Howdy dudes and dudettes! Well, it's pretty simple. If you've got questions about your Nikon D3100, you can start a new discussion and get tons of helpful replies from other D3100 owners all across the world, including yours truly. :)
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Comments
Lens speed is expensive. I don't think there are any commonly available zoom lenses, even the shockingly expensive ones, that go faster than f/2.8.
Try to find some basic information on the meaning of the settings, ISO, shutter speed and aperture, and remember that because it's a digital camera, you can make nearly limitless experimental shots, and erase them.
Many resources exist, and of course this site is one of them, and the cheat cards are one as well. Even if you simply follow guidelines, you will see what is being done, and can experiment to see how things change.
One other site you might find useful is "Cambridge in Colour", which includes several tutorials on the basics. Check out the "Camera Essentials" section. Note the British spelling: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/
I don't know if it's true of the D3100, but it probably is as it is with the D3200 - the printed instruction book is seriously abridged. To get the complete instructions, find the PDF file on the accompanying CD, along with the View NX-2 program that allows numerous ways to manipulate Raw files.
If you did not get the CD, go to the Nikon website, and download the instructions there. It's very handy to have this on the computer, and I highly recommend putting the file there in a prominent place, so you can open it any time and refresh your memory on how to do things.
If that results in a satisfactory picture, then go back to where you were, and try to figure out what got changed to make the pictures too dark. Exposure compensation , [+/-] button would be a first suspect.
If the auto picture was not satisfactory, the first thing I'd do is to investigate whatever you're reading it on, to make sure there is not a wrong setting there, and if it reads the same in multiple places, then I'd suspect a problem with the camera.
Before getting too much further, one thing you should do is remove the lens and reinstall it and make sure that it has clicked fully into place and made full contact. Chances are that the camera would tell you if there's a problem there, but you never know.
Diolch yn fawr iawn