Nikon D50 Digital Field Guide (Paperback)

by David D. Busch (Author) "If you've taken your first picture or two (or 200!) with your Nikon D50, you're probably eager to learn more about your camera's features and..." (more)
Key Phrases: custom settings menu, kit lens, rotate the command dial, Exposure Practice Picture, Lens Practice Picture, Lighting Practice Picture (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Whether you're a dedicated photographer on a budget or a serious hobbyist, the Nikon D50 will open new doors for you. You already know it's packed with features and reasonably priced; now learn to use all its tricks. This indispensable guide takes you step by step through everything the D50 can do. Better yet, it teaches you professional techniques for using lenses and lighting and taking top-quality shots. This is the book that belongs with you on every shoot.
* Use the Quick Tour to get familiar with your camera and start shooting
* Learn when to use each of the D50's seven DVP modes
* Explore metering techniques, ISO settings, and white balance
* Experiment with exposure, lenses, and lighting effects
* Delve into formulas for setting up and composing more than 25 different types of photographs
* Take the confusion out of downloading and editing your photos

From the Back Cover
Whether you're a dedicated photographer on a budget or a serious hobbyist, the Nikon D50 will open new doors for you. You already know it's packed with features and reasonably priced; now learn to use all its tricks. This indispensable guide takes you step by step through everything the D50 can do. Better yet, it teaches you professional techniques for using lenses and lighting and taking top-quality shots. This is the book that belongs with you on every shoot.

• Use the Quick Tour to get familiar with your camera and start shooting
• Learn when to use each of the D50's seven DVP modes
• Explore metering techniques, ISO settings, and white balance
• Experiment with exposure, lenses, and lighting effects
• Delve into formulas for setting up and composing more than 25 different types of photographs
• Take the confusion out of downloading and editing your photos

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (November 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471787469
• ISBN-13: 978-0471787464
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #45,471 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 14 in The Digital Field Guide Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A color manual and more, July 10, 2006

By	Toza - See all my reviews

I recommend this book to those who felt the manual that came with the camera was not enough. It covers everything that is in the manual with more detail and every page is in color as well. Along with the information on how to use the camera, it also gives you simple and basic information on how to take pictures explaining exposure, metering and more. Nice book to have around for beginners.

101 of 111 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Read the Manual, December 22, 2005

By	Conrad J. Obregon (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The D50 is the Nikon Camera Company's entry level digital single lens reflex camera (DSLR) and will appeal to folks wanting to upgrade from a point-and-shoot camera. Unfortunately, the number of controls on the camera can be daunting and the 100 plus-page, black and white instruction book can be equally daunting. It is to appeal to people intimidated by the manual that the "Nikon D50 Digital Field Guide" with its plentiful color graphics and generous use of white space is designed.

The book is divided into two parts. In the first part Busch describes the camera and various functions. The second part gives some instruction in photography basics, including a discussion of exposure, lenses and the downloading and editing of pictures. There is a chapter entitled "Photo Subjects" that is almost half of the pages in the book and that presents a variety of subjects from "Abstract Photography" to "Zoo and Animal Photography". Each of these sections gives a few general tips on photographing the particular subject matter and then presents one of the author's pictures with a discussion of the author's considerations with regard to setup, lighting, lens, camera settings, exposure and accessories. While the discussion doesn't go into great depth, it might be useful to a beginner encountering a new subject.

With regard to exposure, I was particularly pleased to see the explanation of histograms, since I consider this the most distinct advantage of photographing with a DSLR.

However most of the discussions of the camera were less than adequate. When the author discusses the program, shutter priority, aperture priority and manual modes he never tells the reader when each of these might be appropriate. The D50 offers the user a number of options in setup that are never even mentioned. The author also makes several references to the RAW format but never really suggests why or when it might be a useful format.

His discussion of technique is cursory and disjointed. For example, his discussion of how aperture adjustments affect depth of field comes several pages before any explanation of depth of field. He tells you how to set white balance many pages before explaining the function of white balance.

What particularly surprised me is that Busch has written a much better book on DSLR's called "Digital SLR Cameras and Photography for Dummies." .

You can read the "Nikon D50 Digital Field Guide" if you want a nicely designed book that lures you into reading just enough about the camera and photography to be able to capture a few pictures. For the serious new D50 owner, I would recommend reading the manual that comes with the camera, no matter how intimidating it might appear, and then reading Busch's "For Dummies" book.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent field guide for the D50, July 8, 2006

By	Brownie (Waterloo, ON Canada) - See all my reviews

This is what this book is, and is not:

* It's a FIELD GUIDE. I bought it specifically because it was a small format book that I could take along with me for guidance when I am out taking pictures. When I am unsure what menu settings to make, I take this book out of my backpack, look up the options, and make them quickly. When I see a photo opportunity, I can look up that kind of photo and read three or four pages of advice, illustrated with full color pictures.

* It doesn't duplicate the user's manual -- it expands on the information in the user's manual and provides more detail about the things you really need to know about the D50's controls.

* It's not a software manual. I don't take my laptop with me when I take pictures, so I don't really need lots of pages about Photoshop or Elements or Picture Project or Nikon Capture. It's silly to expect a photography field guide to waste 20-25 percent of its pages on software.

* It includes all the settings you need for the practice photos if you look carefully, including f/stop, shutter speed, ISO setting, saturation boost (if used), etc. Plus the lens used is listed, although most of the shots were made with the same two or three inexpensive lenses.

* This book is definitely NOT written for the advanced photographer. This book is cheap enough that the controls and functions part would be useful for any new owner of a D50, regarless of expertise level. I would have bought it just for that. The how-to sections are better suited for novice and intermediate photographers who need some ideas and tips. Sharp advanced photographers won't be looking for definitive photography tutorials in a 250-page field guide, in any case.

Overall, I liked this book a lot. I'm on the verge of graduating from intermediate to advanced photographer, but there was still a lot in this small book for me to learn from. It could have benefited from more coverage of VR, but nothing is perfect.