Magic Lantern Guides: Nikon D80

The Magic Latern Guide for the Nikon D80 is proving to be an valuable resource. It is a straight forward guide in logical progression of information. The text simplifies the complex technology of Nikon's digital camera. I have found functions I would never have known about except through this guide. It travels with me on every photo shoot. I have assimilated information much more quickly and utilized the camera more comfortably as a result of using this guide.

I am an advanced amateur just trasitioning from film to digital. I bought the D-80 because I wanted a camera I could grow into rather than out of, and all opinions/reviews seem to agree this is such a a camera. However Nikon's operating manual did not enable me to feel I was ever going to be able to understand and learn to harness the camera's potential. I wanted something that would help me get organized and feel I was on a path that would enable me to understand and become confident with the camera. This book turned it all around. It provides an organized, logical, tutorial that clearly explains what the D-80 does; how to make it work for me; and supplements this with just the right amount additional information which promotes the feeling of not only how but why as well. I now feel I am going to be able to learn to use the camera and has enabled me to relax and look forward with confidence to using this remarkable tool. The little wallet-sized cheat sheet enclosed with this book is like training wheels that will prevent me from crashing and feeling I am never going to successfully master and fully enjoy this fine machine. The book's clarity and organization have enabled me to overcome my anxiety. It is "Just what I neededd". I think most new owners of the D-80 will agree it is just what is needed.

Some of the value of this book lies in Nikon's lousy D80 manual. Nikon's manual is ill organized and printed in gray on toilet paper. Okay, maybe it is recycled paper. Stafford's Guide is full of well-organized information. It is well printed. I can even recognize the small icons in the text (not true of all camera books). I wish publishers would not shrink icons a second time to place them in tables. However, even these tiniest of icons are recognizable in this Guide. The author, Simon Stafford, is an experienced photographer and author. His Scottish education and UK roots show through in his language but are not distracting. Unfortunately, poor editing diminishes Stafford's excellent writing and technical presentation. Lesser typographical errors are just distracting but some errors get in the way of understanding. "...offers the photographer total control overexposure, ..." stumps the eye until you realize it should have been "...over exposure". That said, Magic Lantern/Lark Books printed the book on decent paper (except the covers curl) and with black ink. Vastly better than Nikon's manual. The photos, especially the super-close-up photos of the D80's anatomy, are very clear. The rich typography is excellent: headings are bold, bullets are well used to structure lists, captions are set off and readable, and on and on. Point being, the production folk have done about all that can be done to make the printed material easy to read and understand. It is as if this book was well conceived, well designed, well written, and well printed, but the publisher skipped the final steps of preprinting production: the editing and index are not up to the quality of the rest of the book. The index should be five times its skimpy two pages of large print. I go on about the index because we are reading this book not for pleasure but to learn something: to understand how to use the D80's features. Especially, I want to be able to quickly locate how to change camera settings. Fortunately, the Table of Contents is nine pages of compact, structured, easy-to-scan print and stands in for the unusable index. I seldom find book glossaries useful. This book is an exception. The sixty-plus terms are well selected and the several-to-many-sentence descriptions contain just the right amount and level of information. So why five stars after all the griping and groaning? You can get past the inadequate final editing and the printing keeps the content from turning to mush; in fact, the printing lifts Stafford's excellent writing up and makes its content quick and easy to understand and retain. The book is 334 pages not counting the index (and you should not count the index). I can't believe the low price. Content, printing, and price offset the editing. For its few flaws, it really is an excellent book.

This is actually the manual Nikon should include with the D80. If this is your first Nikon DSRL you should read it from start to finish. Many parts will be boring because it covers subjects you already now from your SRL photography experience. However you will find all over the book interesting and useful things about the D80. The Nikon D80 manual coverage on the camera es to brief, and you need a lot of experimentation to discover how things work. The Magic Lantern book covers things in detail, with this book you should also experiment, but basically practice the acquired knowledge.

For $12.50, I don't see why you would debate buying this book as it can only help you in understanding your D80. The book is a lot larger (pagewise) than previous Magic Lantern guides that I've purchased in the past. It fits nicely in your camera / gadget bag so you can easily take it with you in the field. The book goes through all the custom setting functions, and it gives you suggestions which I like. The Blue Crane DVD goes through the functions but does not give you suggestions so you have to either experiment, or guess which setting you want to use and what the outcome will be. The pictures are black and white but they are very clear and sharp. I had an N70 Magic Lantern guide and the pictures were "fuzzy" and I could not understand what the author was trying to point out with them. You can also feel confident knowing that the book is up to date because in the flash photography section, they talk about the SB-400 and the SB-400 came out in November or December. In short, the book is easy to read, very in-depth, and I think every D80 owner should have this book. For $12 it is a steal. I am extremely happy with this purchase.