Customer Reviews

Magic Lantern Guides: Nikon D700

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I really dislike these Magic Lantern guide, but I keep buying them since they are much easier to understand than the awful manuals that Nikon produces. This guide for the D700 is the same. I leave it on my camera table to look up settings from time to time, but found that beyond the manual itself, the "opinions and experienes" of the writer are actually relatively flawed.

One instance is the authors discussion of the battery -- the writer says they got about 300 shots from the battery -- the exact same wording the writer used in his D300 Magic Lantern guide...in fact, a lot of this book is just template copy and paste from the D300 book. BUT....that is wrong. I am getting 1600-2000 shots from a single battery charge on my D700, and easily got almost 2400 per battery charge on my D300...

It's okay for what it is worth, but there are better guides out there at this point.

I bought this book expecting to find details of use of the different settings of the camera. Instead it repeats and slightly amplifies what the Nikon guide says. As an example, I was looking to understand how bracketing works on the D700 (I have a D200 and is very easy to use). The D700 instead of a bracketing dial, has a selection through the menu. I look in the index of this guide and all the pages referenced did not have what I was looking for. Finally I went to the front index and saw a reference to bracketing. When it references bracketing with flash/aperture/speed, I did not find an answer as to how it works if you don't use a flash. The explanations are very confusing and do not add to my basic knowledge or bracketing (which is varying the light that comes to the camera in different exposures so one might manipulate photos or convert them to HDD. It repeats "choice of this options will be a matter of personal preference based on the prevailing shooting conditions". I would have liked just one example so I can understand where he is going with this. In any case, this is my impression.

I recently purchased a Nikon D300 and a D700 and needed reference books. I purchased the RockyNook book Mastering the Nikon D300 and thought it was a better reference. This one for the D700 is OK but I was a little disappointed that all the pictures are B&W and the descriptions reference color pictures, so is a bit confusing at times. The quick reference card is a nice feature. I think I will buy the Mastering the Nikon D700 by Darrell Young when it is released later this Spring.

This is an excellent introduction to the Nikon D700. If you already know the D300 well, there is not as much necessary information. Still, it was helpful for me.

doen't contain specifics for motion shots, dark setting shots, flash, and focus options. It is no better than the owner's manual.

It feels strange to read an article about White Balance with references to pictures while the pictures in the book are all in Black&White! What are we supposed to see in those B&W pictures?

I think the book is OK: you can get some useful tips and get more understanding of the camera's logic and the logic of the author's preferences.

Generally, I would recommend the book, but I would also recommend to the author to change the publisher, otherwise the book's articles look very silly when they are accompanied by B&W pictures. I give 3 stars to the book because of the poor publishing judgment.

The Nikon D700 is a complex camera with more features than I have ever experienced in a camera. I want to maximize the use of every feature and this guide is a good adjunct to the owners manual. A must have for a new D700 user... :-) Will help you to get the most out of your Nikon D700!

Good Shooting!!

KMW

This was the first book I purchased to help me understand more about my D700. The book is physically difficult to read and it is very hard to find what you need using the wholly inadequate index. The binding is so tight that you cannot lay the book flat and you need to use strength to keep it open. I find it annoying. The book is written in long paragraphs and it takes time to ferret out the information you are looking for... if you can find it at all. Wiley Publishing's Nikon D700 Digital Field Guide is a much better book.

The book is in like-new condition and contains the information I need to correctly operate the camera.