D-SLR

[Drachen]

Ok, so for graduation I got a Nikon D5100 package with two lenses. I have never had a good camera before (low to mid level point and shoot at best). Does anyone have any recommendations to learn how to use it?

[Wild Cobra]

Wow...

Such a nice camera, and you will likely not use 5% of it's capability.

Well, I would suggest you take all your pictures in maximum resolution, and save it its raw format. It will use more memory per picture, but you can always crop, scale, and reformat the files later.

I don't know what the "package" includes, but when I used a camera a lot, my favorite lens was a 28mm to 90mm zoom.

Just go places and take pictures. Play around with the speed setting in the seconds of time for things like waterfalls. I will assume it has an automatic mode that allows priority by aperture or speed.

There is quite a bit of science involved in using a camera to potential. Take a class, or buy some books if you want to use it for more than snapshots. Otherwise, it might just be a $600 camera that you could of used a $80 camera for.

That camera will also do full HD video at 30 FPS.