All I knew is that my camera sucked. Beyond that, I wasn’t sure where to start. I just wanted to take good pictures. Is that so hard?

Actually yes, because I not only wanted to take good pictures, but have the ability to capture fast moving objects in bad lighting crammed into a small form factor. The more I dug into it the more variables I found, until I had information running out of my ears. Finally after much searching I stepped up from my point and shoot to the Sony Alpha NEX-3N.

I’m not a camera expert. However, in my search for this camera and in learning to use it, I have learned more than I ever thought I would about camera technology. In that time I have accumulated pages of notes, thousands of photos, and movie after movie where individual variables were changed in an effort to determine what effect each had on the final product.

During this period I learned what is truly important to a beginner, and it is only as a novice myself that I realized how important these questions are to answer right from the beginning. This book is aimed at the individual stepping up from their camera phone or a regular point and shoot to this machine. Someone who might not know what an f-stop is or how it relates to the ISO settings or the aperture. Or what impact the lens has on any of this. Phase detect vs contrast detect auto-focus? Does it really matter? These are trial-by-fire questions you might not get an answer to until you spend the money on this unit and find out what impact they have in real world scenarios.

Since purchasing this camera I have read web pages, blogs, manuals, and quick guides all about the NEX system. Though well written I never felt part of the target audience. Answers to the questions I had seemed too simple for them to cover, or the answers buried too deeply. So I created the book that I wanted from the beginning to save me from the pitfalls I experienced by rushing out the door unprepared. Mistakes that cost me shots I will never have again.