I would just like to say that although a late acquirer of a D800, I felt it sensible to have to hand a definitive reference to accompany it. I wish I had had his book on the D7000 when I bought it, it would have saved me a lot of angst

The reason for my post is to advise newbie D800 users that this really is a comprehensive and extremely well written book that can be downloaded to iPhone, iPad or PC. Thom Hogan seems to transcend all levels of photographers by writing with both fluency, accuracy and also writes in plain english! It's not without humour either.

It's not so much that I've been introduced to much that's totally new to me, but the intricacies of what is to be learned within each camera setting or application has been extremely beneficial. In many ways it took me back to basics and that's never a bad thing. I have learned so much already and is the best money I've spent in quite a while. Nice on Thom.

Richard

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Richard I would like to back up what you say about Thom's book. Although it is about 850 pages long there is a wealth of information in it. Coming from a D800 I had no real problems using the D800, but there are so many little changes as well as big ones that having this book on hand is great.
I have looked at other books on the camera and none come even close to the wealth of information that Thom gives. Well worth the investment

Simon

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I agree with Richard and Simon. Thom Hogan knows his stuff, and if you read all the way through this book you'll be a genuine expert on the D800, and, to a certain extent, all of Nikon's high-end DSLRs.

Russ Lewis
www.FineArtSnaps.com

I couldn't agree more and an important aspect for me is that he gives a history lesson too. Also, I have read a few other books where AF fine tune is mentioned as a good idea, however it's never explained how to successfully achieve it. Probably, because of a risk factor when it goes wrong! Thom's book does talk about it in some detail, even if like me one is unlikely to undertake it. He certainly knows how to describe technical detail in an understandable way.

Richard

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While I'm sure Thom's book is great, I'd like to suggest Darrel Young's Mastering the D800 book. It's incredibly well written and will give any reader a commanding knowledge of the D800 by the time they finish. Also, it's a book that is written and supported by Nikonians.


-Alex Rosen
www.flickr.com/photos/klrbee25/

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I wondered when that would be raised. I have both of Darrel's books on the D700 and D7000 and they are both excellent. It is true that if Thom's book had not been available for download and only available as hard copy I probably would not have bought it due to cost. I will download Darrel's book when it is issued as a Kindle and will read and digest it as I have Thom Hogan's book.

You are correct that Darrel's books are truly excellent, but do not go into the depth of explanation that Thom's books do as that's not the intention. Rather, Darrel's books are high quality and more explicit manuals compared to the with camera manuals that come in the box.

There's room for both in my library.

Richard

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Is Darryl's book available in PDF?
Thom's book is excellent.
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Please visit my galleries: Reza Gorji Photography

It's coming to e-readers shortly if it hasn't already. Not sure on plain pdfs though.


-Alex Rosen
www.flickr.com/photos/klrbee25/

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Tom's book is great and I also look forward to the Kindle edition of Darrel's.

Me at 500px

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Quick question on a related subject. I dnld'd Thom's book to my PC and I-pad, and am really finding it usefull. However, I would really like to be able to highlight certain passages for later reference and cannot do that currently. I dnld'd adobe reader to my PC and when I open the book on my PC it opens with adobe and I can highlight and bookmark. I then dnld'e Adobe reader to my I-pad, but cannot figure out how to get the book to open in it as there are no "open with" options!

Anyone have any ideas? This I-pad is my first Apple product and my first pad and while I generally enjoy it, I am finding it frustrating to work with sometimes.

Thanks
Tony

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

you can buy apps like iannotatepdf or notes plus or notes taker hd and open pdf books in these apps and mark up or highlight all you want

Visit my Nikonians gallery.

It's a weird way to do it, but one usually opens a pdf with the Abode app by locating the finding on your ipad and then selecting it. When the file pops up, there is often an icon of a curved arrow at one of the top corners of the iPad screen. When you touch that, you'll get an "Open with..." menu where you then select which PDF reader app on your ipad you want to "open" the pdf with. The Adobe app will be one of those options. So the question is...where on your ipad is the file. I pull my pdfs from email, iBooks, or files stored on iCloud. Opening up with Adobe app and then trying to find the file unfortunately does work. I hope this makes sense, because it's very counter-intuitive and confusing.

My favorite PDF app is GoodReader. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. It not only has all the mark up features (highlights, underline, cross-out), but it also has margin notes capabilities, a search feature and a mark-up catalog feature. You can pull up a list of all your mark-ups and then jump straight to that page by selecting the markup. You can also print a list of the markups you made. I spend a lot of time at work reading pdfs, and this app makes it SO much easier to track and markup pdfs. I highly recommend it.

sbp

sbp
www.flickr.com/photos/sbpatel75

I tend to clumsily march to the beat of my own off-rhythm drum.

D800 + Way too much $$S spent on Nikon lenses =

I agree and Thom recommends Goodreader and that's what I use too. It has the ability to do everything like marking etc.

Richard

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Adobe Acrobat Pro will highlight text.

(Tools/Comment & Markup/Hightlight Text Tool)

I can only speak for Tom's book, which not only answeres a number of questions i had about operation of the d800, but also provided some excellent suggestions for custom settings, use models, etc. Well worth the investment!

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I was finally able to get thom's PDF to open in Adobe, but unlike on my PC, it shows a lock in the bottom right corner and won't let me do a lot of stuff that I can do on my computer including highligting!???

Looks like it's time to give Goodreader a try. Thanks for the help!


Tony

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Visit my Nikonians gallery.

Just a note of thanks to Richard and sbp (and Thom!) for recommending Goodreader. Apparantly Apple doesn't play well with Adobe, but Goodreader works great. Able to highlight, underline, define,ect. with ease. Should have started here in the first place when I downloaded the instructions for the PDF from Thom. I like a lot of the features of the I-pad but Apple and pads are a steep learning curve after windows and PCs!

Thanks
Tony

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Visit my Nikonians gallery.

I've purchased the D800 book some time ago and find it a great source of information as the books I bought for the D200 and D300. Unfortunately I recently lost the ebook while restoring my notebook. I hadn't backed it up. I tried several times to contact Thom for another download link but didn't get any response. I thought my emails landed in spam and even used alternative email adresses to no avail. Did anyone ever get email response from Thom? I don't like to pay for the ebook again.

Regards, Daniel

Daniel Diggelmann
A Swiss Nikonian

I've sent and received numerous e-mails from Thom using the link on his website. I'm usually amazed at how such a busy guy can be so responsive, and I'm just a reader/customer of his. He's been in Germany for the photo trade show, so maybe when he gets home?

Creating images the new-fashioned way!

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My most liked aspect about his guide is that I'm always finding snippets of previously unknown information. Also, he's not afraid to indicate that sometimes if an image is eg. out of focus etc, he either tells me if it's my fault possibly, but advises on the best route to rectify it. This, I find refreshing, not something one normally finds in manuals.

Richard

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Does anyone know how to create bookmarks in the pdf when using Acrobat Pro on a PC?

I can highlight text but Thom's security settings don't seem to allow the creation of new bookmarks (CTRL + B is greyed out).