100 Nikon DSLR

D tips you neeed to knoow right now

Tired of only
o knowing g what half of the buttonns and menuu options on yyour Nikon DDSLR actuaally do?
Fear no more.
m Our exxhaustive seeries on 100 need-to-knoow Nikon DSSLR tips is coomplete, andd were
fairly cerrtain that by the time you Nikon cameraa on a much more
u read this liist you will kknow your N
intimate level. Have a look and sees what you u discover abbout your Niikon DSLR. W We think youull be
surprisedd!

You can get great sho ots with you

ur Nikon DSL LR straight oout of the boox, but your results will be even
better once you start taking over the controls and makingg the shootinng decisions yourself witth manual
white ballance, shutteer speed, lenss aperture an
nd ISO settinngs.

But it doesnt end theere. The Sho

ooting menu offers addittional optionns for extendding your cam
meras
capabilitiies, such as Nikons
N Acttive D-Lighting mode.

And the Setup

S menu handles imp
portant houseekeeping tassks, such as ffirmware uppdates and hoow your
files are named.
n

But its in
n the Customm Setting meenu that thin
ngs get reallyy interesting, because its here that yyou can
tinker wiith the innerm
most workinngs of your camera
c and cconfigure it iin a way thatt suits your oown
personal style.

There aree differencess between caameras, of co

ourse. The N
Nikon D30000-series cam meras (see ourr Nikon
D3100 tips) dont haave a Customm Setting menu, and all thheir configuuration optionns are mergeed with
the Setup
p menu.

And, not surprisingly y, there are options

o on th
he professionnal models, ssuch as the D
D4 and D8000, that
arent available on otthers. Well indicate brooadly which ccameras havve which feaatures as we go along,
m need to check your own cameraas manual too find out for sure, and to get more ddetailed
but you may
instructio
ons if requireed.

Our aim is to show ju

ust what you
ur Nikon DSLR is capabble of, and w
were willing to bet that itts a lot
more than you think!!

100 Am
mazing Nik
kon DSLR Tips: 1-10
0

Page 1 of 22

1. Expossure bracketting

Estimatin
ng the correcct exposure can
c be tricky y, especiallyy with a highh-key subjectt like this. W
With the
auto-exposure brackeeting functio on, available on the Nikoon D5100 (seee our Nikonn D5100 tipss) and up,
the cameera takes threee shots at th
hree different exposures, so that you can choose the best lateer.

2. Live View
V AF poiints
You can use the multti-selector in
n Live View to move thee square AF point markeer anywhere in the
frame.

3. Live View
V zoom in
i
You can use the zoom
m button to fine-tune
f your manual foocus. This w
works best with the cameera on a
tripod.

4. Shift AE
A bracketiing with EV
V compensattion

Dark bacckgrounds pllay havoc wiith exposure meters. Butt you can appply negativee EV compennsation
first and then use the auto-exposu
ure bracketin
ng feature too bracket youur exposuress around youur
corrected exposure to cover all the bases.

5. Manual focus
The cameera can still tell you wheen the subjeccts in focus using the Raangefinder ffeature (in thhe Setup
menu).

6. Centre the AF
If youre using singlee-point autoffocus, and yo
ouve movedd the point aaway from thhe centre, just click
OK to revvert to the ceentre AF poiint.

Page 2 of 22

7. DOF preview
p
How mucch depth of field
f will you have? Presss the depth of field prevview button (D90 and upp) to get
an idea. Bear
B in mindd that the vieewfinder imaage will darkken.

8. Quiet mode

Nikons Q mode disaables the cammeras autofo focus beep, aand delays thhe mirror retuurn (the noissy part)
for as lon
ng as you keep the shutteer button preessed down.

9. AF locck switch
It can be easy to shift
ft the AF poin nt by mistakke, so some N
Nikon DSLR
Rs (D90 andd above) havee a focus
selector lock
l on the back
b to preveent this from
m happening..

10. Use the

t Info disp play
If youre standing aw
way from thee camera, itss hard to seee the status ppanel so press the infoo button
to show the
t settings on
o the LCD display.

11. Autoo ISO

Auto ISOO isnt just fo
or novices! Its
I ideal for travel photoography, whhen youre shhooting in a range of
different conditions. On a bright day itll auto
omatically cchoose a low
w ISO settingg, so theres no need
to worry about qualitty.

12. Dont keep switcching on annd off

Youre wasting
w your time, and yoour cameras power-mannagement feeatures. Yourr Nikon DSL
LR will
power do
own automattically if it hasnt
h been used
u for a whhile.

Page 3 of 22

13. Poweer-saving
Does youur Nikon DS
SLR shut dow
wn too quick
kly? Go to thhe Settings m
menu and chhange the pow
wer-off
delay tim
me.

14. Builtt-in spirit lev

vel
Some Nikon models have a virtu
ual horizon, which can be displayedd via the Settup menu or live in
the Live View mode..

15. Help!
If you see a ? symb CD display, press the Help (?) buttton for an
bol in the botttom left corrner of the LC
on-screenn hint.

16. Half pressing th

he shutter

Your Nik kon DSLR sttarts working the momen nt you half-ppress the shuutter release,, fixing the eexposure
and the focus,
f but its only when you press itt the whole wway that it taakes the pictture. You cann use this
me your shot without chaanging the seettings, or eliiminate shuttter lag due tto autofocus delay.
to refram

17. Eyeppiece dioptree

Does the viewfinder information look blurred d? All Nikonn DSLRs haave a tiny diooptre setting dial next
to the vieewfinder eyeepiece to allo
ow you to ad
djust the focuus for your oown eyesighht.

Page 4 of 22

18. Mirrror lockup

The Lockk mirror up command
c is used for sennsor cleaningg, but many Nikons (D77000 and up)) also
have a Mirror
M Up moode, to reducce shake in trripod shots.

19. VR settings
s
Some Nikon lenses have
h two VRR settings. Sttick to the Normal setting, and only uuse Active if youre
being thrrown around
d in the back of a Land Rover,
R for exxample.

20. LCD D illuminatio on

Shooting g at night and
d cant see your
y status paanel? The poower switch has an extraa spring-loadded detent
that activ
vates the LCDD backlight for a few seeconds.

21. Averrage meterin

ng
All Nikon DSLRs offfer a centre--weighted metering modde, but what iif you want simpler aveerage

Page 5 of 22

meteringg? This is a hidden

h option
n on all Niko
on pro DSLR
Rs and the D
D7000 amonggst the custoom
settings for
f the centree-weighted area
a size.

22. JPEG
Gs for burstts
RAW filees are great for ultimate quality, but your cameraa can save m
more JPEGs in a burst. O
On a
D3100, say,
s its the difference
d beetween gettinng six shots and 100 shoots!

23. Settin
ngs banks
Pro Nikoon DSLRs let you create sets of custo
om settings vvia banks A
A, B, C and D.

24. Recent Items

Need to change
c a settting youve just
j made? Theres
T no nneed to plod back througgh the menuss because
itll be on
n the Recentt Items menuu!

25. Reco
onfigure the AE-L/AF-L L button
The AE-L L/AF-L buttton locks botth the focus and exposurre, just like hhalf-pressingg the shutter release.
So whats the point of
o that? Welll, you can also configuree it to lock only the focuus or only thee
exposuree, which is much
m more usseful. It can also be usedd as an AF-O
On button onn cameras thaat dont
have onee.

26. AF-OOn button

Professio
onal photogrraphers sweaar by it; otherrs hardly nottice its therre. The AF-O
On button caan be
configureed to take ov
ver autofocus activation from the shuutter release button. Mosst pros find tthis offers
a much more
m instincttive way of working.
w

Page 6 of 22

27. My menu
m
On Nikonns pro DSL
LRs you can swap the Reecent Items m
menu for youur own custoom My Mennu
open the menu and seelect the Cho
oose tab.

28. D70000 U modees

The Niko p DSLRs aand amateur models. It leets you save two lots
on D7000 brridges the gaap between pro
of custom
m settings, seelected using
g U1 and U2
2 on the modde dial.

29. Set thhe date!

Your Nik kon embeds the time and d date in each image, andd you (or yoour cataloguiing software) might
need thiss information
n one day, so
o be sure to set
s it correcttly.

30. No caard inserted

d?
Its annoying when th
he shutter wont
w fire beccause theress no memoryy card inserteed. Find the Slot
Empty Release
R Lock
k setting and set it to Enaable Release..

31. ISO Hi
H and Lo
Nikon includes Hi an nd Lo ISO seensitivity vallues to increease the rangge of lightingg conditions you can
shoot in. Theyre called Hi and d Lo and on
nly given eqquivalent IS SO numbers because theyre
slightly outside
o the raange for accurate ISO caalibration.

Page 7 of 22

32.Reverrse dial rota

ation
Does the EV compen nsation alway ys go the wrrong way whhen you turnn the commannd dial? It juust
doesnt seem
s right th
hat the expossures reduceed when youu turn the diaal to the righht. The answer?
Reverse the
t dial rotattion in the Custom
C Settin
ngs menu (nnot featured oon the D30000 series).

33. File numbering

n
To make sure every shot
s has a un
nique file nuumber, set thhe File numbber sequence option to On.
Otherwisse, youll end
d up with duuplicate file names
n on yoour computerr.

34. sRGB
B vs RGB
You can set your Nikkon to shoot sRGB, the colour
c spacee used by moost digital deevices, or Addobe
RGB, whhich is betterr for commerrcial publish
hing. Or shooot RAW andd choose lateer!

35. RAWW options

Basic Nikkons shoot 12-bit
1 NEFs,, while otherrs shoot highher quality 14-bit NEFs. The pro moodels offer
a choice, so that you can balancee image qualiity against fi
file size.

36. Shakke-free shotss with the seelf-timer

When yo oure taking long-exposu
l ure night sho
ots or close-uups with the camera on a tripod, youu need to
avoid jog
gging it whenn you press the
t shutter release. The solutions eaasy just usse the cameraa self-
timer!

Page 8 of 22

37. Free SLR upgra ade

Periodicaally, Nikon may
m issue firrmware updaates to fix buugs or add new features to your cam
mera.
Check th
he Nikon web bsites Serviices & Suppo
ort section fo
for updates.

38. Embed copyrigh ht

If you tak
ke pictures for
f a living, youll
y want to
t embed coopyright infoormation. Yoou can set upp a custom
copyrighht message on n Nikons prro DSLRs frrom the D70 00 up.

39. Expoosure steps

Digital SLRs
S adjust exposure
e vallues in 1/3-sttop incremennts, but if yoou prefer 1/22-stops, channge the
EV Stepss in the Custtom Settings (not on D30 000-series caameras).

40. Noisee reduction

Long-expposure noisee reduction and
a high-ISO
O noise reducction are set separately except on tthe
D3000-seeries.

41. Nikon RAW con nverters

Ever wonndered why your RAW conversions
c in Adobe C amera Raw dont quite m match your N Nikons
JPEGs? Only
O Nikons own softwware (View NX
N 2 and Caapture NX 2)) interprets tthe white ballance and
Picture Control
C settin
ngs exactly as
a Nikon inteended. This can be cruciial where subbtle colour
combinattions are the theme of th
he picture.

Page 9 of 22

42. Self-ttimer delay

If youre using the seelf-timer to fire
f the cameera on a tripood, you wonnt want to w
wait 10 seconnds every
time. So use the Custtom Settingss menu to ch
hange the dellay.

43. Duall memory ca ards

Why do Nikons
N proffessional DS
SLRs have tw
wo memory card slots? IIts not just iin case yourr first
memory card fills up
p! You can use the secon
nd slot to storre image bacckups or sepparate raw filles and
or videos).
JPEGs (o

44. Fasteer cards

When yooure choosin
ng memory cards,
c dont just go for ccapacity. Youu need Classs 6 cards oor faster if
you plan on shooting
g full HD vid
deo.

45. AF Fine
F Tune
Use the AF
A Fine Tun ne option in the
t Setup meenu on the D D7000 and abbove if you hhave a lens w
where the
focus is slightly
s out but make sure
s its not focus
f error oon your part.

Page 10 of 22

46. Lenses for filters

If you reg
gularly use filters,
f you need
n to take care
c when shhopping for new lenses tthat they feaature non-
rotating front
f elemen
nts. These aree lenses who ose front elem ments dont rotate whenn you adjust the focus,
which wo ould make using
u polariseers and gradduated filterss tricky.

47. FX fu
uture-prooffing
Thinkingg of upgradin
ng to full-fraame at some point? Youll need to sttick to DX foormat wide-aangles
and stand
dard lenses, but
b for macrro and teleph hoto photogrraphy, FX-foormat lensess are fine.

48. DX leenses on FXX

You can still use you
ur DX lensess on an FX camera it w
will switch too DX crop mode.

49. AF motors
m
D3000- and
a D5000-sseries Nikon n DSLRs don nt have autoofocus motorrs in the boddy. Most new
w lenses
have mottors built in, but some ollder ones don
nt, so checkk before youu buy.

50. Manual focus ov verride

Does youur lens have an MA/M sw witch (ratherr than A/M)? If so, it offfers full-timee manual ovverride
so you caan turn the fo
ocus ring maanually, even
n while the llens is still switched to aautofocus moode.

51. Flashh diffuser

The lightt from the on
nboard flash is quite hard
d, but a simpple flash difffuser will soften it up. Because
the light source is mo
ore spread ou
ut, you dont get such haarsh shadow ws.

Page 11 of 22

52. Closee-up filter

Keen on close-ups bu ut cant afforrd a macro lens? Close-uup filters couuld be the annswer. Filterr
manufactturer Kood, for example, makes closse-up filters in three diffferent strengtths, and youu can use
them singgly or in com
mbination check your lenss
l filter ssize first.

53. Lens hoods

Lens hoo hooting into tthe light. Buut theyre jusst as useful iff it rains
ods reduce leens flare wheen youre sh
because they
t help keep rain off th
he lens.

54. ML-L L3 remote

Its cheap
p (just 20/$
$15), its smaall and it firees your Nikoon by infrareed. It also woorks with moost DX-
format caameras, exceept for the D3100,
D D300 and D300s..

55. Get a grip!

Nikons smaller D-SLRs dont taake battery grips,
g but thee rest do. Theey provide longer-lastinng power,
easier handling, and in some insttances, a speed boost.

Page 12 of 22

56. Flash
hy alternativ ve
Need exttra light but dont
d want th
he fuss of flaash? LED laamps like thee Manfrotto ML240 clipp to the
accessory
y shoe and provide
p moree light than you
y might thhink.

57. Off-ccamera flash h

You can great effectss with off-caamera flash, but wirelesss control cann be quite dauunting so gget a
simple exxternal flash
h cable insteaad.

58. Get a card readeer

Do you still
s hook up your cameraa to your com
mputer withh a cable? Caard readers aare both quiccker and
simpler.

59. Dont get wet!

You coulld spend a fo
ortune on un
nderwater housings or beespoke rain ccovers, but thhese cheap aand
simple co
overs from Op/Tech,
O aree just 6 per pair.

Page 13 of 22

60. Takee a seat

If youre shooting spports or wildllife, you can
n end up stannding in the ssame spot foor hours. Folld-up
Walkstoo ols take up no
n more spacce than a smaall tripod.

61. Black k and whitee filters

Old-scho ool black andd white photographers would
w use colloured filterss to change tthe tonal ballance in
their picttures and you
y can do th he same with
h your Nikonn DSLR. Sellect the Monnochrome Piicture
Control ini the Shootiing settings menu,
m then press
p right o n the multi-sselector to aaccess the Fillter
effects.

62. Subtle monochrome toning effects

You can also apply tooning effectss to your blaack and whitte pictures. T
The ability too adjust the sstrength
of these effects
e mean
ns that you can exercise lots
l of subtleety there aare no crude orange sepiia effects
here!

Page 14 of 22

63. Timee lapse

Time-lappse photograaphy can be fascinating.
f Many
M of thee latest Nikonn models (D
D5100 and upp) have an
Interval Timer
T mode on the Shoo oting settingss menu.

64. Autoo distortion correction

All lensees produce so
ome degree ofo distortion
n. But did yo u know thatt as long as yyoure using
supported d Nikon lensses, your cam
mera can corrrect it autom
matically?

65. Activ
ve D-Lightin ng
This modde enables yo ou to capturee very high-contrast scennes. It adjusts the exposuure to capturre bright
highlightt detail, and processes
p th
he image to bring
b out thee shadows.

66. ADLL bracketingg

Most Nikkon models now
n offer A
ADL bracketting, where the camera takes a seriees of shots att different
Active D-Lighting
D seettings.

67. Regu
ular D-Lightting
You can also apply Active
A D-Lig
ghting to imaages alreadyy saved on thhe memory ccard. It doesnnt change
the expossure it sim
mply brighten
ns the shadow
ws.

Page 15 of 22

68. Flexiible programm

You dont actually neeed to switch h to A or S mode
m for apeerture or shuutter speed control. If yoou turn the
command d dial in P mode,
m it goess into Flexiblle Program mmode, shiftinng the apertuure/shutter sppeed
combinattions one waay or the othher.

69. Persp
pective corrrection
Are yourr architecturaal shots spoiled by conveerging verticcals? The Peerspective coontrol optionn in the
Retouch menu can co orrect verticaal and horizo
ontal perspecctive.

70. Zoom m for macro os

Zoom len nses have thee same minimum focus distance
d whaatever the zooom setting youre usingg, so the
trick is to
o set the lenss to its maxim
mum focal leength first.

71. Miniiature effectt (Retouch)

The tilt-sshift effect iss all the ragee right now, where
w selecttive defocusing is used tto make the wworld
look like a model village. You gu uessed it you
y can do thhis in-cameraa too. It takees just a few moments
to positio
on the sharp section of th he image, annd you can prreview the rresult before you save it.

Page 16 of 22

72. Retouching toolss

The Reto
ouch menu enables you to
t straighten, crop and reetouch photoos without a computer inn sight.

73. Mono in raw

Your Nik
kon has greaat mono effeccts, but its still
s worth shhooting in R
RAW. The LC
CD will show
w the
mono efffect, but you
ull have all the
t colour daata.

74. Sloww sync with built-in

b flash
h
Flash on its own can look pretty grim, but if you set the fflash mode tto Slow, the camera will balance
the flash with the exiisting light. This
T works best
b at dusk or in poor liight, where ssubjects in thhe
foregrounnd are brighttly lit and th
he backgroun
nd is darker.

75. Autoomatic (flash h off) mode

If youre shooting in a museum or o theatre, thhe last thing yyou need is the flash firiing! But if yyou want
the conveenience of fu ully automattic operation
n, just switchh to the Autoo (flash off) m
mode its tthe
circular flash
f strike-tthrough symb bol on the mode
m dial.

Page 17 of 22

76. On th he level
Not all Nikon
N DSLR n-screen spirrit level to heelp get your camera straaight, but thiss clip-on
Rs offer an on
spirit level is a cheap
p and simple alternative for
f any Nikoon.

77. Deletting images

Select thee Delete option on the Playback
P men
nu, press thee right buttonn, and choosse Selected. Y
You can
now brow wse your savved images in thumbnaill view and piick out the oones you wannt to delete.

78. Form
mat or deletee?
Formattinng wipes thee whole card moves photoos from the ffolder being used by
d, while deletting only rem
the cameera.

79. HDRR bracketingg

To createe an HDR im
mage you can n use your Nikons
N auto--exposure brracketing funnction, but sset wider
bracketin
ng incrementts than usuall 2EV shou
uld do it.

Page 18 of 22

80. Builtt-in HDR

The D5100, D800 an nd D4 have built-in
b HDR
R modes wheere two expoosures are coombined in-ccamera,
capturing
g an extra-wide dynamicc range.

81. Interrpreting thee histogram

The histoogram displaay in Playbacck mode givves you a quiick guide to whether youu need to retake the
picture watch out for
f clipping in the shad
dows or highhlights. Its innvaluable foor subjects w
which push
the extremmes of the to
onal range.

82. Sensoor cleaning

If youvee got soft, daark spots app
pearing in the same placee on all yourr photos, itss dust on the sensor.
But beforre you attemmpt to remove the dust yo ourself, try rrunning the ccameras ow
wn sensor-cleeaning
process manually
m you
y can do th his via the Setup menu (oolder modells dont havee sensor-cleaaning
functionaality).

83. Dust Off

If your Nikon
N doesnt have sensoor-cleaning, you could uuse Nikon Caapture NX 2 (sold separaately).
The Dustt Off featuree uses referen
nce shots to automaticallly remove duust.

84. Pred dictable WB

With auto mera correctts the colouurs for each sscene. But soometimes the colour
o white balaance, the cam
of the lig
ght is a key part
p of the ph hoto. To presserve colourrs, use the Diirect Sunlighht preset.

85. Custom WB
You can use the Whiite Balance menu
m to takee a manual w
white balancee reading. Thhe camera saaves this
reading until
u you oveerride it with
h another.

Page 19 of 22

86. WB bracketing
b
With wh hite balance bracketing (D5100 and
d up), the cam
mera saves thhree images with differeent WB
settings.

87. RAWW processing g

If youvee shot raw filles and you need
n a JPEG
G, use the NE
EF (raw) Proocessing opttion on the R
Retouch
menu. Th he camera saaves a JPEG along with the
t original raw file.

88. NEF exposure

xposure com
You can adjust the ex mpensation of
o raw files inn-camera beecause raw fiiles have sligghtly
more hig
ghlight and sh
hadow latitu
ude than JPE
EG images.

89. Insta
ant review
Make surre the Imagee Review opttion is switchhed on (Playyback menu)). The camerra will then ddisplay
the imagee youve jusst taken for a few second
ds long enoough for youu to check thhat its okay.

90. Playb
back info
You can cycle throug gh the imagee playback in
nformation bby pressing uup/down on the multi-seelector. If
some info
fo isnt visiblle, open the Setup menu and choose Playback D Display Optioons or Displaay Mode.

91. Creaate your own n Picture Co ontrols

Picture Controls
C channge the way the image iss processed tto tweak thee contrast, saaturation andd tonal
rendition
n of your picttures. If you
u like super-ssaturated lanndscapes, forr example, a custom Pictture
Control can
c recreate the look you u like.

Page 20 of 22

92. NEF white balan nce

If you sh
hoot raw, youu can use thee NEF (raw) Processing tools to see the effect off different w
white
balance settings.
s ncandescent setting to em
Try using the In mphasise coool, dawn lighht, for exampple.

93. Highhlight warning

In the hiighlight warn
ning mode, pictures dissplay normallly, except thhat if any areeas have beeen
overexpo osed, such ass bright skiess, these areas flash as a w
warning.

94. Imag ge commentts

You can add a comm ment to your photos, such
h as a locatioon or model name, but itts a non-stanndard
d, and you wont
data field w see it in
n Adobe Bridge.

95. Formmat shortcutt

If your Nikon
N has a red
r Format button on th he top, theree will be another on the bback. These offer a
quick waay to format your memorry card. You u press and hhold until Foor appears oon the statuss panel on
the top, then press bo
oth again to format
f the card.

Page 21 of 22

96. Lock k images

In Playbaack mode yo ou can lock images
i to preevent them bbeing deletedd using the Lock (key)) button.
This is in
n a different place on diffferent camerras. Its easyy to press acccidentally, aand if youree
wonderin ng why youve got somee photos you cant deletee this is whhy!

97. RAWW+JPEG deleting

Watch ouut! If you sett your Nikon
n to shoot RA AW+JPEG, its only thee JPEG versiion that appeears
during pllayback an
nd if you deleete this, the raw
r file is ddeleted too.

98. Playb
back folderss
Each cam
mera you usee will set up its own fold der on the meemory card, and will usuually only shhow the
contents of that foldeer you can use the Play
yback Folderr option to chhange this.

99. Trim
m movies
Movie filles take up a lot of spacee on your meemory card, but you cann trim them inn-camera annd save a
copy. Th
hen you can delete
d the orriginal to freee up some sppace.

100. Play
y a slideshoww
Why scrooll through your
y images manually when
w the cam
mera can do iit for you? L
Look for the S
Slide
show opttion on the Playback
P men
nu you can
n even choosse the transittion.

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