Help and advice needed please.

[kayicolyn]

Hi all,
I am new to photography and have just got my first DSLR courtesy of my loving fiancee, its a panasonic lumix DMC-G3 the camera comes with a lens which is as follows.... LUMIX G VARIO 14-42mm / F3.5-5.6 ASPH. / MEGA O.I.S.
to me that may aswell be wrote in japanese as i dont understand any of it i would be very gratefull if someone could translate the jibberish to english for me.
I would also like to know what other lens's i need for different shots i.e wide shots, getting close shots of things far away (mainly animals and landscapes), i would also like to know of an easy to understand image editing programme.
as i have stated i am new to dslr's and my previous camera was a sony cybershot so i would apreciate any advice i could get.
thanks
Andrea

[kayicolyn]

forgot to add that, the camera was sugested for me as an easy step upto DSLR's.

[sk66]

I'll give it a shot.

Lumix G Vario- zoom lens for the Lumix G series.
14-42mm- zooms between 14mm and 42 mm in focal length.
f/3.5-5.6- maximum aperture is f/3.5 when zoomed to 14 mm and f/5.6 when zoomed to 42mm.
ASPH- aspherical lens element(s) (their shape).
Mega O.I.S- "mega" optical image stabilization.

[Elmo]

I think possibly the manual is not that bad. The issue is you might be unfamiliar with the terminology. I might suggests Peterson;s book Understanding Exposure,

I ran across this and it might be a clue to what to expect. The terminology is explained in the book.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8NEa-ghHbo

[kayicolyn]

thanks sk66, to be a bit more of a pain in the rear. is the camera going to be easy for me to understand and how long will it take me to understand all these terms and what they are for.

Originally Posted by kayicolyn

thanks sk66, to be a bit more of a pain in the rear. is the camera going to be easy for me to understand and how long will it take me to understand all these terms and what they are for.

.... Yes.....

[Hill Country Hack]

Welcome to DPS. As you are just beginning your journey into digital photography may I suggest you go to Tutorials and read until your eyes bleed about composition, exposure triangle (this can be confusing at first but just go with it) and anything else that grabs your fancy.

Read your manual to learn your camera. The manual usually is written in easy to understand language. Do internet searches for terms you do not understand such as apature, focal length, ISO etc. Some can be very detailed and technical so read at your own pace. Don't sweat it if you don't understand everything, it will come in time.

Once you get a handle on your camera, take pictures in the various modes while being mindful of the setting the camera chooses while in the automatic modes.

This will take some time, be patient and keep your mind open. Best wishes.

You should really look into wedding photography as soon as possible!!!!

^^ Best advice I ever got!

[inkista]

Originally Posted by kayicolyn

I would also like to know what other lens's i need for different shots i.e wide shots,

Your 14-42 is going to be relatively wide, but if you want "ultrawide," then the Panasonic 7-14 or the Olympus 12mm f/2 are probably the ones you want to look at. Prepare for sticker shock.

... getting close shots of things far away (mainly animals and landscapes),

"telephoto zoom" is the type of lens you're probably asking about there. Anything that goes up above 150mm is going to work for this. The longer the focal length, the more magnification you'll have. You definitely want a stabilized lens, though, to help counter camera shake blur. The Panasonic 45-200 or the Olympus 75-300 are your most likely candidates here.

i would also like to know of an easy to understand image editing programme.

Start with iPhoto (if you're on a Mac) or Google's Picasa if you're on a Windows box. They shouldn't cost anything, and can get you started with simple basic editing. Hopefully, though, they'll eventually irritate you, and you'll move on to something a bit more capable.

Originally Posted by kayicolyn

forgot to add that, the camera was sugested for me as an easy step upto DSLR's.

The G3 isn't really a transition step to a dSLR, it's an alternative to a dSLR. It's a very capable camera. I'm tempted to get one myself. Just as inspiration, take a look at what other folks are doing with micro four-thirds cameras.

[kayicolyn]

thanks guys, theres alot to take in there so i will start my research as soon as the house is quite. and will hopefully put some critque picis on soon so you can all help with were im going wrong.
thanks again