hi im new to photography and have only had a couple of cheap point and shoot cameras now i have a epl1 and was wondering if there are any good books or websites that can help me understand the camera and stop me using auto mode ? thanks

The Olympus E-PL1 for Dummies book is pretty good, actually. Im also learning a lot from Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure.

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+1 for Understanding Exposure

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The best shot you take is with the camera that you have with you.

Understanding Exposure is a good book. Just have to remember the f-stop vs. DOF is different in m43 vs FF

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GF1 | Leica DG Summilix 25 mm f/1.4 | M. Zuiko 45mm f/1.8 | "new" FD 50mm f/1.8

A couple of camera simulators that let you mess with settings without using a camera -

Aperture, shutter and ISO value | SLR Camera Simulator

CameraSim | SLR Photography Demystified

You can see some of the interdependencies between iso, aperture and shutter speed fairly easily this way.

A good site is:
Cambridge in Colour - Photography Tutorials & Learning Community

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EPM1 (gone but not forgotten: EP1)
Lenses: P14/PL25/PL45, 40-150; FD50, OM100, Fujian 35/1.7

Understanding Exposure is a pretty good book. There's also tons of free internet resources out there. If you have a specific question, feel free to ask in our forums too.

You need to understand that with photography, it's all about light. You can't take a photo without any light.

Aperture controls how much light gets to your sensor.
Shutter speed controls how long the sensor is exposed to your light (so in a way, it also controls how much light your sensor is getting).
And guess what? ISO also controls how much light your sensor is getting.

Get my drift? I hope you're seeing the light.
(Sorry, couldn't resist putting that pun in! )

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- Hiep
Olympus E-P3 and Panasonic GF2.
my smugmug

I bought the Olympus EPL-1 book for dummies and it is really good, I have an EPL-2 but still there is lots that is similar functionality on the EPL-2 and really helped me understand my camera and photography, I am still reading it and there are lots of very good tips. Being a Newby to m43 from just using a point and shoot I am finding it invaluable.

read your manual to learn the controls of the camera and then read anything that helps you understand the relationship between the 3 things that the photographer must control. Shutter speed, f stop and ISO will control the light.....the rest is just framing which you are doing already.

I like the books that Scott Kelby has put out. Informative and fun to read. So often a technical book has the info but they are so dry a read that it hurts.