If you haven't already received the camera, when you get it pull out the manual and start reading, charge up the battery and start shooting, don't worry about how good the photos are initially (with digital there is no wasted "film"). Run through the menus to memorize the functions.
Learn what the "exposure triad" is about and how to operate your camera manually to set up the exposures for different effects (which helps to understand exposure).
Run through the menus to memorize the functions.
When you understand the exposure settings and what they do you'll get a better idea of how to set up auto/program menus and for preset "funct" buttons.
Run through the menus to memorize the functions.
Play with the auto focus functions to see what you can get away with for different scenarios and what the limits of the camera are. You may find you have to pre-setup focus in some situations beforehand to get action shots you want. Get haze filters for your lenses more for protection than anything else. Polarizer filters are nice to have also. Extra batteries too.
Get a tripod for slow exposures/night time, and shots you don't want any blur/out of focus.
Did I mention run through the menus to memorize functions?
