[ebooks] Picasso (French Edition) by Victoria Charles in Arts-Photography

Review

59 of 60 people found the following review helpful. THE guide to the X100By Patrick GarnerIll begin this review by stating upfront that this is a great camera manual. Its well written; thoughtfully laid out and has just the right amount of graphics to make its points. Even better; Mastering doesnt pander to beginning photogs; it assumes that anyone shelling out $1;300 for a camera knows his or her way around shutter speeds and apertures. It doesnt spend wasted time explaining photography basics. For me; thats a huge plus.Before I go into detail; let me mention my own experiences. Ive been taking photographs since the mid 1960s when I was very young. In time I graduated from a Pentax K100 to an old Contax; then to rangefinders: a Leica IIIC; then a couple IIIFs; then proudly to the pricier IIIG. I graduated from the pre-1950s Leicas in time to Leica Ms (four or five M3s; and later an M6); as well as a couple Nikons; two Canon DLSRs and a Hasselblad; all with the usual variety of lens. I did the darkroom route early on; owned my own darkroom equipment and actively printed large-scale photos. Ive been in shows; galleries and have pieces in museums and private collections in both the US and Europe. About 10 years ago I shifted abruptly into digital photography and began learning Photoshop and a half dozen plug-ins. So Ive taken a few photos; and generally know my way around a camera. Last; as a disclaimer; I dont know Diechtierow; and have no affiliation with Fuji or the publisher.Now; back to Mastering the Fuji X100... Diechtierow; the author; owns and shoots an X100. Hes clearly an enthusiast; and writes with passion. He sprinkles the book with tips that he learned the hard way; and doesnt hesitate to be critical when the cameras functions dont meet his expectations. In other words; although he loves the camera; hes not a Fuji apologist. That too wins points from me. I dont need a manual from a fan boy.Mastering starts off with basic setup tips; then moves into a section-by-section discussion about the LCD monitor and the hybrid viewfinder; exposures; focusing with the X100; ISO; sensitivity and noise; IQ; white balance; correct jpeg settings; dynamic range; series; bracketing; panoramas; movies; macro photography; flash and use of the ND filter; fn button and quick start mode. The book concludes with a very brief discussion about accessories.Part of my enthusiasm about Mastering is that it intelligently deals with both the X100s basics as well as the not-so-easily discovered nuances. The book shines; particularly in comparison to Fujis owners manual; which is astonishingly basic. In comparison; Mastering is clear as a bell; thoughtfully organized and the useful reference it claims to be. To my great surprise as an X100 owner; I learned a few tricks. Nice! By the time I was halfway through the book; Id concluded the short money Id spent was already a great investment.Some of the better sections? Diechtierow provides definitive Shooting and Setup Menus. What a pleasure after trying to dig through Fujis version. Diechtierow discusses the use of histograms and Fujis exposure dial and what to watch for. His discussion of Fujis less than impressive manual focus option is one of the best Ive seen. Theres a useful section on focusing in the dark. Diechtierow is particularly adept at comparing the pros and cons of RAW versus JPEG shooting. He even provides; somewhat to my amusement; a "profile for a RAW shooter"--settings to maximize IQ for those shooting RAW; something I hadnt considered. I quickly changed my shooting profile; as this was a persuasive section (and I exclusively shot RAW with the X100).Theres an excellent section on dynamic range (DR). Hes careful in this lengthy chapter to differentiate RAW from JPEGs; ISO speed and "exposing to the right" using histograms. Of particular use are his comparative photographs at DR100; DR200 and DR400. The photos pop out the differences in dark and light areas when different DRs are dialed in. Theres a thorough discussion of the pros and cons for each of these settings. I found myself nodding in approval.As noted; Diechtierow also describes proper techniques for macro photography. Theres also a thorough discussion of flash; which includes automatic; forced; suppressed and slow syncro flash. There are comparative photos of various subjects taken with and without flash. He also discusses Fujis EF-20 and EF-42 flashes; I own the latter; and had to agree that the EF-42 is a beast that quickly unbalances the X100 if not used carefully.Ill skim over many of the details in the book--he provides more than enough. Suffice it to say that I found nothing missing; and that the information provided is logically organized--exactly what Id expect for a reference book.Regardless of my general praise; I encountered a few irritations. The index is woefully inadequate. Im an index guy--its the first place I turn when I want to know what page to find something. As thorough as the overall book is; the index works as its opposite--a hurriedly put together section that could be tremendously improved. I suspect an editor and not Diechtierow put the index together. As the author of several books; I know that the index is always compiled only after a book is formatted for printing. Nevertheless; Diechtierow should have raised hell over this issue.I also found many of the photos poorly printed. In some sections Diechtierow provides three side-by-side photos; intending to show differences in; for instance; noise or DR. Unfortunately; in many instances; the three photos print almost identically. To Diechtierows credit though he provides a webpage that has a far better example of many of these photographs. Does that work? Sure; but the book quality should have covered that; and I should not be forced to close the book and go on-line for better illustrations.But these are minor quibbles. Overall Im pleased to add this to my photographic library. It works as a good resource; the price is great; and the information thorough and varied enough to satisfy photographers from neophytes to those who are highly experienced.Dec 2013 Edit: For almost a year the Fuji X100 has been superseded by Fujis X100S. Regardless; the X100 remains an outstanding camera (I recently acquired an X100S; and intend to keep my original X100.) Please note that my review of "Mastering the Fuji X100" was written before Fuji released several software updates; which are not reflected in Michaels book. Anyone who owns an X100 should visit Fujis website and download the latest revisions. In many instances; they make the old X100 equivalent to the X100S; particularly in focusing speed and general accuracy. Of course there are numerous improvements in the S-version; and software updates by themselves in the old X100 cannot turn it into an S.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. An essential resource for the new x100 owner.By K. HartmanReally the best resource for a newbie to the Fuji X100. I have the original version of the camera; so this book relates well. If you have the S100s or t; there might be a few things that are not accurate. Still; it manages to cover in just the right amount of detail; all of the systems; functions; and subsystems on the camera. Concepts that are more difficult to understand; like dynamic range; are made clear in this book (the manual sucks). The author truly knows this camera. If you own an x100; just buy this book. You wont regret it.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Mildly useful.By Rob HyndmanI didnt really learn much more than what I had learned from the manual. There is the occasional helpful tip but much of this is just basic info common to many digital cameras.