Mastering Digital SLR Photography

Rating:
Summary: Mastering Digital SLR Photography
Review: As a owner of a new Canon 20D. I was looking for a
comprehensive book on tips & techniques unique to
digital SLR cameras. My first experience with
photography was 1980 when I bought a Canon A1. At
which time I would glean through photography
books & magazines to discover how to be more creative
with my camera. My experience also includes computers
when I get a program I would get comprehensive books
on tips & techniques unique to that program (some with
the title starting with Mastering * etc) which were
very comprehensive.
This book is not, it should be called ( A Buyers Guide
To Know If Digital SLR Cameras Are Right For You ).
But you will need to look at other reviews for specifics
on each camera. For this book's resounding theme is the
comparison between a point & shoot digital & a SLR digital
camera.



Rating:
Summary: Excellent book from Digital and SLR Angles!
Review: It's about time we had a book of techniques for using digital single lens reflex cameras. For a long time, only the pro photographers could afford a digital single lens reflex, and they mostly already knew everything they needed to about photography. But now that the Canon Digital Rebel is available for less than $1000, and the Nikon D70 costs only a few hundred dollars more, there are millions of serious amateur photographers who are moving up to a digital SLR and who need some tips on how to use them.

For example, I was completely in the dark about some funny spots on my photos, and I learned from this book that they are dust on the sensor and how to remove them. I also wondered about sports photography because shutter lag with my old Minolta digital camera made shooting action almost impossible. I got some great tips about action photography from this book and have already taken some great pictures at my son's basketball games.

I like that this book is aimed at the SLR owner, who is likely to be very serious about photography. It offers lots of tips and tricks that go beyond the mundane and show you how to use a digital SLR to take better pictures. Although the explanations are not complicated, the author goes into lots of depth, making this book very comprehensive. I purchased his previous book on Mastering Digital Photography, and found that this one had not much overlap, so I could enjoy both. It covers the topics with more of an SLR slant.

SLR photographers who are shooting digital must have this book to learn how to get the most from their cameras, and to pick up some valuable photography advice. I recommended it highly.

Rating:
Summary: Great Tips from a strictly Digital SLR viewpoint!
Review: The thing I like best about this book is that all the techniques deal with the special needs, strengths, and weaknesses of the digital SLR camera. Other digital photography books I've checked out are too general, and don't cover DSLRs in much detail. This one is written specifically for the digital SLR owner.

For example, in Chapter 2, the author describes eight things you can do with DSLRs that aren't possible or as easy with other types of camera. I put this information to work right away to improve my pictures! In Chapter 4, he explains some pitfalls to avoid with digital SLR viewfinders, as well as how to determine whether your sensor has dust or dead pixels (and how to fix both.)

There's a whole chapter on working with DSLR RAW files, including recommendations for RAW converters for each of the major DSLR brands. I found the chapter on working with SLR lenses particularly valuable, including the clear explanation of "bokeh", the difficulty of obtaining wide-angle coverage, use of image stabilization, and other digital SLR topics. I haven't seen such comprehensive coverage of night, infrared, and ultraviolet photography elsewhere, either.

I recommend this book over other digital photography books that don't emphasize single lens reflex techniques as much as this one does. Most of the coverage is aimed at the most recent Nikon and Canon digital SLRs, but there is lots of information of use to owners of Minolta and Olympus DSLRs, too. If you're moving up from a point and shoot digital camera and want to learn the specifics of DSLR work, this is the book you need.