Thanks everyone... I have no intentions of giving up on the Manual Mode or on reading the camera's manual. I put it in the camera bag so I could read it. I'm just out there (or inside) taking pictures on different settings. I took video production in school, so I'm familiar with most of the terms. There was a required still photography component to the course.

I have to say that the software with the camera is useful for a novice like me. In the ZoomBrowser app, it pulls the meta-data with the images, so I can take 20 shots of the same subject, all different settings, and the little box on the side tells me what I did. I can compare images and see the settings, and figure stuff out that way too.

I'm a very technical person (I'm a Enterprise Architect - Server Engineer) so I have no problems absorbing instruction manuals... I brought my gear to work again (addicted???) so when I get some shot's that I actually like, I'll post them up, or link my Flickr stuff..

Cheers,

Z