This is a draft post I did a good while ago:
First up - read your Manual. Reading a camera manual is like watching paint dry, but it has to be done. I haven't sat down and read my camera manual in one sitting, from back to front but I have used my manual to look up various functions on the camera. I have it in the camera bag at all times and when I'm not sure about something I take it out. I also purchased one of the "Magic Lantern Guides" for the Canon 40d which is packed with diagrams, instructions and tips.
I recently purchased "The Complete Canon SLR Handbook" which has 18 lessons covering things like, how to change your lens, master depth of field, shutter speeds. It is very straight forward, loads of examples and not too much technical jargon.
So I'm off to read the Manual.......
