Learn the Canon EOS Digital Rebel Camera for 5 Bucks [Paperback]

Stephen Gregory (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321287827 | ISBN-13: 978-0321287823 | Publication Date: August 5, 2004 | Edition: 1

As the first sub-$1,000 single-lens-reflex digital camera to hit the market, the Canon EOS Digital Rebel opened up a whole new world of quality digital photography for serious amateur and professional shutterbugs just like yourself. Here to make sure you start to take advantage of it the first time you focus in on a subject is a pocket-sized, low-priced ($5!) guide from a master of the medium. In less than 50 pages, you'll find all of the smart, sensible instruction you need to start shooting quality images immediately with your brand-new digital camera. Each page of this tight, bright, four-color guide features a full-page visual, step-by-step instructions, and perhaps a warning or tip at the bottom of the page. Nothing extraneous, just the all-important basics: shooting techniques, Digital Rebel functions and menus, instructions for transferring photos and creating common effects, and more.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As the first sub-$1,000 single-lens-reflex digital camera to hit the market, the Canon EOS Digital Rebel opened up a whole new world of quality digital photography for serious amateur and professional shutterbugs just like yourself. Here to make sure you start to take advantage of it the first time you focus in on a subject is a pocket-sized, low-priced ($5!) guide from a master of the medium. In less than 50 pages, you'll find all of the smart, sensible instruction you need to start shooting quality images immediately with your brand-new digital camera. Each page of this tight, bright, four-color guide features a full-page visual, step-by-step instructions, and perhaps a warning or tip at the bottom of the page. Nothing extraneous, just the all-important basics: shooting techniques, Digital Rebel functions and menus, instructions for transferring photos and creating common effects, and more." --This text refers to the Digital edition.

About the Author

Stephen Gregory is active in the digital photography and digital imaging professions. He spends a lot of his time teaching other people about how to quickly get the most out of their digital imaging hardware and software.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1 edition (August 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321287827
• ISBN-13: 978-0321287823
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 6 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,114,045 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not even worth 5 bucks!, August 23, 2004

By 

D. Penrice (Trabuco Canyon, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Learn the Canon EOS Digital Rebel Camera for 5 Bucks (Paperback)

I thought this book would help understand how to change the settings (Shutter speed, F stops etc) quickly on the Canon Rebel, instead it shows you the very very basics of how to change picture types (Auto, P, Macro), format your CF card and very simple other things.

I would stick to the manual which shows you just as much and more then this book and save $5.

47 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Free Learning center for Digital Rebel, December 16, 2004

By 

Dr. Sunny (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Learn the Canon EOS Digital Rebel Camera for 5 Bucks (Paperback)

Here is a link from the Canon web site to the Canon digital learning center for the Digital Rebel (300E). It contains basic info about this camera. I found it helpful. Best of all, its free!

http://www.photoworkshop.com/canon/lessons/

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Save yourself the shipping charges..., June 1, 2005

By 

David Burns "Practical consumer" (Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Learn the Canon EOS Digital Rebel Camera for 5 Bucks (Paperback)

And just run a $5 bill through your shredder rather than wasting your money on this "simple to the point of being useless" book. If you really feel compelled to throw $5 at someone to essentially go through your owner's manual with a highlighter, this is the book for you. But if you expect to learn anything from this book that you couldn't easily find in the owner's manual or elsewhere, you'll be very disappointed.

I have some advice for you that I feel is far more valuable than any "insight" that this book provides. That would be that if you're such a novice as far as photography is concerned that you'd benefit from the extremely basic and simplistic insights provided by this book, you really should set your sights quite a bit lower camera-wise than the Digital EOS Rebel. For example, if you don't know the definition of depth of field (a very basic concept in photography for which this book provides a definition), this camera is probably way too complex for you in the first place. As they say, you need to learn to walk before you can run. Do yourself a favor and get a much simpler and less complex camera to learn on... there are many of them out there that have a much more appropriate feature set for the novice photographer that can still allow you to take great pictures and to grow as you learn. You can always trade up to a camera this complex if and when you've gained enough experience to benefit from its features.

At the same time, invest in a book that can provide truly valuable information and insight for the digital photography novice, such as "Digital Photography for Dummies". I can't imagine that there are too many people out there who aren't familiar with the "Dummies" series of books. But just in case you are, they're the perfect choice for the person who might say the following to himself or herself... "I'm really interested in learning about digital photography, and I don't know the first thing about it." The Dummies series are loaded with everything the beginner needs to know about the topic (such as, what is depth of field and how do I use it to take better pictures?). They always use a very light-hearted, "tongue-in-cheek" approach that keeps you entertained while you're learning the basics. Such a book does essentially everything that the book being reviewed fails to do.

The cover says "Only $5 - Really!" Well, a low price on something that provides as little value as does this book is no bargain. I think they rely on this "it's only $5" mindset to get you to purchase the book without any careful consideration. That's what I did, and had I not been rushing when I ordered this book, I would have taken the time to read the sage advice of Dr. Sunny and D. Penrice, who wrote reviews in the past to try to warn me and others that this book is a waste of money. Now I join them in trying to warn the rest of you.

If you're looking for a book to help the beginner, save the $5 that you might spend on this book and invest it on the slightly more expensive, but far more valuable "Digital Photography for Dummies". That will be a far wiser use of your money.