Information Display
Contents
1. Fn button Fn button press amp Matrix metering o wa metering D Playback Access top item in MY MENU f NEF RAW 1 None FIG 12A Information TE edit screen Fn button press 13 FIG 12B covers the Fn button dials assignment selections 5 Assign Fn button oO 5 Assign Fn button Fn button dials VS 1 step spd aperture A so iN EBU Accoord GO None A ON SNL amp WOM a l ng lu FIG 12B Information display edit screen Fn button dials Control Panel User s Manual D300S page 8 D300 page 8 The Control panel is a small LCD display on the camera s top that displays up to 30 different indicators in the D300S and 31 in the D300 FIG 13 shows the Control panel for both the D300S and D300 I shot the image of the D300S Control panel with the backlight turned on to show the color youll see when you use the backlight selection on the cameras Power switch I took the D300 version with a Speedlight unit so that you can see the actual look of the panel in normal light EFRY Ocetccicst t i 285 D300 FIG 13 Control panel LCD screen D300S green and D300 silver There is little difference between the two cameras Control panels The Battery charge indicator has been moved but the screens are mostly the same otherwise You may notice that the D300S has both CF and SD card slot indicators which the D300 does not have since it only has one CF memory card2. on a little explanation box that points to each of the ten settings individually as a way to help you understand what each does All the graphics from this point forward will have Screen tips enabled lll briefly describe each setting and give you a graphical look at the screens connected to it Most of the screens should be familiar since the Information display edit screen is merely a secondary interface into these 10 specific functions It s a shortcut to the settings so that you don t have to wade through lots of menus to find them Shooting Menu Bank User s Manual D300S page 254 Shooting menu bank is a shortcut to the normal Shooting Menu gt Shooting menu bank setting and provides the exact same functionality You can choose your favorite Shooting menu bank from the four available banks Rapid access is the whole point of the Information display edit screen See FIG 3 for the sample screens k Shooting menu bank l General F B Best Quality RAW C Best Quality JPEG D Party JPEG ABCA Rename Shooting menu bank EN FIG 3 Information display edit screen Shooting menu bank High ISO Noise Reduction User s Manual D300S page 259 High ISO noise reduction allows you to turn noise reduction NR on and off very quickly NR blurs the image slightly to remove digital noise when shooting at ISO 800 and above It does not provide NR for ISO sensitivity below ISO 800 You can select from the three le
3. slot Page 8 of the user s manual for both cameras gives a detailed description of each of the 30 or 31 indicator icons and what they mean Primarily you ll use the Control panel to quickly review the shutter speed and aperture image capacity remaining image quality and size exposure mode battery charge exposure compensation white balance AF area mode and GPS status 14 Help Button User s Manual D300S page 21 D300 page 29 The Help function connected to the Help button is a very cool feature in the rather complex D300 S The camera has a nice help screen for nearly any menu item you can display on the camera s LCD screen Press the Menu button on your camera and select one of the menu items Youll see a small question mark surrounded by a gray box in the lower left corner of the screen You can see this in FIG 14 in the lower left corner of image 1 This little question mark tells you that there is a handy help screen for whatever setting you have selected If you are out in the field shooting and don t have any manuals with you help is still available for easy or obscure functions In FIG 14 I have randomly selected a function called AF activation What does it mean Here are the steps to use the help system so that you can find out a Autofocus a5 AF activation E ee 41 AFC priority selection em Choose which controls can be used to a2 AF S priority selection emg focus the c
4. status of settings we re using Help System Last we ll look at how to use the Help button to save some confusion Most don t realize it but the D300 S has a full blown help system built in It is context sensitive which means it will give youa help screen for nearly any currently selected function Look for the question mark above the multi function Protect button looks like a key on the camera s back This is the Help button youl use to get help for virtually any function in the camera Information Display User s Manual D300S page 12 D300 page 12 In FIG 1 we see the two new Information display screens On the left is the main Information display and on the right is the Information display edit screen The first is rather similar to the D300 s Shooting information display while the second screen has no equal in the D300 In the D300 the Shooting information display does little else but show critical camera shooting information like shutter speed aperture battery level white balance exposure mode ISO image quality etc In a sense it s an informational read only screen designed to give you a condensed overview of the current camera settings You get to it by pressing the Protect Help Info button just below the Menu button next to the LCD screen on the top left back of the D300 In the D300S Nikon takes it a step further with both the similar Information display and the new Information display edit scr
5. works fine My Recommendation like to use this Help functionality often With so many functions available in this complex camera it s even hard for a camera book author to keep up with all of them If someone asks me what a certain function does and I go blank TIll immediately hit the Help button with that function selected and give them a wise answer It makes me look smart and helps me remember how some of the less used functions work too
6. IG 7B shows the Preview command dials assignment selections 6 Assign preview button 6 Assign preview button Preview command dials 1 step spd aperture kert Choose non CPU lens number BKT Auto bracketing fo Dynamic AF area s pi y FIG 7B Information display edit screen DOF preview button assignment Custom Setting Bank User s Manual D300S page 262 Custom setting bank allows you to select one of the four banks found under the Custom Setting Menu gt Custom setting bank selection This is similar to the Shooting menu bank setting mentioned earlier in this chapter 10 In fact you can see that I have named my Shooting menu banks and Custom setting banks by the same names so that I can easily match them when changing settings This is entirely optional FIG 8 shows the sample screens Custom setting bank B Best Quality RA C Best Quality JPEG D Party JPEG ABCA Rename FIG 8 Information display edit screen Custom setting bank Long Exposure Noise Reduction User s Manual D300S page 258 Long exposure noise reduction lets your camera use a special black frame subtraction method to remove noise from exposures longer than 8 seconds Job nr will blink in the Viewfinder and on the Control panel while the noise reduction is taking place Each long exposure will be doubled in time since Long exposure noise reduction creates a second blank black frame for noise subtracti
7. Information Display Chapter 4 Supplement to Mastering the Nikon D300 D300S This supplemental information is intended for readers of Mastering the Nikon D300 D300S only It is a downloadable resource for Chapter 4 Custom Setting Menu Please do not distribute this extra material to anyone other than a legitimate owner of the book Mastering the Nikon D300 D300S is available at the following website http www rockynook com books 158 html Copyright 2011 Darrell Young All Rights Reserved Several of Nikon s lower cost DSLR cameras depend less on the standard text based menus and more on a graphical Information display with editable camera settings The thought seems to be that users will have less trouble finding key settings if there are specific screens in the camera that show these settings in one place Unfortunately unlike the lower cost cameras the D300 S is much more complex It has so many settings that it would be almost impossible to design one or two screens to contain even the critical camera functions Future Nikon DSLR cameras may depend more heavily on graphical screens and less on text based menus These cameras are getting awfully complex and as more features are added they will only become more so How can all these settings be offered to the camera user in a less complex package The D300S adds some utility that may portend future camera functionality A new screen series was adopted and extended from t
8. amera wan 43 Dynamic AF area OFA Shutter AF ON Both the shutter release E a4 Focus tracking with lock on AF button and AF ON button can be used to AF activation e A roai aa canara x i AF ON only Only the AF ON button can a6 AF point illumination AUTO al Focus point wrap around OFF El 8 AF point selection AF51 FIG 14 Help button for Custom Setting a5 gt AF activation be used to focus the camera 1 Press the Menu button to open up a menu and scroll to virtually any setting on it see FIG 14 image 1 2 Check to see if there is a small question mark in the lower left corner 3 If the question mark is there a help screen is available Use the reference images in FIG 14 image 2 to select the Help button for your camera t is right below the Menu button and shares a role with the image Protect function so there is a key icon on the Help button as shown Press the Help button for your camera 4 A screen like you see in FIG 14 image 3 will appear on the LCD screen Sometimes the text is several screens long in which case you can scroll up or down with the Multi Selector The help text is useful most of the time and will give you a quick answer to What does this menu item do 15 Strangely the Help button will not work when you are looking at the a f sections in the root of the Custom Setting Menu However if you drill down one level into the actual Custom Settings a f the Help button
9. een The next section of this chapter will look at how the edit screen can be used to configure ten often used settings You open the Information display on the D300S by pressing the Info button once and the Information display edit screen by pressing it twice The Info button is next to the bottom right corner of the LCD screen on the D300S D h am ba SHOOT PWONRD Mesum tes P CMM SECO A cove fee yey GUSH A OMON FNL A DO SUS A OMRON INL AA ia GOI FIG 1 Information display and Information display edit screen If you look carefully at the Information display in FIG 1 image 1 you ll see that it provides details on a large number of settings Nikon says that the Information display on the D300S provides information on 43 specific camera settings while the Shooting information display on the D300 shows 36 settings You won t see all of them on screen at the same time since some only show up when certain functions are in use like Bracketing or Flash Exposure compensation If you are curious about what each of the symbols on the Shooting Information display means the users manual lists a comprehensive numbered explanation on page 12 for both the D300S and D300 Now let s look into the Information display edit screen found only on the D300S Information Display Edit Screen User s Manual D300S page 15 This section of the chapter is basically devoted to the Nikon D300S The functions discussed h
10. ere are available in both cameras but the user interface isn t The Information display edit screen is merely a new user interface for ten specific functions in the D300S The Information display edit screen has a total of ten specific functions linked in a single shortcut screen The links take you to the various text based menus for each particular item FIG 2 Information display edit screen s 10 functions Here is a list of the ten settings connected to the Information display edit screen see FIG 2 Use the matching numbers to identify each setting 1 E 8 9 Shooting menu bank High ISO noise reduction Active D Lighting Color space Depth of field preview button assignment Custom settings bank Long exposure noise reduction Set Picture Control AE L AF L button assignment 10 Fn button assignment 6 Now let s look at each of the 10 functions and how to use the interface Remember that these are the same settings we covered in previous chapters The Information display edit screen is simply another user interface that provides access to some of the same functions found on the text based menus Since that s the case we won t go into detail on how each function works That s already been well covered in previous chapters Instead we ll only discuss how to use the individual function In the 10 sections below I have enabled Custom Setting d4 gt Screen tips in my D300S Screen tips turns
11. ese actions AE L AF L button press and AE L AF L command dials has several assignable functions as shown in FIG 11A and 11B 12 FIG 11A covers the AE L AF L button press assignment choices t7 Assign AE L AF L button B AEUAF button press 2 r S Preview ETS FV lock Bi AE AF lock A ae AE lock Reset on release MEAT AASS AE pre a 1 B AE lock Hold lee a AE L AF L command dials Watu Ji Aa AF lock only FIG 11A Information display edit screen AE L AF L button press FIG 11B covers the AE L AF L command dials assignment selections 1 Assign AE L AF L button _ B LESUR SaS MC AE L AF L command dials ITA p eo Ca i ie ted choose non CPU lens numbe OK BKT Auto bracketing we Dynamic AF area None AE L AF L button press me LZA AE L AF L command dials Wat FIG 11B Information display edit screen AE L AF L PEET dials Fn Button Assignment User s Manual D300S page 292 Fn button assignment allows you to assign different functions to the camera s Fn button It also lets you configure what happens when you hold down the Fn button and turn one of the Command dials This is a shortcut to Custom Setting Menu gt f Controls gt f5 Assign Fn button Each of these actions Fn button press andFn button dials has several assignable functions as shown in FIG 12A and 12B FIG 12A covers the Fn button press assignment choices x 5 Assign Fn button f5 Assign
12. he D300 s older style Shooting information display There are two graphical screens in the series the Information display and one I call the Information display edit screen The first is very similar to the D300 s Shooting information display and the second adds links to ten specific settings in the standard text based menus of the D300S The Information display edit screen is somewhat like a shortcut screen to those ten settings This chapter is composed of four sections Most of it will concern the main Information display screens However I wanted to provide you with some information on the Control panel another type of Information display along with the camera s built in Help system and Help button Here are the four sections and brief descriptions of them Information Display Provides camera shooting configuration information The D300 calls this screen the Shooting information display The D300S calls it simply the Information display Information Display Edit Screen D300S only This concerns the Information display and its secondary screen the Information display edit screen Since the D300 does not have edit functionality built into its Shooting information display this section of the chapter generally applies to the D300S only Control Panel We ll consider some information about the Control panel LCD located on the top of the camera This little LCD is packed with information and is often our first view of the
13. on purposes This is a shortcut to the Shooting Menu gt Long exp NR function The sample screens are found in FIG 9 FIG 9 Information wr r EO display edit screen Long exposure noise reduction 11 Set Picture Control User s Manual D300S page 154 Set Picture Control lets you choose one of the camera s Picture Controls without using the other camera menus You can select a Nikon Picture Control or one of your own Custom Picture Controls from the Information display edit screens Picture Controls change the overall look of the image with major differences in Sharpening Contrast Brightness Saturation and Hue between each control This is a shortcut to the Shooting Menu gt Set Picture Control function The sample screens and choices are shown in FIG 10 Set Picture Control vy ESD Standard VI Vivid gt E2MC Monochrome PT PORTRAIT ad W ILS LANDSCAPE oma A SoM Nfs Adobe SE C1 NEUTRAL 02 TSM A ON IG amp OO g Grid CAdiust FIG 10 Information display edit screen Set Picture Control AE L AF L Button Assignment User s Manual D300S page 296 AE L AF L button assignment allows you to assign various functionalities to the camera s AE L AF L button It also lets you configure what happens when you hold down the AE L AF L button while turning one of the Command dials This is a shortcut to Custom Setting Menu gt f Controls gt 7 Assign AE L AF L button Each of th
14. r color gamut so is often better for NEF RAW shooters who demand maximum quality from their images It also offers the best compatibility with the CMYK offset printers used to make books and magazines Many JPEG shooters use sRGB since it is so compatible with inkjet printers and local color labs This setting is a shortcut to the Shooting Menu gt Color space function The sample screens are found in FIG 6 Color space toole FIG 6 Information display edit screen Color space Depth of Field Preview Button Assignment User s Manual D300S page 296 Depth of field preview button assignment allows you to assign various functionalities to the camera s Depth of field preview button It also lets you configure what happens when you hold down the Depth of field preview button while turning one of the Command dials Thisisa shortcut to Custom Setting Menu gt f Controls gt 6 Assign preview button Each of these actions Preview button press and Preview command dials has several assignable functions as shown in FIG 7A and 7B FIG 7A covers the Preview button press assignment choices gt e 6 Assign preview button 6 Assign preview button e 4 Preview button press lt Panan E AE AF lock fa AE lock only ES fae AE lock Reset on release Pre f a AE lock Hold re dials OFF kl tia AF lock only FIG 7A Information lt I edit screen DOF preview button assignment F
15. vels of NR Low Normal or High or simply select Off This is a shortcut to the Shooting Menu gt High ISO NR setting The sample screens are found in FIG 4 f High ISO NR HIGH NORMi OK LOW nik SHOOT A E AOF Adober 0 EO Soe toog FIG 4 Information display edit screen High ISO noise reduction Active D Lighting User s Manual D300S page 164 Active D Lighting lets you open up detail in the shadows of an image and reign in the highlights so that they don t blow out to pure white They ll still blow out with excessive exposure but this function tries to prevent it as long as possible A side effect of using Active D Lighting is introducing noise into the darker areas of the image There are five levels of Active D Lighting available along with Off This is a shortcut to the Shooting Menu gt Active D Lighting function FIG 5 shows the screens and choices Active D Lighting i Epam Auto gt amp H Extra high I amp S H High A AN Normal a Gil Low ERA seine f am A O0 ALS DO FIG 5 Information display edit screen Active D Lighting Color Space User s Manual D300S page 166 Color space lets you choose between sRGB and Adobe RGB as the Color space your camera will use to take pictures Adobe RGB encompasses about 50 percent of the colors your eye can see while sRGB covers about 35 percent based on the LAB CIE color space Adobe RGB has a 15 percent wide
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