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.

No problem Darrell. I just gotta point out the rules that's all :^)

Sorry, I didn't mean to make it a commercial. He was talking about my book, so I made a comment about it. I was merely trying to say that he can learn a lot from it. I didn't put any links in the post, which I would have done had I been advertising. Didn't mean to cause a problem! Just wanted to help.

Darrell Young
(Author of some books about Nikon DSLR cameras)

Sorry Darrell but "commercial advertisement is not allowed" on this forum. :^(

nikyvee said:
I do appreciate all suggestions. However, Soap is right; I was asking for recommendations for which D90 book would be better.

So far, folks have suggested the Thom hogan book, and I suggested the David Busch book. Also, I just checked Amazon again, and see they have another one that is highly rated by Darrel Young, "Mastering the D90". He is a "Nikonian" author and now I am inclined to get that one.

I am convinced that with the D90 there is definitely more to learn about the camera's operation than what is in the official manual. That being said, there is no doubt that the best way to really learn to use a camera is... to USE it. And I most assuredly will.
By my nature, I do like getting advice from experienced folks, both from print and blog sources.

Thanks,
Nick V

Nick,

If you'll by my book, *****, I promise that you'll come away with advanced knowledge of all aspects of your camera. I put a lot of time into that book.

The Nikon D90 is a powerful and complex camera, and in my opinion one of the best values on the market today.

Darrell Young, Author
*****

admin said:
Mr. Rockwell has a Nikon D90 user's guide in a pdf format here:

This is less accurate and much less useful and informative then Nikon D90 original user manual, waste of time to write it and certainly waste of time to read it.

Mr. Rockwell has a Nikon D90 user's guide in a pdf format here:

http://kenrockwell.com/nikon/d90/users-guide/d90.pdf

Okay, you win, Niko. I'll have to look into that TH book. I didn't even know it existed.

jonnyapple said:
No, Niko. Mine wasn't even close. But it was closer to being on-topic.

My point was Jonny that I didn't need Thom Hogan's "Guide to Art History" :^)
I just went out and did it. Yes I got Ham wrong but I still passed.
It's best to learn your camera by shooting with it. Hows that for tying it back on-topic for ya jonny? :^)

Like I said Nikyvee it sounds like you've already made up your mind on which camera,lens combo, and guide book to buy. So you don't need our advice since it wasn't as unanimous as you thought it would be.

Gee guys, so far, I think I have given myself the best advice in response to my question. And I'm just a beginner on this forum. ;)

I will probably buy the Darrel Young book....
Thank you all for the advice.

Now, if I can just decide on which lenses to buy~

Maybe I'll start another thread about the D700 replacement...
Nick V

go out and shoot, there's nothing in the book that can be too complicate to find out by experimenting. however, if You really want to spend a buck or two, go for Thom Hogan's e-books, as suggested by soap.