Out of consideration, I've cc'd Bourque on this review. I don't mean this as a
slam of his book, but as a review. Most people appreciate knowing when others
are discussing their work, and a few actually appreciate constructive feedback.
I know that I don't always enjoy the feedback that I get, but I always
appreciate the sprit that it is given in.
About the time I ordered my K-5 someone on PDML recommended Bourque's e-book,
so I bought a copy. I've never been fond of the Pentax manuals, they discuss
the effect that the modes are supposed to have, but don't really explain what
the camera really does. I want something that says this mode will set the
exposure based on the background but will use a flash so someone in the
foreground is well exposed and not motion blurred.
Unfortunately the sample from the book available on his site doesn't actually
include any meat just a bit of introductory material.
The link is at:
http://yvon-bourque.blogspot.com/
My biggest issues with it have to do with it being an e-book. When I get a new
camera, I read through the manual when I have a few spare moments, usually at
meals at restaurants. With an e-book that just isn't convenient, at least
until I get some sort of tablet computer or e-book reader. So, despite having
had the book for over three weeks, I'm only about halfway through it.
Arguably, a bit early to write a review, but my issues so far have been more
with the form than the content.
I know how much work it is to write a book
http://red4est.com/pdapi/body.html
And I also know how much work it is to make separate versions, and how little
money there is in them. That being said, if Bourque really wanted to improve
the usefulness of this book, he'd format it in separate chapters for smaller
files, for reading on smart phones like the moto droid or the iPhone. Not only
would it then be available to read in small bits when I've got a few minutes
(grabbing food-substitute at McHell or suchlike) but it would also be available
to use as a reference when I'm shooting.
Speaking of using it as a reference, it would be nice if the table of contents
actually had functional links into the content.
Bourque has rudimentary copy protection on it. A simple dictionary word that if
someone wanted to share the book they could just post or share the password. In
short, the copy protection does nothing to really protect the copy, but it is a
pain in the ass every time I want to read the book.
The copy I downloaded is revision 1.0, and it is rife with typos, and a few
technical errors. He really needs someone who hasn't read every one of his
other books to sit down with a printout, and a red pen, and copy edit it. I
actually considered at least doing a cut and paste of the errors that I found,
but copy protection got in the way.
The material in the book is well written, and I feel better than the Pentax
manual. It does seem to go into more detail, and covers the material from other
than the corporate viewpoint. The vast majority of the material in the book is
for people new to not just Pentax DSLRs, but to photography in general. Most of
the people on the PDML don't need to know about JPEG modes (though they should
be included in a comprehensive manual), nor do they need to know how adjusting
the f-stop affects depth of field. These are things that I really feel ought
to be in separate files so that downloading and decrypting the book doesn't
take nearly so long.
The material on the actual menus is useful and comprehensive, and I'd love to
see it as a separate file, one that I can carry on my droid, and access when
I'm trying to figure out how to do something. It is, unfortunately, not well
indexed in the book, which makes it tough to use as a reference, especially
since being electronic, you can't mark the index with one finger while you flip
through the book to the pages referenced in the index.
Another section that I think the book would benefit from is moving to the K-5
from other models. If you already know how to use a K-x, or a K20, then there
is more that you know about using the K-5 than you don't.
The book has a lot of pictures. Many of them are very pretty, at least when
they're printed out on nice paper, I'm sure. A lot gets lost in translation to
the e-book format I'm afraid. Also, most of the pictures are, frankly, fluff.
They may look nice, but they don't really convey a lot of information, and they
take up a lot of space in the file which makes it slow to start up on anything
but a desktop computer. They would look great in a printed book, especially
one that is much easier to flip pages than a monolithic PDF file, but in
electronic formate they get in the way far more than they illustrate.
In short, if he were writing the book for someone like myself, he could edit
the 300+ pages down to well under 100 pages, possibly as little as 50. Mind
you, my favorite technical book of all time is The
