Nikon D200 Digital Field Guide (Paperback)

by David D. Busch (Author)
Key Phrases: main command dial, focus selector lock, shooting menu, Nikon Capture, Camera Settings Practice Picture, Exposure Practice Picture (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
You've been waiting for an affordable dSLR with the quality and versatility of the Nikon D200. Packed with great techniques and full-color examples, this book helps you take advantage of all the D200's features. From the Quick Tour on how to use your D200 to the intricacies of setting white balance, working with the flash, converting NEF, and shooting superb images in more than twenty common situations, it's all here - and it goes anywhere you and your Nikon can.
* Get a clear understanding of your camera's challenges and advantages
* Choose the right shooting, exposure, and focus modes for each type of shot
* Use extended ISO and noise reduction
* Explore how various lenses can enhance your work
* Work with different flash options and available light

Visit our Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks

From the Back Cover
You've been waiting for an affordable dSLR with the quality and versatility of the Nikon D200. Packed with great techniques and full-color examples, this book helps you take advantage of all the D200's features. From the Quick Tour on how to use your D200 to the intricacies of setting white balance, working with the flash, converting NEF, and shooting superb images in more than twenty common situations, it's all here — and it goes anywhere you and your Nikon can.

• Get a clear understanding of your camera's challenges and advantages
• Choose the right shooting, exposure, and focus modes for each type of shot
• Use extended ISO and noise reduction
• Explore how various lenses can enhance your work
• Work with different flash options and available light

Visit our Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (July 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470037482
• ISBN-13: 978-0470037485
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #66,190 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 4 in The Digital Field Guide Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

92 of 95 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Book That Should Have Shipped With The D200!, July 19, 2006

By	W. Nelson (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I normally don't write reviews, but this book is excellent! Being an avid film SLR enthusiast in my teens and early twenty's, I somehow ended up totally out of the SLR game for about 20 years. When my D200 came in, I was amazed at how bad the manual was and immediately went online to see if anyone had authored a book on the D200. The D200 Digital Field Guide was the first hit in Google and I preordered it immediately from Amazon.

Now I'm sure that for those who have been working with digital SLR cameras for a while, the manual was somewhat informative, but for me it was more of a pain. It explained how to set features, but not what they did or how they impacted the resulting photograph. For those who are just getting in (or back in) to photography and have the Nikon D200, this book is a must have. Look at it as a companion to, or better yet, an interpreter for the manual. Everything the manual left out is covered here in detail. And, for those few places the manual did cover things adequately, the author still touches on it for a bit of additional clarification. This book should have been shipped with the D200, as it provides clarity on how the camera handles things like metering, exposure, noise reduction and auto focus along with every other feature Nikon packed into the camera.

When book finally arrived from Amazon last week, I found that by the time I was a few pages in, the help I needed had arrived. By page 10, I was comparing the information presented in the book (which sat in the left hand) to the camera (which was in my right hand) as I was reading. Just a few chapters in and about an hour later, I was able to get much better results from the camera.

I really appreciate the author's comprehensive dedication to the subject. During the few months it took for the camera to arrive, I decided to evaluate current literature on the topic to prepare me for when the camera came in. I ended up buying Mastering Digital SLR Photography, also by David Busch. That was an easy, yet very informative read. When I purchased Adobe Photoshop CS2 recently, I headed back to the local bookstore and after sifting through the various books on the subject, settled on Photoshop CS 2.0: Photographers Guide, not realizing Busch had authored that book too. Busch presents the topics in each book in a great manner and I've been very pleased with all of them.

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In-Depth About the D200, July 19, 2006

By	Robbie IV (New York) - See all my reviews

What a great book! I was apprehensive about buying this book, sight unseen, because too many of the third-party "user" guides are just rehashes of the manual that comes with the camera, and padded with filler that doesn't really apply to the model under discussion.

Not so with this book, which is crammed full of D200-specific information that describes the features and use of this camera in a great deal more detail than you'll find in the user manual. Instead of a dry listing of controls and settings, you'll find this refreshing approach invaluable:

* An introduction that puts the Nikon D200 in perspective, dipping back into history to explain Nikon's involvement in digital SLRs beginning in the late 1980s. This helped me better understand where the camera came from, and how it fits into the current Nikon product line.

* A "Quick Start" chapter that provides a fast introduction to the main features and controls I needed to know to go out and begin using my D200 (which is the fastest way to learn, compared to sitting around reading the product manual.)

* Chapter 1 is a guided tour of the D200. Like the rest of the book, it's in full color. My main beef with the manual furnished with the camera is that it is in black-and-white and points you to various controls only through a few line drawings with dozens of directional arrows pointing to the control. This book has both overall color photos of the camera, and close-up pictures from various angles, with clear labels that show you each of the controls and text explanations of what they do and how you might want to use them.

* Chapter 2 explains how to set up the D200, including the mysterious Custom Settings menus, again with full color renditions of the menus themselves. You might need to refer back to the user manual from time to time for a less common setting, but, out in the field, everything you need to know is right here.

The next few chapters explain how to use other features, work with electronic flash, select lenses, and other information, all dealing with the D200. The final chapter of the book is a general photography/composition chapter with examples of pictures taken under different situations. But even here there are specific references to using the D200's best settings for these pictures.

Because the D200 is a more advanced camera, I expected -- and got -- a more in-depth explanation than I've found in guides written for entry-level digital SLRs. The author clearly understands the audience for this book. I'd say that if you were using the D200 professionally, you probably wouldn't need the information in the last chapter, but still would find the controls and settings chapters very helpful. And anyone who is unsatisfied with the confusing information in the original manual will find that this book has more clarity.

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfying introduction to a wonderful digital camera, July 29, 2006

By	Fender "Strat" - See all my reviews

The Nikon D200 is a wonderful digital SLR, but may be a little daunting to those who are upgrading from one of Nikon's entry-level cameras, or another brand. It has many options and settings, and is more similar to the "professional" D2X than to the cameras priced more closely to it.

That is why I was pleased to see this excellent introduction to the D200 available so soon after the camera itself came out. This book does not cover all the most technical mumbo jumbo pertaining to the D200, although it does go into considerable depth. That's a good thing. New owners don't want to start right out with obscure settings and capabilities that they don't really use. Considering this book's modest price, I think it strikes just the right balance.

The D200 Digital Field Guide is very thorough where it counts, in the introduction to the camera's layout and its features, and descriptions of how to use the settings. It also has deep coverage of the most important photography concepts as they relate to the D200, such as use of lenses and lighting effects. There are many books that have 250 pages of good information in them, but, unfortunately, they are often 600 page books! This one has 250 pages of exactly the right information, with no fluff and no extraneous material. If you own a D200, you need it.