How To Set Nikon Dx Camera

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If you are bewildered past your Nikon digital SLR'southward numerous buttons, modes, and settings, and don't feel like reading through hundreds of pages of camera transmission, don't worry, you're not solitary. The following steps will guide you through the few settings you should intendance about and the basics of using every Nikon digital SLR always made,^[one] from 1999 right up to today.

There are a lot of similarities betwixt all Nikon digital SLRs, but there are likewise some significant differences between classes of camera. These categorizations are used here for convenience's sake and accept nothing to do with image quality (a D3000 is miles ahead of 1999's professional D1 on this count):

Loftier-end cameras are the more expensive cameras with instant adjustments to nearly every setting, important and unimportant, on the camera. This includes all the single-digit (D1/D1H/D1X, D2H and descendants, D3, D4) professional person cameras, also as the D300 and D700.
Mid-range cameras typically take a way dial on the tiptop plate to the left of the viewfinder, rather than a drive-mode selector. They have direct buttons for white balance, ISO, shooting mode, and then on.
Entry-level cameras include the D40, D60, and the electric current D3000 and D5000 models. These require you to dig through menus to set drive fashion, ISO, white residual and other things, every bit they don't have buttons for immediate admission to these things.

There are a bunch of settings that you lot will want to ready one time, and simply one time, with your Nikon digital SLR. Every bit with everything else in this article, nosotros'll make some enormous generalisations that volition get y'all out there and shooting but don't hold truthful for anybody all the fourth dimension. Yous can play with these things after, but for now, you desire the basics out of the way.

1
Ready your photographic camera to continuous shooting. By default, your camera might be set up for unmarried-frame shooting, which meaning that you become ane shot (and merely ane shot) for each press of the shutter push. You don't desire this. Continuous shooting will let your camera shoot at its fastest frame rate for as long as you hold the shutter button. Doing this is more than-or-less free on digital cameras, and even if yous're not shooting things that movement apace (for which continuous shooting is mandatory), there's a skilful reason to use this: it results in sharper photos. Shooting a sequence of two or three shots rather than a single one means that it's more likely that one of them will exist sharp, whereas if you accept just one yous might become unlucky. You're also less probable to become camera milkshake directly caused past yous jabbing the shutter push repeatedly.

Don't worry about this shortening your shutter life; many Nikon SLRs are notwithstanding working later on hundreds of thousands of shutter actuations.^[2]
- Loftier end cameras: you have a dedicated dial for this on the top-left of the camera, with a C position, which is what you want. Push the button adjacent to the dial to unlock information technology and plough the dial. Your photographic camera might have a Ch and Cl position; this is continuous/loftier-speed and continuous/low-speed. This is more than or less self-explanatory, and then pick the ane that works best for you.
- Mid-range cameras: hold down the drive mode button and spin the primary command dial. Look at the top LCD and wait until you lot see the three rectangles (rather than a unmarried-rectangle, or a timer icon) indicating that continuous shooting is on.
- Entry-level cameras: y'all'll have to dig through the menus to notice this. You're on your own hither, because this differs from camera to photographic camera.
2

Turn on vibration reduction (VR) if your lens has it, and exit it on. If y'all're shooting in low light, or if y'all don't take very steady hands, this volition ensure that you tin get abrupt shots without camera milkshake in all but the nearly unfavourable lighting. You'll demand to plough this off only if you're shooting from a tripod (and the whole point of VR is that you don't need to utilise a tripod in almost weather).^[iii]
3

Set up your camera to employ matrix metering. An explanation of this is beyond the scope of this article; information technology's enough to say that matrix metering is very clever and works well enough most of the time under most conditions. On high-end cameras, you have a dedicated switch for this. On mid-range cameras, hold down the button while turning the master command cycle until the matrix metering symbol is displayed. Again, on the cheaper ones, you lot're going to have to dig through the menus to find it (though you lot may exist able to skip this; they probably use the matrix meter by default).
iv
Set your camera to continuous servo autofocus (C). In this mode, the camera will focus continuously for as long as you one-half-press your shutter button, and can predict subject movement, too. It's fine for even so subjects besides.(You don't demand to worry also much about the other focus modes. Single-servo (S) is useless for photographing anything that moves, because it locks focus equally soon every bit it is achieved. And transmission focusing is nearly never necessary; information technology's rare for the camera to get then upset that it won't be able to focus at all, and in the very rare cases that it does, that volition hateful that you won't get focus confirmation in the viewfinder, either.)
- On all cameras: if you have an A-M switch (or A/M-M, A/Thou significant autofocus with immediate manual override), set this to A, or A/One thousand.
- On high end cameras: at that place's a focus style switch on the front of the camera on the right (if you're looking at it from the forepart) of the lens mount, with three positions: C, S, and M. Set up this to "C".
- On all other cameras: you might have a like switch in the aforementioned place, with AF (autofocus) and Grand (transmission focus) positions. Fix this to "AF", if you have it. You'll take to dig through your menus (once more, different from photographic camera to camera) in order to find the setting for continuous-servo AF.

1

Turn your camera on and leave it on. Like all film and digital SLR cameras, your photographic camera will go to sleep when it is non used, and information technology volition consume virtually no battery power at all when it is turned-on-simply-asleep. Having to turn your camera on when something happens is a sure manner to miss shots, potentially great ones.
2

Go out in that location and wait for things to shoot. This is beyond the scope of this article, but the nuts of getting bully photos are covered in How to Develop Your Photography Skills.
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Don't use "alive view" even if your camera has it. The whole point of an SLR is to utilize the instant optical reflex viewfinder (the "SLR" in "digital SLR"), rather than the slow LCD of a point-and-shoot. What'south more than, this means ditching the intelligent, fast phase-detection autofocus that Nikon accept perfected over two decades and replacing information technology with a slow, inaccurate contrast-detection autofocus system from a cheap camcorder. If you lot're not sure you want guaranteed missed shots and/or poor focus, use the viewfinder rather than the LCD.
four
Pick an exposure mode. If your photographic camera has a "Manner" button, you change the exposure mode by belongings this downwardly and spinning the main command dial until the desired mode appears in your top LCD and in your viewfinder. Other (cheaper) cameras will have a big friendly mode dial on the meridian of the camera to the left of the viewfinder. The basic modes are the same on all cameras, and there are only iii that you should care almost:
- Programmed automatic (P). This will select both an aperture and shutter speed for you. Most of the time, and particularly in normal lighting, this is the manner you desire to use. Aye, it'due south a fully-automatic fashion and you've been told that this will hinder your creativity. This is nonsense on stilts, particularly given that you can shift the programme using the main command dial on the rear of the camera. So if the photographic camera picks a shutter speed of 1/125 at an aperture of f/5.6, you can shift this to one/80 at f/7.1, or ane/200 at f/4.2, etc etc, right up to the limitations of your aperture and shutter.
- Aperture priority (A). This will allow you to select an aperture for the lens (you normally do this by turning the secondary command dial on the front of the camera; if you lot don't have one of these, use the chief command punch on the rear), and the photographic camera will select a shutter speed for a correct exposure. The primary reason to use this is for control over your depth of field. Large apertures (smaller numbers, similar f/ane.8) volition give y'all a shallower depth of field (less of your photo in focus and faster shutter speeds, useful for blurring the background of a portrait, for example. Smaller apertures (larger numbers, such as f/16) will give you lot more than depth of field, and also force longer shutter speeds.
 
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 Aperture priority mode is useful to forcefulness a shallow depth of field, and to throw the groundwork far out of focus (or the complete reverse). This was shot on a 55-200mm VR, at 200mm, with an aperture of f/v.half-dozen.
- Shutter priority (Southward) will allow yous to set a shutter speed with the master control dial (which will appear in your viewfinder) and the camera volition choose an aperture on the lens to match. Utilize this if y'all want to freeze motion (similar sports, or anything else that moves), or if you lot're using a telephoto lens that mandates using a faster shutter speed to avoid camera milk shake.
- The rest. On the entry-level and mid-range cameras, the way dial has an "Auto" position. Don't utilise this; it'southward much like programmed automatic, simply inflexible (you tin can't shift the programme, for example) and ruder (it pops the flash without request). The various "scene modes" on the cheaper cameras should be ignored for the same reason. If you want to party like it'due south 1976, there's also a fully manual (M) mode on all cameras; there'south almost no reason to ever apply this.^[4]
5
Set your white residual . This is more than of import than any other setting on your camera. The homo eye automatically compensates for unlike kinds of lighting; white looks white to us in nearly whatever kind of lighting, whether that's in the shade (in which example it's slightly bluer), or under incandescent lighting (where it'due south shifted towards orangish), or under some weird bogus low-cal sources (which can change several times a second!). A digital photographic camera sees colours as they really are, and the white residual setting shifts the colours so that they look natural in the finished photo.^[5]

On virtually cameras you have a "WB" button; hold this downwards while spinning the main control dial. These are the settings you care well-nigh:
- Cloudy and shade, marked with a cloud symbol and a picture of a house casting a shadow respectively, are where you want to be most of the fourth dimension when you are outdoors, even when under directly sunlight. "Shade" is slightly warmer than "cloudy"; experiment with this to observe the one that's right for y'all.
- Motorcar, marked with an A, will try to set the white balance automatically. This sometimes results in colours that are likewise cool; as information technology has been said, "engineers are interested in copying colour test charts, not making a skilful photo".^[5] On the other paw, this might exist a good choice for shooting under actually weird artificial lighting like mercury vapour lamps, or nether mixed lighting sources. Newer cameras practise a much amend job of guessing this than older ones.
- Daylight, marked with a sun symbol, is supposed to exist all-time for direct sunlight. Again, the colours sometimes come out a bit also cool.
- Tungsten and fluorescent, marked with a light bulb and a fluorescent strip-calorie-free respectively, are for shooting under artificial lighting indoors. This can exist safely ignored for real photography; indoor lighting is boring and yous should exist exterior shooting things. On the other hand, you lot can use these outdoors to cracking result; for case, y'all can use tungsten to brand skies plow blue.
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Utilize your flash judiciously. If you desire better than tedious washed-out party snapshots, don't get stuck with indoor lighting that forces yous to nuke your discipline with direct flash. Get outside, where the fun light happens. On the other hand, Nikon'due south excellent flash arrangement (and the insanely fast 1/500 flash sync on older cameras) is great for filling shadows in bright outdoor lighting, to avert (for example) dark shadows nether eyes in daylight.
vii

Gear up your ISO. The ISO is a measure of the sensor's sensitivity to light; lower ISOs hateful less sensitivity to light, giving less noise but slower shutter speeds (making camera shake more likely), and higher ISOs do the opposite. If you're shooting in bright daylight, get out this at the slowest speed (usually 200, and sometimes 100).

Otherwise, at that place's a quick and like shooting fish in a barrel way to work out what your ISO should be. Accept the focal length of your lens (e.g. 200mm), and multiply it past one.5 (on all cameras but the D3, D4, D600, D700 and D800, giving you 300 in our instance). If you lot're using a VR lens (yous should) and have VR turned on (you should), divide this figure by four (e.m. 75). As a general rule, you want to choose a shutter speed at least as fast every bit your resulting number (e.g. roughly one/80th of a second, or 1/300th without VR). Kick upwards your ISO until you're able to shoot at shutter speeds at to the lowest degree this fast.

On most cameras, you can change the ISO past holding down the ISO button and turning the chief command dial; the LCD (or 1 of them) will evidence you your ISO equally it changes. You're still left to dig through the menus to find an ISO setting on the D3000, the D40, and friends.
8
Half printing your shutter button to focus. Hopefully, you'll become lucky, and the photographic camera will selection the right focus point (the little rectangles dotted around your viewfinder) and lock on to the right matter. When the camera is in focus, a pocket-sized, green confirmation dot will appear in the bottom left of your viewfinder. Nevertheless, there's a few scenarios in which that doesn't agree true.
- Off-middle subjects. Depending on how far off-centre, and on your camera, it might pick the wrong focus point. If this is so, center your subject in your frame, focus, then hold down your AE-50/AF-50 push button as yous recompose the shot and shoot. (A trick: use this on portrait shots. Focus on the eyes, lock, then recompose.)
- Subjects with something closer to them than the subject. On all cameras some of the fourth dimension, the camera volition try to focus on the closest thing to the camera. Handy, but that's non what you want all the time. You'll have to set your camera to single-area AF (not to be confused with single-servo AF), which volition allow yous to pick a unmarried focus betoken rather than letting the camera guess one for yous.To set this on nigh cameras, you'll have to dig through the camera's two g menu options for autofocus setup (though y'all get a defended push for this on the high-end cameras; switch this to the unmarried, minor rectangle). Once you've done this, you can use the multi-selector on the rear to pick an autofocus point.
- Actually low calorie-free. You'll have to manually focus. Set up your lens to 1000 (or the switch on your camera, if you're using a traditional screw-blazon AF or AF-D lens). Grab the focus ring and turn it. Of grade, if your camera is hung up and tin't focus, and then you probably won't accept much better luck telling whether you're in focus or not. If your lens has a distance calibration y'all tin guess the distance and set it on your lens, and pretend you lot're shooting a Voigtlander Vito B from 1954.
- Some combinations of camera and lens when zoomed all the way in just don't like each other and refuse to find focus in whatsoever situation. The D300 and 55-200mm VR lens do this sometimes. If this happens to y'all, zoom your lens out, focus on your subject area and zoom back in once again once it finds focus.
9

Take a picture. Actually, take ii or three; concord down the shutter button (you lot did fix your camera to continuous shooting, right?). That style if, by some stroke of bad luck, 1 of your shots isn't sharp because of camera shake, at least one of them is likely to be sharp, even if you're at a shutter speed that's too wearisome for your lens' focal length.
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Check your LCD. Look for areas that are blown out to pure white which shouldn't be diddled out to pure white, and await for areas that are style too dark, then...
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Use your exposure compensation to become your exposure right. This is the button marked +/- next to your shutter button, and is the other absolutely critical aligning on digital cameras. While Nikon's matrix meter is smart, it won't get exposure admittedly perfect all of the time, and isn't a substitute for artistic judgment. Exposure compensation but forces the camera to over- or nether-expose past a given amount.

To prepare exposure compensation, concur the exposure bounty button downwardly while turning the main command dial; either to the right to underexpose (darker), or to the left to overexpose (lighter). If in doubt, underexpose it. Blown highlights on digital can never be recovered short of painting them back in by manus, but you lot can recover from all merely the most final under-exposure (at the cost of bringing out more noise, which isn't that of import).
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Keep shooting until it looks correct. You might have to conform exposure compensation and white balance from shot-to-shot every bit the lighting changes, and so regularly review your images on your LCD.
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Become your photos off your camera. Learn to exercise some very basic postal service-processing in prototype editing tools similar GIMP or Photoshop, such as sharpening, adjusting contrast and colour balance, and then on. Don't rely on post-processing tricks to make your photos interesting.

Add New Question

Question

How do I set it for video?

Make certain your camera is stabilized. Yous can apply a tripod, monopod etc. for this. Get the right options for your video. It depends on what you lot capture. If you are filming a cinematic video try to utilise lower fps. If you volition edit the colors after capturing video make certain the color settings in neutral.
Question

What are the all-time settings for shooting a hockey game with D7000?

It doesn't affair much near which photographic camera you are using, unless y'all desire to shoot in a 'scene mode,', in which case you should pick 'sports' or 'action'. Otherwise, use shutter priority (Television) and pick a fast shutter speed - probably at least i/100 sec (maybe 1/250 for hockey). That will help to freeze the action. The rest of your settings are less important, and will depend on how much light in that location is. For a high shutter speed, you will probably either need a large discontinuity (depression f/number), high ISO, or both.
Question

What can I do to be taking the best shots, fifty-fifty at nighttime?

Use a tripod and remote shutter release or self-timer to keep the camera nevertheless. Also retrieve well-nigh your white balance - make sure it is set co-ordinate to the color of your light source. You may need to illuminate what you are shooting so that you can focus on it accurately. Raising your ISO can brand the camera more than sensitive to low-cal only also brand the picture more than "noisy," so either go on the shutter open longer at a lower ISO, or deal with the noise. Some cameras have less racket than others at high ISOs.