ShaolinTiger
07-17-2007, 03:09 PM
Nikon D200 Digital Field Guide
Author(s): David D. Busch
Publisher: Wiley (http://www.wiley.com/)
Book Specifications: Paperback 262 Pages
Category: Gear Familiarity & Some Basics
User Level: Beginner - Intermediate
Suggested Publisher Price: $19.99 USA / RM80.90 from Borders
ISBN: 0-470-03748-2
4079
Amazon.com: Nikon D200 Digital Field Guide at Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FNikon-D200-Digital-Field-Guide%2Fdp%2F0470037482&tag=quitsmokstopn-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325)
"You've been waiting for an affordable dSLR with the quality and versatility of the Nikon D200. Packed with great techniques and full-color examples, this book helps you take advantage of all the D200's features. From the Quick Tour on how to use your D200 to the intricacies of setting white balance, working with the flash, converting NEF, and shooting superb images in more than twenty common situations, it's all here - and it goes anywhere you and your Nikon can."
Introduction
I was fairly baffled when I first picked up my D200 as it's quite an advanced camera, it has no 'scene' modes or anything resembling automatic settings. P mode is the closest you can get and the manual can only help so much.
I'd moved up from a D70s, and even with that camera I didn't truly understand all of the settings, and more importantly in what situations to apply them. Reading the manual only helps so much as it just tells you in fairly basic and technical terms what each feature does, it doesn't really help you understand WHY and WHEN you would need that feature and which option you should choose.
This is where a book like this comes in handy, it's a fairly compact size so you can carry it with you and it covers every control on my camera in detail including how, when and why I should use each setting.
For such a good camera, the D200 manual is frankly quite bad and well said to say this goes for most camera manuals, these books are available for all kinda of cameras and I recommend this series over the Magic Lantern series.
If you are a seasoned SLR photographer and are getting to the D200 from a chain of other SLR cameras and film SLRs then a lot of the book may be wasted on you, it's especially useful for people new to SLR photography.
Contents
The contents is pretty much as expected, it covers each and every button, menu option and setting in detail. It clearly explains what your camera can do, how you can deal with certain situations and what settings work best for which subjects and variations of situation (lighting etc).
Some things were a mystery to me after reading the manual such as the difference between the 4 AF modes (Dynamic Closest/Group Dynamic/Dynamic Area and Single Point). I just tend to use Single Point all the time, but this book helps to explain in what situations other modes are useful.
It also explains all the image parameters well and how they will effect the output of your camera and setting up your camera to get the best out of it. I know from experience SLRs do not come with the best default settings, they generally come with settings that will give you flat images as they err on the safe side of retaining detail.
After all the camera related stuff comes a few chapters on practical photography, which is great! Usually this stuff is in general terms, but the gem of this book is that it's all in direct relation to what your camera is capable of, so you can try it out immediately rather than having to work out how to apply those general terms to your camera.
It even covers stuff like lens selection and the effects of different lenses, it's certainly not comprehensive, but if you've just picked up a D200 it will certainly get you up to speed much faster.
Table of Contents
Introduction.
Quick Tour.
Part I: Using the Nikon D200.
Chapter 1: Exploring the Nikon D200.
Chapter 2: Nikon D200 Essentials.
Chapter 3: Setting Up Your D200.
Part II: Creating Great Photos with the Nikon D200.
Chapter 4: Photography Essentials.
Chapter 5: All About Lenses.
Chapter 6: Working with Light.
Chapter 7: Photo Subjects.
Chapter 8: Downloading and Editing Pictures.
Part III: Appendixes.
Appendix A: Troubleshooting.
Glossary.
Index.
Style and Detail
The style is pretty clean with good detail, although in certain areas it certainly could be a lot deeper. But then again this is supposed to be a field guide, so the compact size is important.
The details are good and I didn't notice any obvious mistakes, screenshots and shots of the camera controls are clear and easy to read.
It's laid out in a fairly logical manner, and has plenty of illustrations and example pictures all the way through, all in full colour. This does make it easier to visualise what the book is talking about.
The Photo Subjects section will definitely be useful for beginners and gave me a lot to think about when shooting in different situations.
The layout is nice and clean and clear and makes it easy to locate the info you are looking for with the ToC at the front and a comprehensive index at the back.
Conclusion
I was lacking confidence a bit with my D200 on how to get the results I wanted, the vast amount of controls sometimes overwhelmed me and made me wonder was I really using the best settings for the situation?
After studying this book it gives me the confidence to really master my tool and get the most out of it.
I can always refer back to it too if I need to shoot something a bit different and see what the book suggests. Of course you can always tailor the suggestions to your own needs and artistic expression, but to do that you really need to understand them in the first place! This is where the book comes in.
If you find the manual a bit lacking and are still wondering if you are getting the most out of your camera, then this is the book for you.
I give this book a mostly useful 7/10.
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keywords: photography, books, book review, photography books, d200, nikon, field guide
This review is copyright 2007 by the author, ShaolinTiger, and Shutter Asia (http://www.shutterasia.com/forum/), and may not be reproduced in any form in any media without the express permission of the author or Shutter Asia (http://www.shutterasia.com/forum/).
Author(s): David D. Busch
Publisher: Wiley (http://www.wiley.com/)
Book Specifications: Paperback 262 Pages
Category: Gear Familiarity & Some Basics
User Level: Beginner - Intermediate
Suggested Publisher Price: $19.99 USA / RM80.90 from Borders
ISBN: 0-470-03748-2
4079
Amazon.com: Nikon D200 Digital Field Guide at Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FNikon-D200-Digital-Field-Guide%2Fdp%2F0470037482&tag=quitsmokstopn-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325)
"You've been waiting for an affordable dSLR with the quality and versatility of the Nikon D200. Packed with great techniques and full-color examples, this book helps you take advantage of all the D200's features. From the Quick Tour on how to use your D200 to the intricacies of setting white balance, working with the flash, converting NEF, and shooting superb images in more than twenty common situations, it's all here - and it goes anywhere you and your Nikon can."
Introduction
I was fairly baffled when I first picked up my D200 as it's quite an advanced camera, it has no 'scene' modes or anything resembling automatic settings. P mode is the closest you can get and the manual can only help so much.
I'd moved up from a D70s, and even with that camera I didn't truly understand all of the settings, and more importantly in what situations to apply them. Reading the manual only helps so much as it just tells you in fairly basic and technical terms what each feature does, it doesn't really help you understand WHY and WHEN you would need that feature and which option you should choose.
This is where a book like this comes in handy, it's a fairly compact size so you can carry it with you and it covers every control on my camera in detail including how, when and why I should use each setting.
For such a good camera, the D200 manual is frankly quite bad and well said to say this goes for most camera manuals, these books are available for all kinda of cameras and I recommend this series over the Magic Lantern series.
If you are a seasoned SLR photographer and are getting to the D200 from a chain of other SLR cameras and film SLRs then a lot of the book may be wasted on you, it's especially useful for people new to SLR photography.
Contents
The contents is pretty much as expected, it covers each and every button, menu option and setting in detail. It clearly explains what your camera can do, how you can deal with certain situations and what settings work best for which subjects and variations of situation (lighting etc).
Some things were a mystery to me after reading the manual such as the difference between the 4 AF modes (Dynamic Closest/Group Dynamic/Dynamic Area and Single Point). I just tend to use Single Point all the time, but this book helps to explain in what situations other modes are useful.
It also explains all the image parameters well and how they will effect the output of your camera and setting up your camera to get the best out of it. I know from experience SLRs do not come with the best default settings, they generally come with settings that will give you flat images as they err on the safe side of retaining detail.
After all the camera related stuff comes a few chapters on practical photography, which is great! Usually this stuff is in general terms, but the gem of this book is that it's all in direct relation to what your camera is capable of, so you can try it out immediately rather than having to work out how to apply those general terms to your camera.
It even covers stuff like lens selection and the effects of different lenses, it's certainly not comprehensive, but if you've just picked up a D200 it will certainly get you up to speed much faster.
Table of Contents
Introduction.
Quick Tour.
Part I: Using the Nikon D200.
Chapter 1: Exploring the Nikon D200.
Chapter 2: Nikon D200 Essentials.
Chapter 3: Setting Up Your D200.
Part II: Creating Great Photos with the Nikon D200.
Chapter 4: Photography Essentials.
Chapter 5: All About Lenses.
Chapter 6: Working with Light.
Chapter 7: Photo Subjects.
Chapter 8: Downloading and Editing Pictures.
Part III: Appendixes.
Appendix A: Troubleshooting.
Glossary.
Index.
Style and Detail
The style is pretty clean with good detail, although in certain areas it certainly could be a lot deeper. But then again this is supposed to be a field guide, so the compact size is important.
The details are good and I didn't notice any obvious mistakes, screenshots and shots of the camera controls are clear and easy to read.
It's laid out in a fairly logical manner, and has plenty of illustrations and example pictures all the way through, all in full colour. This does make it easier to visualise what the book is talking about.
The Photo Subjects section will definitely be useful for beginners and gave me a lot to think about when shooting in different situations.
The layout is nice and clean and clear and makes it easy to locate the info you are looking for with the ToC at the front and a comprehensive index at the back.
Conclusion
I was lacking confidence a bit with my D200 on how to get the results I wanted, the vast amount of controls sometimes overwhelmed me and made me wonder was I really using the best settings for the situation?
After studying this book it gives me the confidence to really master my tool and get the most out of it.
I can always refer back to it too if I need to shoot something a bit different and see what the book suggests. Of course you can always tailor the suggestions to your own needs and artistic expression, but to do that you really need to understand them in the first place! This is where the book comes in.
If you find the manual a bit lacking and are still wondering if you are getting the most out of your camera, then this is the book for you.
I give this book a mostly useful 7/10.
http://www.shutterasia.com/forum/../review_ranks/7.gif
keywords: photography, books, book review, photography books, d200, nikon, field guide
This review is copyright 2007 by the author, ShaolinTiger, and Shutter Asia (http://www.shutterasia.com/forum/), and may not be reproduced in any form in any media without the express permission of the author or Shutter Asia (http://www.shutterasia.com/forum/).