Magic Lantern Books

I recently purchased an Elan IIE and I'm wondering about the usefulness of the Magic Lantern books. Some of the information in the owner's manual stops a little short in it's explanation. Any opinions?

Magic Lantern books are superb. They go into a bit more depth than the

manual. I have the Elan IIe as well and the ML book for it. I consult

it before I pick up my manual. It also has quite a section on Canon EF

lenses that might help you choose a(nother) lens to put on your

camera. By all means, pick one up.

The Magic Lantern guides are worth purchasing, but I would still

become very familiar with the Canon owner's manual. The ML guides are

certainly more entertaining and readable than the owner's manual, and

they typically offer interesting discussions on the history of Canon

design evolution for both lenses and camera bodies, as well as

occasional comments on any quirks or idiosyncrasies; the

author(s) may also point out any discrepancies or errors that they

detected in the manual. I've owned Magic Lantern guides for the EOS

1n, A2, Elan, and 540EZ flash, as well as George Lepp's Magic Lantern

guide on Canon lenses, and while none of these guides could ever be

described as exhaustive or in-depth, they are fun reading and somewhat

helpful. Also, they typically contain some nice color plates (and

they often contain a note thanking Chuck Westfall of Canon USA for his

expertise and advice in the preparation of the manuals).

Neither the owners manual or the ML books really give you much technical info. It's a real shame too, because the Elan II has lots of technical stuff to know. Bob Atkins web site has a very good primer on E-TTL flash that every Elan II owner needs to read. Also the FAQ's that you can access from there are very helpfull.

IMHO, purchasing this book was worst $20 I've ever spent on photo.

 

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The book consists of a) material form manual b) small doze of

absolutely trivial general photography info c) misinformation.

 

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For its volume, it should cost $5; for its content, you should be

paid for your time when reading it!

 

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Just my impression.