Product Description

Spectacular photos begin with your Sony Alpha and this book. With its Alpha A300 and A350 cameras, Sony has blurred the distinction between introductory and advanced dSLRs. With the expert advice in this book, you’ll learn to use every menu and control perfectly and gain insight into setting up and capturing shots that will amaze you.  Reach beyond the automatic settings and take control of exposure, shutter speed, white balance, and every creative element that makes photography an art.

Part I explores using your Sony Alpha A300 or A350 straight out of the box. Starting with an in depth look at the Sony Quick AF Live View System, this part of the book also explores all the external controls, explaining the purpose and function of each button, dial, and switch. Understanding your camera’s menu system is crucial to getting great results with the A300 or the A350, and of course the book will also teach you how to maneuver through all of your camera’s menus. You’ll not only learn how to adjust each setting, but when and why you should make each adjustment.

Chapter 3 gives a thorough explanation of basic photography fundamentals, without overwhelming jargon and technical terms. If you are a new photographer you will gain an appreciation of aperture, shutter speed, exposure, ISO and white balance. If you are an experienced photographer you’ll find helpful tips and tricks for adjusting each of these key settings.

Interchangeable lenses are one of a dSLR′s major strengths, and that is true of both the A300 and A350. With so many lens options, choosing auxiliary lenses for the A300 series can become overwhelming. Chapter 4 helps you eliminate the mystery about which lenses to buy and gives you a full explanation of what to look for when evaluating a new lens. With information on wide–angle, normal, telephoto, and macro lenses, this chapter discusses the full Sony lens lineup and goes on to demystify the option of using Minolta lenses on the Sony Alpha.

Understanding light and light modifiers, such as diffusers and reflectors, is absolutely essential to getting great results from a dSLR. In chapter 5, you′ll find a complete discussion of lighting basics, including the differences between continuous lighting and electronic flash. The full array of light modifiers is outlined, and the chapter goes on to explain the strengths and weaknesses of the proprietary Sony/Minolta hot shoe design. Naturally, there is also a discussion of which flash units work with the A300 series.

Chapter 6 consists of a series of exercises designed to enhance your skills when shooting in a wide variety of photographic situations, including everything from macro photography and black and white to high dynamic range, portrait, and travel photography. Each topic is accompanied by numerous full color examples.

DSLR photography entails far more than just the camera and lens. Once you fill your memory card with great images, you will need to download, catalog, store and edit those images. Chapter 7 takes you through a quick, but informative tour of the software and hardware options available to simplify your digital workflow. You will be exposed to the differences between RAW and JPEG images and you′ll receive a thorough overview of your RAW processing options. You also learn about sharpening and noise reduction software, as well as the best editing applications.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7711 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

From the Back Cover

Spectacular photos begin with your Sony a and this book

With its Alpha A300 and A350 cameras, Sony has blurred the distinction between introductory and advanced dSLRs. With the expert advice in this book, you′ll learn to use every menu and control perfectly and gain insight into setting up and capturing shots that will amaze you. Reach beyond the automatic settings and take control of exposure, shutter speed, white balance, and every creative element that makes photography an art.

• Take full advantage of Sony′s revolutionary Quick AF (auto–focus) Live View system with adjustable LCD screen

• Enhance closeup shots with the Smart Teleconverter feature

• Learn to use Sony′s Dynamic Range Optimizer

• Explore useful accessories and benefit from Super SteadyShot image stabilization

• Gain inspiration as well as instruction for getting the best shots in 20 categories

Tom Bonner is a 30–year Sony/Minolta camera enthusiast. During a dozen years as a freelance photographer and writer, Tom saw his work appear in many well–known publications. He now designs commercial Web sites. Fellow Sony camera buffs will know Tom from his blog, AlphaTracks.

Customer Reviews

Very, clear & concise, ditch the supplied manual.....
As ever this Digital Field Guide delivers very clear instructions on how to use your dSLR.

First one I had was for my Nikon D40 and this one is for my new Sony Alpha 300.

Since my Alpha 300 purchase the Nikon D40 and the accompanying Digital field guide is with my daughter, like me before, we have put both supplied instructions back in the box and rely totally on these digital field guides.

These are well written and full of info. on how to operate your dSLR at a basic level and when you want to work advanced.

So I wouldn't be without mine - except for the size which makes it a tad large to slip in your average camera bag.

At just over a fiver it is great value too...

Great helpful book or so I thought!!
I've had the book for just over a week now and have found it really helpfull. It explain's so much more than the sony manual with indepth details on buttons and menus and how to get the best out of your dslr. Great so far, I been looking forward to getting to chapter 2 where it say's that all the info on the MODE DIAL was. QUOTE PAGE 10: "The mode dial and availible modes are explored in detph in chapter 2". In short it's not covered anywhere in the book. The Mode dial is a very important part in photography and without the knowledge of knowing how to use the dial makes this book seem pointless and only half writen.
I was full of praise when I first got the book, but now seem let down.

MOST IMPORTANT SECTION NOT COVERED.DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY. FIND ANOTHER !!

Impressed
I recently bought my first dSLR (Sony A300). I have many years of 35mm SLR experience and thought this would be a good purchase to get to know the camera and possibly some digital specific techniques.
For me this book fits my needs well.