David Busch - David Busch’s Sony Alpha A77 II/ILCA-77M2 Guide to Digital Photography

With more than two million books in print, David D. Busch is the worlds #1 bestselling camera guide author, and the originator of popular series like David Buschs Pro Secrets, David Buschs Compact Field Guides, and David Buschs Quick Snap Guides. He has written more than 50 hugely successful guidebooks for Sony and other digital SLR models, including the all-time #1 bestsellers for several different cameras, additional user guides for other camera models, as well as many popular books devoted to dSLRs, including Mastering Digital SLR Photography, Fourth Edition and Digital SLR Pro Secrets. As a roving photojournalist for more than 20 years, he illustrated his books, magazine articles, and newspaper reports with award-winning images. Hes operated his own commercial studio, suffocated in formal dress while shooting weddings-for-hire, and shot sports for a daily newspaper and upstate New York college. His photos and articles have appeared in Popular Photography, Rangefinder, Professional Photographer, and hundreds of other publications. Hes also reviewed dozens of digital cameras for CNet and other CBS publications.

When About.com named its top five books on Beginning Digital Photography, debuting at the #1 and #2 slots were Buschs Digital Photography All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies and Mastering Digital Photography. He has had as many as 18 books listed in the Top 100 of Amazon.coms Digital Photography Bestseller listsimultaneously! Buschs 200-plus other books published since 1983 include bestsellers like Digital SLR Cameras and Photography for Dummies.

Busch is a member of the Cleveland Photographic Society (www.clevelandphoto.org), which has operated continuously since 1887. Visit his website at http://www.dslrguides.com.

A camera with 24 megapixels of resolution, continuous shooting at 12 frames per second, and a full range of professional features priced at less than $1,000 for the body alone? Built-in Wi-Fi? Full HD movie making? No wonder youre excited about the new Sony a77 II camera! You dont expect to take good pictures with such a camerayou demand outstanding photos. After all, this model is one of the most innovative cameras that Sony has ever introduced. But your gateway to pixel proficiency is dragged down by the scant instructions provided by Sony. You know everything you need to learn is in there, somewhere, but you dont know where to start. In addition, the camera manual doesnt offer much information on photography or digital photography. Nor are you interested in spending hours or days studying a comprehensive book on digital SLR photography that doesnt necessarily apply directly to your a77 II.

What you need is a guide that explains the purpose and function of this cameras basic controls, how you should use them, and why. Ideally, there should be information about file formats, resolution, aperture/priority exposure, and special autofocus modes available, but youd prefer to read about those topics only after youve had the chance to go out and take a few hundred great pictures with your new camera. Why isnt there a book that summarizes the most important information in its first two or three chapters, with lots of full-color illustrations showing what your results will look like when you use this setting or that?

Now there is such a book. If you want a quick introduction to focus controls, flash synchronization options, how to choose lenses, or which exposure modes are best, this book is for you. If you cant decide on what basic settings to use with your camera because you cant figure out how changing ISO or white balance or focus defaults will affect your pictures, you need this guide.

Dont be confused by the older SLT (for single lens translucent) nomenclature applied to the predecessor of this model, the Sony Alpha SLT-A77. Strictly speaking, the a77 II isnt a traditional digital single lens reflex (dSLR) (which has a pivoting mirror that flips up during exposure to allow light to continue unimpeded to the sensor when the shutter opens). Sonys SLT lineup replaced that moving part with an innovative semi-transparent mirror that remains fixed while you take pictures. That mirror allows 70 percent of the light passed by the lens to continue to the sensor, while reflecting makes it possible to use live view and advanced phase detection autofocus all the time.