Which D700 guide

[mark_s8]

<p>My D700 shows up this week, and there are a half dozen in-depth guides on this beast from Darrell Young and James Johnson, Busch, Thomas, etc...<br>

<br /> The Young/Johnson guide looks nice. Would like to hear from others on that guides they have liked, and why. This is my first pro-FX camera, and I would like to really learn it and get the most out of it.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>There is always Thom Hogan's guide: <a href="http://www.bythom.com/nikond700guide.htm">http://www.bythom.com/nikond700guide.htm</a></p>

<p>Hogan is a well known Nikon expert, and his books have a lot of good details. Be prepared to do a lot of reading and perhaps skip some sections. My full disclosure is that I was one of the proof-readers for this book, but that was completely voluntary and I received no financial compensation for that, other than receiving a free copy. I have never met Hogan in person or even spoken to him over the phone.</p>

<p>Recently Hogan has made a lot of speculations about future Nikon products. I was totally surprised that he (or perhaps someone else using his name?) participates in the discussion on some rumor sites that have little creditability. However, the quality of his books remains high.</p>

[Matthew Brennan]

<p>+1 for Thom Hogan's D700 Guide. I've had one for each of the D300 and D700 IMHO they represent excellent value for money for the non-expert who want to get more out of thier camera and understand the technology better.</p>

[gen]

<p>+1 for Thom Hogan's guide. To be able to have both PDF and paper copies is wonderful. It is the definitive guide imo.</p>

[ArthurRichardson]

<p>I don't know Thom's guide but I am quite happy with Darryl's guide.</p>

[erik_christensen3]

<p>+1 for Thom Hogan's guide - both as a paper and ebook</p>

[scott_murphy_photography]

<p>J. Dennis Thomas' Nikon D700 Field Guide (ISBN 978-0-470-41320-3) published by Wiley and available for around $20, is a good one too. It is sized so you can shove it into your camera bag and keep it there.</p>

[gary payne]

<p>Before you buy either book, I'd recommend reading the manual. I found the D700 manual to be coherent and easy to understand, at least as compared to other NIKON manuals I've read.</p>

[pge]

<p>I am with Gary on this one, I went through the manual page by page with the camera sitting beside me and I learned quite a bit. With a solid understanding of the manual, plus your friends at PN, what more do you need.<br /> <br /> On thing that I learned from PN that I did not learn from the manual is that when the camera is set to work off the aperture ring and not the sub-commander dial live view will not work. Who would have figured that out for themselves, not me anyways, PN to the rescue.</p>

[mark_s8]

<p>Thanks guys, I'll get Hogan's guide coming. In deference to to Gary's comment above however, I would agree, the Nikon manuals do adequately explain how each knob, buttom, function, etc...operate....and they do that quite well, and in looking through my dad's D700 manuals, it is slightly better. And that's to be expected in manuals such as those written by technical writers. I'm just looking for something a bit more in line with getting the most out of the camera from a compositon/artistic standpoint. But yes, the OEM manual can teach me how to "use" the camera.</p>

<p>thanks</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>BTW, Hogan's guide is actually a PDF file (actually a few PDFs) on a CD ROM. He also supplies a quick-reference booklet that is a real paper book.</p>

[mark_s8]

<p>Thanks Shun.</p>

<p>Mark</p>

[graham_thompson1]

<p>Dare I mention Ken Rockwells guide. Downloadable from his site. Not detailed but a good starting point.<br>

I printed it out A4 and bound it.</p>

[andrew_fedon]

<p>I found the D700 Magic Lantern Guide to be quite adequate.</p>

[randy_partridge]

<p>I was wondering if someone could help me understand why the Hogan Guide ($47.00 for a mail order CD) would be a better value than the recenly published Busch Guide (currently $20.00 at Amazon)?</p>