Bought myself a dslr off the bay the other day, impulse buy as it looked like a bargain.

Got a olympus e500 with 17-45 lens, hoya plcir filter, lowepro bag and a few other bits for a ton...

No manual though, charged it up and fired it up, on dslrs can i not see what im taking a pic of on the screen and only through the view finder?

Really dont have a clue what im doing now, so was wondering if its best to shoot in raw or jpeg?

What does the filter do?

Any info or tips would be great

Cheers

Looks like the filter is a circular polariser, it's used to get rid of reflections and enhance colours, but you'd need to read up a little on them to get the best out of them. Look through it and rotate it, you should see a difference.

Just play with it constantly, thats the best way to learn how to use it IMO.

Good luck with it, looking forward to seeing some pics from you 

got a dslr what now?

go take the perfect photo and sell it for a LOT of money!  sorry im so un helpfull i need a slap!

Get the software and shoot RAW. It's miles better.

take pictures