Quick-Start Getting Started

When Photographers Resource started it was the newsletter of Camera Images. Later it split away to become a separate operation.

Camera Images was the main training provider for advanced users and professionals using Nikon cameras.

With the recession the cost of selling courses exceeded the revenue they produced so Camera Images decided not to take on new clients, but to still provide training to it's existing customer base.

The courses mentioned in the articles below are no longer available unless you are an existing client of Camera Images.

This course is one of a series of quick start 'shorts' we offer, the idea of the quick start, is to give you rapidly just enough information to get you started rather than the whole picture across ground that you are not necessarily going to use immediately. Being 1 to 1 you should still cover and understand over twice as much ground, as you would in a day group course. It is also relevant to the camera and equipment that you personally have now.

Run with and for you personally, you cannot get left behind, or attend this course and be unable to use your camera. It is relevant to you, your interests and the equipment that you have now. Delivered by the most experienced and knowledgeable tutors who specialise in Nikon cameras only, and know every one well.

We cover all the basics of how photography works, lenses, focusing and depth of field, sensor size, print sizes, perspective, aperture, speed, ISO and camera modes, together with colour management and white balance, the differences between Jpgs and Raw and advantages of using Raw, the free programs that came with or are available for your camera and a very brief look at what editing can do. We look at all the controls on the camera, and how and when to use each, and a trip over the menus covering most if not all the options, setting it up right for your preferred use.

Most of the time we will be handling and using your camera, lenses and any other accessories that you have, and throughout looking at the use from your perspective covering the type of use and interest that you have.

With entry level cameras just about all the controls and menus are covered. With the more advanced cameras, more of the special features and special capabilities are lightly covered and skipped over, as not being essential knowledge at this stage. The amount will depend upon your existing knowledge and areas of interest, and we will cover everything that you will need to use to meet your current needs.

Achieving this within three hours does mean that there is minimal scope to deviate and to explore other items, the modern digital camera is quite a capable piece of equipment and covering this within a 3 hour session fully, together with the basics of photography, and how to use the camera requires that we move at quite a speed, however, and this can only be achieved with a single person, so no second person is possible on this short if we are to get through the ground we want to cover and get you using the main facilities of your camera. We are able to achieve this because we can go quickly over the ground you know or pick up at once and slow down to look in more detail where it is not as clear to you.

The ground that would be covered on the popular Hands on a Nikon course (HNK) that is omitted from this quick start is looking at the angles and capabilities as well as through a wide range of lenses, all the information relating to longer telephoto lens than you have, most of the macro and close up photography, all of the flash except using the internal flash unit, a demonstration of creative lighting and the controllers built into many cameras to remotely control flash units, most of the accessories and additional items that you can use with your camera, most of the ground on filters and grads, and quite a bit of application experience. The coverage of software is also reduced. The tutor will make the information and application, and most of the examples used relevant to the areas of interest that you have at this time. With the more advanced cameras from the D200 and D300 up, some of the more advanced features that you are not going to use to meet your current objectives will be only lightly covered while on the Hands on a Nikon course these items would be fully explained. For those who are enthusiasts, professional photographers and those who feel they are likely to buy more lenses, flash units and other accessories, or eventually want to operate more than one model of camera, then the Hands on a Nikon day is a better choice, it also has more scope to answer any questions that you want and to go off topic briefly to look at other aspects of photography that interests you.

From this you can see the objective of this course is very much getting you using what you have now, rather then giving you the in depth overall knowledge relevant to widening and expanding your horizons, and being able to understand a far wider area of photography. So you will have the knowledge and confidence to use what you have now and be able to get good results from it.

Our tuition method on this course involves finding out what you are interested in doing and your existing experience, and then running quickly over the concepts of photography with diagrams that are easy to follow, going just deep enough for your needs and interest. Then looking briefly at the computer software, before going around the camera looking at each control or button in turn and explaining its use and application, while taking the photographs. Looking at what is happening, the displays and through the viewfinder to gain a full understanding, and then looking at what can be seen after and what corrections you can make to take a better photograph in some situations. Finally we run through the menus explaining the other options and ways you can change the way the camera works to exactly suit your personal choices, setting the camera up on route. This is a cut down version of the popular Hands on a Nikon course and we have never had a person who was not able to fully follow and understand this and then be able to use their camera fully. Many have been on group courses before, some for several days, and not followed it or been unable to operate the camera after and after a day with us made the breakthrough to now where able to both understand and operate their cameras to get great results.

No one is ever too old to get to understand and use one of these cameras, we have successfully taught very elderly people. We have also usefully taught people with a range of disabilities and difficulties.

This is the ideal course for the person who has brought a camera, and wants to understand a particular task or is taking it on holiday very soon and feels they need to be able to use it in more than in point and shoot mode. It is however not a substitute for the Hands on a Nikon courses which is generally better as it allows a deeper knowledge and has more time to answer questions and explore other areas.

Hands an a Nikon course: - available in lengths from 5 to 10 hours, 7 is the normal length.

Consider adding a second 'short' so that you get two in a day, perhaps flash, or a quick start Capture NX editing course.

Quick Start - Getting Started with Your Camera