thanks Dave, the lens manual really doesnt say much of anything, and the camera manual is kinda vague, and just shows basic functions and what not...im going to buy a book on this camera, books usually offer far more information about operation than the manuals do.. i will also need to get a book about F stops, they are kinda confusing me... i can get decent shots i suppose, but something is telling me i have yet to unlock the true capability of pretty much all of my cameras.. film and digital... i will deffinately be taking a course when i can, this is Winter quarter and the enrolls are over as its been started for 3 weeks, so maybe next quarter or the next...

its really wierd using a DSLR camera, vs my semi DSLR camera that i take pics of the moon with, you really dont see the zoom capabilities of lenses untill you start messing with them.. those duck pics are from around 8-10 feet away, lens maxed out, i would like to get pictures like that at 100+ yards away, but not sure how i would go about that...

the first lens im going to buy is a 500 or 800mm Super Telephoto Mirror lens, but honestly, i dont know what results im going to get with it, so i may have to head to another camera shop, talk with them, and possibly see just what a lens like that is capable of before i spend money on it, i litterally almost bought one yesterday, but i dont want to waste money on usless stuff, so im going to see what it does before i buy it...

im really excited to see how pictures of the mountian turn out when this fog and rain go away... and am even more excited to see what it does on fish pictures with the up coming Salmon season...