Magic Lantern Guide by Simon Stafford far superior
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The main problem I find with this book is that all it seems to do is copy much of its information out of the original Nikon User Guide and doesn't explain much of it in any greater detail - probably the main reason for getting it in the first place! At least the Nikon Guide is written in a logical order - not so with Mr Busch's effort! It also hardly mentions the personal customisation settings that are available on the D200 - something that I was particularly interested in. Not even the Field Projects section is described in anything more than a brief explanation for each topic. THIS BOOK LACKS DETAIL!! Get Simon Stafford's Magic Lantern Guide instead - it's far superior
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A book of waffle!
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The first third of the book is a 'large print' version of the manual, adding very little to the manual. It completely avoids explaining the more compex issues of say, focus modes, which for a guide to a camera which is of interest to the dedicated amateur or professional is poor to say the least. (There are some excellent articles available free on Nikon associated websites.)
The remainder of the book is on general photographic practice and mostly not related to the D200 at all.
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Not Good Enough
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Anybody who wants a good guide to the D200 should look elsewhere, sorry. I found the magic Lantern book a lot better. Look under AF-Area Mode Selector. The information is the wrong way round in this book, the author (D. Busch) states that the single-area AF is at the top, wrong! Its at the bottom of the switch, sorry I think thats a BIG error and caused me concern until I read the Nikon Manual.
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A useful book
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Well yes, you'll find much of what is in this book in the manual that comes with the camera.
But that would miss the point. This book is very readable, and will bring you up to speed with the camera rapidly. It's been written by someone who uses the camera, and can explain things clearly. The Nikon manual is in dreary black and white, and written by techies, life's too short.
And it doesn't cost a lot. You won't regret buying it, although you can probably skip the later chapters if you're an experienced photographer.
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Interesting, but...
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I recently bought the D200 and read the instruction book (included) cover to cover and found it easy to read and understand and had the camera working in no time at all. A few years ago I purchased the F5 and for the fun of it bought a Magic Lantern guide, it didn't really cover any more than I had learnt in the F5 manual.
So it was with trepidation that I ventured down the path of an other guide dedicated to a specific camera! I am of mixed mind...
Part 1 covers nothing really new, that I didn't know in the manufacturers guide! It is printed better and clearer to read, but that is as should be...
Part 1 continues to cover a little more, but again nothing that can't be read between the lines of the manual!
So I am at Part 2 on page 75 and I haven't learnt much that I didn't know before! Part 2 has info on Essentials, exposure DofF and HISTOGRAMS, helpful! All about lenses, ok, Working with light, prob have that in another book, and Photo Subjects. Again this is probably in other photo books but it is useful here and has over 100 pages dedicated to this subject!
Part 3 is troubleshooting and is only a few pages, so that is a plus point really!! It mentions dust removal and equipment to use!
There is a glossary at the back!
I will keep this book on the 100 pages of photo subjects and it has a few pages of useful info here and there, but I won't get another guide of its kind because I don't see the point! All the additional info is most probably available in other books and the included guide covers pretty much everything this does, shame.....
I have read other books by Busch and plan to check out some others, so the author can't be criticized, he knows his cameras!
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