24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Very disappointing book - do not buy!, August 18, 2008
This review is from: Magic Lantern Guides: SONY DSLR A300/A350 (Paperback)
I have purchased recently a Sony A300 dSLR and wanted to learn some tips & tricks, in addition to the materials in the excellent users guide.
As the book hinted that it may fit the bill, I have purchased it.
The book looks very nice from the outside - but the inside is very disappointing.
1. The structure is not very logical, and key parts are missing (for example it discusses the menu and fn button functions, but never gives an overview of what happens when you press the button first).
2. There are no tips / tricks in the book which I would consider useful - it looks simply as cut / reshuffle / paste of (some) parts of the users guide. (There ARE various hints and recommendations in the book - and they may be useful for some, but they did not help me.)
The original users guide (came with the camera) has lots of recommendations about how to use the camera and also how to take good pictures, in an easy to understand manner. This book is not good for either - and it actually may confuse the reader more than help. (It did confuse me for sure!)
Of course, if you like puzzle games: you may like this book as you will have to flip back and forth to find something (but in some cases you will never find it). If you want a solid document, helping you to make most of your camera: this book is not it.
Note: I had previous experience with SLR and digital cameras. I have also read a number of other similar books. As a result my perspective and the perspective of others on this books may differ. If you have no experience whatsoever about SLR cameras, or digital cameras in general, you may find this book interesting.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Magic Lantern Guide: Sony DSLR A350, November 23, 2008
This review is from: Magic Lantern Guides: SONY DSLR A300/A350 (Paperback)
A reasonable supplement to the camera manual but a I felt that a substantial amount of the text is boiler plate applicable to any DSLR. A better, albeit somewhat more expensive, guide is Friedman's "The Complete Guide to Sony's Alpha 300 & 350 Digital SLR Cameras." In addition to the basics, this latter guide gives the reader some tips and procedures which are not covered in either the manual or the Magic Lantern guide.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sony should use this book as the owners manual, March 1, 2009
This review is from: Magic Lantern Guides: SONY DSLR A300/A350 (Paperback)
I recently purchased a Sony A300 at Circuit City's close out sale for an unbelievable price. I found the Sony A300 owners manual a dissapointment and purchased the Sony A300/A350 Magic Lantern Guide at a Barnes and Noble store because I didn't want to wait a week for the book to show up.
The Magic Lanter Guide is like the perfect owners manual for the camera. Sony should include this book in the camera box. The paper back is logically written and easy to understand.
If your looking for a good book on the functions of the camera, this book is a great choice. If your looking for a book that tells you how to use the manual functions to take a great picture... don't buy this book.
Right now I'm just trying to learn how to use the camera and what all the buttons and menu's do. I find the Magic Lantern Guide very useful. Once I understand the camera's functions I'll shop for a book that tells me how to take great pictures in manual mode.
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