Take Control of Buying a Digital Camera, version 2.0

reviewed by Chris Marshall

What they say: Overwhelmed by choices when purchasing a digital camera? Turn to professional photographer Larry Chen for the practical advice you need to sort through the hundreds of digital cameras for sale.

Rather than bury you with arcane technical details or a myriad camera models, Larry first steps you through a process designed to help you determine how much you want to spend, what sort of pictures you're likely to take, and what aspects of using a camera are important to you. With that grounding, you're ready to learn about the different camera features, separated by those that are actually important and those that merely fill up feature checklists. The ebook even contains a camera comparison worksheet you can fill in while shopping. Additional sections give you pointers on how to read camera reviews (plus a list of the best review sites!), advice about evaluating picture quality, suggestions of where to buy your camera, the lowdown on accessories you might want, and tips on working with photos on your computer.

What I say: I know a lot of people don’t like eBooks and I can understand that. I love the smell, feel and look of a good book, especially one with great pictures. I spend enough time reading things off a screen that I really don’t want or need to do that socially, but I have to admit that with a regular book it can be difficult to keep switching back and forth between pages, sections etc.

I love the Take Control books, although I think they are really guides, and for that reason they work really well as an eBook.

I have owned digital cameras for years and am totally in love with them – particularly when used with my Mac. But, I am a somewhat frustrated photographer in that I would love to take some really arty photographs, or great sporting pictures but I don’t have the camera or the patience. I love the thought of being a “proper” photographer, hiking across the nearby mountains and taking some killer pictures, but at the end of the day I usually end up sitting on the balcony with a nice glass of wine enjoying a book with pictures someone else has taken. I am not sure that this will ever change, but if it does, this book leaves me with no excuses for not buying the right camera next time.

This book provides a great journey through all aspects of buying a digital camera. At times the journey can seem too fast, but that is where the glory of the eBook kicks in with its inbuilt links and search facility. I particularly like the way the book doesn’t just preach. Rather it gets you to identify what you are looking for in a digital camera, how you want to use it, what your lifestyle is – in fact it does everything that a good sales person would do. Some of the information is generic to making any technology-based decision and some may seem a little too basic, but for the price it is a great guide for current and future reference.

To close the review – page 86 offers a great shopping guide that you can print out and carry around with you. Now that has to better than tearing a page out of your book! I am mulling over buying a DSLR and this book has already helped with the decision and when I look at the idea again in more detail next year I will be revisiting this book, and its online updates, again for sure.

In summary: I totally recommend this despite the 3 * rating! The rating is purely linked to the “restrictions” of an eBook and the fact that it is a general overview rather than a detailed view. This isn’t a criticism at all. I just feel that when reviewing I have to keep a perspective on amongst other things the complexity. This is a “simple” guide that does a great job.