Hee hee hee. The fun of a new toy. You'll figure it all out, in time. There are dozens and dozens of good books about photography. Some simple, some complex.
See if you can find a 'Magic Lantern Guide' to your camera. It's kind of like an extended user manual. All the same stuff is covered, but it will offer lots of tips, tricks, and background info about what's going on. I basically stuck the manual to my D70 in the box and use the MLG anytime I have a question about a feature. It's a fantastic reference, and I can only assume that one for your Olympus will be equally valuable.
If your problems are more of the, 'how do I set the camera to do XXXX', then time and reading the manual will help. If your questions are more, 'I have no feaking idea what F5.6 1/60 means in the viewfinder', then I'd look into getting a general photography book or even attending a photography class. Head on down to your nearest Barnes & Noble (or whatever) and browse a bit. The browsing is important, as you need to really look through the books and see if they make sense to you. Getting one that's too technical will frustrate you further. I know I've actually seen 'DSLR's for Dummies' on the shelf. Maybe a good place to start? Many schools and art galleries offer photography classes. One would offer some invaluable insights in how to really use a camera to take 'photographs' instead of 'pictures'.
When in doubt, the camera should have a slew of 'automatic' modes (like fully automatic, sports, landscape, etc, etc). Use them! I find that the vast majority of the time my Nikon sets up the camera exactly as I would anyway, and all I have to do is worry about composing the shot.
Oh yeah, and as medic8r says, no need to worry about film! Excellent point to remember. Just play with it and have fun. Take hundreds of crummy pictures while you learn, it doesn't matter!
Quote:
My toy arrived last Tuesday and I’ve been playing with it some, reading the manual some…..
It took me about five minutes to realize I’m completely lost. This thing has more friggin settings, options, modes, etc than I will ever understand. I am overwhelmed. Heck I don’t know which record mode to use……. Holly crap, what did I get myself into?? Is there a good DSLR for dummies book worth getting?? Sonofabitch, this is going to take years to figure out! UGGG…
Other than being completely overwhelmed, this is very nice little camera. I shouldn’t really call it a little camera either. I’ve read where some folks say it will fit in a pocket……ya, right…maybe a pocket in a parka, but it ain’t fitting in any pockets of mine.
