DSLR For Newbies

[hansolo77]

I'm going to be buying a DSLR camera with my income tax refund. I've always had simple point and shoots, and recently got into doing more photography with a higher end point and shoot. I enjoy walking nature trails and stuff and capturing birds, insects, flowers, etc while doing that. However, I'm feeling more and more restricted by what I can do because of the camera. The Autofocus isn't fast enough to capture birds, and when I try to focus on insects and things the focus usually is on the wrong thing. So with a DSLR I'll be able to control the focus much more quickly and precisely. Another lacking feature is the zoom. While my latest camera (Canon Powershot S5IS) can do a very nice zoom, it's still not good enough to really get in there and get some good pictures of water fowl and the like. With interchangable lenses, I could switch to a much more powerful zoom, or a macro-lense for the insects. Basically, I'm wanting to do MORE with photography than just the simple family/pet photos and the occasional lucky shot of a bird. I want to get more into the artistic side and capture things like star trails, sunsets, etc. So I've decided upgrading to a DSLR would be my first ticket.

I'm going to get the Canon EOS Rebel T3i. Amazon has one for $899 that comes with the kit lense as well as an additional zoom lens. I could get a different one with only lens, but it's only $50 bucks more, so I'm saving up a few extra dollars from my paychecks. I could easily cut the bill in half if I went with the T2i instead of the T3i, but the extra features in the T3i are more advantageous to me I think. The S5IS I already have has the tilt/swivel LCD screen, and I really like it. The T3i has that, but the T2i doesn't. But I wouldn't buy it for just that reason alone. Theres a couple of other nice improvements over the T2i that I can easily see are more valuble in comparison.

So what I'm looking for, are suggestions from you guys as to what you'd recommend I do to prepare myself. Does anybody know of any good, non text-book books I should check out from the library to familiarize myself with the new technology? Any websites you might recommend for tips/tricks? I know theres lots of stuff out there, but I don't want such a broad scope from professional masters. I'm just looking for basic beginner type stuff. Anybody else here use DSLR and wanna talk about it?

[Draco1962]

I think if you "google about" a bit you will probably find lots in the way of forums and photography resources. The fundamentals of photography are still the same as when the first Kodak took a picture, just the storage medium is different.

Canon Digital Learning Center (I have referenced this a few times)

DSLR Photography for Beginners

Cambridge in Color Digital Photography Tutorials

Canon Digital Photography Forums