OK Nikyvee, here goes. I have books bythom, I have a D300s by David Busch. I recommend them BOTH. I could only wade through the first page of this stuff. When I bough a computer it of course had no manual. I LIKE TO SIT WITH A BOOK IN MY LAP WHEN I AM PLAYING WITH NEW TECH.

Hi, I'm peter ("Hi, Peter" from the crowd), and I am a book lover and a tech lover.

What is the next step in this particular 12 step program?

I would recommend David Busch's Compact Field Guide for the Nikon D90
*LINK REMOVED*

The Magic Lantern guide for both the D90 and the D700 by Simon Stafford are excellent
Read the words and diagrams but ignore the very poor quality rubbish photographs

Why are you asking on this forum yrsa_w? You should ask on the website you read the review on.

I read the following on *Link Removed* when about to purchase the Darrell Young book:

1.0 out of 5 based on 2 reviews. – Customer review on 16/12/2009

was happy with this book until informed there were mistakes and the correction could be downloaded from the computer. i basically consider it worthless now."

Is this information accurate? What "mistakes" is there in that case in the book?

thanks for the welcome.

Thanks for the tip rebelone50 and welcome to the forum.

If i may offer an option to this discussion, it would be this. Go to the local library in your area. Show up with the ISBN for the books that you are considering. Ask for help from one of the lovely librarians. They will be able to find most of the books in their large system. It may take a couple of weeks to receive your guidebooks. Have patience. Once you have the books you can quickly decide which are nothing more than a rehash of what you already have in hand. Then you can add valuable books to your personal library and use the saved money on more Nikon stuff. This has saved me a ton of money. Hope this helps.

My favorite is the 80-200mm f/2.8 cheap and great glass... Sorry nikyvee tamron has great glass but I can notice the difference

JA, I got a bit wrong in "the other thread". I was referring to the 70-200mm Nikon VRII version, for about $2300. I have tried the "cheap" version (at about $1,900) and found it really not so sharp. I was really surprised as it is a Nikon lens and all. Maybe I had a "bad" sample. I admit I am not an expert, but really, the version of the Nikon 70-200 lens was no sharper than the $165 Tamron 80-300mm lens without any kind of VR. I looked at similar photos taken with both lenses at the same time and looking at them on my computer. Blowing them up showed really no difference to my non-expert eyes. In taking the photos, I could clearly see the image better with the NIkon lens, but put the two lenses on a tripod and I couldn't see any difference. This is so astounding to me that I figure I must have done something wrong. What I did do was send that version of the Nikon lens back and order the better/newer VRII version, hoping it is ok.

I still like my Darrell Young "Mastering the D90" book and recommend it particularly to folks new to dslr and Nikons.

Nick V

You know the D90 has a help menu built into the camera

I was wondering what you meant by 70-300 2.8 in the other thread. I'm guessing based on the price that it's the VRII version. I'm jealous.

NSXType-R said:
Scott Kelby has some good books.

I have a really hard time reading Scott Kelby books. Matt Kloskowski is a bit the same way. I know they work together, so that's probably it. Their books read like a stream of consciousness, which wouldn't be a bad thing if I shared their sense of humor. But it is a bad thing for me because I don't, so with their books I just skim through looking for the techniques and avoid the fluff. I do like their video tutorials, but I think they should probably stick to those or change their writing style.

Gee, my topic bounced up on the list. I figure I should let you all know how my experience has been with Darrell Young's "Mastering the D90" book has been.

Actually, it has been very, very helpful. What it gives me, (and notice that I am using the present tense) is continuing access to info about how, and when, to use the various controls. I found that I would read a bit of the book, put it aside, and then go shoot for a while. At some point I would run into a problem and then I would go back to the "Mastering..." book and get that info, plus a little more. I just don't read and then automatically learn it all with one reading. Most important has been his description of how to use the focusing mechanisms and how to make initial control settings. Again, he always includes the "why" along with the "how" part of his guidance.

For me, the book was well worth the about $20 it cost from Amazon. I still refer to it. Now you guys are also really, really correct in your suggestion to GET OUT AND SHOOT! as the best way to learn to use a camera.

I love my D90. Uhhh, even though it was my special Christmas present to myself this 2009, I have on order, and am awaiting delivery a Nikon 70-200 f2.8 AFS lens. Yes, I am spending for ONE lens, more than twice what I paid for the D90 body! I can't believe it. And yes, shushhhhh, my wife doesn't know about it. Fortunately, she is still working and I am retired so I am home when UPS delivers. I hope it works out for me.

I still have so much to learn with the D90, but I just love the camera. I still need to get my Flicker account setup so I can post some photos, but I am just too busy with the camera and other stuff....
Nick V

Scott Kelby has some good books.

I am just about to buy a D90 or it's upgrade & have purchased the D90 for Dummies. It's a great book with lots of tips & as the title suggests, really easy to understand. This will be my first camera (I knew straight away it had to be a Nikon)& I feel I am off to a good start with this guide book. For £10 you can't go wrong.

bmxdad said:
OK like I mentioned above, reading a manual will most likely not really make you good at taking great pictures.

Pete,

You are, of course, correct. But there is an important difference between learning to take great pictures and learning about your camera.

I've been taking pictures for over 40 years and am still learning - and I still haven't achieved greatness. But the controls on my new camera are laid out somewhat differently from my last camera and I do need to master them.

A very simple camera can indeed take great photos. But having a sophisticated camera (and knowing how to use it) helps considerably - you can concentrate on what really matters for a particular shot, and leave the camera to sort out the rest.

Anaxagoras said:
I find trial and error, with just a little guidance from the manual, is the best way to learn (not just cameras but all sorts of gadgets and gizmos).

LOL, usually when I'm reading up about something new I read the first couple steps to doing it, and then guess my way through the rest. Usually I'm lucky, but sometimes things go terribly wrong! :^D

bmxdad said:
OK like I mentioned above, reading a manual will most likely not really make you good at taking great pictures. Yes you should become familiar with controls and settings, but now comes your real challenge to use that knowledge to take great pictures. So learn when and why you would use a certain setting, there are some many photographic elements that has nothing to do with your camera manual

Sorry Pete for "rebelling" against your idea, you are totally right. Reading the manual will only bring more complicated features of your camera into your life!

OK like I mentioned above, reading a manual will most likely not really make you good at taking great pictures. Yes you should become familiar with controls and settings, but now comes your real challenge to use that knowledge to take great pictures. So learn when and why you would use a certain setting, there are some many photographic elements that has nothing to do with your camera manual

So get out and take picture, learn to take great pics, trust me it will take time

Pete

alphanikonrex said:

I'm a religious manual-reader too! I read the manual to the D300 months before I got it! ;^)

Me too!

I find trial and error, with just a little guidance from the manual, is the best way to learn (not just cameras but all sorts of gadgets and gizmos). But I always read the manual cover-to-cover over a few weeks - because it is VERY likely that there are features that you simply would not discover by trial and error.

I also download manuals before buying. This is partly impatience to learn, but largely to check "the small print" of what the camera (gadget/gizmo) really CAN do before deciding which to buy.

What does annoy me, though, is when manuals tell you the blindingly obvious - e.g. "Press OK to confirm or Cancel to cancel". A total waste of two seconds of my life!

""set the Fn button (custom setting f3) to 'Access top item in MY MENU.'"" sounds like an excellent idea too.

Which reminds me, I ought to do a settings back up...

LOL, I read the manual ages before the stuff comes. I read the manuals to stuff I may never even touch in my life!

alphanikonrex said:
I'm a religious manual-reader too! I read the manual to the D300 months before I got it! I'm all read up about the Hasselblads too, in case I ever happen to come across one ;^)

Nice to know I'm not the only one, alpha. I usually download the manual as a pdf and start reading it on my laptop right when I order some new equipment.

BTW, I do have Battery info on mine, but I should probably put World time up, too. Done.

Here comes Jonny with another one of his great guides!

Your My Menu looks very similar to my own, except I also have Clean Image Sensor, and a few other things (like Battery Info and World Time).

I'm a religious manual-reader too! I read the manual to the D300 months before I got it! I'm all read up about the Hasselblads too, in case I ever happen to come across one ;^)

I've got a couple of recommendations. Pete's right about the manual—it's for rare occasions when you really want to learn exactly how some feature works. (I admit I have read it, but I'm a religious instruction manual reader).

In my opinion, the help files on the camera usually tell you enough. To see those, while you're on a menu setting, you hold the [?/lock] button (third from the bottom on the left on the D90) and it will bring up a description of what that setting does or when you might use it. And on the 920k-dot screens it looks like it's printed on paper.

One suggestion I have for the D90 is to turn off image review (it's the 5th setting in the Playback Menu—the one with the 'play' symbol). My reasons for suggesting this:
-if you ever want to review a shot you can still easily press the play button.
-having the image up after a shot causes all kinds of problems, for example you can't change the focus spot or change the ISO because those buttons are used for photo navigation while an image is up
-It saves on battery life. I don't have hard numbers, but it's something in the neighborhood of half again as many shots that you can get if you don't always have the LCD turning on to display the image.

Another suggestion I have is to set the Fn button (custom setting f3) to 'Access top item in MY MENU.' My Menu is such a handy feature because you put just the menu items you use most in it so you don't have to dig through all the menus finding them. I set my top menu item to change what the built-in flash does for creative lighting (the wireless flash control). This also lets me get into My Menu in two buttons one handed (R-middle finger press Fn, R-thumb press left on the directional pad).

If you're looking for a starting point, here is what's in my 'My Menu' (in this order):
e2 Flash cntrl for built-in flash
c3 Self-timer
d10 Exposure delay mode
a1 AF-area mode
Movie settings
Battery info
ISO sensitivity auto control
a7 Live view autofocus
f2 OK button (shooting mode)

One of my biggest gripes about the D100 was having to press so many buttons to get to the self-timer settings. Happy shooting, Nick and Anaxagoras!

A note for you beginners:

I would not read the manual to much, I read mine if something is not working out, otherwise I live and learn.

Don't forget great pictures are not taken by fancy settings:

They are in focus and focused in the right area

They are metered correctly

They are framed correctly, remember the "photographic rule of thirds"

So get out there and take some pictures, and learn and before you know it the settings on your new camera start to make sense.

Pete

BTW I take most my pictures on the A setting I like to control my aperture on most pictures even shooting BMX: for me controlling DOF (depth of field) is the most important thing in taking great pictures

Me too. Bought the D90 last week. Forty years of photography, so I know that every new camera brings more functionality and thus more to learn. But the D90 did make my jaw drop. The good manual helps.

Really looking forward to learning about it.

More than a bit ****** off by the rumour of an imminent replacement, though!