So you can only do Hdr's with a darkroom or can you do it through photoshop with digitals?
So is iso basically the equivelant to Apature on film cameras?

Not sure as I've never made a hdr photo myself although I have rendered in hdr. So yeah, if digital graphics act the same as photographic than yes you can photoshop it.
Well... not really :/ Basically as a run-down you got these options on while taking a picture:

ISO = which I allready explained, how sensitive the shot is towards light
Aperture = which is how wide the lens opens to take a shot. The wider it opens the more light comes in. Ironically, the lower aperture you have the wider the lens opens so a low aperture shot (say f3.5) would take in alot more light than say a shot with a aperture of f22. Btw, aperture can sometimes be called F.stop aswell and people can say that they shot something at an aperture of f3.5 which essentially is exactly the same as 3.5.
Shutter speed = How fast the shot is taken. Basically you want to take normal shots at 1/60th of a second to avoid visable blur. The lower the speed the longer the lens is open for and the longer the oposite. Speeds of up to 1/200, 1/500 could be ideal for action shots (ie a fast moving object like a splash of water) whilst a low shutter speed of say 1" (1 second) could be used for a landscape photo taken at night. Beware though; generally anything under 1/60 requires a tripod or some kind of support to avoid noticable blur while printing.
White balance = Not sure exactly how the wb works but it basically changes the colors in a picture. For instance if you shoot a night shot at the "daylight" wb it might look horribly wrong. What I do is that I shoot everything in auto and than change it later in photoshop. This is super-easy if you shoot in a file called raw.

Hope that clears some up

Thanks for clearing some of that up m8
And if I do get a camera will I pretty much have to touch stuff up in photoshop for all my pictures?
I suck at photoshop :\
I'm getting it on my computer from my moms friend who is a professional photographer though but I won't know how to do all the good shit you guys do :\

And back to cameras, links would be nice too if you can ^^

Ambient light – The natural light in a scene.

Archival – The ability of a material, including some printing papers and compact discs, to last for many years.

Aperture – A small, circular opening inside the lens that can change in diameter to control the amount of light reaching the camera's sensor as a picture is taken. The aperture diameter is expressed in f-stops; the lower the number, the larger the aperture. For instance, the aperture opening when set to f/2.8 is larger than at f/8. The aperture and shutter speed together control the total amount of light reaching the sensor. A larger aperture passes more light through to the sensor. Many cameras have an aperture priority mode that allows you to adjust the aperture to your own liking. See also shutter speed.

Application – A computer program, such as an image editor or image browser.

Buffer – Memory in the camera that stores digital photos before they are written to the memory card.

Burning – Selectively darkening part of a photo with an image editing program.

CCD – Charge Coupled Device: one of the two main types of image sensors used in digital cameras. When a picture is taken, the CCD is struck by light coming through the camera's lens. Each of the thousands or millions of tiny pixels that make up the CCD convert this light into electrons. The number of electrons, usually described as the pixel's accumulated charge, is measured, then converted to a digital value. This last step occurs outside the CCD, in a camera component called an analog-to-digital converter.

CD-R – CD-Recordable: a compact disc that holds either 650 or 700 MB of digital information, including digital photos. Creating one is commonly referred to as burning a CD. A CD-R disc can only be written to once, and is an ideal storage medium for original digital photos.

CD-RW – CD-Rewritable: similar in virtually all respects to a CD-R, except that a CD-RW disc can be written and erased many times. This makes them best suited to many backup tasks, but not for long term storage of original digital photos.

CMOS – Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor: one of the two main types of image sensors used in digital cameras. Its basic function is the same as that of a CCD. CMOS sensors are currently found in only a handful of digital cameras.

CMYK – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black. The four colors in the inksets of many photo-quality printers. Some printers use six ink colors to achieve smoother, more photographic prints. The two additional colors are often lighter shades of cyan and magenta.

CompactFlash™ – A common type of digital camera memory card, about the size of a matchbook. There are two types of cards, Type I and Type II. They vary only in their thickness, with Type I being slightly thinner. A CompactFlash memory card can contain either flash memory or a miniature hard drive. The flash memory type is more prevalent.

Contrast – The difference between the darkest and lightest areas in a photo. The greater the difference, the higher the contrast.

Digital camera – A camera that captures the photo not on film, but in an electronic imaging sensor that takes the place of film.

Dodging – Selectively lightening part of a photo with an image editing program.

Download, downloading – The process of moving computer data from one location to another. Though the term is normally used to describe the transfer, or downloading, of data from the Internet, it is also used to describe the transfer of photos from a camera memory card to the computer. Example: I downloaded photos to my PC.

DPI – Dots per inch: A measurement of the resolution of a digital photo or digital device, including digital cameras and printers. The higher the number, the greater the resolution.

EXIF – Exchangeable Image File: the file format used by most digital cameras. For example, when a typical camera is set to record a JPEG, it's actually recording an EXIF file that uses JPEG compression to compress the photo data within the file.

External flash – A supplementary flash unit that connects to the camera with a cable, or is triggered by the light from the camera's internal flash. Many fun and creative effects can be created with external flash.

File – A computer document.

Fill flash – A flash technique used to brighten deep shadow areas, typically outdoors on sunny days. Some digital cameras include a fill flash mode that forces the flash to fire, even in bright light.

Fire – Slang for shooting a picture. Example: I pressed the shutter button to fire.

FireWire – A type of cabling technology for transferring data to and from digital devices at high speed. Some professional digital cameras and memory card readers connect to the computer over FireWire. FireWire card readers are typically faster than those that connect via USB. Also known as IEEE 1394, FireWire was invented by Apple Computer but is now commonly used with Windows-based PCs as well.

Grayscale – A photo made up of varying tones of black and white. Grayscale is synonymous with black and white.

Highlights – The brightest parts of a photo.

Histogram – A graphic representation of the range of tones from dark to light in a photo. Some digital cameras include a histogram feature that enables a precise check on the exposure of the photo.

Image browser – An application that enables you to view digital photos. Some browsers also allow you to rename files, convert photos from one file format to another, add text descriptions, and more.

Image editor – A computer program that enables you to adjust a photo to improve its appearance. With image editing software, you can darken or lighten a photo, rotate it, adjust its contrast, crop out extraneous detail, remove red-eye and more.

Image resolution - The number of pixels in a digital photo is commonly referred to as its image resolution.

Inkjet – A printer that places ink on the paper by spraying droplets through tiny nozzles.

ISO speed – A rating of a film's sensitivity to light. Though digital cameras don't use film, they have adopted the same rating system for describing the sensitivity of the camera's imaging sensor. Digital cameras often include a control for adjusting the ISO speed; some will adjust it automatically depending on the lighting conditions, adjusting it upwards as the available light dims. Generally, as ISO speed climbs, image quality drops.

JPEG – A standard for compressing image data developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group, hence the name JPEG. Strictly speaking, JPEG is not a file format, it's a compression method that is used within a file format, such as the EXIF-JPEG format common to digital cameras. It is referred to as a lossy format, which means some quality is lost in achieving JPEG's high compression rates. Usually, if a high-quality, low-compression JPEG setting is chosen on a digital camera, the loss of quality is not detectable to the eye.

LCD – Liquid Crystal Display: a low-power monitor often used on the top and/or rear of a digital camera to display settings or the photo itself.

Media – Material that information is written to and stored on. Digital photography storage media includes CompactFlash cards and CDs.

Megabyte (MB) – A measurement of data storage equal to 1024 kilobytes (KB).

Megapixel – Equal to one million pixels.

Memory Stick®—A memory card slightly smaller than a single stick of chewing gum. Like CompactFlash and SmartMedia, it is flash-based storage for your photos.

NiMH – Nickel Metal-Hydride: a type of rechargeable battery that can be recharged many times. NiMH batteries provide sufficient power to run digital cameras and flashes.

Online photo printer – A company that receives digital photos uploaded to its Web site, prints them, then sends the prints back by mail or courier.

Panning – A photography technique in which the camera follows a moving subject. Done correctly, the subject is sharp and clear, while the background is blurred, giving a sense of motion to the photo.

Pixel – Picture Element: digital photographs are comprised of thousands or millions of them; they are the building blocks of a digital photo.

RAW – The RAW image format is the data as it comes directly off the CCD, with no in-camera processing is performed.

Red-eye – The red glow from a subject's eyes caused by light from a flash reflecting off the blood vessels behind the retina in the eye. The effect is most common when light levels are low, outdoor at night, or indoor in a dimly-lit room.

RGB – Red, Green, Blue: the three colors to which the human visual system, digital cameras and many other devices are sensitive.

Saturation – How rich the colors are in a photo.

Sensitivity – See ISO speed.

Serial – A method for connecting an external device such as a printer, scanner, or camera, to a computer. It has been all but replaced by USB and FireWire in modern computers.

Sharpness – The clarity of detail in a photo.

Shutter speed – The camera's shutter speed is a measurement of how long its shutter remains open as the picture is taken. The slower the shutter speed, the longer the exposure time. When the shutter speed is set to 1/125 or simply 125, this means that the shutter will be open for exactly 1/125th of one second. The shutter speed and aperture together control the total amount of light reaching the sensor. Some digital cameras have a shutter priority mode that allows you to set the shutter speed to your liking. See also aperture.

SmartMedia™—a wafer-thin, matchbook size memory card. This is also a flash-memory based storage medium.

Thumbnail – A small version of a photo. Image browsers commonly display thumbnails of photos several or even dozens at a time. In Windows XP's My Pictures, you can view thumbnails of photos in both the Thumbnails and Filmstrip view modes.

USB – Universal Serial Bus: a protocol for transferring data to and from digital devices. Many digital cameras and memory card readers connect to the USB port on a computer. USB card readers are typically faster than cameras or readers that connect to the serial port, but slower than those that connect via FireWire.

White balance – A function on the camera to compensate for different colors of light being emitted by different light sources.



Edit: To add on.

"Top 11 tips:
1. Don’t go crazy buying the most expensive equipment right away.
It’s possible to get very nice photos with an inexpensive point and shoot.
The more photos you take, the more you’ll know about what kind of camera to get when it’s time to upgrade." (Refer to sticky post 1)

This post was edited by TheBlackRose66 on Jan 5 2009 10:54pm

Glossary:
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/

I suggest you shoot raw and do the settings there, so get photoshop or/and lightroom for that(i suggest photoshop if you only get one of those). I made small raw editing guide on these forums, it shouldnt be that far away, or u can find it in my profile. Its not hard to do the raw editing, after you got a hang to it. Its really rare that you get a good finished pic straight from the camera, especially with these low end dslrs, but some prefer getting theyr pics straight from the camera. Personally i cant understand why let the camera do the editing, when you can do it yourself. When u shoot normal jpg the camera makes it from same raw data that you use on raw editing, but after it allready sets up white balance and all you cant edit them later that freely, and the camera cant set them up the way you want them everytime.

This post was edited by Antichrist- on Jan 6 2009 06:39am

i wouldnt go get somthing like an old 40D or old 1d whatever. they are gonna be real hard for someone new to a DSLR to understand, and a beginner wont get better shots out of one of them over a brand new spanking new Canon 400D/Nikon D60..etc

I dont think there is enymothing more complex on those than other dslrs. 40d is even easier to use than those beginner dslrs

how is it? the 40d has loads more features than the 400d or d40

It has joystick for af point selection, with those cameras you need to push af selection button and then find the right one using the shutterspeed wheel. On 40d you choose the f-number from the wheel, instead of pushing some button and using the same wheel again. Allso iso choosing is easier on 40d since you can do it without looking out the viewfinder. So using it is much easier. I dont think there is loads of more features on 40d than on 400d for example, 40d is just made faster to use and the features made better than on 400d