Nikon D200 Digital Field Guide by David D. Busch (2006, Paperback)

For those of you looking for a beginners guide to a complex tool such as the d200, look no further than this book. While I have had previous experience with other nikon cameras, namely the d70, the d200 was not too great of a leap in terms of general control. What was confusing were the myriad of menus and submenus such that even the most skilled photographers require a significant learning curve to understand. This is where the book comes in handy as what the d200 manual lacks in explanation of menus, this book provides. For the most part, any question I had regarding a complex mechanism on the camera was explained well. There were times however when the book failed to really answer my question when I needed a very detailed answer.

Beyond the technical details concerning camera control, this book provides a great intro into the basic tenets of photography, touching breifly many pertinent topics. The book covers such things as F-stops, shutter speed, iso, focal length, lens types, light and contrast, post processing and filters to name a few. While I personally did not find these sections to be helpful due to their less detailed nature, I'm sure an amateur would be appreciative of this section to acclimate them to the basics.

I don't recommend this book if you feel as though you understand the basics of photography and how to operate a DSLR as the nikon manual is sufficient to answer most questions. But if you bought the d200 with only limited knowledge or are only familiar with film, this book provides a good reference guide.