Masteringthefujix100

That was fast! Michael Diechtierow's Mastering the Fuji X100 is due out in a matter of days, from Rocky Nook.

It must be frustrating these days for people who write aftermarket camera manuals. You have to work fast, because people want it yesterday and you're competing not only against anyone else who's working on a similar book, but against the internet, which is disorganized and unreliable, but matchless at instant gratification. And then your book better make its bones poste haste, because the life of the product might have a quick span. The arc of interest is steep and perilous.

It doesn't seem to be damping the public's desire for the books, though. Perhaps they're more needed now than ever, because the learning curves for the products are as long as the typical product's life is short. No sooner have you really mastered your last camera than it's time to buy your next.

Rocky Nook is becoming a favorite imprint of mine. They did European photo guru Harold Mante's Photography Unplugged, which is delightful if you like strongly graphic, brightly colorful pictures done well; TOP friend and advertiser Alain Briot's Marketing Fine Art Photography, which has earned many positive responses from photographers; the newly-released Second Edition of Torsten Andreas Hoffmann's The Art of Black and White Photography, which I have here for review (if you look for this one, be careful, as the Second Edition has the same cover as the 2008 First); our friend George Barr's Why Photographs Work: 52 Great Images, Who Made Them, What Makes Them Special and Why, in which George published Gordon Lewis's photograph from a TOP Print Offer; TOP reader and mountaineer Alexandre Buisse's Remote Exposure: A Guide to Hiking and Climbing Photography; and, for large-format film shooters, The Art of Photography: An Approach to Personal Expression by Bruce Barnbaum, who was a Contributing Editor to Photo Techniques when I was Editor there. That's a nice little mini-catalog right there. I haven't seen the new book on the X100 yet, but if Rocky Nook's track record is anything to go by it's likely to be a good bet.

Here are some quick links to the start pages of Amazon U.K., Amazon Germany, and Amazon Canada (you'll have to search for whichever of the above books might interest you). I'll ask Rocky Nook if they'll let me review the book.

Mike

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Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Rod S.: "How timely! I'm a new and enthusiastic purchaser of the X100. After 35mm, two 6x7 systems since 1994, and 4x5 for architecture, the X100 is my first digital camera. I'm enjoying the large viewfinder that allows me to brace the camera against my forehead and the intuitive manual controls. And I like the autofocus! It did take a few days to work out some default settings to keep the technology from intruding, so I look forward to digesting this book. Thank you for the link, Mike."

Mike replies: Even though we've corresponded from time to time, Rod, I don't think I ever realized you didn't have a digital camera. You picked a nice one to begin with.

Featured Comment by Charles Mason: "Well I have to dissent from the Wonderful Camera thought. I had so hoped this would be a simple form digital camera, the Digital Hexar we all wanted. Instead the user interface is overly complicated. So I am not surprised it takes a full length book to explain this almost-ran (in my humble opinion) camera. I do hope they kept the new X-Pro1 simpler, more like the Leica it is going head-to-head with...one can hope anyway!"