A Short Course in Nikon Coolpix 5700 Photography (Book & CD-ROM) [Spiral-bound]

Dennis Curtin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2002

This book/eBook package is you guide to getting more interesting and creative photos with your digital camera. If you want to learn more about the concepts of photography, this is for you. This book discusses every available procedure and photographic technique in a clear, well-illustrated style. It will help you quickly master your camera so you can start getting the kinds of photos you hope for. The book is printed in black & white and has a well-liked spiral binding that lets the book lie flat or be folded back. The accompanying eBook on a CD disc is a full-color version of the same book in Adobe's popular PDF format. It can be read on a PC or Mac using the included Acrobat reader or any current Web browser. The CD also includes trial versions of a number of the author's favorite programs. If we have published one of our Short Course books for your specific camera model, you do not need this generic guide that covers the same ground.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

For the past three decades Dennis Curtin has been an editor, author, and publisher in photography and computing. His latest books on digital cameras and digital photography have been widely praised for their quality and simplicity. On the publishing side, Dennis was editor-in-chief of one of Little Brown's educational divisions and also held similar positions in Prentice-Hall's technology and engineering program and Prentice-Hall International. In those roles, he has worked extensively with Ansel Adams and other leading photographers of our generation. In his roles as publisher, editor, and author Dennis has been fortunate to publish or write many best-selling books in photography and computing.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 130 pages
• Publisher: ShortCourses.com (June 2002)
• ISBN-10: 1928873332
• ISBN-13: 978-1928873334
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,898,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for beginners. Better than CP5700 manual., November 9, 2002

By 

Harun Wahab (Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Short Course in Nikon Coolpix 5700 Photography (Book & CD-ROM) (Spiral-bound)

This is an excellent book that is suited for beginners. It explains the workings of the CP5700 more clearly than the manual, which can at times, be a little confusing. Related how-tos and tips are neatly grouped together for easy reference.

The book is not a regurgitation of the CP5700 manual. It covers broad subjects like lighting, exposure metering, focusing, and flash techniques, and introduces each topic fittingly. Dennis discusses the merits of using certain functions of the CP5700 and suggests ways to best make use of them. For example, he talks about how to read the histogram and provides sample photos with tips on applying exposure compensation based on the histogram readings. Another example includes controlling depth-of-field combining the various functions of the CP5700, using focus lock, aperture priority, zoom length and understanding the hyperfocal distance.

This book is strewn with tips like those; coupled with loads of good photos that explain scene situations, it becomes an indispensable handbook.

Since I bought the book and cd-rom version, I'd say the cd-rom is well worth it because: -

- It contains the coloured version of the paperback :D
- There are two .pdf files, one for print quality, and the other for screen viewing
- There are several software included: -
> Picture windows (an image editing tool)
> Poster (creates huge prints)
> Screensaver toolkit (creates shareable screensavers)
> ThumbsPlus (graphic viewer)
- You can do keyword searches on the pdf files.

However, it's overpriced I think. The book is b&w and paper quality is below average. The CD is better if you don't mind reading off your computer.

All in all, I'm very happy with this book. Recommended.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Too expensive but worth it in the long run, December 27, 2003

By 

Jacob Hantla "hantla.com" (Chandler, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Short Course in Nikon Coolpix 5700 Photography (Book & CD-ROM) (Spiral-bound)

I reviewed this book shortly after I purchased it. I have quoted the text of the previous review:
____________
Recently, my wife and I made the investment of a Nikon 5700. We are happy with the investment. We also invested in this book, and we are definately less happy in this one. I'm going to run down a list of pros and cons and you make the decision. In the end, I'm glad I bought it. It taught me some tricks I may never have figured out otherwise, but still I can't believe how much they charge for how little you get.

PROS:
1. Better than the manual
2. Gives examples of the techniques discussed.
3. It's the only one that exists.

CONS
1. WAY too expensive. This book should cost about five bucks. It looks like a guy printed it on his computer and took it to the copy shop.
2. Some of the examples are too simplistic and assume too many steps. If a little bit more detail were given, it would have saved me hours of stress and frustration only to realize that he didn't mention a certain setting that had to be changed.

It's your call. If you have the camera and want to learn some more tricks and have a lot of extra money, buy it. But, if you already have a pretty good feel for the camera and don't have much money left after the investment, I'd suggest waiting for a better book or just learning by goofing around with your camera.
__________

Since that time, I have used my Coolpix 5700 to take the photojournalistic shots at weddings as my wife takes portraits using her Canon EOS 10D. The techniques that I learned because of this book have proven invaluable. There are many improvements that can be made--indeed, that need to be made--to the book. The writing is poor, the examples are simplistic and not clearly explained, yet I don't know of anything better. The time that you will save and the features that you will discover by using this book will make the purchase worth it.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Overpriced for what you get., October 26, 2002

By 

Herman K. Doswald (Blacksburg, Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Short Course in Nikon Coolpix 5700 Photography (Book & CD-ROM) (Spiral-bound)

Not a bad book, but not a great one either. Does simplify the rather dense instructions for using the camera given in the user's manual that comes with the Nikon 5700 and offers in six of the eight chapters a primer on photography touching upon such topics as exposure, light & color, lenses, and close-up photography. Spiral binding makes the book easy to handle. CD included was of no interest to me, although it does reproduce the book as an e-book in a colored version. Would have preferred to have the book I bought in color and skip the CD.