Rating: 
Summary: Bad book - way too much text, few pictures
Review: Avoid this book. It is way too verbose and has relatively few pictures and illustrations (and the few that there are, are in B&W not color). The Kodak educational photography series is MUCH better; Kodak publishes books for the amateur as well as professional. There are other books as well. Definitely skip this one.
Rating: 
Summary: A technical and inspirational guide!
Review: Being a beginning photographer, I particularly enjoyed the book's simple explanations on equipment functions and purpose. The book encompasses all types of equipment, which allows the reader to apply the information immediately. I often had my camera next to me as I read, learning the capabilities of my camera as it applied to the book. The book's creative instruction was equally informative and the creative theme was carried throughout. I found this book to be inspiring and informative. It is a MUST for an aspiring photographer! I'm VERY happy to have found it!
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent beginner's guide and reference source.
Review: Bottom Line...If you want color examples, buy something else. If you want 90% of everthing else, buy this book. I looked at several beginner's books, and many gave good examples, and had some neat color pictures. This book explains how everthing works, with easy to understand explanations. Some books tell you to set your camera to this and that to get a particular result. This book explains how and why, in a way that you will understand and remember. If you want to read up, say on depth of field, or types of film, it is a great reference book. So, if you wanna capture the writing on a missile traveling hundreds of mph from 50 miles away in low light conditions, maybe something else would be better. If you wanna get out and start experimenting with some good solid photography basics, and understand why things turn out the way they do, then buy this book! I give it only four stars because it would be nice to have some color examples. I guarantee if you want to start learning photography, or expand the little bit you do know, this book is will do it.
Rating:
Summary: Better off reading your manuals....
Review: Bought this book after reading the reviews, which for the most part, are positive.
Unfortunately, the book is one big, giant, generalized film SLR manual. Book also repeats itself more than once, on more than one topic.
It attempts to teach you about shutter speeds, lenses, camera settings, flash, etc., but assumes you know absolutely nothing, which wasn't my case. I am more of an "advanced" reader, so the book was not very helpful to me.
I didn't really need to read about tripods for 10 pages, read about film speeds for a whole chapter, etc. Almost everything in this book you can learn on your own, either by reading your manuals, which you should do for sure anyway, or just practicing. But the book is seriously like reading a manual for a film SLR for 500 pages.
And would it hurt to have color pictures on more than one page, so we can actually see the effects of particular filters (it is a teaching book, right?). Seeing a picture of a plant before and after a filter is applied, but in black and white, hardly helps out the masses.
If you know nothing at all, except how to read, get this book and it will give you a clue. After that, read "Understanding Exposure", then read your camera manuals a couple times, then go practice.
Rating:
Summary: very informative
Review: excellent resource book from page one to the glossary! very descriptive instructions and guidelines. i found out more about my camera than the camera manual itself. lighting, lenses, filters were very helpful.Very good book to read and rehash when you need help with anything involving 35mm photog..Long may you live Grimm's!
Rating:
Summary: A great "Basic book"
Review: I first grabbed this book from the library shelves, took it home, read some of it and decided that I had to buy it. I have had my Canon Rebel 2000 for over a year now and I have learned how to experiment and take some decent pictures with my manual modes. I wanted a book that I could read easily and understand more about my camera and how to enhance my skills. That is what I found in this book. This is a great start for a beginner because it talks first about what an SLR is, how to protect it and how to properly handle your camera. Then it introduces the reader to exposure and shutter speed and aperture in a basic way and progresses to metering, choosing lenses, flash, film selection, filters, accessories and also includes sections on one shot cameras and digital cameras. It has an amazing about of information in a simplistic to read form. Also, if you have one question, from the detailed table of contents you can find what you are looking for quickly. This is not a small pocket size book to take with you, but something to read before and after you go out. Like most of the other reviewers said, I didn't give it 5 stars because color pictures would have been nice. But, if you supplement this book with some that have color photographs in the more specific area that you are interested in primarily photographing, then it is sufficient. I recommend the National Geographic Field Guide ( I also found it on a library shelf, took it home and it will be my next purchase!)
Rating:
Summary: Review of Basic Book ofPhotography
Review: I found this book to be an excellent source of information on the use of the 35mm SLR cameras. It is written objectively and is a must for anyone who wants to learn more about their camera. It takes up where the manual leaves off. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Not a bad starter for the photographers library
Review: I found this book to be technical without being so technical that it couldn't be used by the novice to take good pictures. I've learned a number of helpful tips and things are starting to come together because of the knowledge I now have from this book. Looking forward to putting it to good use.
Rating:
Summary: Understand your SLR
Review: I have had a Minolta 400si SLR for a year. It is an entry-level SLR camera. up until I read Tom and Michele's wonderful book, I never took good photographs. When I read their book, I finally understood f-stops and metering. I now understand why the first 50 rolls I shot all had underexposed skin tone. The first role I shot after I read the book cover to cover gave me more "keepers" than any roll before it. There is no better book for the SLR novice to understand the functioning of his camera than this one. And do not get taken in when the rocket scientists of Photography belittle your particular brand of camera -- apply the Grimms' advice and you will find dramatic improvement in the performance of your camera (well it is actually the photographer that has improved :-)) The book has a very good chapter on composition. However I wish it had more chapters on the "Art" of photography. Things like how to find interesting subjects, how to shoot subjects, etc. This book is excellent for understanding how an SLR works, with some good advice on composition thrown in. Readers will find this book to be very compatible with "Photography for Dummies", which deals more with how to take photographs.
Rating:
Summary: The Basic Book of Photography
Review: I love this book! It has everything I wanted to know in one photography book. I thought about buying Photography for Dummies, looked at it, hated it. It was written soley for APS cameras and not SLRs or ZLRs. The Basic Book of Photography has 500 clearly written, up-to-date, informational pages. It also has a 50 page glossary that is extremely helpful. I couldn't recommend a better book for any beginner or hobbyist who needs a great reference.
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