Nikon D90 For Dummies E-Book

Julie Adair King

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Seitenzahl: 459

Beschreibung

The Nikon D90 offers professional-quality features for shutterbugs of all types--take full advantage of each feature withthis full-color, user-friendly guide Your Nikon D90 digital camera offers professional-quality features--like 11-point autofocus, Live View, and the ability to shoot HD video--that you may find overwhelming if you're not familiar with digital cameras or even photography in general. No need to panic--you're in the right place. Nikon D90 For Dummies is a fun and easy-to-use guide that helps you understand and use all the camera's dials and modes, manage photo size and quality, take creative control with manual settings, and share your images in print or online. Not only will you learn what all your camera's features do, but you'll also discover when, where, why, and how best to use each one. With this full-color book written in plain English, getting great shots is a snap. Whether you're an experienced photography enthusiast or a virtual beginner, this book shows you the ins and outs of the Nikon D90. You'll learn to: * Format memory cards, use Live View, create custom settings, and change lenses * Use thumbnail and calendar displays and picture data, and get tips for inspecting your photos * Control aperture, shutter speed, and ISO * Work with active D-lighting and use various flash modes * Take control of lighting, exposure, and color * Set up, shoot, and review photos using the viewscreen * Record HD video, including sound, and know what your D90 can and can't do * Use software that comes with the camera to download, organize, and archive your images * Print photos or share them via e-mails or slide shows * Decide when you should use JPEG and when to use NEF * Adjust resolution for optimum print quality or file size This comprehensive guide gives you the scoop on secrets for getting the best point-and-shoot pictures and why you mightnotwant to use the top image quality setting. You'll get tips for retouching images (like removing red-eye and adding a starburst effect) plus ideas for exploring special-purpose features (like adding comments to images with location and other information). Get your copy of Nikon D90 For Dummies, grab your Nikon D90, and start shooting!

Leseprobe

Nikon® D90 For Dummies®

Table of Contents

Introduction

A Quick Look at What’s Ahead

Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps

Part II: Taking Creative Control

Part III: Working with Picture Files

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Icons and Other Stuff to Note

About the Software Shown in This Book

Practice, Be Patient, and Have Fun!

Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps

1: Getting the Lay of the Land

Getting Comfortable with Your Lens

Attaching a lens

Removing a lens

Using a VR (vibration reduction) lens

Setting the focus mode (auto or manual)

Zooming in and out

Adjusting the Viewfinder Focus

Working with Memory Cards

Exploring External Camera Controls

Topside controls

Back-of-the-body controls

Front-left buttons

Front-right controls

Ordering from Camera Menus

Monitoring Shooting Settings

Asking Your Camera for Help

Reviewing Basic Setup Options

Cruising the Setup menu

Browsing the Custom Setting menu

2: Taking Great Pictures, Automatically

Getting Good Point-and-Shoot Results

Using Flash in Automatic Exposure Modes

Exploring Your Automatic Exposure Options

Auto mode

Digital Vari-Program modes

Changing the (Shutter Button) Release Mode

3: Controlling Picture Quality and Size

Diagnosing Quality Problems

Considering Resolution (Image Size)

Pixels and print quality

Pixels and screen display size

Pixels and file size

Resolution recommendations

Understanding the Image Quality Options

JPEG: The imaging (and Web) standard

NEF (Raw): The purist’s choice

My take: Choose JPEG Fine or NEF (Raw)

Setting Image Size and Quality

4: Monitor Matters: Picture Playback and Live View Shooting

Enabling Automatic Picture Rotation

Disabling and Adjusting Instant Review

Viewing Images in Playback Mode

Viewing multiple images at a time

Displaying photos in Calendar view

Zooming in for a closer view

Viewing Picture Data

File Information mode

RGB Histogram mode

Highlight display mode

Shooting Data display mode

GPS Data mode

Overview Data mode

Hiding Photos during Playback

Deleting Photos

Deleting images one at a time

Deleting all photos

Deleting a batch of selected photos

Protecting Photos

Exploring Live View Shooting

Taking pictures in Live View mode

Recording movies

Customizing the Live View display

Part II: Taking Creative Control

5: Getting Creative with Exposure and Lighting

Introducing the Exposure Trio: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO

Understanding exposure-setting side effects

Doing the exposure balancing act

Exploring the Advanced Exposure Modes

Reading the Meter

Setting ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed

Adjusting aperture and shutter speed

Controlling ISO

Choosing an Exposure Metering Mode

Applying Exposure Compensation

Using Autoexposure Lock

Expanding Tonal Range with Active D-Lighting

Using Flash in P, S, A, and M modes

Setting the flash mode

Adjusting flash output

Locking flash exposure on your subject

Exploring a few additional flash options

Using an external flash head

Bracketing Exposures

6: Manipulating Focus and Color

Reviewing Focus Basics

Adjusting Autofocus Performance

Understanding the AF-area mode setting

Changing the Autofocus mode setting

Choosing the right autofocus combo

Using autofocus lock

Autofocusing in Live View mode

Manipulating Depth of Field

Controlling Color

Correcting colors with white balance

Changing the white balance setting

Fine-tuning white balance settings

Creating white balance presets

Bracketing white balance

Choosing a Color Space: sRGB vs. Adobe RGB

Taking a Quick Look at Picture Controls

7: Putting It All Together

Recapping Basic Picture Settings

Setting Up for Specific Scenes

Shooting still portraits

Capturing action

Capturing scenic vistas

Capturing dynamic close-ups

Coping with Special Situations

Part III: Working with Picture Files

8: Downloading, Organizing, and Archiving Your Picture Files

Sending Pictures to the Computer

Connecting the camera and computer

Starting the transfer process

Downloading and Organizing Photos with the Nikon Software

Downloading with Nikon Transfer

Browsing images in Nikon ViewNX

Viewing picture metadata

Organizing pictures

Processing Raw (NEF) Files

Processing Raw images in the camera

Processing Raw files in ViewNX

9: Printing and Sharing Your Pictures

Printing Possibilities: Retail or Do-It-Yourself?

Preventing Potential Printing Problems

Match resolution to print size

Allow for different print proportions

Get print and monitor colors in synch

Preparing Pictures for E-Mail

Creating small copies using the camera

Downsizing images in Nikon ViewNX

Creating a Digital Slide Show

Setting up a simple slide show

Creating Pictmotion slide shows

Viewing Your Photos on a Television

Part IV: The Part of Tens

10: Ten (Or So) Fun and Practical Retouch Menu Features

Applying the Retouch Menu Filters

Removing Red-Eye

Straightening Tilting Horizon Lines

Shadow Recovery with D-Lighting

Boosting Shadows, Contrast, and Saturation Together

Two Ways to Tweak Color

Applying digital lens filters

Manipulating color balance

Creating Monochrome Photos

Removing (or Creating) Lens Distortion

Adding a Starburst Effect

Cropping Your Photo

11: Ten Special-Purpose Features to Explore on a Rainy Day

Annotate Your Images

Creating Your Own Menu

Creating Custom Image Folders

Customizing External Controls

Adjusting the On/Off switch

Changing the function of the OK button

Assigning a duty to the Function button

Changing the function of the AE-L/AF-L button

Customizing the command dials

Two Roads to a Multi-Image Exposure

Nikon® D90 For Dummies®

by Julie Adair King

Nikon® D90 For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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About the Author

Julie Adair King is the author of many books about digital photography and imaging, including the best-selling Digital Photography For Dummies. Her most recent titles include a series of guides to popular digital SLR cameras, including Nikon D60 For Dummies and Nikon D40/D40x For Dummies. Other works include Digital Photography Before & After Makeovers, Digital Photo Projects For Dummies, Julie King’s Everyday Photoshop For Photographers, Julie King’s Everyday Photoshop Elements, and Shoot Like a Pro!: Digital Photography Techniques. When not writing, King teaches digital photography at such locations as the Palm Beach Photographic Centre. A graduate of Purdue University, she resides in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Author’s Acknowledgments

I am extremely grateful to the team of talented professionals at John Wiley and Sons for all their efforts in putting together this book. Special thanks go to my awesome project editor, Kim Darosett, who is the type of editor that all authors hope for but rarely experience: supportive, skilled, and amazingly calm in the face of any storm, including my not infrequent freakouts. I also owe much to the rest of the folks in both the editorial and art departments, especially Heidi Unger, Rashell Smith, Shelley Lea, Steve Hayes, Andy Cummings, and Mary Bednarek.

Thanks, too, to Jonathan Conrad for providing the awesome nighttime shot for Chapter 7, and to agent extraordinaire, Margot Maley Hutchison, for her continuing help and encouragement. And last but not least, I am also indebted to technical editor Dave Hall, without whose insights and expertise this book would not have been the same.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

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Introduction

Nikon. The name has been associated with top-flight photography equipment for generations. And the introduction of the D90 has only enriched Nikon’s well-deserved reputation, offering all the control a die-hard photography enthusiast could want while at the same time providing easy-to-use, point-and-shoot features for the beginner.

In fact, the D90 offers so many features that sorting them all out can be more than a little confusing, especially if you’re new to digital photography, SLR photography, or both. For starters, you may not even be sure what SLRmeans or how it affects your picture taking, let alone have a clue as to all the other techie terms you encounter in your camera manual — resolution, aperture, white balance, and so on. And if you’re like many people, you may be so overwhelmed by all the controls on your camera that you haven’t yet ventured beyond fully automatic picture-taking mode. Which is a shame because it’s sort of like buying a Porsche and never actually taking it on the road.

Therein lies the point of Nikon D90 For Dummies: Through this book, you can discover not just what each bell and whistle on your camera does, but also when, where, why, and how to put it to best use. Unlike many photography books, this one doesn’t require any previous knowledge of photography or digital imaging to make sense of things, either. In classic For Dummies style, everything is explained in easy-to-understand language, with lots of illustrations to help clear up any confusion.

In short, what you have in your hands is the paperback version of an in-depth photography workshop tailored specifically to your Nikon picture-taking powerhouse.

A Quick Look at What’s Ahead

This book is organized into four parts, each devoted to a different aspect of using your camera. Although chapters flow in a sequence that’s designed to take you from absolute beginner to experienced user, I’ve also tried to make each chapter as self-standing as possible so that you can explore the topics that interest you in any order you please.

The following sections offer brief previews of each part. If you’re eager to find details on a specific topic, the index shows you exactly where to look.

Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps

Part I contains four chapters that help you get up and running with your D90.

Chapter 1, “Getting the Lay of the Land,” offers a tour of the external controls on your camera, shows you how to navigate camera menus to access internal options, and walks you through initial camera setup and customization steps.

Chapter 2, “Taking Great Pictures, Automatically,” shows you how to get the best results when using the camera’s fully automatic exposure modes, including the Digital Vari-Program scene modes such as Sports mode, Portrait mode, and Landscape mode.

Chapter 3, “Controlling Picture Quality and Size,” introduces you to two camera settings that are critical whether you shoot in automatic or manual mode: the Image Size and Image Quality settings, which control resolution (pixel count), file format, file size, and picture quality.

Chapter 4, “Monitor Matters: Picture Playback and Live View Shooting” offers just what its title implies. Look here to find out how to review your photos and how to take pictures using your monitor to compose the scene — that is, how to use the D90’s Live View mode to shoot both still photos and record short digital movies. This chapter also discusses how to delete unwanted images and protect your favorites from accidental erasure.

Part II: Taking Creative Control

Chapters in this part help you unleash the full creative power of your D90 by moving into semiautomatic or manual photography modes.

Chapter 5, “Getting Creative with Exposure and Lighting,” covers the all-important topic of exposure, starting with an explanation of three critical exposure controls: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. This chapter also discusses your camera’s advanced exposure modes (P, S, A, and M); explains exposure options such as Active D-Lighting, automatic exposure bracketing, metering modes, and exposure compensation; and offers tips for using the flash.

Chapter 6, “Manipulating Focus and Color,” provides help with controlling those aspects of your pictures. Head here for information about your camera’s many autofocusing options, for tips on how to manipulate depth of field (the zone of sharp focus in a picture), and for details about color controls such as white balance.

Chapter 7, “Putting It All Together,”summarizes all the techniques explained in earlier chapters, providing a quick-reference guide to the camera settings and shooting strategies that produce the best results for specific types of pictures: portraits, action shots, landscape scenes, close-ups, and more.

Part III: Working with Picture Files

This part of the book, as its title implies, discusses the often-confusing aspect of moving your pictures from camera to computer and beyond.

Chapter 8, “Downloading, Organizing, and Archiving Your Picture Files,” guides you through the process of transferring pictures from your camera memory card to your computer’s hard drive or other storage device. Look here, too, for details about using the D90’s built-in tool for processing files that you shoot in the Nikon Raw format (NEF). Just as important, this chapter explains how to organize and safeguard your photo files.

Chapter 9, “Printing and Sharing Your Pictures,” helps you turn your digital files into “hard copies” that look as good as those you see on the camera monitor. This chapter also explains how to prepare your pictures for online sharing, create digital slide shows, and, for times when you have the neighbors over, display your pictures and movies on a television screen.

Part IV: The Part of Tens

In famous For Dummies tradition, the book concludes with two “top ten” lists containing additional bits of information and advice.

Chapter 10, “Ten (Or So) Fun and Practical Retouch Menu Features,” shows you how to fix less-than-perfect images using features found on your camera’s Retouch menu, such as automated red-eye removal. You also find out how to apply color effects and perform a few other photo-enhancement tricks.

Chapter 11, “Ten Special-Purpose Features to Explore on a Rainy Day,” presents information about some camera features that, while not found on most “Top Ten Reasons I Bought My D90” lists, are nonetheless interesting, useful on occasion, or a bit of both.

Icons and Other Stuff to Note

If this isn’t your first For Dummies book, you may be familiar with the large, round icons that decorate its margins. If not, here’s your very own icon-decoder ring:

A Tip icon flags information that will save you time, effort, money, or some other valuable resource, including your sanity.

Lots of information in this book is of a technical nature — digital photography is a technical animal, after all. But if I present a detail that is useful mainly for impressing your technology-geek friends, I mark it with this icon.

I apply this icon either to introduce information that is especially worth storing in your brain’s long-term memory or to remind you of a fact that may have been displaced from that memory by some other pressing fact.

When you see this icon, look alive. It indicates a potential danger zone that can result in much wailing and teeth-gnashing if ignored.

Additionally, I need to point out three additional details that will help you use this book:

Other margin art: Replicas of some of your camera’s buttons also appear in the margins of some paragraphs. I include these to provide a quick reminder of the appearance of the button being discussed.

Software menu commands: In sections that cover software, a series of words connected by an arrow indicates commands that you choose from the program menus. For example, if a step tells you to “Choose File⇒Convert Files,” click the File menu to unfurl it and then click the Convert Files command on the menu.

Camera firmware: Firmware is the internal software that controls many of your camera’s operations. This book was written using version 1.0.0 of the firmware, which was the most current version at the time of publication.

Occasionally, Nikon releases firmware updates, and it’s a good idea to check out the Nikon Web site (www.nikon.com) periodically to find out whether any updates are available. (Chapter 1 tells you how to determine which firmware version your camera is running.) Firmware updates typically don’t carry major feature changes — they’re mostly used to solve technical glitches in existing features — but if you do download an update, be sure to read the accompanying description of what it accomplishes so that you can adapt my instructions as necessary.

About the Software Shown in This Book

Providing specific instructions for performing photo organizing and editing tasks requires that I feature specific software. In sections that cover file downloading, archiving, printing, and e-mail sharing, I selected Nikon ViewNX and Nikon Transfer, both of which ship free with your camera and work on both the Windows and Mac operating systems.

Rest assured, though, that the tools used in ViewNX and Nikon Transfer work very similarly in other programs, so you should be able to easily adapt the steps to whatever software you use. (I recommend that you read your software manual for details, of course.)

Practice, Be Patient, and Have Fun!

To wrap up this preamble, I want to stress that if you initially think that digital photography is too confusing or too technical for you, you’re in very good company. Everyone finds this stuff a little mind-boggling at first. So take it slowly, experimenting with just one or two new camera settings or techniques at first. Then, each time you go on a photo outing, make it a point to add one or two more shooting skills to your repertoire.

I know that it’s hard to believe when you’re just starting out, but it really won’t be long before everything starts to come together. With some time, patience, and practice, you’ll soon wield your camera like a pro, dialing in the necessary settings to capture your creative vision almost instinctively.

So without further ado, I invite you to grab your camera, a cup of whatever it is you prefer to sip while you read, and start exploring the rest of this book. Your D90 is the perfect partner for your photographic journey, and I thank you for allowing me, through this book, to serve as your tour guide.

Part I

Fast Track to Super Snaps

In this part . . .

Making sense of all the controls on your D90 isn’t something you can do in an afternoon — heck, in a week, or maybe even a month. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t take great pictures today. By using your camera’s point-and-shoot automatic modes, you can capture terrific images with very little effort. All you do is compose the scene, and the camera takes care of almost everything else.

This part shows you how to take best advantage of your camera’s automatic features and also addresses some basic setup steps, such as adjusting the viewfinder to your eyesight and getting familiar with the camera menus, buttons, and dials. In addition, chapters in this part explain how to obtain the very best picture quality, whether you shoot in an automatic or manual mode, and how to use your camera’s picture-playback and Live View features.

1

Getting the Lay of the Land

In This Chapter

Attaching and using an SLR lens

Adjusting the viewfinder to your eyesight

Working with memory cards

Getting acquainted with your camera

Selecting from menus

Displaying onscreen help

Customizing basic operations

I still remember the day that I bought my first SLR film camera. I was excited to finally move up from my one-button point-and-shoot camera, but I was a little anxious, too. My new pride and joy sported several unfamiliar buttons and dials, and the explanations in the camera manual clearly were written for someone with an engineering degree. And then there was the whole business of attaching the lens to the camera, an entirely new task for me. I saved up my pennies a long time for that camera — what if my inexperience caused me to damage the thing before I even shot my first pictures?

You may be feeling similarly insecure if your Nikon D90 is your first SLR, although some of the buttons on the camera back may look familiar if you’ve previously used a digital point-and-shoot camera. If your D90 is both your first SLR and first digital camera, you may be doubly intimidated.

Trust me, though, that your camera isn’t nearly as complicated as its exterior makes it appear. With a little practice and the help of this chapter, which introduces you to each external control, you’ll quickly become as comfortable with your camera’s buttons and dials as you are with the ones on your car’s dashboard. This chapter also guides you through the process of mounting and using an SLR lens, working with digital memory cards, navigating your camera’s menus, and customizing basic camera operations.

Getting Comfortable with Your Lens

One of the biggest differences between a point-and-shoot camera and an SLR (single-lens reflex) camera is the lens. With an SLR, you can swap out lenses to suit different photographic needs, going from an extreme close-up lens to a super-long telephoto, for example. In addition, an SLR lens has a movable focusing ring that gives you the option of focusing manually instead of relying on the camera’s autofocus mechanism.

Of course, those added capabilities mean that you need a little background information to take full advantage of your lens. To that end, the next four sections explain the process of attaching, removing, and using this critical part of your camera.

Attaching a lens

Whatever lens you choose, follow these steps to attach it to the camera body:

1. Remove the cap that covers the lens mount on the front of the camera.

2. Remove the cap that covers the back of the lens.

3. Hold the lens in front of the camera so that the little white dot on the lens aligns with the matching dot on the camera body.

Official photography lingo uses the term mounting index instead of little white dot. Either way, you can see the markings in question in Figure 1-1.

Note that the figure (and others in this chapter) shows you the D90 with its so-called “kit lens” — the 18–105mm Vibration Reduction (VR) zoom lens that Nikon sells as a unit with the body. If you buy a lens from a manufacturer other than Nikon, your dot may be red or some other color, so check the lens instruction manual.

4. Keeping the dots aligned, position the lens on the camera’s lens mount as shown in Figure 1-1.

When you do so, grip the lens by its back collar, not the movable, forward end of the lens barrel.

Figure 1-1: When attaching the lens, align the index markers as shown here.

5. Turn the lens in a counter-clockwise direction until the lens clicks into place.

To put it another way, turn the lens toward the side of the camera that sports the shutter button, as indicated by the red arrow in the figure.

6. On a lens that has an aperture ring, set and lock the ring so the aperture is set at the highest f-stop number.

Check your lens manual to find out whether your lens sports an aperture ring and how to adjust it. (The D90 kit lens doesn’t.) To find out more about apertures and f-stops, see Chapter 5.

Always attach (or switch) lenses in a clean environment to reduce the risk of getting dust, dirt, and other contaminants inside the camera or lens. Changing lenses on a sandy beach, for example, isn’t a good idea. For added safety, point the camera body slightly down when performing this maneuver; doing so helps prevent any flotsam in the air from being drawn into the camera by gravity.

Removing a lens

To detach a lens from the camera body, take these steps:

1. Locate the lens-release button, labeled in Figure 1-2.

2. Grip the rear collar of the lens.

In other words, hold on to the stationary part of the lens that’s closest to the camera body and not the movable focusing ring or zoom ring, if your lens has one.

3. Press the lens-release button while turning the lens clockwise until the mounting index on the lens is aligned with the index on the camera body.

The mounting indexes are the little guide dots labeled in Figure 1-1. When the dots line up, the lens should detach from the mount.

4. Place the rear protective cap onto the back of the lens.

If you aren’t putting another lens on the camera, cover the lens mount with the protective cap that came with your camera, too.

Figure 1-2: Press the lens-release button to disengage the lens from the mount.

Using a VR (vibration reduction) lens

If you purchased the D90 camera kit — that is, the body-and-lens combination put together by Nikon — your lens offers a feature called vibration reduction. On Nikon lenses, this feature is indicated by the initials VR in the lens name.

Vibration reduction attempts to compensate for small amounts of camera shake that are common when photographers handhold their cameras and use a slow shutter speed, a lens with a long focal length, or both. That camera movement during the exposure can produce blurry images. Although vibration reduction can’t work miracles, it does enable most people to capture sharper handheld shots in many situations than they otherwise could.

However, when you use a tripod, vibration reduction can have detrimental effects because the system may try to adjust for movement that isn’t actually occurring. That’s why your kit lens — and all Nikon VR lenses — have an On/Off switch, which is located on the side of the lens, as shown in Figure 1-2. Whether you should turn off the VR feature, though, depends on the specific lens, so check the manual. For the 18–105 kit lens, Nikon does recommend setting the switch to the Off position for tripod shooting, assuming that the tripod is “locked down” so the camera is immovable.

If you use a non-Nikon lens, the vibration reduction feature may go by another name: image stabilization, optical stabilization, anti-shake, vibration compensation, and so on. In some cases, the manufacturers may recommend that you leave the system turned on or select a special setting when you use a tripod, so be sure to check the lens manual for information.

Chapter 6 offers more tips on achieving blur-free photos, and it also explains focal length and its impact on your pictures. See Chapter 5 for an explanation of shutter speed.

Setting the focus mode (auto or manual)

Your camera can accept a variety of lenses, but only two types of lenses permit you to take advantage of autofocusing: AF lenses and AF-S lenses. (The 18–105mm kit lens falls into the AF-S category.)

The AF stands for autofocus, as you may have guessed. The S stands for silent wave, a Nikon autofocus technology.

For times when you attach a lens that doesn’t support autofocusing or the autofocus system has trouble locking on your subject, you can focus manually by simply twisting a focusing ring on the lens barrel. The placement and appearance of the focusing ring depends on the lens; Figure 1-3 shows you the one on the kit lens.

Take these steps to try out manual focusing:

1. Set the camera to manual focus mode.

The procedure depends on the type of lens, as follows:

•AF-S lenses: Set the switch on the lens itself to M, as shown in Figure 1-3. Note that the figure shows the switch as it appears on the D90’s kit lens; if you use a different lens, check the lens instruction manual if you have trouble finding the switch. (It may carry the label AF/MF instead of A/M.)

•AF lenses: For this type of lens, two switches are involved. First, set the lens switch to M, as just described. Then look for the AF-M switch on the camera body — it’s located just below the lens-release button, as labeled in Figure 1-3. Flip the switch to M for manual focusing.

•All other lenses: Set the switch on the camera body to M.

2. While looking through the viewfinder, twist the focusing ring to adjust focus.

If you have trouble focusing, you may be too close to your subject; every lens has a minimum focusing distance. You may also need to adjust the viewfinder to accommodate your eyesight; see the next section for details.

Some lenses, including the D90 kit lens, enable you to use autofocusing to set the initial focusing point and then fine-tune focus manually. Check your lens manual for information on how to use this option, if available. With the kit lens, you set the lens switch to the A position and then press the shutter button halfway to autofocus. Then you simply twist the foscuing ring to adjust focus further, if needed.

Zooming in and out

If you bought a zoom lens, it has a movable zoom barrel. The location of the soom barrel on the D90 kit lens is show in Figure 1-3. To zoom in or out, just move that zoom barrel forward and backward.

The numbers on the zoom ring, by the way, represent focal lengths. I explain focal lengths in Chapter 6. In the meantime, just note that when the lens is mounted on the camera, the number that’s aligned with the lens mounting index (the white dot) represents the current focal length. In Figure 1-3, for example, the focal length is 35mm.

Figure 1-3: On the 18–105 kit lens, the manual-focusing ring is set near the back of the lens, as shown here.

Adjusting the Viewfinder Focus

Tucked behind the right side of the rubber eyepiece that surrounds the viewfinder is a tiny dial called a diopter adjustment control. With this control, labeled in Figure 1-4, you can adjust the focus of your viewfinder to accommodate your eyesight.

Figure 1-4: Use the diopter adjustment control to set the viewfinder focus for your eyesight.

If you don’t take this step, scenes that appear out of focus through the viewfinder may actually be sharply focused through the lens, and vice versa. Here’s how to make the necessary adjustment:

1. Remove the lens cap from the front of the lens.

2. Look through the viewfinder and concentrate on the little black markings shown on the right side of Figure 1-4.

The little rectangles represent the camera’s autofocusing points, which you can read more about in Chapters 2 and 6. The four curved lines represent the center-weighted metering area, which relates to an exposure option you can explore in Chapter 5.

3. Rotate the diopter adjustment dial until the viewfinder markings appear to be in focus.

The Nikon manual warns you not to poke yourself in the eye as you perform this maneuver. This warning seems so obvious that I laugh every time I read it — which makes me feel doubly stupid the next time I poke myself in the eye as I perform this maneuver.

Working with Memory Cards

Instead of recording images on film, digital cameras store pictures on memory cards. Your D90 uses a specific type of memory card called an SD card (for Secure Digital), shown in Figures 1-5 and 1-7. You can also use the new, high-capacity Secure Digital cards, which are labeled SDHC, as well as Eye-Fi SD cards, which enable you to send pictures to your computer over a wireless network. (Because of space limitations, I don’t cover Eye-Fi connectivity in this book; if you want more information about these cards, you can find it online at www.eye.fi.)

Do you need high-speed memory cards?

Memory cards are categorized not just by their storage capacity, but also by their data-transfer speed. SD cards (the type used by your D90) fall into one of three speed classes, Class 2, Class 4, and Class 6, with the number indicating the minimum number of megabytes (units of computer data) that can be transferred per second. A Class 2 card, for example, has a minimum transfer speed of 2 megabytes, or MB, per second. Of course, with the speed increase comes a price increase.

Photographers who shoot action benefit most from high-speed cards — the faster data-transfer rate helps the camera record shots at its maximum speed. Users who shoot at the highest resolution or prefer the NEF (Raw) file format also gain from high-speed cards; both options increase file size and, thus, the time needed to store the picture on the card. (See Chapter 3 for details.) As for picture downloading, how long it takes for files to shuffle from card to computer depends not just on card speed, but also on the capabilities of your computer and, if you use a memory card reader to download files, on the speed of that device. (Chapter 8 covers the file-downloading process.)

Long story short, if you want to push your camera to its performance limits, a high-speed card is worth considering, assuming budget is no issue. Otherwise, even a Class 2 card should be more than adequate for most photographers.

Safeguarding your memory cards — and the images you store on them — requires just a few precautions:

Inserting a card: First, be sure that the camera is turned off. Then put the card in the card slot with the label facing the back of the camera, as shown in Figure 1-5. Push the card into the slot until it clicks into place; the memory card access light (circled in Figure 1-5) blinks for a second to let you know the card is inserted properly.

Figure 1-5: Insert the card with the label facing the camera back.

Formatting a card: The first time you use a new memory card or insert a card that has been used in other devices (such as an MP3 player), you should format it. Formatting ensures that the card is properly prepared to record your pictures.

Formatting erases everything on your memory card. So before formatting, be sure that you have copied any pictures or other data to your computer.

You can format a card in two ways:

•Simultaneously press and hold the Delete and Metering Mode buttons. See the little red Format labels next to the buttons? They’re reminders that you use these buttons to quickly format a memory card. Hold the buttons down for about two seconds, until you see the letters For blink in the Control panel on top of the camera, as shown in Figure 1-6. The other data visible is the Shots Remaining value, which indicates how many pictures you can fit on the memory card at the current Image Quality and Image Size settings — 290, in the figure.

Figure 1-6: To format a memory card, press the Delete and Metering Mode buttons until you see this message in the Control panel; then press both buttons again.

While the display is blinking, press and release both buttons again. When formatting is complete, the For message disappears, and the Control panel display returns to normal. (See the upcoming section “Monitoring Shooting Settings” for more about the Control panel.)

•Choose the Format command from the Setup menu. The upcoming section “Ordering from Camera Menus” explains how to work with menus. When you select the command, you’re asked to confirm your decision to format the card. Highlight Yes and press the OK button to go forward.

If you insert a memory card and see the letters For in the Shots Remaining area of the Control panel, you must format the card before you can do anything else.

Removing a card: After making sure that the memory card access light is off, indicating that the camera has finished recording your most recent photo, turn the camera off. Open the memory card door, as shown in Figure 1-5. Depress the memory card slightly until you hear a little click and then let go. The card should pop halfway out of the slot, enabling you to grab it by the tail and remove it.

When no card is installed in the camera, the symbol [-E-] appears in the Control panel and viewfinder.

Handling cards: Don’t touch the gold contacts on the back of the card. (See the left card in Figure 1-7.) When cards aren’t in use, store them in the protective cases they came in or in a memory card wallet. Keep cards away from extreme heat and cold as well.

Figure 1-7: Avoid touching the gold contacts on the card.

Locking cards: The tiny switch on the left side of the card, labeled lock switch in Figure 1-7, enables you to lock your card, which prevents any data from being erased or recorded to the card. Press the switch toward the bottom of the card to lock the card contents; press it toward the top of the card to unlock the data.

You can protect individual images from accidental erasure by using the camera’s Protect feature, which is covered in Chapter 4.

Exploring External Camera Controls

Scattered across your camera’s exterior are a number of buttons, dials, and switches that you use to change picture-taking settings, review and edit your photos, and perform various other operations. In later chapters, I discuss all your camera’s functions in detail and provide the exact steps to follow to access them. This section provides just a basic road map to the external controls plus a quick introduction to each.

One note before you move on: Many of the buttons perform multiple functions and so have multiple “official” names. The WB (white balance) button, for example, is also known as the Help button and the Protect button. In the camera manual, Nikon’s instructions refer to these multi-tasking buttons by the name that’s relevant for the current function. I think that’s a little confusing, so I always refer to each button by the first moniker you see in the lists here.

Topside controls

Your virtual tour begins with the bird’s-eye view shown in Figure 1-8. There are a number of controls of note here:

Figure 1-8: The tiny pictures on the Mode dial represent special automatic shooting modes.

Control panel: On the D90, you can view basic camera settings on this topside LCD panel or on the main monitor. See the upcoming section “Monitoring Shooting Settings” for more info.

On/Off/Illuminate switch and shutter button: Okay, I’m pretty sure you already figured this combo button out. But check out Chapter 2 to discover the proper shutter-button-pressing technique — you’d be surprised how many people mess up their pictures because they press that button incorrectly. And note that if you want to illuminate the Control panel, you just rotate the On/Off switch past the On position to the little light-bulb icon. Release the switch to return to shooting; the Control panel will dim to its normal state after a few seconds.

Metering Mode button: Press this button to select an exposure metering mode, which determines what part of the frame the camera considers when calculating exposure. Chapter 5 has details.

The little red Format label above the button reminds you that you can press this button together with the Delete button — which also sports the label — to quickly format a memory card. See the earlier section “Working with Memory Cards” for details.

Exposure Compensation button: This button activates a feature that enables you to tweak exposure when working in three of your camera’s autoexposure modes: programmed autoexposure, aperture-priority autoexposure, and shutter-priority autoexposure, represented by the letters P, S, and A on the camera Mode dial. Chapter 5 explains.

Release Mode button: With this button, you can switch from normal shooting, where you take one picture with each press of the shutter button, to one of the camera’s other modes, including Self-Timer mode. See the end of Chapter 2 for a look at all your options.

AF Mode/Reset button: Press this button to access the Autofocus mode setting, which affects your camera’s autofocus performance. Check out Chapter 6 for an explanation of the available modes.

See the little green dot above this button and the Exposure Compensation button? The dots are a reminder that pressing these two buttons simultaneously for more than two seconds restores the most critical picture-taking options to their default settings. See “Restoring default settings,” at the end of this chapter, for more on this topic.

Mode dial: With this dial, labeled in Figure 1-8, you set the camera to fully automatic, semi-automatic, or manual photography mode. The little pictographs, or icons, represent the Nikon Digital Vari-Program modes, which are automatic settings geared to specific types of photos: action shots, portraits, landscapes, and so on. Chapter 2 details the Digital Vari-Program and Auto modes; Chapter 5 explains the four others (P, S, A, and M).

Back-of-the-body controls

Traveling over the top of the camera to its back side, shown in Figure 1-9, you encounter the following controls:

Main command dial: After you activate certain camera features, you rotate this dial, labeled in Figure 1-9, to select a specific setting. For example, to choose a White Balance setting, you press the WB button as you rotate the main command dial. (Chapter 6 explains white balancing.)

AE-L/AF-L button: When you’re taking pictures in some automatic modes, you can lock in your focus and exposure settings by pressing and holding this button. Chapter 5 explains why you may want to do so.

You can adjust the performance of the button as it relates to locking focus and exposure, too. Instructions in this book assume that you stick with the default setting, but if you want to explore your options, see Chapter 11.

Lv (Live View) button: You press this button as the first step in recording a movie or taking advantage of Live View shooting, in which you can use the monitor to compose your shots. Chapter 4 introduces you to both Live View features.

Multi Selector/OK button: This dual-natured control, labeled in Figure 1-9, plays a role in many camera functions. You press the outer edges of the Multi Selector left, right, up, or down to navigate camera menus and access certain other options. At the center of the control is the OK button, which you press to finalize a menu selection or other camera adjustment. See the next section for help with using the camera menus.

Figure 1-9: You use the Multi Selector to navigate menus and access certain other camera options.

Focus Selector Lock switch: Just beneath the Multi Selector, this switch relates to the camera’s autofocusing system. When the switch is set to the position shown in Figure 1-9, you can use the Multi Selector to tell the camera to base focus on a specific focusing point. Setting the switch to the L position locks in the selected point. See Chapter 6 for details on all this focusing stuff.

Info button: In addition to viewing current camera settings on the Control panel, you can press this button to display the Shooting Information screen on the camera monitor. The screen not only gives you an easier-on-the-eyes view of the camera settings but also enables you to adjust some settings more quickly than by using the camera menus. See the upcoming section “Monitoring Shooting Settings” for details.

Delete button: Sporting a trash can icon, the universal symbol for delete, this button enables you to erase pictures from your memory card. Chapter 4 has specifics.

Playback button: Press this button to switch the camera into picture review mode. Chapter 4 details the features available to you in this mode.

Menu button: Press this button to access menus of camera options. See the next section for details on navigating menus.

WB/Help/Protect button: This button serves several purposes:

•White balance control: For picture-taking purposes, the button’s main function is to access white balance options, a topic you can explore in Chapter 6.

•Help: You also can press this button to display helpful information about certain menu options. See “Asking Your Camera for Help,” later in this chapter, for details.

•Protect: In playback mode, pressing the button locks the picture file — hence the little key symbol that appears on the button face — so that it isn’t erased if you use the picture-delete functions. (The picture is erased if you format the memory card, however.) See Chapter 4 for details.

ISO/Playback Zoom Out/Thumbnail button: In picture-taking mode, pressing this button accesses the ISO setting, which controls the camera’s sensitivity to light. Chapter 5 has details.

In playback mode, pressing the button enables you display multiple image thumbnails on the screen and to reduce the magnification of the currently displayed photo. See Chapter 4 for a complete rundown of picture playback options.

Qual (Quality)/Playback Zoom In button: In playback mode, pressing this button magnifies the currently displayed image and also reduces the number of thumbnails displayed at a time. Note the plus sign in the middle of the magnifying glass — plus for zoom in.

In picture-taking mode, pressing the button gives you fast access to the Image Quality and Image Size options, both of which you can explore in Chapter 3.

As for the monitor, I show it in this book without its protective plastic cover. But when the camera isn’t in use, it’s a good idea to keep the cover on to protect the screen from scratches and other damage.

Front-left buttons

On the front-left side of the camera body, shown in Figure 1-10, you find the following controls:

Figure 1-10: Press the Flash button to pop up the built-in flash.

Flash/Flash compensation: Pressing this button pops up the camera’s built-in flash (except in automatic shooting modes, in which the camera decides whether the flash is needed). By holding the button down and rotating the main command dial, you can adjust the flash mode (normal, red-eye reduction, and so on). In advanced exposure modes (P, S, A, and M), you also can adjust the flash power by pressing the button and rotating the sub-command dial. (That’s the dial just below the shutter button.) See Chapter 5 for all things flash related.

BKT (Bracket) button: This button is key to enabling automatic bracketing, a feature that simplifies the job of recording the same subject at various exposure, flash, and white balance settings. Chapter 5 details flash and exposure bracketing; Chapter 6 discusses white balancing.

Lens-release button: You press this button before removing the lens from your camera. See the first part of this chapter for help with mounting and removing lenses.

AF/M (autofocus/manual) switch: This switch comes into play if you use certain types of lenses. See the earlier section “Setting the focus mode (auto or manual)” for the short story; see Chapter 6 for help with autofocus.

Make note, too, of the tiny microphone perched just above the D90 label. Be careful not to obscure the microphone with your finger when you’re recording a movie, a subject you can explore in Chapter 4.

Front-right controls

Wrapping up the list of external controls, the front-right side of the camera offers the following features. Figure 1-11 shows this part of the camera without a lens attached to make this foursome easier to see.

Sub-command dial: This dial is the counterpart to the main command dial on the back of the camera. As with the main dial, you rotate this one to select certain settings, usually in conjunction with pressing another button.

AF-assist lamp: In dim lighting, a beam of light shoots out from this little lamp to help the camera’s autofocus system find its target. In general, leaving the AF-assist option enabled is a good idea, but if you’re doing a lot of shooting at a party, wedding, or some event where the light from the lamp may be distracting, you can disable it through an option on the Custom Setting menu. Chapter 6 explains this and other autofocus features.

Function button: By default, this button locks the flash exposure value when pressed. (See Chapter 5 for details on this flash feature.) But if you don’t use that feature often, you can use the button to perform one of nine other operations. Chapter 11 provides the details on changing the button’s purpose. (Note: All instructions in this book assume that you haven’t changed the function, however.)

Depth-of-Field Preview button: By pressing this button, you can see how different aperture settings affect depth of field, or the zone of sharp focus in your image. Chapter 5 explains aperture settings and Chapter 6 delves into depth of field.

Figure 1-11: You can assign the Function button to perform any of 10 operations.

Ordering from Camera Menus

You access many of your camera’s features via internal menus, which, conveniently enough, appear when you press the Menu button. Features are grouped into six main menus, described briefly in Table 1-1.

Table 1-1 D90 Menus

Symbol

Open This Menu . . .

to Access These Functions

Playback

Viewing, deleting, and protecting pictures

Shooting

Basic photography settings

Custom Setting

Advanced photography options and some basic camera operations

Setup

Additional basic camera operations

Retouch

Built-in photo retouching options

Recent Settings/My Menu

Your 20 most recently used menu options or your custom-designed menu

After you press the Menu button, you see on the camera monitor a screen similar to the one shown in Figure 1-12. Along the left side of the screen, you see the icons shown in Table 1-1, each representing one of the available menus. The icon that is highlighted or appears in color is the active menu; options on that menu automatically appear to the right of the column of icons. In the figure, the Shooting menu is active, for example.

Figure 1-12: Highlight a menu in the left column to display its contents.

I explain all the important menu options elsewhere in the book; for now, just familiarize yourself with the process of navigating menus and selecting options therein. The Multi Selector, shown in Figure 1-9, is the key to the game. You press the edges of the Multi Selector to navigate up, down, left, and right through the menus.

In this book, the instruction “Press the Multi Selector left” simply means to press the left edge of the control. “Press the Multi Selector right” means to press the right edge, and so on.

Here’s a bit more detail about the process of navigating menus:

To select a different menu: Press the Multi Selector left to jump to the column containing the menu icons. Then press up or down to highlight the menu you want to display. Finally, press right to jump over to the options on the menu.

To select and adjust a function on the current menu: Again, use the Multi Selector to scroll up or down the list of options to highlight the feature you want to adjust and then press OK. Settings available for the selected item then appear. For example, if you select the Image Quality item from the Shooting menu, as shown on the left in Figure 1-13, and press OK, the available Image Quality options appear, as shown on the right in the figure. Repeat the old up-and-down scroll routine until the choice you prefer is highlighted. Then press OK to return to the previous screen.

In some cases, you may see a right-pointing arrowhead instead of the OK symbol next to an option. That’s your cue to press the Multi Selector right to display a submenu or other list of options.

Figure 1-13: Select the option you prefer and press OK again to return to the active menu.

To quickly access your 20 most recent menu items or create a custom menu: The sixth menu is actually two menus bundled into one. The Recent Settings menu, shown in Figure 1-14, provides a list of the 20 menu items you ordered most recently. So if you want to adjust those settings, you don’t have to wade through all the other menus looking for them — just head to this menu instead.

Figure 1-14: The Recent Settings menu offers quick access to the last 20 menu options you selected.

Through the Choose Tab option at the bottom of the menu, you can switch to the My Menu screen. From there, you can create your own custom menu that contains your favorite options. Chapter 11 details the steps involved in making and using your menu. The My Menu screen also contains a Choose Tab option so that you can switch back to the Recent Settings menu at any time.

The menu icon changes depending on which of these two functions is active; Table 1-1 shows both icons.

Monitoring Shooting Settings

Your D90 gives you the following three ways to monitor the most critical picture-taking settings.

Control panel: The LCD panel on top of the camera offers an array of shooting data, as shown on the left in Figure 1-15. Remember that you can illuminate the panel temporarily by rotating the On/Off switch past the On position to the little light bulb marker, shown on the right in the figure, and then releasing the switch. (You also can turn on the illumination for a longer period of time; see the upcoming section “Customizing shooting and display options” for details.)

Shooting Info display: