It seems the biggest aperture I can get with my new camera is f5.6. Is this because of the lens or the camera? The camera is a Canon EOS Rebel G, and the lens is a Quantaray 28-90mm with macro mode...
I mean, its not uncommon to have a smaller f than 5.6 right?

It has to do with your lens. As you increase the focal length you will notice the aperture value get smaller. You will be able to get f3.5 at 28mm and at 90mm you will only achieve f5.6. Give it a try;-)

aha, that worked thanks. Now i still am abit confused about aperture...
ok, for shooting closeups, you would probably want a small aperture value (f3.5) right?
So how come when you zoom in, you can only get f5.6?
Maybe i need a quick lesson with aperture here...

Generally for closeups you do want a small aperture. The reason is that the small aperture will give you a shallow depth of field thus blurring the background and focussing more attention on the subject. But, you must also try to achieve enough depth of field to keep all of your subject in focus. So, the increased aperture at 90mm focal length will probably work to your advantage. Does your new camera have a depth of field preview button? If it does read up on its function.

if the max apperature is 5.6 at a certain focal length that is what it will show through the viewfinder too. depth of field preview certainly can be nice, especially when your putting the sun somewhere in your picture:P just take a couple pictures at different apperatures (keeping exposure the same) and you'll see what you like. the nice thing about max apperature is that anything out of focus is round, as soon as you stop down at all it becomes polygonal, with as many sides as there are on the apperature.

wow thats cool Carl.

And Daryl, unfortunatly it doesnt have a depth-of-feild preview, and whats worse is ithat its a film camera, so I think im going to have to start brigning a notepad with me when i take shots, to write down the settings i was using. And thanks for the help, both of you

keyword: notepad....LOL

do really get deep in the subject, check out the photgrapher's handbook from the library and it explains in a great way how all of that aperture/focal length/depth of feild jazz falls together, it is in fact very interesting. i am about halfway through reading that book end to end. a wealth of knowledge!
-Brad

hha, thanks ill try to check that out.

its more fun learnign all that with a camera and something to point it at with a specific effect in mind than to read it in a book ;)

yeah, honestly it is. but if your a techy like me ;-) then you want all the gruesome details, but practice is probably the best thing ever in photography.
-Brad

I would suggest a healthy combination of both. Out in the field I learn a good deal, but miss/overlook alot of things. Reading a book I can read about different techniques and perspectives that I would have never thought of myself, ways to improve my images, techincal details I was ignorant to, etc etc. I learn alot from reading. And THEN, its hard to understand your readings if you dont go out and attempt to apply and practice the things you have learned. My readings and adventures of the last year or so have made my photography classes in school fairly easy to me (although I still learn new things).

sounds good. Im planning on taking tons of shots in this snow and ice storm my area is supposed to get this weekend.