This book explains how to take outstanding pictures using the Konica-Minolta 5D and 7D digital SLR cameras. It does so using plenty of full-color photographs and illustrations spread within 318 pages of well-written text. Available in both eBook and print format, The friendly manual with professional insights covers all advanced features of these powerful photographic tools necessary to take professional looking photographs. Information-wise, this book is well suited for enthusiastic people new to digital photography owning a 5D or 7D digital camera.

This colorful 318 page eBook can be purchased directly from Gary Friedman's Archives website.

Don't dismiss this book as simply a replacement manual for your Konica-Minolta 5D or 7D manual. While the 5D and 7D manuals are well written, this book puts each feature in the context photography, describing when and how to use it.  The eBook version is available in PDF format readable by Adobe Acrobat 7 and Ghostview 4.7 Ghostview 4.7. Just like Gary Friedman's previous Konica-Minolta book, pages are layed-out at 4:3 aspect ratio which is ideally suited for electronic viewing - the layout would be even better if page numbers didn't alternate sides though.

The book is divided into 10 chapters which cover the cameras at increasing levels of detail. Each chapter starts with a list of topics and ends with a point-form summary. For those who've read the A1/A2 book by Gary Friedman, much of the content is reused and all of the well explained principles remain. Unlike many other books about photography, this one doesn't skimp on real photographic examples. Clearly written with digital photography in mind, readers are subtly welcomed to the digital world by starting chapters at zero.

Chapter 0 is a brief overview of topics covered and the layered teaching approach used. Chapter 1 is an overview of the 5D and 7D digital cameras which points out their unique and advanced feature set. It also includes a detailed discussion on lenses and how they are labeled. For clarity, the frequently misunderstood focal-lens multiplier is even explained twice. Indeed throughout the book, the most important concepts are described in several ways. Chapter 2, The Basic Guide for the Impatient User, covers most of the simple controls and features, just enough to use these cameras as expensive point-and-shoot models. Chapter 3 is about using your images, printing them, viewing them and saving them. That chapter is rather short but covers the camera's related features well and generic computer usage briefly. Actually, there is no real point being more precise since computers and software can work in so many different ways.

The 4th chapter explains the principles of photographic technology (as opposed to the art of photography). Except for scene modes of the 5D, this chapter is not really specific to any camera, its principles are universally applicable to any type of photography - even film to some extent. Chapter 5 covers advanced features of the camera such as the extremely useful histogram, focus modes, spot-metering, exposure locking, anti-shake, white-balance, flash modes and several more. The greatness of this chapter is that it presents each advanced feature as a solution to a photographic problem. For example, zone-matching is presented as a solution to high-dynamic-range subjects.

Chapter 6, Light and Composition, introduces light and composition. This chapter is too short to cover these topics adequately but serves a brief introduction. These principles are very hard to explain and definitely deserve another book for them alone. Nevertheless, this brief introduction serves to round-off coverage of photography in this book. Chapter 7 expands on lighting a bit with coverage of wireless flashes unique to Konica-Minolta.

The 8th chapters covers digital imaging concepts. Specifically, it does an extremely good job at explaining the relation between Megapixels and print sizes - see also neocamera's feature explaining this. Chapter 9 is entirely new and covers the Dimage viewer supplied with Konica-Minolta digital cameras. Step-by-step, this chapter explains most common image editing operations. There are also some slightly too brief words about using RAW images.

Overall, this is another great book about some fantastic Konica-Minolta cameras. The contents are well balanced between camera specifics and photographic principles. All the important 5D and 7D features are present and each is explained in proportion to its importance. Only the topics of composition and RAW images need to be expanded further. We expect photography novices equipped with a Konica-Minolta 5D or 7D to really appreciate this book.