Canon EOS 5D Mark II Magic Lantern Guide [Book Review]

It seems to me camera manufacturers would be better off not supplying instruction manuals with new cameras. Then chopping a few dollars off the camera’s price. And we’re just as likely to see streaky bacon carriers fly across the heavens!

My reasoning is that the original manual’s 228 pages in print or PDF form are insufficient for many of today’s digital cameras — let alone DSLRs — and third party guides like this one are the real deal.

Author Guncheon confirms the benefits of the breed in his manual – Canon EOS 5D Mark II Magic Lantern Guide – with its 287 pages of tinkering and tweaking the innards of Canon’s phenomenally successful EOS 5D Mark II model.

If you’re a fresh-faced newcomer to digital photography you can pore over the opening 13 pages of explanation and come away with a solid grip on this thing called ‘digital photography’.

Then it’s down to business and the point where novices and experts part company as the book explores the camera’s features and controls. And this is what makes the book an indispensable companion, no matter whether you’re shooting in the studio or on the road. The detail is spectacular: were you aware that, when the finder mirror lifts then returns, the blackout time is 145ms at 1/60 second or faster?

For me, the book’s layout is a little inferior to the original manual, immersing menu icons into body text in similar fashion to the original book but in the process using fewer screen shots of the finder menu. But that’s my only complaint.

On the bright side there is a fair bit of hand-holding, especially in the later pages where advice is given on the use of other makers’ lenses and accessories, wireless flash, linking to a computer and more.

Overall, a top manual to go with an amazing camera; plus there’s a quick reference wallet card tucked into the book. Guncheon has covered the territory thoroughly.

Author: M Guncheon.
Publisher: Lark Books/Magic Lantern Guides.
Distributor: Capricorn Link.
ISBN 978 1 60059 536 3.
Price: Available on Amazon for $13.57 (32% off)