Mastering the Nikon D800 (The Mastering Camera Guide Series)

I’m rather embarrassed to say that I’ve owned my D800 since June 2012 and thought I had it setup for “me” but I was very wrong. Before the D800 I had the D3, D300, and the D700. Before that, I had the Fujifulm S1 Pro and S2 Pro. All amazing cameras. The D800 was the best of cameras, and the worst of cameras. Actually, mostly for the worst. In the past I used the D800 for landscapes, and weddings in conjunction with my D700 and all Nikon glass. In early 2013 I was so fed-up with the D800, and Nikon that I bought a Fuji system - starting with the X-E1, and now with the X-T1 and a bevy of lenses. What an amazing camera the Fuji’s are. The Fuji’s became my “go-to” system for just about everything. I seriously tried to love the D800. Honest. But it just “pissed” me off so much that I only broke it out whenever I needed to use my SB700’s flash units. With the D800, when it nailed the shot the files were glorious, but I found it just to heavy to be worth the trouble of hauling it around “just in case.” I have in my kindle library another D800 book by a very popular Nikon guy that goes by the initials TH. A very detailed book, and it helped me somewhat but really wasn’t what I needed even though I’ve read through it several times. Fast forward to just a few days ago; I’ve been considering selling my D800 and my Nikon glass as it sat unused in my safe . As we’ve all seen the price of the D800 plummet I was going to get about one half of what I originally paid for it so I decided to give the camera one more chance before auctioning it off and taking a bath. I browsed around Amazon looking for simple book on the D800. I found this book. THIS IS THE SINGLE BEST BOOK I’VE READ ON ANY CAMERA! Period. Check my other reviews, I don’t BS; I tell it like it is. I read the book on Friday as I was a day long meeting that was so boring I had my iPad on my lap reading. Unfortunately I did not have the D800 with me. When I got home Friday evening, and into Saturday afternoon I re-read the entire book starting with the first chapter! This time with the camera by my side. The book is a step by step instruction guide, easily read, beautifully written with clear, concise explanations and recommendations. The layout follows the menu on the D800. I’m an OCD type of person so this was very helpful to my way of thinking. I am just blown away by what I got out of this book. What a difference it has made in the overall performance of the camera, and my keepers. The day after I made all the modifications based on the recommendations in the book I put what I had learned into practice and was extremely pleased with the setup, and the results I was able to obtain. Now, I thought I had the D800 setup for “my style” over time since acquiring the camera. Uh - Uh. I was wrong. Here I’ve had the camera about three years and in just a couple of days learned so much more. I went along with the book and made many changes then tested the camera. What a difference. Listen, Just get the book! This was my last ditch effort before I got rid of this albatross of a camera (what it felt like to me) but after making the various changes I am actually happy with the results I’m getting now. I am now taking it with me on a week long stock/travel shooting trip I have planned. And yes, I read the manual, and as I mentioned early on in my review I’ve purchased the D800 guide from TH and it helped, but not to the extent of this book. Just get it! You won’t regret it.

If you have invested $3K in a Nikon D800, you owe it to yourself to get the most you can out of this excellent camera. The D800 is a feature-rich technical marvel that allows you to capture photographs like no other camera has before - I know because I own one. Darrell Young has done an outstanding job of providing a very readable book that digs into all the technical features that should be understood by a D800 user; and does so in a very logical, structured, and easy to follow manner. I learned a lot about this camera not found in the owner's manual. I could echo all of the other positive comments left by the previous reviewers, but I would only be duplicating what you have already read. I do want to point out one other aspect of the printed version of Darrell's book. At 600 pages, I was expecting the book to be physically very large, but it is not. The paper it's printed on is very high grade; the sheets are very thin but very durable; and the printing quality is excellent. As a result the size is perfect - it even fits into my camera bag. I have a lot of ebooks, but I am glad I bought the printed version of this one. I may be old-school, but I like holding a book and being able to flip through the pages. This is a very high quality paperback printing. Thanks Darrell and Nikonians.org for putting out such a great resource for my D800!

I've been shooting with Canon cameras for more than 20 years (latest was 5D MKII), but the D800 made me switch camps. Having never used a Nikon before, I was somewhat lost with all of the features, customization options, and different button placement than Canon. A bit overwhelming at first, and the manual didn't help that much. Enter this book! This is one of the best technical books I've ever read, and the best for a camera I've ever seen. It doesn't just tell you what all the buttons are for, or just expand on the manual. It tells you WHY you should use x for situation y. After each section the author makes a recommendation on what settings you should start with. This is a great starting point and lets you know how a "pro" has their camera setup. After reading the book, I felt much more comfortable with my D800 and how Nikon has designed their cameras. While still not as comfortable as I was with my Canon 5D MKII, I feel a lot better about using my D800. Without this book I would be highly frustrated trying to figure out all of the featues, when to use which one. I can't thank the author enough for clearly explaining everything, great step-by-step instructions, and making it easy to understand. Run, don't walk, to purchase this book if you have a D800/E! Small price to pay for learning how to properly use your $3K camera.

Credevo in qualcosa di più specifico visto il tipo di reflex semi-pro, tratta tematiche che si possono trovare in qualsiasi altro libro.

Como todos estos libros se pierde en generalidades- a pesar de todo ayuda pero falta una lista completa de los parámetros según lo que vas a fotografiar

I am no stranger to Darrell Young, having purchased "Mastering the Nikon D90" a couple of years ago. That was an excellent book that greatly improved my knowledge of my Nikon D90. Mr Young's newest book, "Mastering the Nikon D800", is no different. "Mastering the Nikon D800" is crammed with detailed information on all the features the D800 has to offer. In fact, 600 pages worth of information, in 13 chapters. My first area of curiosity to read up on was Histograms. I looked in the manual that comes with the D800 and it was pathetically weak and provided little if no information of value. When I received "Mastering the Nikon D800" from Amazon, I opened it and thumbed through the book and immediately found the Histogram section, 12 plus pages of it! Full of colour examples, sample photographs with histograms over-layed, all with very detailed explanations describing what you see and how to interpret this extremely useful tool. This alone was worth the price of the book. Mr Young also goes into the same depth of detail on White Balance, Flash Bracketing, Metering, ISO Sensitivity and more. The Nikon Manual has been relegated to the box the camera came in and will most likely never see the light of day again until I some day, sell the camera. When I want to look some feature of the camera up in the manual, I expect to read not only how to find the feature, but an explanation of what it does and how it works. No so, in the manual, so I am extremely grateful for this book, which clearly has all the information I am looking for. The Movie Camera feature in the D800 is incredible, a full 1080p, coupled with the 36mp image quality, the D800 is without a doubt, the King of Multi-Media. The Nikon manual, with its smaller format and footprint, offers 19 pages of description on how to use this key feature. "Mastering the D800" has approximately 40 pages, spread out over two chapters on Live View and Preparing to Make Movies. All rich with descriptions, actual step by step Menu Screens and images to guide you through and understand the process. Chapters 1, 2 and 3 are 160 pages of descriptions, charts, menus and suggestions on simply setting up your camera, painstakingly described to make your quest for knowledge on how to get the most out of your D800 as easy as it can possibly be. This book is one of the best reads on mastering your D800 because it not only tells you what the manual offers, but it does so in full colour, that is rich in text and examples. You not only know where the buttons are and how to turn on the feature, but you also get a broader scoped lesson on how to use them properly to get the best image or move clip as a result. Good luck trying to glean this information from the manual. On many pages through out the book, Mr Young will also provide you with a tips on how he personally sets his D800 up and why, for optimal picture taking results. I found these extremely helpful and in many instances, I set my D800 up the way he recommends. I especially enjoyed the read on Active-D Lighting and the settings recommended by Mr. Young have not disappointed! "Mastering the Nikon D800" is a high quality paperback, printed on good quality paper full of colour menus, images and examples. It is a substantial book at an amazingly low price and if you want to get more out of your D800, this is the book to get. Amazon's service is also amazing, from the time you order it, you will be reading it in just a few days. Do yourself a favour to get the most out of your investment in the best camera on the market, treat yourself to "Mastering the Nikon D800", you won't be disappointed.

Dieses Buch kann jedem Benützer vieles vereinfacht erklären. Zudem bring der Autor viele Erfahrung mit entsprechenden Vorschlägen und Tipps. Der Aufbau ist logisch und einfacher zu lesen als die offizielle Gebrauchsanweisung. Wenn man englisch einigermassen versteht ist es keine Kunst dieses Buch zu verstehen und seine Kenntnisse der Kamera auszubauen. Ab und zu das Wörterbuch beziehen und alles ist mehr als verständlich genug geschrieben. Manche Dinge die mit der Gebrauchsanweisung unklar blieben, werden hier begreiflich. Wie Vielversprechen die Kamera ist, kann man gleich aus dem Umfang des Buches ersehen. Es ist sehr umfangreich geworden und einiges ist sogar nur sehr kurz gefasst oder gar mit Verweis behandelt. Echt empfehlenswert.

Covers all aspects of the camera