Mastering the Nikon D800 (The Mastering Camera Guide Series) Paperback – September 1, 2012

I’m rather embarrassed to say that I’ve owned my D800 since June 2012 and thought I had it setup for “me” but I was very wrong. Before the D800 I had the D3, D300, and the D700. Before that, I had the Fujifulm S1 Pro and S2 Pro. All amazing cameras. The D800 was the best of cameras, and the worst of cameras. Actually, mostly for the worst. In the past I used the D800 for landscapes, and weddings in conjunction with my D700 and all Nikon glass. In early 2013 I was so fed-up with the D800, and Nikon that I bought a Fuji system - starting with the X-E1, and now with the X-T1 and a bevy of lenses. What an amazing camera the Fuji’s are. The Fuji’s became my “go-to” system for just about everything. I seriously tried to love the D800. Honest. But it just “pissed” me off so much that I only broke it out whenever I needed to use my SB700’s flash units. With the D800, when it nailed the shot the files were glorious, but I found it just to heavy to be worth the trouble of hauling it around “just in case.” I have in my kindle library another D800 book by a very popular Nikon guy that goes by the initials TH. A very detailed book, and it helped me somewhat but really wasn’t what I needed even though I’ve read through it several times. Fast forward to just a few days ago; I’ve been considering selling my D800 and my Nikon glass as it sat unused in my safe . As we’ve all seen the price of the D800 plummet I was going to get about one half of what I originally paid for it so I decided to give the camera one more chance before auctioning it off and taking a bath. I browsed around Amazon looking for simple book on the D800. I found this book. THIS IS THE SINGLE BEST BOOK I’VE READ ON ANY CAMERA! Period. Check my other reviews, I don’t BS; I tell it like it is. I read the book on Friday as I was a day long meeting that was so boring I had my iPad on my lap reading. Unfortunately I did not have the D800 with me. When I got home Friday evening, and into Saturday afternoon I re-read the entire book starting with the first chapter! This time with the camera by my side. The book is a step by step instruction guide, easily read, beautifully written with clear, concise explanations and recommendations. The layout follows the menu on the D800. I’m an OCD type of person so this was very helpful to my way of thinking. I am just blown away by what I got out of this book. What a difference it has made in the overall performance of the camera, and my keepers. The day after I made all the modifications based on the recommendations in the book I put what I had learned into practice and was extremely pleased with the setup, and the results I was able to obtain. Now, I thought I had the D800 setup for “my style” over time since acquiring the camera. Uh - Uh. I was wrong. Here I’ve had the camera about three years and in just a couple of days learned so much more. I went along with the book and made many changes then tested the camera. What a difference. Listen, Just get the book! This was my last ditch effort before I got rid of this albatross of a camera (what it felt like to me) but after making the various changes I am actually happy with the results I’m getting now. I am now taking it with me on a week long stock/travel shooting trip I have planned. And yes, I read the manual, and as I mentioned early on in my review I’ve purchased the D800 guide from TH and it helped, but not to the extent of this book. Just get it! You won’t regret it.

I recently upgraded my camera equipment to a Nikon D800 and very soon realized what a monster this camera was in comparison to what I had used before. I am a decent photographer but had not realized how advanced the D800 was until I tried to make sense of it using the manual Nikon had included in the box. Safe to say I was struggling making heads or tails of the thousands settings in this camera and I started thinking I just might had taken on a too big of a challenge when purchasing this camera.Finding Darrell Young's "Mastering the Nikon D800" was the help I so desperately needed to fully grasp and being able to utilize my new camera to the fullest. Darrell walks you through every nook and cranny of the Nikon D800, every setting and every knob and add some. The author takes you through the menus one by one, drilling down in each section and explains thoroughly what the different settings do and also for what kind of photography each setting is best suited for. Also, for each section there is a recommended setting explaining why the author prefers this, but also that for other types of photography the setting recommended might not suit all photographers.I have read through the whole book and I know have my camera setup exactly how I want it and my photos have improved accordingly, I also have the book always ready in my smartphone in case I want to go back to a setting and change it for a particular shoot.Nikon really should include this book as part of the package when you get this camera and pay the author for every camera sold, this should be mandatory reading for anyone buying the fantastic monster that is the Nikon D800.

If you have invested $3K in a Nikon D800, you owe it to yourself to get the most you can out of this excellent camera. The D800 is a feature-rich technical marvel that allows you to capture photographs like no other camera has before - I know because I own one. Darrell Young has done an outstanding job of providing a very readable book that digs into all the technical features that should be understood by a D800 user; and does so in a very logical, structured, and easy to follow manner. I learned a lot about this camera not found in the owner's manual.I could echo all of the other positive comments left by the previous reviewers, but I would only be duplicating what you have already read.I do want to point out one other aspect of the printed version of Darrell's book. At 600 pages, I was expecting the book to be physically very large, but it is not. The paper it's printed on is very high grade; the sheets are very thin but very durable; and the printing quality is excellent. As a result the size is perfect - it even fits into my camera bag. I have a lot of ebooks, but I am glad I bought the printed version of this one. I may be old-school, but I like holding a book and being able to flip through the pages. This is a very high quality paperback printing.Thanks Darrell and Nikonians.org for putting out such a great resource for my D800!