Nikon under-documenting the D90 SLR

After years of shooting with a film SLR and a "point and shoot" digital camera, I finally graduated to using a Digital SLR late last year with my purchase of the Nikon D90. However, given that modern day digital SLRs are significantly more complex than their point and film SLR brethren, I ended up using the D90 as a very expensive digital point and shoot. The myriad configuration options on the camera seemed to be a complete mystery. The stock manual that came with the camera explained all the buttons and menu options but rarely helped me take better pictures. My confidence in my ability with the camera could not be worse.

A year after my purchase, I decided to buy a book to help me figure out the camera - in the hope that the effort would lead to better pictures. I bought and quickly read "Mastering the Nikon D90" by Darrell Young. This books is a guided tour of the Nikon D90 with suggestions on getting the best of the camera for specific situations. Having read the book, I have a much better understanding of the D90's capabilities, than I did from reading the manual. Consequently, my confidence in handling the camera has sky rocketed. Initial results are encouraging (see here for a larger version of the shot accompanying photo).

I finally understand how best to setup the camera for a post processing work flow with Adobe Lightroom, how to shoot pictures using the histogram displays for correct exposure, hot to use the advanced AF system for static and moving objects and how best to reduce vibration for sharp photos. I even ended up experimenting with shooting video using the D90 - while I already knew, that the D90 could shoot video, I didn't think that getting the video to display on my Samsung HDTV would be as easy as it was - it literally took just 30 seconds to set it all up!

Given how versatile and effective the Nikon D90 is, and how efficiently beginners like me can ramp up on its features with a little bit of hand holding, I am surprised that Nikon does not include "Mastering the Nikon D90" (or similar book) as part of its standard kit. I have to imagine that customer satisfaction would be way higher if consumers had an easier time unlocking the various camera features.

I wish I had realized the need for a book other than the manual a year ago when I first bought the camera. So many memories inadequately captured...

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