Customer Reviews

A Short Course in Canon EOS 20D Photography (Book & CD-ROM)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This book covers much of the information provided in the manual that comes with the camera. However, like most manuals for cameras of the calibre of the 20D, the supplied manual does cast some expectation on the user to have a reasonable knowledge on photography. This book places many aspects of the 20D into context, and how to use the camera effectively and creatively, not just to use the camera (point and shoot). It provides several useful examples on what effects changing settings has. The big advantages are the spiral binding, large print and 2 copies of the book are on the CD (one high resolution version for printing, and a lower resolution for on screen viewing). These do prove handy to print the page your after for taking notes. Highly recommend this book for a beginner/amateur, as it does cover the basics of digital photography, but would be of little value to a professional photographer.

Yes, as stated in other reviews, this book is overpriced given the print quality (which appears to have been "published" at the local Kinko's), and the CD included is essentially worthless, but is there to justify the high price point. All photos are in black and white and printed on cheap, recycled, rough textured paper...no-no's for photography/art books, for sure...

that said, this booklet is for the budding/novice photographer who has perhaps just stepped into the world of SLR photography. It serves that purpose well, giving specific guidelines for situations and effects using the 20D specifically. It IS well-written, although I did miss the quality in the photographs...the book suffers because of this. A book at this price point SHOULD have better print quality, no question.

Overall, I felt satisfied by its' contents, though. I do NOT think that the Canon manuals give the same information, so I really do not agree with the other reviewers who stated that this book is redundant. I would HIGHLY recommend to the authors to drop the price to about $10, leave off the CD, OR print the book in color on higher quality paper if you want to keep the same price. Sure, your margin goes down, but to compete you're gonna have to do this eventually...

I was dissapointed with quality of the book. I expected the quality to be a little better than just a black and white photo copied spiral bound book. The example pictures in the book would have been better had they been in color. The price of this book is way over priced.

Very poor production (Black & White) for such an expensive photography book. Looks like they went to Kinkos and had them spiral bound it and sent it out. I sent mine back. Would not recommend.

While the information is good - it further enlarges on the really excellent Canon EOS20D manual, it should not show a CD. The only reaon there is a CD is that this was self-pubished with black and white copes of a color acrobat file and this is what you are getting on CD - another copy of the book that you get in Black and white - only in color on the CD. There is a print copy and a screen copy. This book would be fine if its cost were about $10 or $12, but a complete rip-off for almost $30.

Let me start with the things I hate:

The book is shipped as a photo copied version. VERY CHEAP!

That about sums up the bad :)

If you are new to photography and have recently purchased a Canon EOS 20D, then this is the book for you. Before you buy any other books, buy this one and read it cover to cover. You will not need the owners manual any more. Think of this book as just as the title implies a short course in photography that uses the Canon EOS 20D for all the examples.

If you are an amateur and have recently purchased a Canon EOS 20D this book really puts all the things you now to use, it is also guaranteed to teach you a few things you don't know. If you are very comfortable with the camera and understand all of the "Creative Mode" settings then there is no need to get this book.

If you are a professional photographer then stop reading now. There is no need for you to buy this book... in fact... why are you still reading this? Aren't you better then that?

I rated this book at 5 stars because I believe it is the best book around for Beginners and Amateurs who have recently purchased a Canon EOS 20D. Aside from the fact that it is Photo Copied it is still a great book. The included CD contains a PDF version in full color.

If you already have the 20D user guide from Canon, and if you have any experience with photography or if you have read any other basic photography book, then this book is a total waste of your time and money.

This book fills in 2 areas that will really help intermeadiate or advanced photorgraphers:

1) I know a lot about photography and SLRs, but the EOS 20D is my first high end digital SLR. I need to learn how to use the myriad features and functions of the EOS 20D to take good pictures.

This was very true of me, and I especially learned a lot about:
* When to affect the picture in the camear vs post with software
* Good objective criteria on deciding the file format to shoot in without a lot of experimentation on my part. This information was not in the camera manuals
* How the RAW file in the different EOS models differ
* Good "real world" explanations and scenarios of A-DEP mode
* Great explanations of the histograms, how to interpret, what to do with EOS20D with the results
... There is more detail that is not in the manuals

2) Great refresher in advanced photography in general. I believe you can learn at least a little from each author you read on a topic, and in this case I was reminded of a lot, and learned a lot as well.

After looking at the PDF on the CD I agree with others that it was printed low quality and that was distracting and disappointing for the money spent.

Overall, I am glad I got this book, and will keep it as a reference. The money spent is a rounding error compared to the price of the camera.... and the knowledge to use the equipment is as important as owning it.

I bought this, looking for specific "how-to" examples of how to get the very best out of the Canon 20D. I was disappointed.

The information in this booklet - sorry, spiral binding doesn't count as a real book - is too generic (a page on cleaning lenses? Puleez!) and clearly is oriented towards the beginning photographer (a page on where color comes from, and another on the direction of light, and yet another on quality of light). I'd have to estimate that about half the booklet applies as readily to a $10 disposable camera as it does the 20D.

As another reviewer stated, the information to be gleaned here isn't bad - it's just that for $34 in such a competitive market, one expects a book jam packed with insights specific to the 20D and reproduced better than what a previous reviewer accurately describes as a Kinko's B&W photcopy-grade spiral-bound special. Instead of being impressed with the depth of technical knowledge being imparted, each turn of a page is a reminder of the poor reproduction quality, further flawed by the lack of an index.

Effectively, what you are buying is the CD which you can use to print the 130 pages in color. Maybe it is just me, but $34 so you can print your own book seems a bit steep.

Yes, there is definitely useful information here. But there are LOTS of photography books out there, and several specific to the 20D - you can and should be able to get a better one than this.

There are other sources (such as the Magic Lantern guide to the 20D) that in my opinion are more helpful. Especially at this price!

The book is spiral bound in black-and-white; not well edited ("let's" is used too often to mean "allows"). The CD is nothing but a PDF version of the book, attached with double-sided cello tape to the inside back cover. At least the CD is in color and may appeal to those who enjoy reading books from their computer monitors. Neither the book (due to its size) nor the CD are practical to take with you to the field with the camera