I have purchase this book recommended by a friend.It is a great book for new starters and others as well, the book gives great information on all the functions on the camera. After reading some of the topics on the book I can see my photography improving. Has very clear description and pictures to understand the operation of camera in different circumstances and examples of functions. Overall the camera is great, without the book it is slightly difficult to understand the instructions that come with camera and the book goes into alot more detail in general about getting the most out of your D300.

Highly recommended to all

Thank you

Michael

I have found the Amazon reviews to be very useful most recently in selecting books and other items, so I felt obligated to try to write something about this book that has not already been said. Mr. Busch starts out by stating that his book is additive to the very extensive manual in that it not only will describe all the functions but how you should use them, when and why. To some degree he partially succeeded for some functions but not without providing the following stumbling blocks:
(1) Instead of taking a subject and completing it fully in one place with pictures that are easily seen on the same page, he defers to describing something later in another chapter....which then refers to another chapter.....(and in at least one case the reference was entirely wrong.) In other cases the circular reference gets you back to the starting point without all the necessary information. I am talking about big subjects like focusing, exposure, bracketing. Even though it appears that there is a portion of a chapter related, it takes bouncing around from one place to another to get it all.
(2) There are not only multiple typos but there are outright errors that will throw anybody off the track. When someone takes the time to read these books it would seem the auther and/or publisher would welcome corrections.

(3) What irks me more than anything is the arrogance of the author and publisher in sending this book in our direction without any means of us to notify anybody of substantive errors, typos, suggestions and yes, even quesions. .....whatever. There is no address for finding David Busch. His blog does not allow comments from us commoners as far as I can tell and there is no way for us to get an errata sheet showing any subsequent corrections. I wrote every company listed in the book as being responsible for the publishing and printing of the book and received no answer in over 2 months. It doesn't have to be this way. There is are publishers that not only provides a website to update any book, but admonishes its customers to go to the website before starting. The also provide a continuous errata sheet so that the book remains useful.
In the future, I will try to avoid books in which a customer service contact is not provided for the purpose of corrections, suggestions, questions, etc.

Great book; I read every page and am now a better user of my new D300.

IF your buying a D300, I'd spring for Dave's book and just forget reading the manual inlcuded with the camera. The book is sooo much easier to read and follow. The nice color images of all the menus, settings, and examples(these are most useful) help accent the knowledgeable text. The price is well worth it (it's only $20 thruough amazon). Highly recommended.

I pay heavy attention to negative reviews before buying a book. I read the 3 negative reviews of this book, bought it anyway, and am glad I did. If you are considering buying a D300, just do it - it's a great camera. And if you buy a D300, this book is the best out there for getting you up to speed fast. The other books/video previews I've seen are a rehash of the manual. This book doesn't just tell you what a setting does, it tells you why and when you should use it. It also provides a number of different configurations for different shooting settings (studio vs. sports, etc.) - invaluable.

For the negative reviewer who whined and moaned that the author mentions a subject briefly and then mentions he'll talk about it in greater detail in another chapter? Dude, it's a literary device called a "cross reference". I'm not sure why your panties in a wad, but get over it, for Pete's sake. The other whines, moans and gripes I read are equally invalid and anal.

This is a great book - D300 owners should not hesitate to buy it.