Magic Lantern Guides: Nikon D300 (Magic Lantern Guides)
by Simon Stafford
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Book Summary Information
Author: Simon StaffordBrand: Magic Lantern
Edition: Paperback
Published: 2008-08-05
ISBN: 1600593054
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Lark Books
Book Reviews of Magic Lantern Guides: Nikon D300 (Magic Lantern Guides)
Book Review: Technical
Summary: 5 Stars
The Nikon D300 is a complicated piece of machinery, with at least 100 top-level options for how it will work, with many sub-options. All these choices mean that one can tailor the way the camera operates precisely to one's needs. It also means that getting exactly what's best for you requires a lot of research. This "Magic Lantern Guide" is designed to ease the process, but if you really want to get the D300 to fit your style of shooting, it still won't be easy.
The book starts with a general discussion and a quick start guide and then goes into detail on the various functions. There is a menu by menu review of each of the options, with the author's recommendation for each setting. The book finishes up with chapters on resolution, flash, lenses and processing.
This book is for the person who wants to understand all the technical aspects of using the D300. For example, almost every book I've read on the D300 tells you how to use long exposure noise reduction, and points out that the noise reduction process take as long as the exposure. But this is the first book that told me that the noise reduction process will terminate after 109 minutes, even if the exposure is longer. I never expect to take a 110 minute exposure, but I'm certain there is someone out there for whom this information will prove useful.
I never expect to print directly from a card, but I wondered why the DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) menu on my D300 was always grayed out. Stafford explained that it was because DPOF requires JPEG images, and I only shoot in the RAW/NEF format.
Stafford not only explains what each menu does and why, but gives his own reasoned recommendations. By the way, he generally recommends not using functions that can be controlled later in post processing, reasoning that one should not turn over blind control of an image to the machinery.
The book is small enough to fit into a gadget bag, but thick enough that one might not want the extra burden. To help photographers anxious to lighten the load, the book includes a quick reference card that can be slipped into a wallet, although it obviously doesn't cover everything in the book.
The book is not without faults. There are occasional typos, although none that would mislead. The photographs are all in black and white, and many of them have absolutely no relation to the topic to which they are attached, but rather seemed to be included because this is a book about photography.
The book inevitably invites comparison to the excellent "David Busch's Nikon D300 Guide to Digital SLR Photography" by David D. Busch. That book includes photography instruction, with subjects like the times when long exposures might be appropriate and an excellent discussion of the use of the histogram to control exposure. It is aimed at the photographer who wants to learn how to use his or her D300. Many of the options are not covered in detail of Busch's book. Stafford's book doesn't tell you anything about taking pictures. It presumes you know how to take pictures and just want to know how to set up your D300 to the nth degree. I don't see the books as competitors. Decide what you want to learn, and then choose (or buy both if you are as compulsive as me.)
Summary of Magic Lantern Guides: Nikon D300 (Magic Lantern Guides)
Simon Stafford, the Technical Editor to the Nikon Owners' Club International's Nikon Owner magazine, tells all about the company's new semi-pro camera, the D300. He explains how to make the most of the model's up-to-the-minute attributes, including the 12.3 effective megapixel Nikon DX-format CMOS image sensor with integrated A/D converter and the increased bit precision of selectable 14-bit NEF (RAW) output.General Books
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