I think you will love a DSLR and want one of your own eventually. My hubby borrowed a Nikon D100 from a friend for shooting a school show. I had a play with it & was hooked.

I went and bought my D300 & a couple of lenses. We now have a spare room full of kit, very addictive!!!

As for learning your way around a DSLR, I found i learned better by putting the cam into aperture priority (AV on Canon) and setting the aperture to what I wanted. The smaller the f number (big aperture, all back to front!) the more shallow depth of field (blurred background).

Best thing to do is put an object on a table outside & photograph it on f4, f8, f11, f16 & see the differences. It soon sinks in

Maybe that sounds chinese at the moment but just shout at me if I'm confusing things. It's all about getting the basics

All the best with it

Stef

Hi Stef,thanks for all the photo comments.
I have Nikon Coolpix p80, this was bought when I first started bird watching,I was able to get a good enough photo of the birds to ID later at home.I have just used it on Auto,but the more you get in to photography the better you want to be.My son has Canon cameras and is very good at taking photos,you can see the difference in the photo quality. I am determine to get my head round setting the camera up to take a better photo.

Thanks Amanda, very kind of you to say

I'm just finding my feet & getting to grips with where people post their pics, I was browsing for a couple of hours last night, instead of the intended half hour. I will go and have a look at your album now I know where to find them.

I find, as a Nikon user I really struggle with Canons. I find them awkward, of course, they are not... just what you get used to.

What Nikon model do you have?

Hi Stef, had a look through your Album your photos are very good.I like to read what the set up was for the photo,just learning how to use my son's Cannon D 40. I have been using my Nikon on auto for the photos in my Album.Look forward to seeing more of your shots.
Amanda.