Mastering the Nikon D7000

A long review from a tough critic!First off, I am a new DSLR user. Back in my film days, I had a Nikon N90...I was ready to take the plung to digital after more than disappointing results with my photos from the World Equestrian Games the fall of 2010. A kind soul at one of the shows let me play with her Nikon D300s...it was that point I knew I was ready for a DSLR. After a month of research, I was convinced I 'needed' the D7000 that was set to release in November 2010...after more research (and reading lots of reviews) I made the purchase of my D7000 in August of 2011 (along with a large wish list that had grown over the months leading up to the DSLR purchase!)...Mastering the D7000 is my third book purchase on the Nikon D7000. I also have the two books by David Busch (the field guide and the main book Nikon D7000 Guide to Digital SLR Photography). While these books are nice, and explain the users manual well, they only scratch the surface. Oh, I do not even know where to start on the awesomeness of Darrell Youngs 'Mastering the Nikon D7000'.This book is hands down, the best of the best. Each section references the page(es) in the users manual which I really like. The book also sports a nice index and table of contents. Each section has a 'thumb-tab' (black edge and chapter number) so you can easily flip through the section. Almost every chapter has a full blank page for notes at the end of the chapter.Darrell gives excellent in-depth explainations of EVERYTHING you could possibly want to know...digging into areas where the David Busch books skimmed over (the David Busch books briefly explained some of the advanced areas, but didn't give any in-depth explaination ---much less an example!). This book gives personal examples throughout the book and suggestions, even offering his setting for this item (and why he has it set this way).The books has EXCELLENT photos of the menu paths. Other books have one big picture of the top level menu. This book has at least two and up to six (!), screenshots of the menu path on how to get to the setting and set it! Where there are multiple screenshots, they are placed horizonally across the screen and numbered to outline the flow (left to right as you would expect). I love this!!The book is super nice...nice paper, nice color pictures and lots and lots of nice color screenshots of menus! Nice sized book - 479 pages and small enough to fit in your bag (although the page count does tend to make it a little heavy)The book also uses color coding, numbering and italics/bold....Blue to refer to camera settings, green for functions and settings displayed on the cameras LCD screen, and italics for textual prompts seen on the cameras LCD screen. I LOVE this feature...it really helps the text 'pop' making the text an easy read. Darrell also uses outline features: numbering 1,2,3...bullets and alpha a,b,c....this also helps break up the text and makes the text easy to read.I cannot express enough how much I love this book. I am a hardcore 'book person', and am VERY judgemental when it comes to books and what I like. When I purchase a book, binding, paper and format are important to me if I am going to read and reread the book...I don't want it to fall apart after light use.Also, I signed up for Nikonian.org, I stumbled upon this site before this book came and was surprised to see forum posts answered by Darrell! This site is the office e-mag site for Nikon photographers....great site, sign up if you aren't already a memeber! This book also has a 50% off coupon for the Gold membership (I actually opted for the cheapy $25 option...you get it free for 30days when you sign up).Buy this book! If you own/plan on owning a D7000, you NEED this book, or else you are going to be missing features the camera has, that other books neglect mentioning...or explaining how to set up and use! A 10-star book! The authors enthusiasm for the Nikon D7000 is clearly shown throughout the book :)Thanks!Anke

To say that the Nikon D7000 is not a simple camera is an understatement.The manual that comes with it is fairly comprehensive, but like most user manuals, it talks more about what a particular button or feature DOES without shedding much light onto WHEN or HOW you might use it in the real world.Darrell's book not only does a much better job of explaining the nuts and bolts aspect of the camera, but he enhances that information with examples (in both written and photographic form) that make the "a-ha!" light bulb come on.At the end of each section, he makes a personal recommendation of how to set or employ a given feature based upon his extensive experience with the D7000 and other Nikon cameras. There's nothing preachy about these suggestions, so it's not as though he ever says "you must set it this way." Indeed, there are times when he comes right out and says "this might not work for you, but here's why it works for me." I find that refreshing and invaluable.I make my living writing technical manuals and appreciate the fine line a writer must walk between making things simple enough for new users to understand (at the risk of boring or under-informing more advanced users) and comprehensive enough for more savvy photographers (at the risk of causing less experienced readers to close the book in frustration). Darrell walks that line extremely well here, and has created a book that is both easy to read and deeply informative.He also has a knack for breaking complex concepts, functions, and menus down into useable information, which is not an easy task with a camera this complex (or with Nikon's sometimes baffling menu system).Perhaps the most refreshing thing about this book, though, is that you don't get the impression that it's just a re-hash of the manual or of another book. There are plenty of books out there that just seem to re-package the information already contained in the manual, or, worse yet, are pretty much word-for-word cut and paste copies of the books the same author has written for a dozen other cameras with "D7000" inserted where it would make a difference. You get the impression this book was written from the ground up for the D7000.As a bonus, the book comes with a coupon that offers a significant savings on a membership to one of the best Nikon forums on the web. In fact, if you intended to purchase a subscription to that forum anyway, the coupon more than offsets the purchase price of the book. Quite the deal!Bottom line: This is the best book I've found to date for those who really want to comprehend and master all of the capabilities of the Nikon D7000, and I highly recommend it.Jim

Mastering the Nikon D7000 is written in a folksy, conversational style that most will enjoy but some may find will-you-get-to-the-point frustrating. I just became acccustomed to it, and was rewarded with a clear & comprehensive walk-through guide to a great camera that, like the game of chess, can be learned in 10 minutes but takes many hours to master. You can read it cover-to-cover or jump around, either way the book is meant to be used with your D7000 in hand. Like the author, I have been shooting first film then digital for a long time, and before reading this book was not aware of the vast capabilities of the D7000. The instruction manual that comes with the camera is pretty dry reading and sometimes less than clear, especially about why change the presets and what you can accomplish. If you are serious about getting the most out of your D7000, reading this book will be time well spent.