Help needed with camera

[Jeannine]

I am not a photographer at all.. never been really into it but..and the few times I have had a camera in my hand I reaaly don`t understand it.

I boiught John an Olympus Pen for Christmas and he is not using it so I am going to have a go,

The instructions look enough to put me off for life so my question is. How would you rate it, easy.. or the other.

It is brand new in the box and he is obviously not going to use it.

Hoping this is not another thing to go in a drawer gathering dust with the  last three presents.

XX Jeannine

[Squash64]

Hi Jeannine,

I'm by no means an expert, but I have never read all through the instruction books with any of my three cameras.

So long as you are able to charge the battery, put the memory card in and find out where the 'auto' setting is you should be able to take photos.

What is the model number of the camera?

[Jeannine]

It is Olympus pen..E-PLI.

I am just opening the box.It is full of stuff, I am getting very scared.

Camera,book, disc,strap(at least I know what that is ::)) 3 lots of cables,a little black box which I think is a battery,a round thing, looks like a lens and  battery charger,I guess one of the cables fits that.

Hey hey, I got that bit fitted together and the battery in too.

It is not obvious what the other two cables are for..looking in book.

OK,one is a USB cable , the other is a monarual AV cable..yeah right, like I would know what they are!!

Fat round thing is a lens..hey I aligned the red marks and have got it fitted on the camera.

So far so good but there is no memory card.. there should be according to the book but it is definately nothing here..

I better go and check with Amazon as to what we do now!!

XX Jeannine

[aj]

I've got a E-p1 - very nearly the same camera.

It's fantastic!

It's a micro 4/3 camera, which means it's nearly a DSLR - it does 99% of the functions of a DSLR, it just can't produce the really selective focusing that you can with macro lenses.

It's a wicked camera!

chuck a memory card in and and start shooting. Start with i-auto and enjoy. The lens with it should be a zoom lens so have a play.

[Jeannine]

Sorted, the memory cardf didn't come with the camera so is now on way from Amazon. I phoned them, they were very good and even gave me a $5 gift on my account..

Also bought  the book  Olympus EP1 for dummies which might help me.

I have never been a camera person, John always has done that which is why I bought this for him at Christmas, sadly with his Alzheimers he is overwhelmed by it as it is unfamiliar.. so I have to learn , then I can show him, with a bit iof luck!!

Thank you Squash64.. I would probably never have taken it out of the box if you hadn't asked.

Thanks AJ, I might just be asking you a lot of questions. Last time I owned a camera personally I was 10.

It is a zoom lens. The reason I bought it was because a few months ago we saw a coyote on the lotties, John took a picture but it was too far away, he said at the time he wished he had a zoom lens, hence the reason for the pressy.. I didn't expect it to baffle him

XX Jeannine

[BoardStupid]

Charge battery, install memory card.

Set to auto

Job's a goodun :-)

Just remember to slightly press shutter down so that it can auto-focus and finally press all the way down to take the shot. My OH thinks that she just click willy nilly and I end up binning most of her shots  ???

[Jeannine]

She sounds like me.

The card and book arrived,,stupid book, supposed to be for dummies, well I got to line 2 and it used two terms for which there was no explanation so I lost my temper and heaved it.

So much for me learning from a book.

John retrieved it and is reading it, but dislikes it.

If they wroye the facts in simple language without all the ra ra ra and garbage the book would be 1/4 the size and  I wouldn't have to keep trying to ignore the crap.

Anyway, still hopeful I can get it going.

We are spending Easter with our best friends whose daughter is in the film industry and does a lot of photography  professionally as well, so she will help me.

XX Jeannine

[aj]

The best thing to do to get used to any camera is to just use it! And play with it.

If you don't understand terms - then google them!

Photography is really simple, based on 3 different controls to get light into your camera.

how long the shutter is open for
the diameter of the hole that the light goes through
the sensitivity of the 'sensor' or film.

It's playing with these and the mix of them that is the fun part.

[BarriedaleNick]

Jeannine,

You have a great camera - forget the manual/book for now and stick it on one of the preset modes and snap away.  You wont break it by taking pics!!
In taking lots of pics you will end up learning loads and you can refer to the manual as and when you need to...

Even dummy guides have to speak the language of photography - I know its annoying (I work in IT and we have a completely seperate language!!) but once you have the basic ideas it will make a lot more sense.

You can also ask anything you like here of course!  :D

BDN

[Bugloss2009]

just think Jeannine, with a digital camera you can just keep taking pictures until you get it right (and you can tell right away) and it costs nothing. Took me months before i took a decent photo, and it cost £££££££££s in developing

once you get the right buttons and dials set, the main thing to remember is what the camera sees, isn't what you see