Still not getting to grips

Whilst I am loving the Canon as it has reignited my love of photography, it is frustrating me beyond belief. I used to shoot on the Lumix in aperture mode, it worked, I could change my f-number, I could change the exposure if needed and it made good photos. With the Canon I just cannot get the shutter firing fast enough. Even in completely manual I can then alter the shutter speed but the exposure is still coming out all wrong.

I took it out with me to the physio today, the street shots I took on the way there were too dark or I'd forgotten I have nothing like the zoom of the Lumix so couldn't get the shots I wanted. On the way home it was almost dark. I tried a shot I knew worked with the Lumix, I popped to the island in the middle of the road and used the bollard as a tripod and attempted to get some car trails. I had almost managed it by my last shot but unlike the Lumix, the Canon couldn't cope without a tripod (either that or my bollard wasn't as stable as previous attempts).

However I will not stop trying. Instead I decided to attempt to get my remote flash to sync with the camera flash. Verdict? I need a cable or a radio thing to sync it as the canon pop up lens is just too powerful and I lose the effect of the synced lens, even when trying to screen the pop up. It was even a bit too powerful for the shots I was taking and I ended up having to create a little paper screen to diffuse the light. Not the best of shots but it's all just learning...

Actually, I take that final comment back, looking at it some more, it's not a bad shot.