Nikon D80 Digital Field Guide (Paperback)

by David D. Busch (Author)
Key Phrases: shutter priority, aperture priority, front curtain sync, Lens Practice Picture, Exposure Practice Picture, Camera Settings Practice Picture (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Having trouble putting down your Nikon D80 long enough to read the manual? Slip this convenient, full-color guide into your camera bag instead. You'll find big, clear color photos to help you identify the camera's many controls, complete information on using each button and dial, and breathtaking examples of the results. Then discover step-by-step recipes for shooting terrific photos in more than 15 specific situations. This indispensable guide is like having a personal photographic assistant.

• Test-drive your Nikon D80 with a Quick Tour.
• Learn to efficiently operate all your camera's controls.
• Review photographic basics like exposure, lighting, and composition.
• Explore different types of lenses.
• Discover the appropriate lens, ISO setting, aperture or mode, shutter speed, and lighting for a variety of subjects and situations.
• Get expert tips on downloading and editing your photos.

Order today so you'll have this go-anywhere guide along wherever you go.

From the Back Cover
You'll want this camera guide along wherever you go

Having trouble putting down your Nikon D80 long enough to read the manual? Slip this convenient, full-color guide into your camera bag instead. You'll find big, clear color photos to help you identify the camera's many controls, complete information on using each button and dial, and breathtaking examples of the results. Then discover step-by-step recipes for shooting terrific photos in more than 15 specific situations. This indispensable, go-anywhere guide is like having a personal photographic assistant.

• Test-drive your Nikon D80 with a Quick Tour

• Learn to efficiently operate all your camera's controls

• Review photographic basics like exposure, lighting, and composition

• Explore different types of lenses

• Discover the appropriate lens, ISO setting, aperture or mode, shutter speed, and lighting for a variety of subjects and situations

• Get expert tips on downloading and editing your photos

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; illustrated edition edition (May 29, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470120517
• ISBN-13: 978-0470120514
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,854 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 3 in The Digital Field Guide Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Nikon D80 Guidebook Available, June 4, 2007

By	Ekaterina (Sonas) - See all my reviews

I recently purchased a Nikon D80 as a backup to my Nikon D200, and have been more than happy with it. It offers many of the features and all of the image quality at a lower price. I was also very happy with this author's Digital Field Guide for the D200, and decided to check this book out. I was not disappointed.

The occasional typo or misstep didn't bother me. I'm more interested in the kind of information a book can provide me, and this one delivers. It combines detailed information on using the D80, in much more depth than the tiny black and white manual that comes with the camera. The first third of the book leads you through a quick tour and roadmap with large, full color photos that make it easy to find, understand, and use each control as well as chapters on using each of the features and menu choices. It tells you how to select settings, and why, in a much clearer form.

The next part explains the fundamentals of exposure, using lenses, and working with all forms of light, using the capabilities of the D80 camera to their fullest extent. As with the D200 book, my favorite part was the large chapter that described several dozen typical photo taking opportunities and how to capture them using the D80 and its available lenses and accessories. Quite useful and specific!

I enjoy the Field Guide concept, and like having all the essential information I need to operate my D80 in one book, whether I am traveling light and using my D80 as my only camera, or whether I am using it together with other cameras (it's nice to have settings information at hand, because other models use different settings and have different controls.)

I didn't like the other D80 guides, particularly those that had only black-and-white photos, and those that were e-books or DVDs that I couldn't take with me in the field unless I also took along a laptop. This book goes everywhere!

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entirely about the Nikon D80, August 4, 2007

By	FredM (New York) - See all my reviews

This book manages to pack an enormous amount of information about the Nikon D80 into its compact, portable 250 pages. A full two-thirds of the book deals directly with the camera, its components, and features, and how to use the D80's features in much more detail than you'll find in the manual. Rather than just restating the information supplied with the thin, poorly-organized guide packed in the box with the camera, this book provides lucid descriptions of each control, including when and why you might want to use a particular setting.

Full color illustrations of each view of the camera makes finding the controls easy and fast, absent the mind-numbing cross references that clutter other books. Should information you need be located somewhere else in the guide, a helpful icon note helps you find it. After a "Quick Start" chapter that gets you rolling, a chapter on key features and one on setting up various options follows.

Particularly useful are the chapters on general photography, which are all very D80-specific. Busch doesn't just explain exposure essentials, using lenses, or working with light. He shows you how to get the best exposures using the tools built into the D80, how to select and work with Nikon lenses, and how to use both available light and Nikon flash. I wish there were more about Nikon flash here, but that topic deserves a book of its own, and there is a Digital Field Guide that covers the essentials: Nikon Creative Lighting System Digital Field Guide

Even the 70 pages on Photo Subjects is highly oriented towards the D80. There are nearly two dozen typical subjects, such as fireworks, lighthouses, events, each accompanied by suggestions for which Nikon lenses might be best-suited (with a few non-Nikon lenses sprinkled it), along with the settings used on the D80 to take the example photos. Obviously a great deal of effort was made in making these handy subject guides specific to this camera.

I've reviewed several of this author's Field Guides, and like the others, this one is highly readable, surprisingly comprehensive, full of information about the camera that you won't find in the manual, and technically accurate. (I was unable to find any of the "errors" mentioned earlier, either in the text or illustrations.) I've seen the alternative D80 guidebooks, including DVDs, e-books, and bound books (most plagued by black-and-white illustrations.) This one is by far the best.

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Nikon D80 Guides, July 18, 2007

By	K. Ako - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Nikon D80 was designed for people like me: Jumping from an advanced digital point & shoot to this excellent SLR- both using Secure Digital cards. I'm not a pro, but I have a moderate knowledge of digital cameras. The Nikon D80 Digital Field Guide fits the type of consumer that Nikon targeted for the D80.

This book is an attractive supplement to Nikon's D80 instruction booklet. Nikon's booklet is factual but the organization is fragmented. With Nikon's booklet, new D80 users will spend more time flipping pages than taking pictures. With the D80 Digital Field Guide, facts are presented in an organized, clear, concise, and easy to understand manner. A pro that have been using digital SLR's for years wouldn't need a book in this genre, but I did and have found this book extremely useful!

I did receive a very early edition of this book. It is true that there are missing hyphens & a wrong USB port photo. Books like this are rushed for publication because Nikon will eventually make a replacement for the D80 that will make this book obsolete. That's the nature of technology today. Looking past the first printing errors, I find that the good far outweighs the bad- therefore the 5 star rating. The few mistakes are very obvious and repetitive. They do not deter the user from learning the D80 and photography. I suspect that printing errors will be corrected in later editions.

This color guide is attractive and formatted like a Frommer's travel guide. The price (an amazing $13.59 at Amazon) also makes it a bargain in comparison to other books in this category. I highly recommend this book.

I want to give this book 5 stars, but the Amazon's edit selection will not allow me to change it from a 4 to a 5! This book deserves 5 stars.