Canon EOS 40D Digital Field Guide

List Price: $19.99 Discount Price: $10.75

Customer Reviews:

Learn about the 40D and support Christianity... [Posted on 2008-08-06]
I purchased Charlotte K.L.'s Canon Digital Rebel XTi field guide book and learned a lot about the XTi, which was why I went for her 40D book.

I must say I felt extremely uncomfortable with the Christian references - while some may consider the religious captions irrelevant, it still bothered me. I am not a religious person (nor am I an atheist). I found the religious references pointless and irritating.

Page 210 of her "40D Field Guide Book" (caption to the photo):
"The images in figures 9.10, 9.11 and 9.12 were shot for a cover and liner for a Christian music CD featuring Jessie Butterworth and the Overlake Christian Church worship team. The goal was to capture the spirit and energy of the concert for the cover and illustrate the concert experience with images for the liner. This is an establishing shot of the overall concert stage with vocalists and musicians. Exposure: ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/20 sec., using an EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM lens."

While I understand Christianity is a major part of our world's religion, to me, 3 mere religious related captions in a 300 something page technical book, is aggressive.

Some highs and some lows [Posted on 2008-09-15]
Reading the other reviews of the guide gave me a little concern, in that several people took offense at the specifically Christian references in the text. I finally decided that I wouldn't be offended if the author had been specifically Jewish, Muslim, or Buddhist, so why get my panties in a bundle about Christian references. That's who she is.
And she is very technically savy about the EOS 40D. It's almost overkill in spots, more a technical manual than a field manual. I'm not an engineer or an IT specialist, so a lot of her material, frankly, went over my head. I was hoping for simple, down-to-earth, well-illustrated instructions on the many wonderful changes in the 40D compared to previous incarnations of the 10D series. I found her explanations too wordy and too poorly illustrated.
Which brings me to my main consideration and criticism. It would seem to me that someone as well versed in the operation of the camera would take the time to learn what makes a good photograph. The illustrations taken, one would suppose, from the author's own files, would not be so amateurish. There are lots of photographs of Christian Rock concerts, snap-shot portraits of folks around the church, and weddings. None are of a professional quality.
She is, however, a technical master and if your goal is complete technical mastery of the 40D, then this may be your book. Just go out and make your own photographs. I'll bet they'll be better than what's in the book

Easy to read, to understand a complex, FUN camera. [Posted on 2008-09-16]
The book is easy to read and broadened my understanding of the features and capabilities of the Canon 40D. The book sems to folow a logical path to the features, starting with the basics and then more complex. I keep the book in my camera case. I often cary both, in spare moments I either read additional or experiment with recent reading to build experience in new cocepts.

Absolutely Charlotte [Posted on 2008-09-17]
I purchased Charlotte Lowrie's book on the XTi and found it invaluable, so it only made sense to purchase the 40D book when I upgraded cameras. I find myself referring to the 40D book regularly and always finding it easy to understand and helpful. A must for those wanting to learn how to create those custom settings on the Canon 40D.

Would I recommend Charlotte's books to my friends? I have and to anyone that will listen. I have also taken online photo classes with Charloitte Lowrie .... highly recommend Charlotte's work.

Great book [Posted on 2008-09-23]
I bought the Canon 40D book from reading these reviews where everyone said it was a good book and I was hoping that it was. They were right, this book has helped me so much. I have learned so many new things from this book that I would have never gotten on my own, and I'm pretty good with camera's. The author Charlotte Lowrie really explains in detail everything she talks about. I have never been very good with reading a help book and then understanding it but I learned so much from this book. I highly recommend it.

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