First off you need to know I am not a beginner in photography (I even passed a course in it and am ceritifed) yet I am in no way an intermediate photographer.
Secondly I am a college graduate.
With that out of the way, here is my review.
I found this book packed with information but quite honestly, on a much too high level for the average reader to gain much out of it.
It also only covers material in a surface type of way.
Nothing in depth. (except of course facts and figures which to me, are not what I was looking for).
It touches upon so many things like mentioning one should sell on a commercial site but does not explain how to set one up.
It is contstructed like a college text book yet does not go into detail on most of the topics.
I feel Michale would have done a better job aiming his book to cover less material but covering it in depth.
I walked away after reading this book feeling as though I did not gain anything from it.
Examples are: He mentions "Bit-depth
8-bit colour, although perfectly acceptable for final delivery of an image, is accurate to only 1 part in 256 per pixel, and so falls far short of the potential of your original film image. 12-bit measures to an accuracy of 1 part in 4026, and so is much better. 14-bit measures to 1 part in 16,104 and 16-bit to 1 part 64,416. Most scanners that work in 12-bit and 14-bit deliver the scan as 16-bit for opening Photoshop's 16-bit mode. Because higher bit-depth scans are more accurate in resolving subtler distinctions in coulour, they also give smoother and better gradated tones."
Michael covers a lot of information.
But, I find a lot of the things he told me in the book, were of no real importance to me.
Although the above excerpt shows that the author is a highly intelligent man, it does not get through to me, as the reader, why I need to know all of these figures.
After all, who is this book written for?
If it is written as a textbook, then much of the material is too superficial and if it is written for the layman, then all these figures are way above and beyond just sitting, reading and learning.
Overall, it is a book that I am glad I own, but will probably never refer to.

I liked this book so much. I am still reading it and enjoying every page .

I liked this book so much. I am still reading it and enjoying every page .

This is one of those books that you will want to read and then reference. I have been a film SLR photographer for decades and now am on my second generation DSLR. This book reminds me of my old Kodak Photographers Handbook and my Nikon SLR handbook. I think I will use the Pro Digital Photographer's Handbook for many years.
Michael's information about sensor technology compared to film and how lense design affects this is one example of the depth of topic in this great handbook. He also covers the digital workflow from simple (little to no editing) to complex (steps for client based work). The color management section was very useful to calibrate all my devices.
I highly recommend this book for the photographer who understands the basics - depth of field, apertures, shutter speed, etc. (Although he has a great section about sensor size and depth of field).
Buy it and enjoy it!

So, you want to be a professional photographer? If so, you need this book to provide the kind of information you'll need when starting out. It contains all the nitty-gritty details that are an essential part of learning to turn pro, including information on meeting the needs and expectations of your clients. That's the kind of practical business advice you won't find in other digital photography books.

The amount of useful information in this book is amazing.

This is a well written digital photo book. It's a great for beginners and reference for experienced photographers. I strongly recommend.

In transitioning from film to digital, I needed some books for a quick transition and to avoid reinventing the wheel. I don't have a lot of time, so a focused and detailed reference that could rapidly take me to a functional level was needed. I was very happy with the accessibility and the level of detail presented. I read the whole thing, but realize that I will need to go back to it to get the full value from it (e.g., when I find the need for a particular technique or action). It does address workflow, but that is not its focus, which I would describe as more of a broad, but sufficiently detailed introduction to many issues and techniques available to the digital photographer.

I did not want another "How To" digitaly photography book. What I wanted was information anologous to studying computer informations systems at the bit level and I found it in Pro Digital Photographer's Handbook. All of the "why" questions are laid out in meticulous detail. A wonderous tool for those looking to move on beyond point and shoot barrier.

This book is significantly better than I thought it might be. Really good explanations of all parts of digital photography that someone with a new SLR needs to know. This book is above the level of describing depth of field, and the standard SLR questions. Only down side I have found is that the book is a bit Nikon focussed. Those of us with Canons would like a bit more for us!

This is a great book. It's what I've been looking for since I switched from film to a Nikon digital SLR about 18 months ago. A book that really goes into detail on things like shooting RAW, colour management, colour modes, profiling and calibration, how to clean dust off the camera sensor (a REAL problem that the manufacturers keep pretty quiet about), wireless transmission of images, and so on. I know these are all nitty-gritty subjects, but you need to understand them if you're serious about digital photography. Other books I've looked at tend to tackle them only superficially. This book gets to grips with them all. It's like the "Missing Manual" for my camera. I really like it, and strongly recommend it.
Oh, and Michael Freeman takes great pictures, too!