Customer Reviews

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D For Dummies

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There are Dummies books, and then there are Dummies books. "Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D for Dummies" is pretty close to perfect. Written specifically for the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D, it's not just a generic manual with a chapter or some added info on a specific camera, but absolutely specific to this particular camera from cover to cover.

And when was the last time you saw a Dummies book with every photo in color? Every single photo in the book is full color - even The 5th Wave by Rich Tennant comics preceding chapters are in brilliant color.

This book covers every imaginable feature of the camera, and all the possible settings, with photo examples of their effects. It discusses connecting the camera to a computer to use the software that comes with the camera, and all the ins and outs of taking photos in RAW format, JPEG format, or both.

The Rebel XSi is a reasonably priced digital SLR with everything but the kitchen sink included. This book completes the set. I may never get to the other two books I bought on the subject. We'll see.

I got this book immediately after ordering my XSi. I was always a point and shoot (P&S) camera person before getting my first digital SRL camera. My wife had been wanting a DSRL for a while and I finally got one about 9 months ago. I became hooked on photography thanks in large part to this book, the XSi's capabilities, and having good subjects to photograph.

This book has everything you need to get up to speed and taking great pictures with your XSi. Let me make a couple of additional comments related to that statement.
1) A lot of the material in this book applies to other Canon cameras (and photography in general) but it is specific to the XSi features and layout. I've used what I learned from this book with my P&S Canon A590IS too. Never before this book had I used any settings other than the fully automatic ones on the P&S cameras.
2) Way better than the manual, which just matter-of-factly lists features. This book EXPLAINS the features and how they relate to one another (very important).
3) If you really get into photography and easily learn by reading a book, this is not the only book you will ever want/need. There are other books that get into the artistic aspects of photography you will likely want once you have mastered your camera, or at least become comfortable in the manual or semi-automatic modes.

What it doesn't cover:
1) Which specific lenses to get with your XSi. Very hard to answer so it's fair to be out of scope of a dummies book. So many reviews are conflicting on the topic anyway.
2) As mentioned, if you really want to get into artistic composition or advanced accessories, those are the topics of other books/websites.
This is definitely the book to jumpstart your DSRL picture taking with the XSi. Well worth the price. If you are going to spend the money on a DSLR, make sure you get your money's worth. It pains me a little to see DSLR owners who use them exactly like they are P&S cameras with only the fully automatic modes of operation. The whole point of DSRL is to unleash the creative aspects offered by the different lenses and modes.

My summary recommendation: I keep this book in my backpack with all my camera gear. I haven't pulled it out in a while but it's good enough to carry around for reference if I want more information on a feature. There will always be another feature/setting you haven't fully explored and should experiment with more. If you get in a routine with your settings, try to add a new one to your bag of tricks. Taking great pictures with a DSRL is not always easy but it is very rewarding when you get those special shots you know you would not get with a P&S. Without this book, it would have taken me a lot longer to get proficient, and I would have missed out on some really memorable pictures along the way.

Canon Digital Rebel XSi 12.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens (Black)This is a great book for the novice as well as the established photographer. The Rebel XSi camera is the first big step from the point and shoot camera. Easy step by step understandable reviews of the camera is given with excellent photo descriptions of what is happening. The flow of the books builds your knowledge in a usefull way that gets you started quickly while enjoying you camera purchase. The review of the accompaning editing software gives the novice more knowledge of what the camera can do as well as enhanse the photographic experience. Read the entire book. Will continue to use as a reference.

Tom

I agree with the reviews written here. My last Canon was a 35mm & I've been using a point & shoot for the last 15 years. I finally decided to drop the cash to get back into SLR photography and knew that I would need a serious refresher, as well as a primer on the camera itself.


In general, I am not a fan of the "Dummies" books, - this book is proving to be the exception!

The book is well organized, easy to understand (but not overly simplistic) & has illustrations & pictures. I highly recommend it as a companion to the Canon XSI.

I got this book a week ago, and so far I only read 1/3 of it. Guess what? I should have bought this on the day I got my XSI! It is like a XSI Bible, with all features discussed in a broken language that anyone can understand. many buy the camera and use only the basic modes that enable them to get better pictures than the average point and shoot, and if that is the only thing you are looking for, get your-sefl this book, and you will go much further. Now, if you want to really enjoy all the things that you paid for, READ it fully, and this book will maximize the investment you did! I read the Canon manual for the XSI twice, and did not get much more than I already know about photography. With this book, I am really ahead of my game.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who recently purchased the Canon Rebel XSi, especially if this is your first DSLR camera. I finally purchased the XSi after getting frustrated with my 8.0 megapixel point-and-shoot camera that took poor quality pictures. After a few weeks of research, I settled on the XSi as my first DSLR camera.

With this being my first DSLR camera, I knew very little about the advanced functions and I vowed to get away from the automatic modes as much as possible. Even though this camera takes excellent pictures in the automatic modes, I could not justify such a big ticket purchase if I wasn't going to take the extra time needed to learn how to use the camera like a pro (or at least as close to a pro as I could get doing this part-time).

I've made it more than half way through this book and I'm extremely satisfied with how it has helped me take much better pictures without relying on the automatic modes most of the time. The book takes a very logical approach to teaching a novice the basic terminology associated with this camera (and photography, in general) and clearly demonstrates how some of the key functions work.

One of the best features of this book is the comparison photos provided by the author. When the author is discussing, for the example, how to adjust aperture settings and how these adjustments affect the image, she provides multiple photographs taken using different settings to demonstrate how each adjustment affects the picture. This was extremely helpful for someone like me, who is just starting out, because I could then practice taking different photographs and comparing those to the ones in the book to confirm that I was understanding the instructions properly.

Another great feature of the book was the description of how aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings all work together. After a little practice, I have been able to capture pictures with my new camera that would typically not come out properly using the automatic settings or that I couldn't capture at all with my previous camera. For example, I wanted to take pictures of my daughter playing in the living room. In the auto modes, the camera forced me to a use a flash, which made the picture too bright and washed out in some areas. Based on the instructions from the book on aperture and ISO, I was able to take the picture without a flash and at a high-enough shutter speed that the photograph came out great, even with the indoor lighting. The image was much more natural compared to what you would see with the naked eye.

Pros:
-Good, clear descriptions in layman's terms
-Great examples of the camera functions (with pictures) and how adjustments affect the images
-Well organized; increases complexity as you progress through the book
-Good combined discussion of how the functions work together (i.e. how aperture and ISO can compensate for a higher shutter speed in low lighting, etc.)

Cons:
-It's still just a book; you can't ask it questions if something is not working as described
-All discussions focus on the kit lens (EF-S 18-55mm), so if you have additional lenses (i.e. macro, wide-angle, prime, etc.) this book may fall short of what you need to learn to shoot with those lenses
-Some discussions jump around and the author may mention functions that you will not learn to use fully until a later chapter.
-Some example photographs show minimal differences, so the point of the example is somewhat lost. This is likely because the quality of the images in the book was clearly degraded during printing. [I determined this when I viewed my own full-size images on my PC.]
-This is just the beginning; this book is only good enough to help you learn basic functionality and some photography terminology. Additional books or classes will be necessary for more advanced skills. [not a problem for me at this point]

There are a number of good books on getting to know the basics of DSLR photography, but this one is specific to the Canon XSi. It's well laid out and easy to understand. Ben Long's is also very good, but I give the nod to this one.

This book is excellent for those new to DSLR photography, yet also covers the advanced features of the XSi. A great reference to keep.

I LOVE this "Dummies" book! It is very comprehensive and easy to understand. It not only provides instruction, but it also tells you why and how every feature of the Canon XSi/450D works. I know that this approach helps me learn. I am getting so much more out of my new camera than I would have without this book. I'm also taking beautiful and more interesting photos and I'm only halfway through it at this point. If you own the Canon XSi/450D, do yourself a favor, and buy this book! I promise you won't be sorry! (And you can't beat Amazon's price. What a bargain!)

I must admit, I have always been a little shy of dummies books, but this one in full colour is quite brilliant. The author does a very good job of explaining things from scratch. Well done, definitely one of the better books on photography for the beginner to DSLR camera's.

The last camera I bought was a Kodak 126. The kind with the drop in film. This book is a must for a newbie like me. I have so much catching up to do with rest of the photography world, that a book like this is a must. Written in plan English, so a layman like me can understand, and grasp new concepts and ideas. What is the use of having a camera like this one if you don't understand it.