I read both the Nikon user's manual and this book cover to cover. This book is easier to understand and the hints and notes are invaluable. The only minor annoyance was the large number of typos in the book. The editors at Sterling were below par.

Simon Stratford is a gifted author. I found his book on the Nikon D200 both extremely readable and very useful. He provides well documented and illustrated descriptions of the many features of this superb camera. I highly recommend it.

This was a very essential product for me, as I bought the camera used, and needed an indept guide, for this somewhat complex camera.

Great information for me

Although the Nikon D200 manual is clear, concise and informative as these things go, the Magic Lantern guide is worth getting as well, and not just for another perspective. Written in a less formal and dense voice than the official Nikon publication, the MLG also contains additional tips and information for advanced users, as well as basic stuff that the manual takes for granted, all pitched at a level that avoids confusing or patronising the reader.

The D200 is my first digital slr, although, I own and use Nikon N90s and F100. I borrowed the book from a friend and then purchased my own copy. The book has been excellent for me in addition to the manual because of the added information that comes as a result of a professional using the D200. The shaded text areas offering tips is great for a quick reference and emphasis on performing certain tasks. Where I need/ed help the most are the features such as the histogram, white balance, speedlight, etc and the book covers these well. My biggest challenge will be learning the custom programming within the D200 and I'm hoping the Magic Lantern will take me through it with confidence. The book is well worth its price!

This book is much better written than the manual that Nikon supplies. I am very glad I purchased it.

I have this and the Digital Field Guide. I believe they are written for entirely different people which is why some hate one and love the other. The Magic Lantern is for people who have a reasonable understanding of photography but want a clearer more detailed explanation of the manual. They want to get the most out of a complex camera, they don't need a "how to take pictures" book. The Field Guide is more aimed at people buying their first digital SLR that want to graduate from taking snapshots. Half the book is taken up with basic techniques on picture taking whilst the technical side is very basic.

I love this book because it really explains everything in detail and also gives the reader his opinion on the usefulness of different settings for different scenarious. I have learnt so much from this book and now feel a lot more comfortable with the cameras ins and outs.

My opinion is if you are an advanced amateur or higher then this is the book to get if you want to understand your camera properly. If you are new to photography then maybe go for the Field Guide as you might find this a bit dry.

The Magic Lantern D200 guide is merely a slightly expanded version of the factory manual, it's barely bigger in size and B/W. The "bonus" quick reference card is very basic - as a D200 user you're unlikely to get any use out of the quick reference card unless you have difficulty remembering what ISO, WB, Mode etc. stand for.
The second D200 guide I've got is the Digital Field Guide. It is the better guide out of the two, but not by much. Unfortunately neither guide is very good at telling you how to get the best out of your camera.

Despite its grayness cover and photos, this book is clear, straight forward
and very comprehensive manual. This book is the manual that should have been
included in the kit instead what's included today.

It was slow but was recieved on time. Book binding came loose but book still great.

Hello Fellow Enthusiasts !

I ordered it before ordering for D200, the reason is to understand the features of D200 before i get my hands on the real machine.
This guide is beautifully laid out, glossy papers and very expressive with sequence of chapters very thoughtfully designed.
Since I haven't seen the similar product offering by other publishers so can't comment on others or compare. But definitely it's worth reading and understanding the camera. if you are new like me to SLR and that too D200 then don't think twice and simply order it.

Good Luck
Vaibhav Mittal - India

This is a concise, easy to read guide for the Nikon D200. It is easier to understand than the manual that comes with the camera. My only criticism, if any, is that the index is not as comprehensive as it could be.

I purchased another "D200" guide and was very disappointed. Then I purchased the Magic Lantern Guide for the D200 and think it is one of the best guides available. There's so many options on the D200 and this guide helps to make you understand each. Especially helpful are the hints the author gives for the options. I've tried them and now have my camera set for some favorites Simon Stafford suggested. It is well worth the price, as another reviewer mentioned I will have it in my photo bag all the time.

After my experience with the D70 Nikon instructions, I ordered this book at the same time I ordered my D200 camera. I have not yet looked at the Nikon book but relied on this guide to set up my camera for many different photo environments. I carry this book in my camera bag at all times. I heartily recommend it.

This is a good but not the best of the D200 Guides.

I am not sorry to have purchased it, but I don't find it as generally useful as some other the other D200 books.

NICELY DONE...THIS MANUAL IS WELL WRITEN AND VERY COMPLETE. ONE THING THAT I LIKE ABOUT IT ARE THE HINTS OR COMMENTS BY THE AUTHOR. THERE IS A BRIEF HISTORY OF "NIKON" AND WHY THEY BEGAN MANUFACTURING THE D200. THE GUIDE ALSO GIVES A BREAKDOWN OF THE ACCESSORIES USED WITH THE D200 AND SIMILAR CAMERAS (SUCH AS THE D50, D70 AND NOW THE D80). IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR CAMERA, THE NIKON D200, THIS GUIDE IS WELL WORTH THE MONEY.

I wanted to quickly learn how to use the D200. Going area by area, the book explains all the different options, something about what the options do, and why you might want to pick one option over the other. In some areas I could have used more explination. I guess that is an acceptable tradeoff. Too detailed of coverage would have made the book too long. After reading the book I can now operate the D200.

I found this to be a great replacement for the manual that is included with the D200. Mr. Stafford explains in much better detail than the original manual, all the amazing functions of the Nikon D200. I appreciated all of his suggestions on which functions should be applied, and ones that probably are better left alone. I highly recommend this as a replacement for the original manual. I was hoping, however, that not only would this book explain all the functions and settings of the D200, but also which type of situations they would be used in. It didn't, so I was just slightly disappointed. Had the book given those explanations, it would have been a 5 star, perfect book.

Great book. I learned more about the D200 at the airport one morning than in all the months I had my camera. Unleashes the power of this incredible camera.

I first used the "Magic Lantern Guides" 7 years ago when I purchased my Nikon F100. At that time the Nikon F100 manual was woefully inadequate. The Magic Lantern F100 Guide" was what I needed to learn all the features of my new and complex F100 camera. When I purchased my D200 I found that Nikon had imporved the accompaning manual. Most things were compact and informative. I realized that some of the ease of learning the D200 was the fact that I knew the F100. Still there were areas that seemed to be black holes. I knew that I was not getting the most out of the D200. Therefore, I purchased the "Magic Lantern D200 Guide." With the Magic Lantern, I have re-programed my D200 and find it a pleasure to use just like my old friend the Nikon F100.

This is a better version of the D200 Manual. I find the digital field guide for D200 a better version overall. I was confused which book is better so I bought both (Magic Lantern for D200 and Digital Field Guide for D200) for comparison. I would have preferred to have the pictures and illustrations in color. This book is very bland and the presentation boring compared to the digital field guide. If you are an amateur and want to know how to use the camera as well as learn new shooting tips on the different events, I suggest to get the Digital Field Guide by David Busch.

This book is like a better manual for the d200. Ok explanations of the simpler features, BUT when it comes to more advanced features like the autofocus system, it barely scratches the surface.

Also the photographs in the book are BAD! Only B&Ws and supposedly there to illustrate something, but they are just thrown in. Avoid the book!

This book was easily understood and very helpful. It is a good book to supplement the book that comes with the camera. This camera is great also.

This book does a marginally better job of explaining the menus and functions than the manual that comes with the camera does. It does not offer any real world advice on how to get the most from the camera. You're still on your own. There are no recommendations, no examples of what features to use when, how to get the most from the camera in various shooting situations. It is just an slightly clearer extension of the camera manual. Only it costs about fifteen bucks and it took nearly a year to get printed after it was first listed on Amazon. The manual in the camera box is a.) included in the price of the camera and, b.) delivered on time.

Save your money.

I found this guide a great help in getting to know my new D200. It gave me easy access to questions I could not readily find in the manual. Yes, the images are not the greatest but all the answers are in the book and easy to find.

This is, for all intents and purposes, a manual for the camera written in clearer English. It does not include anything along the lines of the Field Guide books that give pointers on which lenses and settings to use for which shooting situations with your D200 -- still, this is a great "manual" replacement and much easier to understand and follow than the manual that comes with camera.

One of the reasons for this review is to continue to improve the overall rating for this book -- the one-star comments are (in my humble opinion) irresponsible and unfair -- they are based on nothing more than an early mock-up picture and have nothing to do with the content of the book.

I'm an intermediate-level photographer venturing into the world of digital photography for the first time. I agree with a previous reviewer that this is the reference manual Nikon should have included with the camera. It is comprehensive, easy to read and includes some general advice by the author.

If you are in a similar position you cannot go wrong with this book, in fact I would consider it essential reading.

With Magic Lantern Guides, I always know exactly what I'm getting. They aren't advanced photography books, so look elsewhere for one of those. Instead, they are basically a much clearer, better-written manual explaining buttons, features, tricks and tips. I found it extremely helpful in learning the camera before investing my own money in one and it works as a fine reference for seldom used functions.

Thom Hogan's E-book is more technical and has a lot more info, but this one will appeal to a wider audience. It also doesn't require reading on a computer, which I find less usable and less portable.

The book is an excellent companion for any D200 owner. It includes a lot of information on how the settings of the camera can be used and what limits its features have. In particular, it gives a lot more information (and explanations) than the Nikon manual does. It is clearly written and easy to understand.

Needless to say: The cover picture is of the real D200!

It's a pity the rating of this fine volume is being dragged down by one-star reviews from people who never even saw the book (and couldn't as it they were submitted long before the book was published).

In fact, it's a fine book, focused on the essentials and truly useful info., and with many helpful shooting tips throughout.

The cover people were commenting on was a dummy cover which was made before a real picture was available. As you can see, the new cover is fine. This is an excellent guide to an excellent camera.

I found the book was very complete and helpful in providing guidance in some features and applications. The book is essentially the manual that should have come with the D200 to begin with. The illustrations and photographs are average at best. Maybe my eyes are getting bad but I could hardly read some of the icons they refer to. Still I found the guidance and recommendations make sense and are helpful.

Simon Stafford has written a lot of good books on Nikon products for Magic Lantern Press. Don't confuse a picture of the cover -- which may well have been nothing but a dummy done prepublication -- with the contents of the book. The editorial description of the camera which accompanies the Amazon listing is correct.

Don't run down the book if you haven't read it yet! Based on the extreme utility and quality of Stafford's D70 and D50 books, I'm giving this on the D200 what I would have given his previous books.

I have not bought this book but D200 does not have a CMOS sensor!

I second the previous reviewer.. What is up with a cover with a doctored picture? How could you possibly trust that?

I haven't bought this book. I won't be buying this book. Why would I buy any book that purports to be the ultimate guide to a camera when the picture on the front is NOT even of the camera?

Sheesh, the fake D200 picture on the covere was never even taken seriously by anyone with more than half a brain cell when it first floated around the net long before the D200 ever saw the light of day. Yet here we have a supposedly reputable guide on the D200 that can't even post an accurate picture of the camera on the cover. Too stupid for words.