I picked up The Digital Photography Companion because last time I was taught or read up on anything other than fully-auto point and shoot photography was umpteen years ago, literally. I've never really ventured outside of the comfort zone of that magic P setting, and I thought this book would be a nice refresher. We're firm believers in the quality of O'Reilly books in our house, so the fact that it was an O'Reilly title was encouraging. I'm unlikely to end up as photogeeky as some people, but I thought it about time to quit flailing around in the dark, as I did when I proof-read a discussion of the math behind f-stops for a friend. I'm still flailing.
This book would be fine for someone who is just getting into digital photography, and is unlikely to do anything but full-auto, or go into the other mostly-automatic modes of digital cameras. If you want to know what an f-stop is, what the focal length is, or how the various non-auto-mode settings inter-relate, you're out of luck. I understand that The Digital Photography Companion is intended for the beginner, but in my opinion Mr. Story has over-simplified. A short definition, a sentence or two, of the various "geeky bits" shouldn't scare someone away. As it is, I can see the beginner coming away even more confused because of the lack of a little bit of technical detail.
Some examples:
* "Focal length" is never mentioned, even in the section explaining what the numbers describing a lens mean.
* In another section, the impression is given that aperture and f-stop are not just related, but identical.
* Although automatic exposure bracketing is mentioned in terms of automatic features, bracketing is never suggested for the novice stepping out of fully-automatic mode(s).
* The author encourages the novice to try manual mode on their DSLR, but then gives almost no suggestions of where to start - there is a chart in the appendix of suggested aperture and shutter speed settings for "sunset and astrophotorgraphy" shooting, but not everyday situations. Similarly, there is a chart of exposure compensation settings for various lighting conditions, but only in terms of a camera's plus-minus preset scale, not in terms of what to do on a DSLR.
Give The Digital Photography Companion to Granny or your 12-year-old, recommend it for a friend who just wants to take better snapshots, but take the back-cover (and ora.com blurbs) with a hefty grain of salt.
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