Thom Hogan's 'Complete Guide to the Nikon D200'

I'm kind of intersted in Thom Hogan's Complete Guide to the Nikon D200. The only thing that has stopped

me purchasing it thus far is that I like to browse a book before I buy. So given that this is not possible in

this case, can anyone post their thoughts on it or write a quick review even?

I'm fairly well versed in Nikon and film and digital beginning with a Nikon 801s (8008) in 1988, so one of

those little camera field guides I've already seen won't help me too much.

If Thom Hogan reads this, then have you considered having a sample chapter of your books available as a

free download?

Thanks for any insights...

I have Thom's eBooks on D70 and D2X. Did not get D200 yet.

All his books are very complete huge volumes of information, and you cannot get wrong getting one without reading first. The information in Thom's books is highly technical, as appropriate to explain intricacies of the details. In addition to the technical information, there is plenty of advice, procedures, examples, etc. that anyone can read. The level of coverage, completeness, is unparalleled in any other book on the same subject.

The books are not necessarily easy to read, but provide information that sometimes is missing in some "easy to do" books.

As Frank has stated, expect to spend several weeks fully absorbing the books, although

you will get useful information on day 1.

Also included with the book itself are various spreadsheets and other tools, for such things

as computing depth of field.

One negative is that there are no free updates to his books.

I am a big fan of Thom's guides and have three of them: F100, D100, D200. They are an order-of-magnitude bettern than the Nikon manuals, and also much better than the Magic Lantern guides, IMHO.

The D200 guide is 729 PDF pages and covers every possible thing you would need to know about the camera. Thom includes very in-depth explanations of every function of the camera, including all the numerous custom settings. The four D200 AF modes are explained very well. About 60 pages alone are dedicated to the D200 various flash modes, along with a good treatise on the SB-600 and -800.

In addition, after reading the D200 guide you will have gone through a mini-course on digital photography, and specifically, how digital sensors work.

As you can tell, I am a big fan of Thom's Nikon guides. I view the D200 guide as some of the best money I've spent in photography. It will help you get the most out of your D200.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1021&message=19309974

Worth every penny and then some!

Terrific book. As complete as you could want.

I have his D70 book, also. Excellent

He recognizes the human fallibilities of writers and includes errata pages on his Web site. Recognizing the limited resources of his clientele, he provides updates to his customers at very low prices. The update on the D70 covers the D70s and Firmware 2.0, in addition to more text about PictBridge and Picture Project.

The book is formatted to allow for printing a hard copy, if you wish, a right he gives you in his license. I have done so with my D70 book. Actually, Kinko's did it for me. The D200 will be printed as 2 volumes because it is so large.

The Table of Contents for the D200 book is available at http://www.bythom.com/D200TOC.pdf