Free email course

Your first 30 days with your camera.

A new camera can feel like a cockpit. This course takes it one thing at a time: eight short emails over 30 days, each with something to try with the camera in your hands, about ten minutes. Every lesson links to the exact menu paths for your camera.

What's in it

1. Day 1
   The settings to change first

   The handful of defaults behind most early misses, and the exact menu path for each on your camera.

2. Day 3
   Controls under your thumb

   Put the three settings you change most on buttons you can reach without looking.

3. Day 6
   Autofocus that follows

   Single or continuous, and where the camera looks. One test that shows the difference.

4. Day 9
   Why is this photo blurry?

   The four causes, the one question that sorts them, and the fix.

5. Day 13
   Aperture, the camera's pupil

   More light, blurrier backgrounds, and why a small f-number means a wide opening.

6. Day 17
   Shutter, ISO and low light

   The door and the clock, the volume knob, and the order to give things up when it gets dark.

7. Day 22
   Your first video

   Frame rate, the shutter rule, and why sound is half of it.

8. Day 30
   Look how far you've come

   Day 1 next to day 30, and what to learn next.