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1. PE ERDI HA The difficulty in writing a book on a pow erful camera like the Nikon Dgo is balanc ing it for multiple types of users and their varying levels of knowledge Too much technical detail and the book will read like a user s manual Too little tech nical detail and advanced users will get no benefit from the book Many new users of the Nikon Dgo digital single lens reflex DSLR camera have come over from the world of fully automated point and shoot cameras On the other hand many photographers are upgrading to the Dgo from cameras like the Nikon D40 D6o0 D70 and D8o Then there are professionals who buy the Dogo to have a backup for their pro level cameras like the Nikon D300 D700 D3 and D3x Others are coming over from the film world drawn by the siren call of immediate image use and very high quality In Mastering the Nikon Dgo I ve tried my best to balance the needs of new and experienced users I remember my first DSLR the Nikon D100 in 2002 and my confusion about how to configure the camera compared to my old film SLR What s all this white balance and color space stuff The bottom line is that the Nikon Dogo is a rather complex camera and it requires careful study of resources like this book and the User s Manual to really get a grasp on the large range of features and functions According to Nikon it s an advanced camera with features not foun2. L button and turn the rear main command dial you ll see the values scroll there Referring to figure 5A why not give it a try on your Dogo This is the fastest way to change formats Here are the steps to select JPEG fine e Press the QUAL button and hold it e Rotate the rear main command dial until you see FINE appear on the left of the upper control panel LCD e Release the QUAL button Shooting Menu Image Size The Nikon Dgo can shoot in three image sizes I have never taken mine off of the L Large setting since I have no need for smaller pictures Here are the three op tions under Image size e Large 4288 x 2848 12 2 megapixels e Medium 3216 x 2136 6 9 megapixels e Small 2144x1424 3 1 megapixels SHOOTING MENU a Set Picture Control 7 Manage Picture Control y Image quality White balance TE ISO sensitivity settings Active D Lighting Color space Figure 5B Selecting the large image size Initial Camera Setup 13 Here are the steps to select the large size see figure 5B 1 Press the MENU button and select Shooting Menu 2 Choose Image size and then scroll right 3 Choose the size of the image 4 Press the OK button Shooting Menu White Balance White balance is a subject that few digital photographers fully understand In chap ter 6 lIl discuss the basic configuration of the white balance settings Also there is an entire chapter of this book chapter 3 de
3. amera up for first time use There are important functions scattered through the various menus of the camera that you need to consider and set Even if you ve been using your Dgo for a while please consider using this section as a brief re fresher since you might have overlooked some things that will benefit your use of the camera Some of the features discussed in this chapter are already configured the way I ask you to set them Nikon uses many of these settings as factory defaults However I want to cover these areas for two reasons e You may have purchased a pre owned Dgo and some of these items may not be configured well for your style of shooting e I want you to become familiar with where these settings are because they are important and you may be chang ing them as you shoot different types of images Charging the Battery If you re like me you ll open the box put the lens on your camera insert a battery and take your first picture Wouldn t it be a better idea to wait an hour to charge the battery and only then take the first pic ture Sure it would but I ve never done that and I bet you haven t either Nikon knows this and it doesn t send out new cameras with dead batteries Most of the time the battery is not fully charged but it has enough charge for you to set the time and date and then take and review a few pictures Think about it How do you test a brand new battery You charge it and
4. are directly in the center of the Adjust box This is a fine tuning screen and at this time you may not have sufficient need or experi ence to adjust this If you accidentally moved the little black square in the color Adjust box just put it back in the center and press OK Also you can use external camera controls to adjust which White balance mode you use For now stay with WBA since the A icon represents Auto In Figure 6A are the controls and steps used Follow these steps to set WB with the external controls see figure 6A 1 Hold down the WB button on back of the Dogo 2 Turn the rear Main command dial un til the WB A shows on the upper con trol panel LCD 3 Release the WB button The factory default is A or Auto but I want you to know where this impor tant control is located for later use Understanding and using the white balance settings are critical for consis tently excellent images See chapter 3 White Balance
5. d in lesser consumer models 4 Using the Nikon D90 It s designed for people who really love photography and have a passion for image making that far exceeds just taking some nice pictures at a family event The Dgo has most of the features found in cameras like the D300 and D700 which are consid ered professional cameras by most Following the publication of my book Mastering the Nikon D300 I have compared the D300 and Dogo side by side I m here to tell you today that the Nikon Dogo has all the critical functions found in the D300 It even includes extra features like D Movie a more robust Nikon Picture Control System and better in camera image manipulation The Dgo has a full range of functions that allow you to shoot images and post process them in the camera instead of on your computer If you don t like comput ers but want to take digital photographs and videos the Nikon Dgo is the camera for you I could go on for hours raving about all the cool features in the Dgo like the fact that it is Nikon s first DSLR that can take both still images and 24 frames per second fps video In fact I do go on raving about this camera for the next 11 chapters I hope you can sense my enthu siasm for this cool imaging device as you read this book There are few cameras in the world with this level of capability and you own one First Use of the Nikon D90 In this section ll help you set your c
6. deal with over time Figure 1 shows a view of the four menus that affect initial camera setup the Playback Menu the Shooting Menu the Custom Setting Menu and the Setup Menu Setup Menu World Time When you open the box on a new Dgo insert the battery and turn it on it will ask you to set the World time Let s look at this in detail since you really do need to set this up before you do anything else There are several functions to set under the World time section of the Setup Menu Time zone Date and time e Date format Daylight saving time gt eg MENU a Format memory card World time r Date and time Date format r LCD brightness Y Clean image sensor Lock mirror up for cleaning El Video mode HDMI 480P Language En e UTC 5 Figure 2 Time zone screens World time IR Time zone SETUP MENU Format memory card gt LCD brightness Clean image sensor sy Lock mirror up for cleaning Video mode Vu and time J pate fT Date forma om Daylight saving time Hew York Toronto Lima UIC S Language Figure2A Date and time screens Time zone Figure 2 shows the Time zone configuration screens The screen used to set the zone uses a familiar world map interface to select the area of the world in which you are using the camera To set the Time zone follow these steps e Press the MENU button and scroll to the Setup Menu e Select Wor
7. he menu method Referring to figure 3A do the follow ing steps to format a card with camera buttons e Hold down the Delete and Metering buttons at the same time until you see the word For and the image count num ber flashing in the top control panel LED Briefly release and reapply the Delete and Metering buttons again and the memory card formatting operation will take place Notice how the Delete and Metering buttons have a dual purpose They Initial Camera Setup 11 j LCD brightness w Clean image sensor omy Lock mirror up for cleaning Video mode HDMI World time Yes Language ki No Format memory card Format memory card y All images on memory Li Q card will be deleted OK Formatting memory card 5 pt a ill al Lana E A E oo SHOOTING MENU Pay Set Picture Control P Manage Picture Control E Image quality FINE Image size E White balance AUTO a Set Picture Control E Sj eyes standard oy ENL Neutral EVI Vivid i EMC Monochrome EFT Portrait o H I ACT D LIGHT ACT D LIGHT Saturation Hue M ALS Landscape mE STANDARD 02 Ei ETIT E 150 sensitivity settings g Active D Lighting EAL Color space Adobe CBAdiust BE GaGid DOK Reset Figure 4 Selecting the Standard SD Picture Control normally control image deletion and understanding of picture controls let s metering functions but if you hold select one for initial use both down at the
8. in skin tones and foliage Later you can experiment with the other controls and make more informed choic es This is a good starter picture control to use until you understand the others more fully Shooting Menu Image Quality If you re new to digital photography and are not experienced with post processing images later in the computer or if you have no interest in working on images after the fact you ll need to select the Im age quality JPEG fine setting This setting allows your camera to create excellent immediate use images that are compat ible with virtually all types of printing or display of images The JPEG format is the standard basic final format for almost ev erything done in photography today In chapter 6 we ll consider all the formats available in the Dgo and even which are best to use for various types of photography The JPEG fine format is the factory default for the Dgo but I wanted you to know where it is located if you decide to change it Here s how see the menu screens in figure 5 e Press the MENU button and scroll to the Shooting Menu e Select Image quality and then scroll to the right e Select JPEG fine from the menu and then press the OK button You can set the image quality using external camera controls also In fact this is my preference In figure 5A s rightmost image you ll see a little box in the lower left corner of the control panel LCD When you hold the QUA
9. ld time and then scroll to the right e Select Time zone and then scroll to the right e Use the multi selector button to scroll left or right until your time zone is un der the yellow vertical bar in the center of the world map screen e Once you have selected your time zone press the OK button to save the set ting na Daylight saving time a New York Toronto Lima 05 03 2009 09 05 18 Initial Camera Setup 7 Time zone Hew York Toronto Lima UTC 5 05 03 2009 09 05 22 4 O A gt T CHOK 05 03 2009 09 05 37 Date and time Figure 2A shows the three Date and time configuration screens The final screen in the series allows you to select the year month and day Y M D and the hour minute and second H M S e Press the MENU button and scroll to the Setup Menu e Select World time and then scroll to the right e Select Date and time and then scroll to the right Using the multi selector button scroll left or right until you have selected the value you want to change Then scroll up or down to actually change the value e When you have set the correct date and time press the OK button to save the settings Please note that the time set ting uses the 24 hour military style clock To set 3 p m you would set the H and M settings to 15 00 8 Using the Nikon D90 24 Hour Time Equivalents Date format The Dogo gives you three different ways to format the date see For your c
10. let s see what else you might want to initially configure while here See chapter 8 Setup Menu for full details Setup Menu Format Memory Card While you are in the Setup Menu notice the location of the SD memory card for matter When you insert a card into anew camera for the first time it s a good idea to format the card with that camera This will match the card to the camera and give you greater reliability in the long run 10 Using the Nikon D90 Nikon Nikon Dgo back view Here are the four steps to formatting a memory card using the menus e Press the MENU button and scroll to the Setup Menu e Select Format memory card and then scroll to the right e Select Yes from the screen with the big red exclamation mark and the words All images on memory card will be deleted OK e Press the OK button Once you press the OK button you ll see the two screens in quick succession One says Formatting memory card and the next says Formatting complete Then the camera switches back to the Setup Menu s first screen The card is now formatted and you can take lots of pictures You can use this Format memory card menu selection to format the card or you can use external camera controls Since this is an initial configuration section let s also look briefly at how to format a card using the external camera controls I use this method to format memory cards because it s faster and easier than t
11. ock mirror up for cleaning El Video mode uT 5 En SETUP MENU Woridtime Format memory card a Time zone LCD brightness gt Date and time Clean image sensor EA Video mode F HDMI Language WIt 5 Figure 2C Daylight saving time screens Daylight saving time Many areas of the United States use daylight savings time In the spring many American resi dents set their time forward by one hour on a specified day each year Then in the fall they set it back leading to the clever saying spring forward or fall back To enable automatic Daylight saving time take the following steps see figure 2C e Press the MENU button and scroll to the Setup Menu e Select World time and then scroll to the right e Select Daylight saving time and then scroll to the right e Select On or Off from the menu e Press the OK button w Daylight saving time Hew York Toronto Lima 05 03 2009 09 05 43 Initial Camera Setup 9 me a World time el Date format Li YMD Ye ar Month Day Tai Month Day Yea DWY Day Month Year E World time Daylight saving time ii S Date format Lock mirror up for cleaning 1 Daylight saving tim Mew York Toronto Lima 05 03 2009 09 05 58 If you set it to On your Dgo will now automatically spring forward and fall back adjusting your time forward by one hour in the spring and back one hour in the fall Since you are already in the Setup Menu
12. onvenience here is a listing of figure 2B 1 Y M D Year Month Day the 24 hour time equivalents A M Settings 2010 12 31 12 00 a m 00 00 midnight 2 M D Y Month Day Year 01 00 a m 01 00 12 31 2010 02 00 a m 02 00 3 D M Y Day Month Year 03 00 a m 03 00 31 12 2010 04 00 a m 04 00 5100 a m 05 00 2 2 United States Dgo owners will prob 06 00 a m 06 00 Ta ably use setting 2 which matches the ooo aa O70 ooo A eee MM DD YYYY format so familiar to 09 00 a m 09 00 Americans Other areas of the world can 10 00 a m 10 00 select their favorite date format 11 00 a m 11 00 To select the date format of your choice do the following P M Settings Soles e Press the MENU button and scroll to 12 00 p m 12 00 noon 01 00 p m 13 00 the Setup Menu 02 00 p m 14 00 e Select World time and then scroll to the 3 00 p m 15 00 right 04 00 p m 16 00 e Select Date format and then scroll to o5 oop m 17 00 the right 06 00 p m 18 00 e Choose the format you like best from 07 00 p m 19 00 POOR 9 the three available formats 08 00 p m 20 00 e Press the OK button 09 00 p M 21 00 10 00 p M 22 00 11 00 p m 23 00 Interestingly there is no 24 00 time midnight After 23 59 comes 00 00 SETUP MENU Format memory card gt LCD brightness L fey World time We Time zone BEGET UG Y Clean image sensor Nery Date fo L
13. said the optimum situation would be to restrain yourself from turn ing on the camera until after the battery is charged That ll give you some time to read the section of this book on initial configuration and check out the User s Manual 6 Using the Nikon D90 PLAYBACK MENU Delete Playback folder Hide image Display mode Image review Rotate tall Pictmotion Slide show CUSTOM SETTING MENU R Reset custom settings We a Autofocus b Metering exposure c Timers AE lock d Shooting display e Bracketing flash f Controls SHOOTING MENU Pe Set Picture Control 2 Manage Picture Control y Image quality Image size ca White balance SO sensitivity settings Active D Lighting ra Color space SETUP MENU e Format memory card 2 LCD brightness Ty Clean image sensor Lock mirror up for cleaning HDMI World time ra Language Figure 1 The four critical camera configuration menus Initial Camera Setup Let s look at the most important func tions for initial configuration In this chapter I ll just point you to the critical and most used functions Use the other chapters in the book to read about the ad vanced configuration of these items Pll start with the absolutely necessary items and then advance through the vari ous menus touching on features that in my opinion you should learn for the best initial imaging experience with the Dgo There are seven menu systems in the Dogo that you ll have to
14. same time for several Using the menu screens in figure 4 select the SD Standard picture control Press the MENU button and scroll to the Shooting Menu seconds the format function is activated Now let s move to the Shooting Menu for several important configuration changes e Select Set picture control and then scroll to the right Shooting Menu Set Picture Control e Select SD Standard from the menu and Later in chapter 6 Shooting Menu I ll then press the OK button cover picture controls in detail includ ing how to use the Nikon picture controls to create new custom picture controls that you can use and share with oth ers For now until you get a sufficient This SD picture control sets your camera up for medium contrast and color saturation for a look resembling Fuji Provia 100F slide film or Kodak Gold 12 Using the Nikon D90 rs SHOOTING MENU a Set Picture Control Manage Picture Control cy mage quality Image size White balance ISO sensitivity settings Active D Lighting Color space Nikon fe Image auality NEF RAW JPEG fine NEF RAW JPEG normal NEF RAW JPEG basic ca NEF RAW it JPEG normal JPEG basic Figure 5A Selecting JPEG fine image quality with external controls 100 This setting is a good starting point for how your camera captures contrast and color with enough contrast for solid blacks and sufficient color saturation for a realistic look
15. see if it will hold a charge Do you think Nikon is in the habit of sending out batteries that are Nikon Doo front view untested No So most of the time you can play with your camera for at least a few minutes before charging the battery I ve purchased nearly every DSLR Nikon has made since 2002 and not one of them has come in with a dead battery When my Dogo arrived the battery was about 75 percent charged I played with the camera for an hour or two before charged the battery However let me mention one important thing If you plug in the battery and it is very low suchas below 25 percent it would be a good idea to go ahead and charge it before shooting and reviewing too many pictures Maybe you can get the time and date set and test the camera a time or two but go no further with a seriously low battery The Dogo uses a lithium ion li ion battery pack While this type of battery First Use of the Nikon Dgo 5 doesn t develop the memory effects of the old nickel cadmium ni cad batter ies from years past they can bea problem if you allow them to get too low A li ion battery should never be used to complete exhaustion The battery can develop metal shunts internally if you run it completely down and that will cause it to short out and stop working When your camera s li ion battery gets down to the 25 percent level please recharge it I don t let mine go below 50 percent for any extended use All that
16. voted to complete coverage of this very important subject For now let s just validate that the default setting for white balance is Auto This will allow your camera to make deci sions about the ambient color of the light in which it finds itself This will produce reasonably colored images initially without harmful tints Please take the time later to fully understand how white balance works It will make you a better digital photographer ee mage size E p q gt f ihe tals WGT m La a pi Bf OA F OS Em F i Pi rh E lee WI Medium 3216x2136 6 9 M Small 2144x1424 3 1M 14 Using the Nikon D90 I SHOOTING MENU s Set Picture Control Image quality oe Image size i ISO sensitivity settings 9 Active D Lighting Color space uy Flash Cloudy f Shade Nikon ie White balance EA Manage Picture Control iy 4 Incandescent Fluorescent C4 Choose color temp White balance cAdiust Figure 6A Selecting White balance Auto with external camera controls Using the menus in figure 6 follow these steps 1 Press the MENU button and scroll to the Shooting Menu 2 Select White balance and then scroll to the right 3 Select Auto from the menu and then scroll to the right 4 Press the OK button When you get to the third screen with the color Adjust box which lets you fine tune the white balance just press OK Leave the little black squ
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