Thom Hogan’s D800/D800E Camera Guide

Mt Evans & Summit Lake. 2013 (One of my first D800 images)

It’s the cat’s purr and worth every pfennig of the mere $29.99 it will cost you for the PDF download.I am finding that out personally as I gleefully snowplow through the 862 pages of information included in the Guide.

Who is Thom Hogan, you ask? If you are a Nikon shooter, you probably already know him as the guru of all things Nikon. But if you aren’t and you haven’t heard of him…his website contains all kinds of technical discussion and great reviews of Nikon lenses and bodies as well as many articles on a variety of more practical and artistic photography topics universal to all photographers. If you follow his site for any time at all you’ll soon realize that he is definitely not a Nikon yes-man cheerleader-type, ready to scream the superiority of that brand to the gilded Nikonian celestial heights. Nope, not at all! When called for, he also lays on the criticism as thick as chunky Jiffy peanut butter with very well researched, intelligent, in-depth commentary. Nikon really needs to hire this guy as a consultant! (And I guess they actually do, from time to time.)

I don’t know who Thom’s equivalent in Canon Country might be, but you could try Bob Atkins or The Digital Picture website. For Pentax and Sony…well, maybe try…well…uh…Thom Hogan! (He is not a Nikon-only user.) As far as I can tell, he really has no peer among the other brands.

Thom’s main website can be found HERE, but he also has several new ones. To wit (lifted from his main website):

Other byThom Sites

What do I like about Thom’s D800/D800E Camera Guide?

If, like me, you also are working with the D800 and you need a helping hand, consider the following dozen points of light:

1) As with his previous camera guides, he not only tells you how to use the different settings, he also will tell you why you might want to use them in certain ways depending on your style of photography. He explains in detail (with pictures of the camera and the menus) what the different controls and settings are actually trying to do. None of this is information typically included in the manufacturer’s manual for the camera.

2) The PDF download is easy to navigate using the clickable links in the Table of Contents and throughout the document.

3) He includes a discussion of the background of the D800, its development and history…and wrestles with the question of whether the D800 is better than film. And the very interesting section titled “Debunking Some Myths” covers all those issues brought up by naysayers and yeasayers you have read on those many, gritty forums out there in the internet ether.

4) There is a very detailed section on how the sensor works along with explanations of noise, dynamic range, and tonal range, etc.

5) There are JPEG, TIFF, and RAW  explanations and shooting recommendations based on your style of photography and post-processing.

6) He walks you through the how and why of his camera setup recommendations, with pictures.

7) The section on metering is Hogan-thorough and includes a discussion of the histogram and how to use it properly.

8) The autofocus system–which baffled me considerably–is also handled thoroughly with explanations of which modes you might want to use when, and why.

9) The how-to section on the use of flash is 80 pages long!

10) He walks you through how you might actually use the D800 in the field, along with appropriate shooting checklists to run before and after.

11) The video section is 28 pages long–not my cup o’ nectar, but it will be of interest to videoheads. Apparently the system is very capable (unlike my old, trusty, rusty D90).

12) Finally, he covers the transferring of images from the camera to the computer and the processing and printing of same.

This is a manual I’ll be referring to regularly over the next few weeks and months as I try to become one with this new “paintbrush”. It all has to be second-nature if I am to maximize its capability, dontcha know.

So, Thom’s D800 Guide? Highly recommended!