Magic Lantern Guides: NIKON Lenses (Paperback)

by B. Peterson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A new edition of the best book ever written on choosing and using every type of Nikon lens! Beginning with a helpful definition of terminology, general information on focal length and angle of view, and advice on caring for lenses, this unbeatable manual gives the tricks of the trade on working with fisheyes and ultra wides, wide angles and normal lenses (including proper handholding technique), telephotos, supertelephotos, zooms, specialty lenses, teleconverters, and "oldies but goodies." 176 pages, 20 color illus., 95 b/w illus., 5 x 7 1/2.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Sterling; 2 Sub edition (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883403634
• ISBN-13: 978-1883403638
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,213,333 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, June 14, 2000

By	I don't drink the Kool-Aid (WDC) - See all my reviews

I've just finished reading both editions of B Moose Peterson's book, "Nikon Lenses" cover to cover.

They are interesting, entertaining and informative; however, they are also wordy, trite and poorly written. Don't take me wrongly: there is a lot of good information in them. But, both editions are peppered with misinformation and some of the technical data is haphazardly presented and there are dozens of "facts" that are just plain wrong.

I get the impression that Moose has rewritten something in his own words, adding some original material, but that a good deal of the material was written by someone else. I suspect he has never even handled some of the lenses about which he writes. What's more, especially in the second edition, my impression is that he added material hastily on a few new lenses and rushed to press without bothering to revise much of the material that needed correction and updating from the original edition.

Moose is an excellent photographer both technically and esthetically. He needs to write books about what he knows best. Unfortunately, a compendium of technical data on Nikon lenses is not what he knows best. Whatever the value of these two books, I resent their glaring errors and I resent the attitude of a publisher foisting off what I believe to be obviously poor material on Nikon fans.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as "Nikon Compendium" published by Hove, September 16, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Sunny San Diego, California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nikon Lenses (Magic Lantern Guides Ser) (Paperback)

I'm an experienced photographer who uses many of the lenses in the book. I have different oppinions of their performance than Moose. For instance, Moose dislikes the performance of the 85/2 AI-s and I love it.

On the other hand, lenses all vary greatly due to production tolerances, so no lens will always agree with what anyone says.

Yes, the book has a lot of info and is one of the few books of it's kind. OK, it's probably the biggest book there is on current Nikkor lenses, so give it a few more stars if it's the only book you can find. Therefore it is very valuable. However the information is not entirely accurate. Watch out for incorrect matching of illustrations and captions.

Moose is a great photographer; not a lens designer. Therefore his impressions relate to how well they relate to his wonderful work in the field, and not necessarily how well the lenses perform technically or even what all the various technical innovations mean or how they work inside the lens.

I suggest referring to "The Nikon Compendium" (also only 1994 edition) for more correct info if you really are curious about "how sharp" any lens is.

Also look at Nikon's own book, "Eyes of Nikon" from the early 1980's for the best look into their manual focus lenses of that era.

We'll see how well corrected the new edition is.

Thanks to Moose for taking the effort to write the book!

This review (c) 1999 Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique for help in selecting which lens to use, October 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Nikon Lenses (Magic Lantern Guides Ser) (Paperback)

Looking at my other review it looks harsh. This book is so-so if your interest is the lenses themselves, as the title suggests.

If your interest is how to select and use the huge range of Nikkor lenses to create meaningful photographs, then this book is unique and very helpful. Maybe a more descriptive title would be "How to Choose and Use Lenses from the Nikon System." With that title it's a solid 4 stars.

Moose's book may be the only book that puts much of the folklore surrounding the practical use of these lenses in book form. Thanks again to Moose for the great work!