Sony A300/A350 PDF EBook By Gary Friedman- An AlphaMountWorld Review

July 2009, Andrew Woodhouse

The Sony A300/A350 e-book is one of the latest e-books by Gary L. Friedman and aims to provide an easy to follow and understand guide to the cameras numerous features. It would be a mistake to think that this was a glorified camera manual - it's an awful lot more than that. It's designed to appeal to anyone that has the A300 or A350, but is primarily aimed at beginners to the world of digital photography, or those who don't want to be bogged down by all the techno babble we photographers are all too guilty of throwing around. How many new photographers know what bokeh is or refers to, or the relation between apertures and shutter speed etc. ?

The book is written in a welcoming and easy to follow style and draws on Gary's vast experience as a professional photographer. The book has been set out so that it deals with ever more complex features as you progress through the book and uses what Gary calls a 'layering' technique.

A topic might be touched on lightly, early on in the 438 page e-book, and then as you progress through the book, more and more detail is added to it. This makes for a very easy read and makes learning the features of the camera much easier. Gary draws a comparison with the way we were taught about Christopher Columbus at school, learning that he 'discovered America' first, then that he 'theorized that the world was round' and then that he 'thought he'd found India' (a famous mistake!) etc etc. Learning these facts in one go would be information overload, instead we build up our knowledge over time. It's the same with photography, we are always learning!

The book is split into 11 chapters and starts by explaining the features of the A300 and A350 and what makes them so unique before going on to deal with other topics such as 'the basics of photography', 'wireless flash and advanced flash topics', the 'secrets of light and composition' - something the manual never touches on - and much more.

Throughout the chapters and book there are several helpful TIPs in highlighted yellow boxes. These provide additional information on a variety of topics, such as 'protection for the rear LCD', 'Travel tips and how to make new friends abroad' (showing your subjects the image on the LCD) and much more. One particularly useful section is the 'cheap but great, lens list' here Gary lists some of the Minolta legends such as the 70-210 'beercan', 28-75 f 2.8 and the 50mm 1.7. Whilst this may not be of interest or use to the advanced photographer, beginners or new users to the system (the people the A350 is aimed at) are likely to find it invaluable. I know I would have appreciated a list like that when I first bought into the Minolta system.

It is really good to see that Gary isn't afraid of tackling seemingly difficult topics, such as wireless flash - after all wireless flash is one area where the Sony Alpha system excels over most other systems. By taking the time to explain the system and it's benefits and foibles new users/beginners are much more likely to want to try it and as with the rest of the book it is beautifully illustrated with photographs which show the theory in practice.

As you can probably tell from the review so far I think Gary has done a marvelous job with this e-book. Whilst the book does indeed deal with some of the more basic elements of photography for beginners it also deals with more advanced areas, meaning that photographers of all abilities can get something out of this book. The icing on the cake is that Gary has included and appendix with a series of recommended 'base' settings for a variety of shooting conditions/scenarios. This is something that no manual or review does and will be of use for a great number of photographers. This list includes setting for 'stage performances or rock concerts (something that can be quite tricky to shoot), shooting in snow, night sports and many more. For many this section alone might be worth the $19.98 asking price for the downloaded book.

All in I think that Gary has done a wonderful job on the A300/A350 e-book, and if you have bought the A300 or A350 but want to know how to get more out of these fantastic cameras it is well worth a look. The A300/A350 e-book gets an AlphaMountWorld review score of highly rated.

As always be safe and have fun shooting.

Andrew

For those who are interested, here is a link to all of Gary's E-Books : http://www.friedmanarchives.com/ebooks/