David Busch's Compact Field Guide for the Canon EOS 60D Review

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(More customer reviews)This new series of books continues to shape up as one of the most useful, and first actual new addition to the camera guide format that we've seen. What Busch has done is create a companion to his full size camera guides in the form of an ultra-compact spiral-bound book that's a condensation of the most essential information you need to operate your Canon EOS 60D camera. Unlike the manual furnished with the camera, or those laminated cheat sheets that fold out into six index card sized tabs with one-sentence summaries of most of the menu settings, Busch's Compact Field Guide series provides clear, easy to understand guidance in a most convenient format. Its contents include:
Chapter 1. Quick Setup Guide. Hand your camera and this book to any newbie, and they'll be off and shooting in minutes. It shows how to adjust the viewfinder to their vision, format a memory card, choose the right exposure mode (with a paragraph describing each mode and when to use it), how -- and why -- to select a metering mode, followed by lucid explanations of selecting autofocus, autofocus area modes, white balance, and ISO settings. There's a quick guide to navigating through and reviewing the images you've just shot, as well as a quick guide to flash. These are just the basics, and the typical shooter will probably refer to this chapter just once, when they begin using the camera.
Chapter 2. Canon EOS 60D Roadmap. This 28-page chapter is filled with large photographs of the camera from multiple views, with a paragraph describing what each and every control does, and why it's used. The manual furnished with the 60D gives you black and white drawings and cross references to multiple pages buried deep in the manual.
Chapter 3. Shooting and Playback Menu settings. Here's where Busch's Compact Field Guide excels. Unlike the command cards, small guidebooks, and manual packaged with the camera, Busch offers complete descriptions of each possible setting, including the rationale for using particular options. The book is spiral bound so it can lay flat while you read the instructions and adjust your camera simultaneously. Small illustrations show the menus in question, but you'll use them only to confirm that you're "in the right place" as you navigate the menus in your own camera. Although the information in this and the following chapter are condensed from those in Busch's full sized guide, they still are more comprehensive than those you'll find in other books.
Chapter 4. Setup, Custom Functions, and and My Menu settings. Same as Chapter 3, but for the other menus.
Chapter 5. Using the flash. Everything you need to know about selecting a flash metering mode, flash sync mode, flash exposure compensation, etc. is here.
Chapter 6. Making Movies. You get all the basics for using the 60D's movie-making capabilities, plus a quick checklist of techniques that can make your mini-videos that much better.
Chapter 7. Shooting tips. This chapter consists of a series of charts with recommended menu and shooting settings for many common types of scenes. This is a brilliant addition, and you won't find it in other guidebooks at all.
Although this portable guide duplicates some of the information found in David Busch's Canon EOS 60D Guide to Digital SLR Photography, they make a great pair for home and field. You probably could benefit from owning both.

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David Busch's Canon EOS 60D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Review

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(More customer reviews)Busch has once again raised the bar for Canon EOS 60D guidebooks with this massive and comprehensive manual for Canon's down-sized, re-booted advanced amateur camera model. It offers information and tips you simply won't find in the condensed books and OEM manual re-hashes. He's maintained the clear and accessible descriptions of features from his earlier 50D book, and supplemented them with an expansive treatment of this new camera's innovative features. For example, the 60D has a new built-in wireless flash controller, and Busch devotes an entire chapter to that. Movie-making gets expanded coverage here, with an entire chapter of step-by-step instructions and tips. Autofocus is glossed over in many guides, but Busch has a full chapter explaining its intricacies, and how to nail perfect focus every time.
The book is a photography course, too, with an introduction to both basic and advanced concepts, all geared towards use of the 60D, so that readers can master picture-taking as they master their cameras. Busch recognizes that each camera is unique, and although the explanations of basic concepts like exposure, shutter speeds, and apertures are similar across all models in all his books, the Canon 60D deserves detailed coverage. In this book, he manages to do that while still tailoring his explanations to suit beginners who have purchased a Canon 60D as their first D-SLR, intermediate photographers looking to improve their skills, and advanced shooters who want a fast way to learn the camera and gain some tips.
The book is well-organized so that any photographer of any level can quickly locate what they need to know. For example, there's a "Getting Started" chapter, which, the author acknowledges, will likely be read only after the reader has already taken a few hundred photos. It provides the kind of pre-flight checklist you wish you had when you bought your first digital SLR. Next comes a Quick Start chapter that leads you through the essential features of the camera, with just the basics and none of the mind-numbing detail, allowing you to immediately go out and shoot your best pictures, ever. The third chapter is a "roadmap" guide that carefully explains each of the controls on the camera, with many photos and the right amount of information. The thick, but small-format book that comes with the 60D has many cross-references that send you darting around. Busch gives you the nitty gritty here.
The author does devote several long chapters to explaining every menu option and, more importantly, why you should use each setting. Most other guides just list the menu item choices, and don't give you detailed examples of when to use a particular setting. The other books simply don't have room for this kind of depth. Highly recommended.

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David Busch's Canon EOS 7D Guide to Digital SLR Photography Review

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(More customer reviews)"David Busch's Canon EOS 7D Guide to Digital SLR Photography" has at least twice as much useful information as any of the compact guidebooks, as befits this advanced camera -- Canon's most affordable "pro/semi-pro" model. The two full chapters on lighting, which includes one chapter dedicated just to this camera's new built-in wireless flash capabilities, are worth the cost of the book alone.
Quite simply, this book, like his other guides, doesn't fit in the cookie-cutter mold of the other books on the shelves. Those typically re-hash the material you find in the booklet stuffed in the box with the camera, providing slightly longer and easier-to-understand explanations of the basic controls and menu settings, plus add some generic photography advice. That's a viable approach, but not particularly satisfying for someone who really wants to master a new camera like the Canon 7D.
Busch recognizes that each camera is unique, and although the explanations of basic concepts like exposure, shutter speeds, and apertures are similar across all models in all his books, the Canon 7D deserves detailed coverage. In this book, he manages to do that while still tailoring his explanations to suit beginners who have purchased a Canon 7D as their first D-SLR, intermediate photographers looking to improve their skills, and advanced shooters who want a fast way to learn the camera and gain some tips. You can't do that with a cookie-cutter book.
Including the introductory material, I counted more than 500 pages, all well-organized so that any photographer of any level can quickly locate what they need to know. For example, there's a "Getting Started" chapter, which, the author acknowledges, will likely be read only after the reader has already taken a few hundred photos. It provides the kind of pre-flight checklist you wish you had when you bought your first digital SLR. Next comes a Quick Start chapter that leads you through the essential features of the camera, with just the basics and none of the mind-numbing detail, allowing you to immediately go out and shoot your best pictures, ever. The third chapter is a "roadmap" guide that carefully explains each of the controls on the camera, with many photos and the right amount of information. The thick, but small-format book that comes with the 7D has many cross-references that send you darting around. Busch gives you the nitty gritty here.
Then, in a welcome departure from the organization of other guidebooks, Busch leaves the discussion of detailed menus and setup options for later in the book. Instead, he gives you three "Beyond the Basics" chapters devoted to Understanding Exposure, Mastering the Mysteries of Autofocus, and Advanced Shooting,Live View, and Movie-Making. Each of these are detailed tutorials on using the 7D's sophisticated features. Even Canon veterans may be mystified by the 7D's new autofocus options, which allow you to set up, for example, different autofocus zones for vertical and horizontal shooting orientations. Busch explains all these options, as well as the underlying technology behind autofocus, clearly and completely. The lengthy, tip-filled movie-making section was excellent, too, and appropriate given the 7D's full HD capabilities.
The author does devote several long chapters to explaining every menu option and, more importantly, why you should use each setting. Most other guides just list the menu item choices, and don't give you detailed examples of when to use a particular setting. The other books simply don't have room for this kind of depth. Highly recommended.


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Welcome to the Canon EOS 7D, Canon's new digital SLR that is loaded with professional features at an affordable price. DAVID BUSCH'S CANON EOS 7D GUIDE TO DIGITAL SLR PHOTOGRAPHY shows readers how to make the most of their camera's robust feature set, including 18 megapixel resolution, blazing fast automatic focus, the real-time preview system Live View, and full HD movie-making capabilities, to take outstanding photos and videos. They'll learn how, when, and, most importantly, why to use all the cool features and functions of their camera to take eye-popping photographs. Introductory chapters will help them get comfortable with the basics of their camera before you dive right into exploring creative ways to apply the Canon EOS 7D's exposure modes, focus controls, and electronic flash options. This book is chock full of hands-on tips for choosing lenses, flash units, and software products to use with their new camera. Beautiful, full-color images illustrate where the essential buttons and dials are, so they'll quickly learn how to their Canon EOS 7D, and use it well.

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