well, just requires a smidge of noise reduction in post.

Welcome to the EOS digi world.......I bought the same duck for my future grandson.....He won't be here until January, 2009...............

prime80 wrote in post #6495511
One thing to remember is that you now have a full range of ISO to choose from. Crank the ISO up if you need to for enough shutter speed. You can shoot iso800 all day on the 40D and get great shots with very little noise. 1600 works nearly as well, just requires a smidge of noise reduction in post.

LOL, on my S1 IS, I rarely changed the ISO because anything above 100 was very noisy. It went from 50-400. I didn't even think about it on the 40D until late yesterday, and even at ISO 1000 it was a much clearer shot than 100 would have been on my S1. And my normal settings on the S1 IS produce a very underexposed shot on the 40D, so what used to be second nature on the exposure is going to take some learning. I'm still glad I shot in manual mode on the S1 IS though, because it helps a little bit.

MrTorch711 wrote in post #6496105
Welcome to the EOS digi world.......I bought the same duck for my future grandson.....He won't be here until January, 2009...............

Welcome to yourself as well. This is a great forum to learn from, and everyone likes to help. It also gives me aspirations and dreams as well. Congrats on your future grandson. Our duck belongs to my very active 21 month old son. He really likes the duck, and it has prevented a few more scars on his forehead. I swear he needs a crash helmet!

Lazuka wrote in post #6494450
It's been said by a lot, but by using primes, and limiting yourself sometimes to 1 prime in a shoot out say in a park? you learn so much more about composition and theory than you'll ever learn with a zoom. The nifty fifty is an amazing lens, the build isn't that great, but for the price, you get fun bokeh and good IQ.

My optical zoom on my S1 IS was ok, but I still didn't tend to use it as I could focus a lot closer to my insect subjects without the zoom than I could it I stood back and zoomed in to them. So I essentially used it as a prime. Even on other subjects the image was a lot clearer if I just moved in to them. And the digital zoom was absolutely worthless on it. Of course, it didn't help that it was only a 3.2 MP.

Not sure what the exposure would be, but I think that I read that point and shoots exposure settings are completely different from a dSLR when you might think that the settings are the same. It was in the book "Understanding Exposure" a great read that will get you miles in terms of learning the ins and outs of exposure.

But it does seem as if you already know how to expose.

Good luck!

Ah yes, I've heard that is an excellent book. I probably need to get it, as my learning was strictly through trial and error. While I know understand how each affects the other, it would still be nice to have it in black and white as a reference, among other useful skills I'm sure it would teach me.