Customer Reviews

The Nikon D90 Companion

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Are you using the Nikon D90? If you are, then this book is for you! Author Ben Long, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that offers a complete class on digital photography.

Long, begins by explaining the fundamental concepts of camera and photographic techniques tat build through the rest of the book. Next, the author shows you all of the different parts of the Nikon D90. Then, he looks at all of the Nikon D90's playback features and shows you how they can help you take better pictures to help improve your chances of getting the shots you need. He continues by taking a look at your transfer options and explores Nikon's bundled software. Next, the author focuses on basic photo theory. Then, he explores all of the manual overrides available in Program mode, as well as some of the other creative choices you make when shooting. The author continues by going deeper into metering and exposure, and explores some of the D90's image-processing options. Next, he focuses on the artistry side of things and explores how you visualize and compose an image. He continues by looking at special features and techniques you can use for shooting concerts, panoramas, low-light shots, and more. Next, the author looks at built-in and external flash use, as well as some additional ways that you can control light, whether or not you choose to use a flash. Shooting raw has its drawbacks; but, the author shows you how shooting raw will probably become a regular part of your photographic life. Finally, the author looks at a number of ways to customize and tweak your camera.

This most excellent book is intended to serve a full-on photography class--one that covers everything including technical matters and exposure theory, composition theory and how to find images and expand your visual sense. More importantly, unlike a regular photography class, the class presented in this book is built specifically around the D90.

I've had a D90 for 6 months, and hoped this book would help me with the nuances of use. I'm quite disappointed, almost returned it. It is very superficial, and he spends too much time about photographic techniques and ideas, which I can get elsewhere. I want to learn better and in depth HOW to use the D90 camera specifically, and this book falls very short in this regard.

i am not a person geared for writing. I am not a camera mechanic. So this will be short. You will learn to use your D-90. How you learn is up to you. This book,THE NIKON D-90 COMPANION by BEN LONG, will knock 2/3 off your learning curve. It assumes you are an adult, but not SLR-camera ready. Mr. Long takes you from meeting the camera, to knowing what an aperture is & why you would want to know. Through countless common and uncommon photo scenarios, he explains multi-camera solutions without compromising the "out of the box" fun we rookies have with the toys. With your "90" and this book --- you will create memories. Some will result in photos, some will result in works of art, all will become treasures. That is not bad for a "how to" book.

Can't praise this book enough.

I bought a Nikon D90 a few weeks back. I went through a different book (also popular) but found it taught me little on how to actually use the camera to get better results in different kinds of situations.


This book is excellent. It teaches the user in plain, easy to understand language, both the basic principles of digital photography, and how they apply to the D90 and how the user can take advantage of the various capabilities of the camera.

The author explains various concerns that matter to most users like myself and why they present a problem and how to go about it using the D90. For example, low lighting conditions, bright backgrounds, landscapes, freeze-action vs depth of field, correct focus point selection and so on.

The author talks about the effect of shutter speed along with great ideas like effects of blur to capture speed (blurring the subject), or even better (but trickier) to freeze the subject while blurring the background.

The author talks about effects of aperture - depth of field, and the trade off between freeze-action power vs depth of field.

Most concepts are exemplified with images that show effects of various choices etc.

Over all this is a great book that also talks about ideas and photography tips, along with using the D90 for different situations. The book by David Busch is more like geared towards understanding all the different menu options and what they do, but some how I like this book much more.


The language is fluid and the book is fun to read.

Highly recommended.

D90 was my first DSLR camera and after I tried to read the manual and failed miserably to understand much from it, I decided to buy and read this `companion' and I'm happy with my decision. The book is well written, teaching you techniques and explaining you concepts, step by step, not rushing into, and in the same time, showing you how to play with most important settings in your camera like speed, aperture, ISO, dynamic lighting, exposure value, flashing exposure etc. It is not an in-depth explanation of the manual but I did not want it to be. After reading this book, I was able to get back to the manual and finally understand all the settings and adjustments presented there. The book also opened up my appetite for photography; I love everything about photography and taking pictures now. Since it taught me everything step by step I had the opportunity to see how my pictures were getting better and most importantly, understand why...

If you own a Nikon D 90 this book is a must! And, if you are new to DSLR cameras it is a double must. Of all the camera, computer and tech device related books I have seen, this is without a doubt the most skillfully written.
The author doesn't take time to repeat instructions from the user's manual when they are clearly written. Instead he references pages in that manual, and concentrates on explaining how and when to use features of the camera. He only repeats manual instructions when it's necessary to explain something more precisely than the manual does, or when it's needed to illustrate a point. The obvious is not repeated.
This is much more than just a camera book. In addition to showing and explaining the camera's features, he includes chapters on photo related subjects and he uses the camera to demonstrate those subjects. He devotes chapters to digital image basics, fundamentals of taking pictures including using flash, composition, and shooting in special conditions. He also touches on using the raw format to gain more control and improve image quality.
When I buy a book of this type, I usually use it as a reference, reading only the parts that relate to what I'm seeking information about. This time, I read it from cover to cover. His clear way of explaining the subject, resulted in my gaining a lot of insight into effectively using my new camera.
If you are looking for instruction about the Nikon D 90, and good sound information about DSLR photography, this is the book for you.

This book was not as good as expected, the author's familiarity with Canon cameras does show through in this book and there are too many, though minor, technical errors. It's overall a good read and worth the price but much of the info can be found in your manual and on websites like [...]

I thought this book presented core photographic techniques in well-written, easily understood prose in the detailed context of the Nikon D90 digital SLR. I really like this book, and will refer to it often as I continue to learn!

There is a tendency, I think, especially in books such as this, to attempt to be too comprehensive. My feeling is that it is helpful to have the author beam in on what is really important, spend a good amount of time on the core ideas, without getting bogged down in the miscelanesous features that (while maybe interesting) are not as essential. Learning how to use the D90 to produce good exposure and focus is well covered in this book. All the remaining features not covered in detail in this book are easier to pick up, in my view at least, once you have this core working knowledge.

I liked the book very much. In fact, I have it downloaded on my iPhone, and refer to techniques and features documented within it when I am practicing my skills out in the field.

If you are looking for absolute comprehensive coverage, read the manual. If you want a tutorial on good photographic methods using the D-90, I think you will find this book fun and helpful. Bravo Mr. Long!

Bruce Geist

I checked this book out of my public library to preview it before buying it. I'd really like to get a good book to go with my D90, but this will absolutely positively not be that book. The information in this so-called Nikon D90 Companion is scattered and obvious. I'm going to assume most of it is copy/paste from his other books because this particular book seems light on specifics in terms of this particular camera: the D90. Here's just one example: on bottom right hand corner of the back of your D90, there's a switch with a dot and an 'L' above it. Hhmmm... what's that for? On page 36 of this book, it says this is the Focus Selector. OK. Let's go to the index at the end of this book and find where there's more info. Ah, Focus Selector. Page 36. That's a big freaking help! The index points me to the page that shows the dial exists, but there's zero info on what it does.

Why only one star? I got the book for free, from my public library, and I didn't find it to be worth the price of free. I'm returning it tomorrow.

Trust me, you're much better off reading the D90 manual.

I bought this book from Amazon and didn't no how bad it was till I bought "D90 for Dummies", Gezzzzzz what a differences in the learning curve.. I was so happy with D90 for Dummies, I sold D90 Companion here on Amazon with in one week of reading the other.. If you want a book that is a paper back Mentor, Buy D90 for Dummies not this...
Tom from Truman Photography, San Diego, Ca.