Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi/400D Digital Field Guide | List Price: $19.99
Discount Price: $10.73
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Binding: Paperback
A Definite Buy for New Canon Rebel Owners [Posted on 2008-06-25]
As a new Canon Rebel camera owner, Charlotte K. Lowrie's Digital Rebel guide was the best $14 and change I've ever spent on a book. Her clear concise explanations, helpful charts and photo illustrations, as well as the excellent organization and layout of the book, make this guide a must buy for new owners. I would have been lost without it!
Essential Reading [Posted on 2008-07-01]
Charlotte K. Lowrie's Field Guide for the Canon XTi now travels in my camera bag wherever I go. It is an easily accesible introductory guide to the world of digital photography with a DSLR.
I found the Canon manuals that came with my camera to be technical in their approach - but the Field Guide takes you by the hand and explains it all like a patient mentor.
I am new to this. But thanks to this book, I am no longer confused or frustrated by the many controls and options on my new camera. The highest praise I can give this book is that after reading it, I am having more fun with my camera and I am taking much better photographs.
Useful for some purposes, but I'd give it a miss [Posted on 2008-07-10]
If you are completely new to photography (apart from point and shoot, that is) and you own a 400D, this book should make a fairly good starting point. If, however, you already know something about photography, and you're buying this because you now have a 400D, look elsewhere.
In fact, I think you would be much better off reading the camera's manual together with a book like Understanding Exposure in both cases. This book contains few details about the 400D, and is mostly about the very basics of photography (and it doesn't do a spectacular job to that end either).
The mother lode of the book is Chapter 7, "Techniques for Great Photos", and it comprises 51% of the book's pages. These 100 pages are mostly fluff however, with embarrassingly little substance. It adds almost no value for the reader.
Invaluable Tool [Posted on 2008-07-22]
I don't use my camera enough to be able to remember how to do "x". or how to do "y," so good instructions that allow to quickly find how to do something with my camera are valuable to me, particularly when I need it for my business. I find the "Field Guide" invaluable.
One day I needed to shoot a client's tour for a VIP, and had 30 minutes to have lunch AND learn to shoot under the particular tour conditions. Over lunch, I quickly learned what settings to use, and even had time to spare to refresh my memory on other camera functions! And the proof was in the pudding - my photos even made me look like a decent photographer!
What more could I ask for?
This guide always comes with me when I use my camera.
OK book. Awful example photos. [Posted on 2008-07-23]
The book has some good interesting advice and it is a good starting point that I have used in conjunction with some others. Has some interesting sections where the author gives you a breakdown on the types of lenses, exposure, ISO, etc. you need to consider for certain types of shots. Unfortunately, the photos provided as examples are pretty poor. The section on wedding photography has the "happy couple" standing in dappled light under a tree which totally screws up the image and, even worse, there is a massive shadow of some bloke's head on slap bang in the middle of the bride's dress. There are a number of other poor examples too, with very little in the way of "breathtaking" images that you would really want to copy.
If you only want to buy one book, I would recommend Scott Kelby's Digital Photography Books (both volumes are good). I also bought David D. Busch's Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi/400D Guide to Digital SLR Photography and found that a marginally better read. I have found myself going back to the "Field Guide" just to look through the scenarios she gives though.
Bottom line: Decent book, but with some example photos that look like they were cracked off by my mum in order to meet some publishing deadline. You'll be informed but not inspired.
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