Product Description

Whether you′re a dedicated photographer on a budget or a serious hobbyist, the Nikon D50 will open new doors for you. You already know it′s packed with features and reasonably priced; now learn to use all its tricks. This indispensable guide takes you step by step through everything the D50 can do. Better yet, it teaches you professional techniques for using lenses and lighting and taking top–quality shots. This is the book that belongs with you on every shoot.
∗ Use the Quick Tour to get familiar with your camera and start shooting
∗ Learn when to use each of the D50′s seven DVP modes
∗ Explore metering techniques, ISO settings, and white balance
∗ Experiment with exposure, lenses, and lighting effects
∗ Delve into formulas for setting up and composing more than 25 different types of photographs
∗ Take the confusion out of downloading and editing your photos

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96987 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

From the Back Cover
Whether you′re a dedicated photographer on a budget or a serious hobbyist, the Nikon D50 will open new doors for you. You already know it′s packed with features and reasonably priced; now learn to use all its tricks. This indispensable guide takes you step by step through everything the D50 can do. Better yet, it teaches you professional techniques for using lenses and lighting and taking top–quality shots. This is the book that belongs with you on every shoot.

• Use the Quick Tour to get familiar with your camera and start shooting
• Learn when to use each of the D50′s seven DVP modes
• Explore metering techniques, ISO settings, and white balance
• Experiment with exposure, lenses, and lighting effects
• Delve into formulas for setting up and composing more than 25 different types of photographs
• Take the confusion out of downloading and editing your photos

About the Author
David D. Busch was a roving photojournalist for more than 20 years, who illustrated his books, magazine articles, and newspaper reports with award–winning images. He’s operated his own commercial studio, suffocated in formal dress while shooting weddings–for–hire, and shot sports for a daily newspaper and an upstate New York college. His photos have been published in magazines as diverse as Scientific American and Petersen’s PhotoGraphic, and his articles have appeared in Popular Photography & Imaging, The Rangefinder, The Professional Photographer, and hundreds of other publications.
He currently reviews digital cameras for CNET.com and Computer Shopper. When About.com recently named its top five books on Beginning Digital Photography, occupying the #1 and #2 slots were Busch’s Digital Photography All–In–One Desk Reference For Dummies and Mastering Digital Photography. His 78 other books published since 1983 include best–sellers The Nikon D70 Digital Field Guide, Digital SLR Cameras and Photography For Dummies, The Official Hewlett–Packard Scanner Handbook, and Digital Photography For Dummies Quick Reference.
Busch earned top category honors in the Computer Press Awards the first two years they were given (for Sorry About The Explosion and Secrets of MacWrite, MacPaint and MacDraw), and later served as Master of Ceremonies for the awards.

Customer Reviews

Excellent substitute for the D50 manual
I bought this because the D50 is my first foray into the DSLR world. The manual that comes with the D50 whilst comprehensive is confusing. What I wanted was something a bit more practical which could tell me, for example, what bracketing was and when to use it. I also wanted to know more about some of the other features that might be peculiar to the camera. Did you know that the D50's autofocus won't work on lenses slower than f5.6? No me neither. It also talks a bit about accessories and why you might want them. It describes which flash attachments work and what the difference is between front and rear curtain sync. It really is a five star book for that sort of thing.

The only reason I haven't rated it 5 stars is that I just think it is maybe a bit thin on the Field Guide element. I does have a lot of detail on using it for different situations i.e. wildlife or portraits etc but it is really a bit too basic. Maybe I'm being unfair because whilst this is an extremely useful book, it will be redundant when Nikon replace the D50 with something else. As a result it is perhaps wrong to expect it to combine too much information on photographic technique. For that I can’t recommend “Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera by Bryan Peterson” enough. It is well worth the 6 week wait when buying it on Amazon.

All in all, any newcomer to the Nikon range and digital SLR photography in particular, will definitely get a lot of really useful stuff from this book.

Riddled with errors
I can only conclude that the other reviewers who rated this book so highly were looking at a different book to me. I was very glad that I had already read the manual that came with the camera and had owned the camera for a few weeks before reading this book, because it is riddled with factual errors. It's obviously a rehash of the author's similarly named book about the D70, and a hasty and superficial rehash, at that. The function of the "shuttle jog" on the back of the camera is differently described in different places (and indeed in one place described as being on the *front* of the camera), and the picture of the back of the camera is a D70, not a D50. His description of exposure compensation is wrong (it's the D70's, again). I gave up keeping track in the end, and just skimmed the second half of the book. These mistakes in things I know about makes me wonder how many other errors there are. Altogether, I wish I hadn't bothered.

Forget the instruction manual for the D50, this is what you need
Forget the basic and unhelpful user book that comes with the D50. As an entry leve Digital SLR camera, I love the Nikon D50, but the manual that comes with it explains the basics on the settings etc. but gives you very little insight into getting the best from your camera. This will take you through the A to Z of how to get the best from your D50, and really will improve your pictures.