Nikon D3100 Beginner

[Abhi.Naik]

Hi all,
After a lot of thought, I finally bought my Nikon D3100 with 18-55mm VR Kit Lens last week. I'm a little confused as to where I should start. Is there a particular way in which I could start exploring my camera? I know there are no hard and fast rules, yet I'd appreciate it if you could share your experience as beginners and maybe a few links or ebooks would be nice too!

Thanks.

PS: I'm a beginner, so in case you intend to use a technical term, please do explain it in layman's terms.
PPS: I just own an 18-55mm VR Kit lens right now. And I plan to move up a few levels before buying another one. So please help with that in mind.

 

[flatflip]

Hang on to that kit lens. You will learn from it what lens you need next.

Ken Rockwell dot com has a D3100 user guide with some good camera settings to consider.

Sent from my iPhone using PhotoForum

 

[iresq]

To start, what do you know about photography? If little to nothing and available in India, I would recommend Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. It will teach you about the basics of photography that can be applied to any camera. Oh yeah, and read the manual.

 

[Abhi.Naik]

The manual just seems to tell me HOW to get a particular setting.. Or am I wrong?

 

[MTVision]

It explains a lot more than just that. The manual might have come on a CD with a paper quick guide. It will explain a lot of pertinent information.

Www.cambridgeincolour.com

Has some great tutorials. The book understanding exposure recommended above is excellent - highly recommended.

To get started you could always put your camera on S mode which is shutter priority. Choose a shutter speed and the camera will choose the rest of the settings. A mode - you choose the aperture and the camera will choose everything else. Aperture is the opening in the lens. A smaller number like f/4.5 is a large opening and a large number like f/16 is a smaller opening. Lower light you want a larger opening. Shutter speed you want to keep it fast enough to hand hold. Since you have the 18-55mm lens you would want to keep the shutter speed at a minimum of 1/50 but it would be better at 1/100. Minimum shutter speed for handheld shot should equal your focal length or preferably double your focal length.

Do a goggle search for exposure. I'm sure you will find some information on how the settings work together.