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The D2H - Moose Peterson

1. s really easy to understand When in Closest Subject Priority the D2H focuses on the closest subject to the camera It s just that simple The D2H incorporates the same electronic rangefinder that has been the standard in Nikons for some years In the lower left hand corner of the viewfinder you ll see a green left triangle dot and right triangle When the green dot appears the image is in focus based on the active AF sensor group This is true whether youre manually focusing or using autofocus If either triangle lights up it indicates the image is out of focus and the lens needs to be rotated in the direction indicated Under the Hood Metering On the right side of the prism is the Metering Selector You have three options with the D2H 3D Color Matrix Center Weighted and Spot metering To select a metering pattern first depress the button in the center of the dial and then rotate the dial so it lines up with the desired metering pattern I still just use Matrix metering 100 of the time It simply works for me and my photography making my life a whole lot easier 3D Color Matrix Metering is an amazing system The D2H has a 1 005 pixel CCD Charge Coupled Device 67 vertical x 15 horizontal which is what actually reads the light The amazing thing to me is not the 1 005 pixels but that each pixel has incorporated in it one R red G green or B blue filter Each sensor then not only evaluates the scene s brightness and contrast
2. BKT selection Manual value set f Controls f1 Center button Shooting mode gt Center AF area Playback mode gt Zoom on off 4x f2 Multi selector Do nothing f3 PhotoInfo Playback On f4 FUNC Button Flash OFF f5 Command dials Rotate direction gt Normal Change Main Sub gt Off Aperture setting gt Sub command dial Menus and Playback gt Off f6 Buttons and dials Default f7 No CF Card ON The Playback Menu This is the least feature packed of the four menus It basically influences what you do with the image after it s captured The only thing that is really new here is the Display mode and that s just how you select what you want to see or not The Playback Menu has only eight options Delete Playback folder Slide show Hide image Print Set Display mode Image review and After delete Note the Playback Menu will not appear if there is no CF card inserted into the D2H Delete is kind of a complicated method of deleting images that you ve captured from the CF card To start the procedure head to Playback Menu and then Multi Select up down to highlight Delete Right Multi Selecting brings up two options Selected and All Note if you have no images on the CF card then this option is not available If you highlight and then right Multi Select Selected thumbnails appears of all the images on the CF card You move around the thumbnails using the Multi Select When a thumbnail is selected a yellow frame appears around it You can depress
3. Can it be better most likely Does it matter Well now that really depends on the person behind the camera like everything photographic Conversing with other great digital shooters like Vincent Versace John Shaw and Dave Black we ve all found that the D2H performs perfectly for our shooting in regards to color You ll have to make your own judgment call Hue adjustment is a specialized setting that as of yet is one I ve never used You access it by heading to Shooting Menu then up down Multi Select until Hue Adjustment is highlighted right Multi Select to make a change The default is 0 but you can raise or lower the value by 9 in increments of 3 Intvl timer shooting or intervalometer is cool new feature Nikon has added to the D2H used it many times already and it works like a charm I highly recommend you play with it a couple of times before you actually need to use it since it s operation isn t intuitive You start by going to Shooting Menu and then up down Multi Select until Intvl timer shooting is highlighted Right Multi Select which brings up the Intvl timer shooting You ll see Now highlighted you can either use that selection or Multi Select down one to highlight Start time When Now is highlighted you skip right to Interval When Start time is highlighted when you Multi Select down Start Time becomes active You have Hours and Minutes available with a maximum delay start of 24 hours 59 minutes You advance or retr
4. English You might also be saying This is all well and good but why is the D2H only 4 1 megapixels It s a hard battle to explain to folks that it s the quality of the pixels and not the quantity that really matters in great digital cameras The LBCAST sensor is a great example of that I can only conclude that at this current time with technology and costs with a goal of 8fps 4MP is what you get Like I already mentioned the LBCAST uses JFET s rather than the traditional CMOS MOSFETs This directly describes the cell amplifiers for each individual pixel Looking at the basic circuit structure of a LBCAST pixel well the JFET functions like a pixel select switch This switch is composed of three transistors transfer JFET and reset CMOS using MOSFET have four transistors With LBCAST using only three instead of four this simpler structure means the photodiodes what actually receives the light can be increased in size this is what in part was able to improve the contrast and color gradation And since we re trying to keep this in simple English the structure of the interconnect the wiring is also much simpler including the opacity film fitting onto only one layer of polySi and two layers of metallization CMOS design in comparison uses four layers The fewer layers required the less the distance is needed between the photodiode and the microlens thereby reducing the effect of tangential light even around the periphery
5. F5 Weve had to jump through hoops for years now well that s over with When you depress the Flash sync mode button lightning bolt on left side of the prism and you rotate the command dial you can cycle through the five flash sync modes Front curtain sync Slow sync Rear curtain Slow rear curtain sync Red eye reduction and Red eye reduction with slow sync These various modes can work with all of Nikon s DX flash units but to use any flash other than the SB 800 is to really not take full advantage of the D2H flash technology To select a sync option depress the mode button and rotate the command dial Front curtain sync is your basic flash operation Front curtain sync means the flash fires as the shutter opens In Front Curtain sync if using A or P exposure modes you can sync from 1 60 to 1 250 These are the shutter speeds available for syncing the flash and ambient light exposure You can change the lower end shutter speed with CS e2 In this case the slowest shutter speed will be whatever you ve selected with CS e2 To access higher shutter speeds when in Front curtain mode you ve got to be using the SB 800 and have CS e1 set to FP auto When this is the case and the shutter speed goes beyond 1 250 the D2H switches from TTL to FP flash fill syne Pm quite impressed just how well this works You only have FP auto in front curtain sync Slow sync is a front curtain sync but you have the ability to sy
6. Matte Screen Interchangeable with optional Finder Screen E with grid Viewfinder Frame Coverage Approx 100 Viewfinder Magnification Approx 0 86x with 50mm f 1 4 lens set to infinity and 1 0 Reflex Mirror Automatic instant return type Lens Aperture Instant return type with depth of field preview button Autofocus TTL phase detection Nikon Multi CAM2000 autofocus module Detection range EV 1 to 19 ISO 100 equivalent at normal temperature Lens Servo 1 Single Servo AF S 2 Continuous Servo AF C 3 Manual focus M Focus Tracking automatically activated by subject s status in S or C AF Focus Area Selectable from 11 focus areas AF Area Mode 1 Single Area AF 2 Dynamic AF with Focus Tracking and Lock on 3 Closest Subject Priority Dynamic AF 4 Group Dynamic AF Focus Lock Focus is locked by pressing AE AF Lock button or lightly pressing shutter release button in S AF Exposure Metering System TTL full aperture exposure metering system 1 D G type Nikkor lenses support 3D Color Matrix Metering using the 1 005 pixel CCD while other AF Nikkor lenses with built in CPUs support Matrix Metering Non CPU lenses require manual input of lens data 2 Center Weighted Metering 75 of the meter s sensitivity concentrated on the 8mm dia circle 3 Spot Metering 3mm dia circle approx 2 of entire frame metering position can be linked to the focus area when using Nikkor lenses with built in CPU E
7. Nikon Capture 4 1 In this process the D2H takes a blank NDF image which it used by Nikon Capture to determine dust specs and then remove them To access this feature head to Set Up menu and the up or down Multi Select until Dust Off ref photo is highlighted to select You can only use this feature with a lens preferably 50mm or longer that has a CPU If you have a zoom attached zoom out to the longest focal length Now call up the Dust Off ref photo menu and right Multi Select where a message appears Take photo of featureless white object 10cm from lens Lens will be set to infinity At this time REF appears on both LCD panels and in the viewfinder The approximate distance of 10CM is four inches As for a white featureless object I simply create a white background in PhotoShop CS and shoot it Whatever white object you use be sure it fills the viewfinder It s preferable that this procedure be taken as near the time you took the actual photo to be the most effective Since camera with dust problem typically has dust that moves about taking the photo later rather than sooner make the process less dependable With an autofocus lens the D2H automatically focuses to infinity If using a manual focus lens must have a CPU or the lens body is set to manual focus you must focus at infinity Next close the lens down to the smallest aperture largest number With the D2H four inches from the white featureless object start the pro
8. Normal Tone compensation A Color mode IT Hue adjustment Intvl timer shooting OFF Non CPU lens data Custom Setting CSM Menu Photography is in large part an exercise in self expression The selection of a lens being Just as important in that process as selecting custom setting in many cases Fine tuning the D2H to your shooting needs and habits is a big part of making the D2H work right for your photography found that most folks don t take advantage of these settings or understand them well enough to use them as tools for better photography I can t go into such depth to cover all possibilities a custom setting can bring to your photography So you ve got to take it upon yourself to think through and experiment so you can get the most out of your D2H Nikon has done a major overhaul on the Custom Settings menu Because of the addition of many settings the menu system is broken down into groups each group having a main topic There are six groups in the CSM Menu Autofocus Metering Exposure Timers AE amp AF Lock Shooting Display Bracketing Flash and Controls Like moving about and selecting the majority of features in the D2H right left up and down Multi Selecting is required To start depress the Menu button and Multi Select up or down until the CSM Menu appears then right Multi Select to enter C Bank select is one of the easier settings to understand and perform You can have up to four banks of Custom Settings no
9. The Trash Can button has only two functions deleting files during playback and as one of the two format buttons When playing back an image you can delete it by depressing the Trash Can button When you do depress it the first time a warning message appears Delete Yes You must depress the delete button a second time to delete the image If you have a Voice Message associated with the image you are given the option of deleting just the image sound or sound only when you depress the Trash Can When you depress the Trash Can button at the same time as the MODE button you can format the CF card When this is accomplished FOR appears where the shutter speed normally appears When you see this you have to let up on the two buttons and then depress them again to finish the format Menu Button By this point you should be very familiar with this button When it s depressed you call up the D2H s menus Thumbnail Button checkerboard button When in playback you can depress the checkerboard button This changes the preview from one image filling the monitor to a 2x2 thumbnails and depress it again and you go to a 3x3 thumbnail pattern Depress it one more time to got back to one image filling the monitor Protect Button The Protect Button the key button when depressed during playback protects the selected images from being deleted When depressed a Key icon appears in the top left corner indicating it s protected If you want to remove
10. Tone compensation I ve been using Auto with great results Whatever Tone compensation you select it only effects Jpeg and TIFF files RAW is not effected by this setting Tone settings are curves applied by the D2H in the processing of Jpeg and TIFF files Regretfully there is no way to verbally or numerically describe the difference between these different Tone curves Normal Less and More don t really tell you much so I highly recommend if you don t know which is best for you to either test using each setting or shoot RAW and change the Tone settings in NC4 to see the differences Custom is a curve you can create in NC4 and then load into the D2H using it by highlighting and then right Multi Selecting it Color mode is an important setting that most photographers don t know about or take advantage of in their digital photography You reach it by going to Shooting Menu up or down Multi Select until Color mode is highlighted and then right Multi Select This brings up the Color mode menu with three options I sRGB Adobe RGB and III sRGB The one you highlight and then right Multi Select is the color space your Jpeg and TIFF files will be processed with in the camera RAW is tagged with this profile but you can change it in NC4 later if you wish What s the differences between the three The descriptions in the D2H manual don t really help you decide which color mode space is best for your photography sRGB is 256 color where A
11. a whole lot of new things possible the most obvious is the 11 area Autofocus System Back in the old days we had just one AF sensor dead center that progressed to five AF sensors in a cross pattern with just one cross type sensor Now we have eleven in a 3 5 3 pattern with 9 cross type sensors Even better is we can group these Nine of these eleven AF sensors area cross type sensors the center 9 AF sensors Cross type refers to the shape of the focusing area The Cross type sensor can read focusing information in both horizontal and vertical sections of the viewfinder image This feature greatly enhances the camera s ability to recognize difficult AF subjects and work in lower light levers and contrast ranges while tracking subjects which the D2H does stupendously As a side benefit this speeds up AF operation in general though there is no way to quantitatively express it In specific though the increased AF sensitivity at the top and bottom of the viewfinder image does make it possible to track subjects for that type of composition that wasn t possible before Note I was a little disappointed that with this new technology autofocus with the TC 20e was not improved it still only works well with the center AF sensor group The 11 AF sensors brings a whole new realm to using AF easily for your compositional as well as action needs The D2H has two AF sensor groups CS a3 Pattern 1 and Pattern 2 When used with Group Dynami
12. and heightening image uniformity This means improved optical matching with Nikkor lenses We re nearing the end of this new magic capturing the world we see All of this really comes down to two thing better image quality and better response to electricity The LBCAST sensor overall requires less power which besides providing better battery performance minimizes dark noise while increasing speed The LBCAST also requires a thinner Optical Low Pass Filter which again increases image quality and consumes less power In fact because of all of this the D2H is ready to fire as soon as the camera is turned on It also gives the D2H an incredibly fast shutter lag of 37 millisecond One other part of this amazing process keep in mind this is all happening faster than a heartbeat is a change in the dataflow Rather than the traditional single channel dataflow the D2H utilizes a 2 channel data acquisition flow This accomplishes many things With the image sensor data being split into 2 channels faster read and write performance is achieved It also permits adjacent pixel data to be read not generating any separation lines OK there is no real way of describing this new technology in plain English And you really don t need to know all of this stuff to begin to appreciate that because of this new technology in the D2H it delivers to you the photographer great images at 8fps while not eating up batteries That s really the most important thing to know ab
13. and sub command dial You can rotate these just as the normal command and sub command dials You can program these dials just as you would the standard command and sub command dial AE L AF L Button The primary function of this button is to lock focus and exposure It can be programmed via CS c1 and c2 do to other functions AF ON Vertical AF ON Buttons You can activate the AF by depressing either on of these buttons Speaker Microphone On the back of the D2H is the Speaker below the ENTER button and the Microphone above the WB button These two are for use with the Voice Memo Refer to Set Up Menu gt Voice Monitor The monitor on the D2H is bigger and better than that on the D1 Family It is a 2 5inch 211 200 high resolution LCD monitor While made with a resilient tempered anti scratch glass it s highly recommend to keep it covered already seen scratched ones It comes protected by the BM 3 clear protector While this is an improved monitor from the past I still find that you cannot base color or exposure by just the image you see visually displayed D2H Buttons front Shutter Release The Shutter Release is an important button By depressing it half way down the D2H comes alive Depress the shutter release all the way down and the D2H fires You must first rotate the Power Switch so ON is opposite the white line Rotate the Power Switch past this mark and the top rear and if attached flash panel light up f
14. and then depress the microphone button you have to be sure you ve selected Set Up menu gt Audio output gt Via speaker gt volume first When the voice memo is playing the white music note symbol in the top left corner of the image turns green You can delete the voice memo by simply depressing the Trash Can button and thumbing down to highlight Sound only Once this is done you can rerecord a message if you so desire When in On auto or manual then the voice memo automatically starts recording after the last image was captured or manually when you depress the microphone button Either action records the voice memo and saves it to the CF card as a file The other option in the Voice memo menu is Manual only When in Manual only the voice memo is only recorded when the microphone button is depressed You have a maximum still of 1 minute the counter starts at 60 and counts down You stop the voice memo by depressing the microphone button Any recording can be stopped no matter how you initiate the recording by simply depressing the shutter release menu or monitor buttons When making some changes to the options for example turning off On auto and manual the icons in the rear control panel and the viewfinder do not instantly reflect the changes Not until you either take another image or turn the camera on or off do the icons all reflect current settings You can change some of this operation based on what you ve selected under Set U
15. but also the scene s color The information received from the 1 005 pixels including scene brightness contrast selected focus distance information and the scene s color characteristics is analyzed This information is then processed by a powerful microcomputer and its database is said to hold at least 30 000 exposure possibilities With this input the D2H s meter provides the photographer with an instant meter reading As a point of trivia the RGB meter in the D2H can actually detect different light sources It can see tungsten fluorescent bright yellow tender green and normal green light The D2H cannot only see these light sources but it knows how to meter for them by biasing exposure according to the light source The D2H s RGB meter features high sensitivity EV 0 to EV 20 ISO 100 50f1 4 EV 2 to EV 20 in Spot You need to use an AF S AFI or AF lens with D capability to get all of this performance And with the D2H you can get this same performance working with non CPU lenses is you make use of Shooting Menu gt Non CPU lens data Center Weighted Metering is the old standby In this mode the D2H meters the entire frame but gives the most bias to 75 of the center of the frame The percentage of the frame where this bias is placed can be changed by using CS b6 Spot Metering measures the exposure in small 3mm circle This is defined and selected by the active AF sensor If you re shooting in Group Dynamic or Close
16. file size of the photos you re capturing You have two options that you access by heading to Shooting Menu gt Image size highlighting and then right Multi Select The two options are Large 2464 x 1632 4MB or Medium 1840 x 1224 2 2MB Highlight the desired Image size by up or down Multi Select and then right Multi Select to finish When you select Large a L appears or Medium a M appears above the Image quality setting in both the viewfinder and rear LCD panel Note you can quickly select Image size by depressing the QUAL button and rotating the sub command dial You might be wondering what exactly is being thrown away when you switch from Large to Medium since the pixel count and file size shrinks Well that s proprietary information that is just not available Believe me I ve tried to find the answer for a long time You might also be wondering if there is a image quality difference between Large and Medium Technically you bet but what about in reality That really depends on what you want to do with the image For my own photography I also use the Large setting because in the off chance I want to take a favorite image to a large print I want all the info possible But for just editorial purposes I personally don t think you ll see a difference between Large and Medium Raw compression as I ve already talked about is a really good thing in the D2H It s simple to access head to the Shooting Menu up or down Multi Selec
17. microscope You have the option of Off or On Off being obvious and On providing you a 0 4 delay from when you depress the shutter release manually or with a cable release and when the shutter fires Multi Select through CSM Menu to Shooting Display right Multi Select to d3 Exp delay mode and then right Multi Select to make your selection d4 Long exp NR often confuses folks Long Exp NR noise reduction only works when you re shooting with shutter speeds slower 1 2s It does not reduce noise when you re shooting at shutter speeds faster than 1 2s The D2H with this CS is removing Dark Current Noise by taking a second dark image and then merging the two images to remove noise very similar to how you would do it in PhotoShop Because of this the shooting process slows down and the number of images you can capture in one burst is reduced even if shooting above 1 2s I recommend only turning this CS On only when youre using it leaving turned off the rest of the time Head to the CSM Menu right Multi Select on Shooting Display Multi Selecting down to d4 Long exp NR and then right Multi Select one more time You have two options in the dialog box Off and On Off is obvious On engages NR in exposures longer than 1 2 second When the D2H is processing an image with NR it comes to a halt The top LCD panel and viewfinder both display Job nr when the D2H is processing a NR image When NR is turned On the buffer only accep
18. of selecting only generates one print from the selected image If you depress and hold in the Key button and then Up Multi Select you not only select an image for printing but you can increase your print order from 1 to as many as 9 copies To complete your print order depress the ENTER button To Deselect your Print Set go to the Deselect all and select Yes which will cancel your print set If you re shooting just RAW files you cannot use this feature If you re shooting RAW Jpeg then you ll be able to select the Jpegs for printing Nikon recommends that if using this feature you set your camera to Color Mode I or III Shooting Menu gt Color mode I ve never ever done this so I don t know personally about this advise Note the D2H is EXIF 2 2 Display mode is an essential feature that not enough digital photographers take advantage of This feature provides you four options of information to see when you re previewing your image chimping Data Photo Info Histogram Highlight highlight warning or blinkies and Focus area You find this important feature by going to the Playback Menu and highlighting and then right Multi Select Display more You simply Multi Select up down to highlight the option desired then right Multi Select to place a check mark in the box Once accomplished Multi Select to highlight Done and then right Multi Select to set your options There s a whole lot of info on the importance of these features in Chapte
19. screen of the thumbnail by depressing the checkerboard button Thumb through the thumbnails using the Multi Select until you arrive at the desired thumbnail With it being selected indicated by yellow box depress the Multi Select button When done correctly you ll see the thumbnail of the selected image appear in the PRE options If you have an image comment it will be used as the preset comment which you can edit with Edit comment You can also use the White bal from in image in the computer via Nikon Capture 4 1 You begin by connecting the D2H to your computer either by UC E4 USB cable or WT 1 Wi_Fi unit Open Nikon Capture 4 1 and then select the image you want to use for White bal reference The image you select must be a RAW NEF file no other format will work Next go to Setting gt White Balance gt Write Settings to Camera This brings up a box where you can write a comment to describe the preset Click OK and then with the next dialog box that comes up I recommend you click on Write to Camera Click OK again and then tell NC4 which preset d 1 d 4 you want the image saved to Then you go back to the D2H and select the image and set it as your White bal A nice feature about this is you can change the White bal of the image in NC4 and whatever White bal you select is what will be loaded That s as customized as it comes Note the D2H does not have a black and white setting ISO is how we set the light sensitivity levels Setting
20. second bar disappears you re at 50 and when the third disappears you re at 30 charge left When you get down to one bar you re at less then 10 charge remaining The last bar never disappears but at 1 the battery indicator starts to blink and the D2H won t fire When the battery charge gets this low a battery indicator appears in the viewfinder in the bottom left corner In the past this was are only means of tracking battery charge Nikon changed that in the D2H In the Set Up Menu you ll find Battery info This is a way cool feature permitting you to know at any moment the exact state of your battery When you access the Battery info right Multi Select four options of information are presented Battery meter Picture meter Calibration and Charging life The Battery meter as the name suggests tells you the in percentage the current state of your battery charge This works really well and I find it a great way of learning just how the D2H uses power Note when you place a fully charge into the D2H the Battery meter can read 99 100 The Picture meter informs you how many captures you ve made on that charge A capture is defined by the Picture meter by how many times the shutter fires and not how many files are written to the CF card same as the Frame Counter No matter if you re shooting Fine mode or RAW Jpeg the Picture meter only counts one for each time the shutter clicks The Calibration option tells you when it s time to Calibrate yo
21. selection Each of the four options Rotate direction Change Main Sub Aperture setting and Menus and Playback have sub menus to define each CS Rotate direction permits you to change the Normal rotation of to to Reverse of to Change Main Sub is to exchange the functions the sub command and command dial perform Selecting on reverses their functions Aperture setting changes the sub command dial from changing apertures to physically changing the apertures by turning the aperture ring on the lens this doesn t work with G lenses Menus and Playback when switched On the sub command and command dial takes the please of the Multi Selector when viewing images or photo info Keep in mind when you set this you be really messing up other custom settings you might have made involving the command and sub command dials It can get really confusing f6 Buttons and dials is an unique CS When depressing and holding down a button while rotating a dial is required to make a selection this CS makes it so you don t have to hold down the button anymore You head to CSM Menu and then Multi Select down to Controls right Multi Selecting and highlighting f6 Buttons and dials and then right Multi Selecting one more time You have the option of Default and Hold When Hold is selected you depress the button once to activate that feature and then depress is again after you ve made your selection to turn it off f7 No CF Card is a cut and dry CS You
22. start by heading to Shooting Menu and then up down Multi Select until Image sharpening is highlighted then right Multi Select bringing up Image sharpening menu You have seven options Auto Normal Low Medium low Medium high High and none You simply up down Multi Select until the sharpening you want is highlighted then right Multi Select Which is the right one to use All I can tell you is what I do and why which might or might not be right for you The D2H still employs a low pass filter a system which technically makes the photo out of focus To get back to zero a Image sharpening setting of Normal is required Because of this I set my D2Hs to Normal Now this only effects the Jpegs and TIFF and not the RAW so with the ability to shoot RAW Jpeg now you kind of have the best of both worlds when it comes to the sharpening question Image sharpening is throughout the D2H IB in association with noise If you feel the noise in your images is more than you can stand turning off Image sharpening will help Tone compensation is a very important feature which can be loosely compared to contrast control You access Tone compensation by heading to Shooting Menu Multi Select up or down until Tone compensation is highlighted then right Multi Select The Tone compensation menu then appears with five options Auto Normal Less contrast More contrast and Custom I m so happy to report that it would seem all the bugs have been worked out of Nikon s
23. the ISO head to the Shooting Menu up or down Multi Select until ISO is highlighted and then right Multi Select A menu comes up with ISOs 200 280 400 560 800 1100 1600 HI 1 and HI 2 The selecting of an ISO is pretty cut and dry except for HI 1 2 Note you can select an ISO really easily by depressing the ISO button on the back of the D2H and then rotating the sub command dial Selecting HI 1 is the basic equivalent of ISO 3200 and HI 2 is the basic equivalent of ISO 6400 While increasing your ISO does permit you to shoot in darker light situations with higher shutter speeds increase in ISO does increase noise While the D2H produces less noise then previous Nikon DSLR bodies it still produces noise As such Nikon recommends Sharpening Shooting Menu gt Image sharpening be turned off when shooting at high ISOs The noise encountered at the higher ISOs can easily be cleaned up using Dfine The D2H has no noise reduction system built into it The D2H does have a custom setting b1 ISO auto The D2H when set to custom setting b1 ON will change the ISO according to the available light from 200 1600 HI not available Note you can quickly change your ISO by depressing the ISO button and rotating the command dial Image sharpening is described by Nikon in the D2H IB as Making Edges More Distinct Image sharpening is a controversial topic in digital photography whether it should be used or not If you decide you want Image sharpening you
24. the checkerboard button to take a thumbnail to full frame and then back again To select an image for deletion depress the center of the Multi Select button creating a trash can icon on the thumbnail Once you have selected all the images you want to delete depress the ENTER button Another menu appears with Yes or No Select Yes and depress ENTER and those images are deleted from the CF Card sound if recorded is deleted as well The other option is All This is as it implies highlight All and right Multi Select bringing up a warning menu with No and Yes Highlight No if you change your mind or depress Menu button Highlight Yes and then depress the ENTER button When this is done all the images on the CF card are deleted The exception is if any images have been protected or hidden then they be deleted Playback folder determines what folders you can view when playing back images Go to the Playback Menu and Multi Select up down to highlight Playback folder and then right Multi Select Three options appear NCD2H All and Current Selecting NCD2H images taken by a D2H can be seen in playback When is selected all images created by any camera conforming to the DCF Nikon or any other brand can be seen in Playback And Current only those images in the current folder in the D2H can be seen in playback Slide show is a cool feature if you like to hook your camera up to a television to show your images You can playback through the
25. the shutter went click Needless to say this kind of incentive trains one really fast I ve not forgotten those lessons whether shooting conventional or digital A camera conventional or digital is a tool that allows us to communicate visually the world we see In my short life I ve found that every tool from hammers to computers have their strengths and weaknesses Professionals typically are those who can use these tools with their inherent traits and accomplish their tasks combining their skills and talents with the tools at hand I consider myself a professional when it comes to photography and as such make tools do what I need them to do so I can communicate For that reason I m always looking at the bright side even when a tool has a downside because my being able to communicate and make a living depends on making the most of any tool Having shot exclusively digital since Dec 1999 with Nikon DSLRs staked not only my communication efforts but financial welfare on Nikon and their digital technology I ve learned lots shot lots and I can say without any hesitation that the D2H is by far the best digital DSLR I have ever had the privilege to shoot with The quality of my images have risen once again a notch because of its new technology What you re about to read then is how I use the D2H to communicate visually through my photographs This text could be seen as a rewrite of the instruction manual It could also be seen as user ma
26. up for the 1 16000 top shutter speed Nikon has worked on the flash sync While the SB 28DX and SB 80DX only syncs at the 1 250 the top mechanical sync speed the SB 800 with FP auto CS e1 can flash fill automatically with shutter speeds up to 1 8000 The amazing thing is the quality of the FP auto flash is IMHO that of the F5 which is as goods as TTL flash gets So while you mechanically cannot have a sync speed of 1 500 Nikon made up for it with technology And it works beautifully Now the top end shutter speed of 1 8000 is going to remain 1 8000 That cannot be made up for with technology at this time While you did loose this you did gain the reliability of the 5 shutter which has already well proven itself The sales brochure states that the D2H is good for 150 000 cycles which might make you wonder A recent press release from Nikon states Service engineers at Nikon s German Service Centre were amazed to discover during routine servicing recently that a Nikon F5 had achieved 1 092 904 shutter releases without fault Translating into about 35 kilometers of film this figure is a testament to the durable design of the mechanism now also shared by the latest Nikon D2H Professional Digital SLR To put the 1 092 904 shutter releases into context it equates to 34 hours of continuous shooting at 8 frames per second That s pretty darn impressive Under the Hood Autofocus The D2H is sporting the new Multi Cam2000 AF sensor This makes
27. you ll now see Copy 4 0 is available Up Multi Select so Copy 4 0 is highlighted Right Multi Select OK and you ve now copied 4 0 to a new preset You will see if you did it correctly because either the thumbnail or icon should be in both the 4 0 and d 1 4 that you copied to You are now ready to create a new preset to 4 0 You re able to create a comment for a preset just as you would create a image comment see above You do this when you ve selected a preset preview in the PRE menu and then depress the Multi Select button and call up the White bal menu Multi Select to highlight Edit comment and type away This is the first two of four ways you can create White bal presets The other two methods for creating White bal presets rely on images you ve already captured You can work from an image you ve already captured and resided on the CF or you can work with an image in the computer via Nikon Capture 4 1 To work with an image on the CF card head to Shooting Menu gt White bal gt PRE White bal preset gt PRE where you ll see previous stored presets Select yellow box around thumbnail the d you wish to use to create the new preset with only d 1 through d 4 being available for this With that accomplished depress the Multi Select button This brings up the White bal menu Down Multi Select until Select Image is highlighted then right Multi Select All the images on your CF card now appear in 3x2 thumbnails you can see a full
28. your newly captured images are stored Head to the Shooting Menu and then up or down Multi Select until Active Folder is highlighted When you right Multi Select a menu with two options appears New Select folder When you highlight New and then right Multi Select a dialog appears with the next folder number You can either right Multi Select and accept the folder number or up down Multi Select to change the number Right Multi Select sets the folder number you ve created When you highlight Select Folder and then right Multi Select a list of current available folders appears These are folders on the CF card not in the D2H If there is only one folder then you have to create a new folder as described above before you can change folders If the folder you re currently storing in reaches file 9999 then a new folder will be automatically created The folder number will increase by one when this is done and the file number will start 0001 If you ve reached folder 999 and you re not aware of that fact when you hit file 9999 in folder 999 the camera comes to a halt While I ve not tested it personally getting past this is simpler then in the past You Just have to go to Active folder gt New and create a new folder with a number less than 999 and you re good to You can create a new folder when starting up the D2H By depressing the Key button as you turn on the camera a new folder is created This will happen only if there are no empty fo
29. D and the AF DX Fisheye Nikkor 10 5mm f 2 8 G ED New to the Vibration Reduction Nikkor Lens lineup is the AF S VR Zoom Nikkor 200 400mm f 4G IF ED Wow that s a lot to take in even more to actually analyze to see if the D2H is the right camera for you And if you re upgrading from the D1 D1X or D1H integrating what you ve learned taking advantage of new might be a challenge But be honest with you I just picked up the D2H and started the make magic from the start Let s break it all down so you can get the magic of it change your world of digital photography The EN EL4 Battery The adventure begins when you turn the D2H on It s interesting that the D2H s battery the EN EL4 comes with a partial charge so you can technically begin playing with the camera from the get go That s not recommend though While you don t have to go through the 3x refresh like with the EN4 battery you do need to charge the EN EL4 before proceeding Note The battery icon might blink for a couple of seconds when the D2H is turned on It s just calculating the battery charge and will soon stop blinking The new battery technology of the D2H lithium ion is similar to that in the D100 which has been a proven performer Lithium ion is the latest battery technology to promise to belong lasting and memory free We won t know for a year or more if it fulfills its promise in the D2H Starting off from the beginning with a
30. Depending on how long you set the Intvl timer for you best make sure you ve got the power to run the D2H The D2H doesn t eat up batteries but if you ve got a 24hr session you might need an external power source If you have exposure or white balance bracketing engaged whatever intervals you set for them will override any interval you have set in the Intv timer Finally if you re shooting with the camera remotely be sure to close the viewfinder shutter to prevent light from entering the viewfinder and altering your exposure Non CPU lens data is kind of a cool new option This option is strictly for use when lenses without a CPU are attached to the D2H This features can give owners of older Nikon lenses the benefits of Color Matrix metering aperture value display and balanced fill flash In the Shooting Menu up down Multi Select until Non CPU lens data is highlighted Right Multi Select taking your into the next menu You have two options Focal length and Maximum aperture When you highlight one of these and right Multi Select you re taken into another menu starting off with N A and then either focal lengths or apertures Select the focal length and appropriate aperture for the lens attached and you re good to go Couldn t be simpler or cooler Moose s Setting for the Shooting Menu Shooting menu bank A Reset shooting menu Active folder Image quality RAW F Image size L Raw compression ON White bal A ISO 200 Image sharpening
31. ODE and Trash Can buttons at the same time or nearly the same time and hold them in for 3 seconds can take longer is the camera is not active When accomplished For appears on the top LCD panel where normally the shutter speed aperture appears When it appears stop depressing the two buttons The For flashes when it does depress the exact same two buttons again at which time FOR appear in the frame counter After a few seconds it disappears and the formatting process is done Note this process takes longer and longer the bigger the CF card you use and longer yet if there are images on the card you re erasing using the Format operation It is essential that during the formatting process you do not interrupt it Do not remove the CF card turn the camera off remove the battery or unplug AC if hooked up during the formatting process This can cause problems with your CF card Note When you read the books they say that formatting your card will erase all of your images This is only partially correct While after formatting you cannot put a CF card in a computer or camera and instantly see images you can still recover images from a formatted card Lexar media makes Image Rescue but my preferred is PhotoRescue Either of these two programs can pull images from a CF card that has been formatted They can also rescue images from a card that is not faithfully formatted and at some points quits on you PhotoRescue is only 39 and is one the best inve
32. SB 800 S7 2 10 D94 adv Wireless SB 28DX SB 800 5 Auto Aperture X Non TTLauto X Range priorityM_ X Manual X Ox X X X X X Rear curtain AF assist multi area There are some exceptions refer to IB for clarifications Repeating flash X x
33. SB Cable UC E4 LCD Monitor Cover BM 3 Nikon View Software CD ROM Optional Accessories Wireless Transmitter WT 1 Extended Range Antenna WA E1 AC Adaptor EH 6 Interchangeable Focusing Screen E Antifog Finder Eyepiece DK 16A Eyepiece Correction Lens DK 16C series Speedlight SB 800 80DX 50DX Nikon Capture 4 software CompactFlash card Supplied Accessories may differ in each country or area CompactFlash is a trademark of SanDisk Corporation Digital DEE is a technology developed by Applied Science Fiction Specifications and equipment are subject to change without any notice or obligation on the part of the manufacturer Nikon D2H Major Features Unparalleled Speed and Response e Continuous shooting at 8 fps Continuous shooting at 8 fps for up to 40 consecutive JPEG or 25 RAW NEF Nikon Electronic Image File full resolution 2 464 x 1 632 pixel images e 37ms shutter time lag The 37ms shutter time lag is the shortest in the industry and gives the D2H a responsiveness that rivals that of the Nikon F5 professional film SLR e Instant power up The D2H is ready to take pictures the instant it is turned on As of Jul 2003 Breakthrough Image Sensing 4 1 effective megapixels e New Nikon DX format JFET imaging sensor LBCAST Nikon s exclusive imaging sensor features higher speed lower power consumption and minimal dark noise The sensor s innovative design also eliminates the need to perform fixed pattern
34. Select to the CSM Menu to Bracketing Flash to el Flash sync speed finally reaching the options It s pretty clear cut you have varying shutter speeds in 1 3 stop ranging from 1 60 to 1 250 The only unique one is the 1 250 FP auto This works in conjunction with the SB 800 flash to make use of its FP high speed sync you can only use this option if the Flash sync mode is set to Front curtain sync If you select this option but attach a SB 80DX the D2H will sync at 1 250 If you ve ever tried using FP prior to the D2H SB 800 you probably found it painful to program and the results mixed at best Well that s far from the case with the D2H SB 800 I m totally impressed by the FP Auto and the exposures I m capturing The fastest shutter speed I ve used it at was 1 2000 and the flash fill was right on e2 Flash shutter spd effects the slowest possible shutter speed the D2H syncs with in Aperture Priority or Program exposure modes when in Front curtain sync doesn t effect Slow or Rear curtain sync minimum shutter speeds You have a range available of 1 60 to 30s in one stop increments Reach the options by Multi Selecting to the CSM Menu to Bracketing Flash to e2 Flash shutter spd finally reaching the options You might wonder why this CS is here when you can simply use Slow or Rear curtain This CS only effects Front curtain sync the only mode you can access FP auto This CS permits then the use of FP auto with slow shutter speeds as we
35. The D2H by Moose Peterson copyright 2006 This is the original unedited text 22 July 2003 the D2 generation began with the D2H Are you ready I wasn t It was pouring rain inside and out I stepped into the ballroom to the Nikon Safari at PhotoShop World in Miami Before I knew it I was being warmly greeted by Richard LoPinto from Nikon and a D2H being placed in my hands Wow what a greeting I soon had Nikon s top three folks showing me the D2H I asked each three what was their favorite new features and I soon learned that the D2H Just isn t some fast shooting digital camera I was really overjoyed to see that Nikon didn t just try to keep up with the megapixel race but made a camera that solves real problems for real photographers For the next two days ever opportunity I had I checked out the D2H to see what was new With no instruction book to walk me through the new menus I just looked at the options in amazement Without ever taking one picture I knew I had to have the D2H what I fondly call the 2H Before proceeding it might help you understand what I ve written here by understanding me I m a photographer a wildlife photographer trained long ago when a photographer had to get it right right from the start Messing up composition exposure or anything else technical meant your image had to go to a retoucher this is long before PhotoShop who charged lots of money to make right what should have been gotten right when
36. Voice Memo or Protect Nikon calls these screens of info pages You will only see the Histogram and Highlight Warning page if you ve selected them in Playback Menu gt Display mode Page 1 Voice memo icon top left corner Protect Status top left corner Folder number frame bottom right corner Page 2 Voice memo icon top left corner Protect Status top left corner Focus brackets in their proper alignment Frame number total number of frames top right corner Folder name file name bottom left corner Date time bottom left corner image quality bottom right corner and number bottom right corner Page 3 Voice memo icon top left corner Protect Status top left corner listed in order Camera Metering Shutter speed Aperture Exposure Mode Exp comp Page 4 Voice memo icon top left corner Protect Status top left corner ISO White Bal White Bal fine tune Tone Sharpness Color Mode Comment Page 5 Voice memo icon top left corner Protect Status top left corner memo icon top left corner Protect Status top left corner Highlight if Highlight warning is active folder number frame number both in lower right corner Page 6 Voice memo icon top left corner Protect Status top left corner Folder number frame number top right corner Histogram if Histogram graph is active Don t forget you can change the Multi Selector operation in playback via CS f3 Delete Format Button Trash Can
37. able Interface USB 2 0 Hi Speed Mini B connector FTP file transfer available with optional Wireless Transmitter WT 1 802 11b Voice Memo Record mode Automatic or manual recording at shooting or playback Max Recording time 60 seconds Playback mode Built in speaker or Audio Video cable File format Mono WAV file Text Input Up to 30 characters of alphanumeric text input is available with LCD monitor and multi selector stored in Exif header Usable Lenses 1 AF Nikkor including AF S DX VR and D G type All functions possible 2 D type Manual Focus Nikkor All functions except autofocus and some exposure modes available 3 AF Nikkor other than D G type All functions except 3D Color Matrix Metering and 3D Multi Sensor Balanced Fill Flash possible 4 AI P Nikkor All functions except 3D Color Matrix Metering 3D Multi Sensor Balanced Fill Flash and AF possible 5 Non CPU AI Nikkor Usable in A or M mode with Matrix Metering Center Weighted and Spot metering available Indication of aperture No after user inputs the aperture f No and focal length by multi selector operation Electronic Rangefinder usable with maximum aperture of f 5 6 or faster Picture Angle Approx 1 5x focal length in 35mm 135 format equivalent Viewfinder Optical type fixed eye level pentaprism Built in diopter adjustment 3 to 1 mr Eyepiece shutter provided Eyepoint 19 9mm at 1 0 m Focusing Screen B type BrightView Clear
38. access an Image quality setting head to the Shooting Menu and then select Image quality by up down Multi Select until Image quality is highlighted Once accomplished right Multi Select to access the various file options Up or down Multi Select until the desired Image quality is highlighted and then right Multi Select to make your selection The fast way of accomplishing this same operation is to depress the QUAL button on the back of the D2H While that is depressed rotate the sub command dial You ll see the various image quality setting appear in the rear LCD panel Stop rotating the command dial once the desired setting appears Note you can change file size from Large to Medium in the same way accept you rotate the sub command dial Each Image quality setting in combination with Image size will have a different final file size This is important to realize both for knowing what size CF card to load into the D2H and eventually your hard drive storage Nikon published a pretty good chart of this info on page 46 of the D2H instruction book IB The one piece of trivia they left out was the file size when shooting Compressed RAW NEF Nikon doesn t provide actual file size when you use compressed RAW Shooting Menu gt Raw compression Using a lossless algorithm the D2H compresses RAW slightly differently then the D1 Family The result is when shooting in RAW Jpeg Fine for example a 9MB file ends up being 6MB the sum total of the two
39. ace your moves by right left Multi Select With right Multi Select you come to Interval which is active for both Now and Start Time Interval is a time setting determining the time between the shots You can interval shots by as much as 24 hours 59 minutes and 69 seconds With this set you right Multi Select bringing up a whole new dialog menu The first three digit place holder determines how many times the D2H will fire The second single digit place holder determines how many images will be taken each time the D2H fires Remaining intvl shots 000 0 0000 is active only when the timer is active This will tell you how many remaining intervals and captures are left to be made if the Intv is active The last setting is Start You can cancel out by highlighting OFF and then right Multi Select which takes you back to the first menu To activate Intvl timer under Start highlight On and then depress ENTER You do anything else and it won t become active A gray box appears with the message Timer active when you ve done it all correctly While time is active if you go to the Shooting Menu you will see Intvl time shooting ON If you right Multi Select you ll see at the top of the next menu Status IN PROGRESS Right Multi Select one more time and in the last menu you ll see Start Pause Done Highlight Pause and depress ENTER and you pause the Intvl timer Highlight Done and depress ENTER and you ll stop the Intvl timer all together
40. ally 30 files on the CF card Both the Frame Counter and the Number of exposures remaining are three digit counters If you have a large CF card inserted into the D2H and you are using a image quality such as Basic the Number of exposures remaining cannot be display beyond three digits so it displays a number along with the letter which represents 1000 The example in the is if there is room for 1260 exposures the CF card the D2H displays 1 2k Depending on how you CS d6 determines what exactly you see in the viewfinder Frame Count or Exposures remaining this same CS can effect the counter on the rear LCD The counter does not count or keep track of exposures as fast as the shutter flies It counts only as files are written to the CF card To determine exactly what the count is wait for the green light on the back to the D2H to turn off indicating the writing to the CF card has finished The remaining frame counter in the viewfinder indicates how many images can be stored in the buffer When the buffer is empty it indicates the maximum number based on the image quality you ve selected As you shoot this maximum number when the shutter released is depressed drops based on how many images are already in the buffer Note when the remaining frame counter hits 0 the CF icon on the top LCD flashes as will CD in the viewfinder Flash syne mode I am so happy to report that flash on a Nikon DSLR is finally truly like that on the
41. anish Espanol French Francais Japanese and Chinese Highlight the language your prefer and then right Multi Select to set it Image Comment is a new feature to the pro line of DSLR Nikon cameras It permits you to add a comment to your photographs the comment being written to the EXIF text You can include a 36 character comment message the first 12 characters of which being visible in fourth page of the photo info display Entering comments is slightly tricky and you have to move kinda quick Note if you re looking for a copyright symbol for your first character it s not there You ll need to spell out the word copyright Start by selecting the Image comment in the Set Up menu and then right Multi Select With this done a menu appears with three options Done Input comment and Attach comment You down Multi Select to Input comment and then right Multi Select taking you into the comment text You move through the available characters by depressing the up down right and left Multi Select To move around the comment you ve inputted depress and hold down the checkerboard button and then depress the up down right left Multi Select The active space accepting input of a character will be blue Making a character selection requires only moving the white highlight box around using the up down right left arrow on the Multi Selector The character highlighted with the white box is the one that will be inputted when the center of the Mult
42. ards to ISO and Exposures remaining You access this CS by heading to the CSM Menu right Multi Select on Shooting Display Mulit Selecting down to d6 Cntr panel finder and then right Multi Select one more time Highlight Rear Control panel and right Multi Select to choice either ISO or Exposures remaining Highlight Viewfinder display and select either Frame count how many captures you ve made or Exposures remaining Note the Frame counter displays how many times the shutter has clicked off and not the number of captures If youre shooting RAW Jpeg while you re writing two files to the CF card the Frame counter only increases by 1 Exposures remaining is an estimate of how many images you can still capture in the space available on the CF card The actual number is always greater than that displayed d7 Illumination controls the backlight illumination on the top and rear LCD panels Head to the CSM Menu right Multi Select on Shooting Display Multi Selecting down to d7 Illumination and then right Multi Select one more time You have two options OFF Lamp on switch rotating the power switch past On or ON any button which means that they are basically lit all the time e Bracketing Flash el Flash sync speed is a new CS that provides you some flexibility in how you sync the shutter speed of the D2H with flash I just love this CS This in turn effects how you can mesh ambient light with flash exposure You have a range from 1 60 to 1 250 Multi
43. attern Is that too way cool or what e5 Auto BKT set gives you the option of bracketing exposure and flash AE amp Flash exposure only AE only Flash only or White balance WB bracketing There s not hidden tricks here pretty cut and dry You access this CS by heading to the CSM Menu right Multi Select on Bracketing Flash Multi Selecting right and down to 5 Auto set and then right Multi Select one more time Select the option desired Note WB bracketing doesn t work with RAW or RAW Jpeg image quality settings White balance bracketing doesn t work in combination with other features such as shooting RAW Be sure to double check when using this bracketing with you camera s configuration e6 Manual mode bkting works in conjunction with CS e5 when AE amp Flash or AE only are selected in e5 This is only when you re shooting in manual M exposure mode You access this CS by heading to the CSM Menu right Multi Select on Bracketing Flash Multi Selecting right and down to e6 Manual mode bkting and then right Multi Select one more time Your have the following options speed shutter speed is varied when 5 is set to AE only or shutter speed and flash is varied when AE amp Flash is set in e5 speed amp aperture shutter speed amp aperture is varied when AE only is selected or shutter speed aperture amp flash is varied when AE amp Flash is selected aperture aperture is varied when AE only is selected in 5 or ap
44. ble when used with SB 800 80DX and lens with built in CPU 4 Non TTL Auto Flash A type Flash with a Speedlight such as SB 30 27 225 etc Flash Syne Mode 1 Front Curtain Sync normal sync 2 Red Eye Reduction 3 Red Eye Reduction with Slow Sync 4 Slow Sync 5 Rear Curtain Sync Ready light Lights up when flash fully charged with Speedlight SB 800 80DX 50DX 30 28 27 228 blinks for full output warning Accessory Shoe ISO 518 standard type hot shoe contact Safety lock mechanism provided Sync Terminal ISO 519 standard terminal lock screw provided Self timer Electronically controlled Timer duration 2 5 10 and 20 seconds Depth of field Preview Button Stop down lens aperture by pressing depth of field preview button Remote Control Via 10 pin remote terminal Power Requirements Rechargeable Li ion Battery EN EL4 11 1V DC Quick Charger MH 21 AC Adapter EH 6 Tripod Socket 1 4 in 1501222 Battery Monitoring System The LCD monitor on the camera back displays the following information about EN EL4 battery 1 Remaining charge 2 No of shots taken since last charge 3 Calibration status Recommended Not required 4 Battery life 5 stages Dimensions W x H x D Approx 157 5 x 149 5 x 85 5mm 6 2 x 5 9 X 3 4 in Weight without battery Approx 1 070g 2 4 lbs Supplied Accessories Rechargeable Li ion Battery EN EL4 Quick Charger MH 21 Body Cap Camera Strap AN D2H AV Cable EG D2 U
45. c AF it gives you the ability to have really a 4 5 large AF sensors rather than eleven small ones Determining which Pattern works best for you and your photography or if the more traditional single AF sensor fits it better takes some time to establish There is no doubt though when you are locked into compositional restraints and want the AF system to focus for you you can accomplish it easily now without having to manually focus As I already mentioned I tend to use three of the four D2H AF systems each filling specific needs perfectly Incorporated into the D2H is Nikon s Dynamic AF with Focus Tracking and Lock on systems For those new to Nikon these two features are really cool Dynamic AF simply is when the subject moves and you pan with it and it leaves the original AF sensor group you selected a new AF sensor group picks it up and maintains focus the key here is the camera has to be moving with the subject Lock on works in conjunction with Dynamic and it s a system that keeps the focus locked on the subject even if some should momentarily come between the subject and the camera You don t have to do anything to activate Lock on it s automatically on all the time Dynamic focus is activated when the AF area mode selector is set to one of the three dynamic AF modes The D2H also incorporates a favorite feature for many Closest Subject Priority Dynamic AF AF area mode selector While a complicated system to produce it
46. cess with the menu and then depress the shutter release A photo is taken that when viewed on monitor appears to be a checkerboard pattern You cannot view the NDF capture on any image browsing software If the white featureless object is too bright or too dark a message INAPPROPRIATE EXPOSURE CONDITIONS appears You have to take appropriate measures to remedy the exposure problem before taking the next NDF a Jpeg Fine large file As for actually merging the NDF and captured image in Nikon Capture refer to the Nikon Capture manual Battery info is one of the way cool new features in the D2H This menu gives you up to date battery state information To access head to the Set Up menu and up or down Multi Select until Battery info is highlighted Right Multi Select to enter the Battery info dialog You ll now see four options Battery meter Picture meter Calibration and Charging life Battery meter tells you exactly the percentage of charge you have left Picture meter informs you of how many images you ve captured on that charge Calibration you can think of is as refresh lets you know if it s time to calibrate the battery And Charging state informs you the overall condition of the battery and if it s time to buy a new one This is one great new feature in the D2H refer to EN EL4 battery pg t for more info Wireless LAN is only active when the WT 1a is attached This is wonderful unit once working Getting the WT 1 up can go
47. change orientation to either vertical or horizontal You can only use the pattern you ve selected when you ve activated Group Dynamic AF via the AF area mode selector lever on the back of the D2H found this works incredibly well Many have asked which is the best to use To be honest with you I bounce back and forth changing not the Group but rather the AF area mode Most of the time I m shooting n Group dynamic AF and then if going to switch it s to Dynamic area AF which doesn t use information from this CS a4 AF activation determines if AF operation happens when you depress the shutter release AF ON buttons or just with one of the AF ON buttons is depressed Head to the Custom Setting Menu Autofocus and Multi Select until AF activation is highlighted then right Multi Select This is a little confusing but when you select Shutter AF ON ON appears opposite a4 AF Activation When you select AF ON only OFF appears opposite a4 AF Activation With my shooting I ve always preferred AF operation with the shutter release a5 Focus Are is a custom setting that permits you to change how long the AF sensors stays lit once you ve depressed the shutter release illuminated when in CH CL mode or at all in manual focus mode manual focus via the body or lens You have the ability to set illumination period for just CH CL focus never knew this was important You can only set on off for AF sensors in manual mode This is a multi men
48. d by 1 or 2 steps beyond ISO 1 600 Storage System NEF 12 bit RAW uncompressed or lossless compression Exif 2 2 file uncompressed TIFF RGB or compressed JPEG Storage Media CompactFlash CF Card Type I and Microdrive Shooting Modes 1 Single frame shooting S mode advances one frame for each shutter release 2 Continuous high shooting CH mode 8 frames per second fps to 40 JPEG 25 RAW NEF consecutive shots 3 Continuous low shooting CL mode 1 to 7 fps selectable from menus 4 Self timer mode time duration can be set 5 Mirror up mode first press mirror up second press release 6 Playback mode Menu mode 7 PC mode data transfer via personal computer 8 Interval timer Intervalometer mode provided White Balance 1 Auto hybrid with 1 005 pixel CCD LBCAST image sensor and external Ambience Light Sensor 2 Manual 6 steps with fine tuning 3 Preset 5 settings 4 Color temperature setting in Kelvin select from 31steps 5 White Balance Bracketing 2 to 9 frames adjustable in 10 20 30 MIRED steps LCD Monitor 2 5 in 211 200 dot low temp polysilicon TFT LCD with white LED backlighting Backlight brightness adjustment available Playback Function 1 Full frame 2 Thumbnail 4 9 segments 3 One touch zoom 4 Slideshow 5 Histogram indication and Highlight point display Delete Function 1 Card format 2 All frames delete 3 Selected frames delete Video Output NTSC or PAL switch
49. d to the nearest full stop A triangle appear next to FO aperture to indicate you re using this mode If you re shooting at shutter speeds less than 1 25 remember you have a noise reduction CS d4 option that could improve your images for you S Shutter Priority is the opposite of A mode you select the shutter speed desired between 30s and 1 8000 and the D2H selects the aperture stepless shutter speed range based on the lens attached When selected a S appears in the top LCD panel and inside the viewfinder right of center The aperture ring on the lens must be set to its minimum aperture when in S mode If you re using Non CPU lens data and you switch to S mode the D2H automatically goes to A mode If the exposure is beyond the setting range the D2H either displays Lo or HI depending if it s too dark or too light If you have activated CS b1 ISO auto the D2H increases the ISO in this instance refer to CS b1 BEA for more info When the D2H changed the ISO ISO A is displayed in the viewfinder and ISO AUTO flashes on the rear LCD panel If you re in S mode and the D2H is unable to produce the correct exposure based on the available light and settings an analog scale appears If the D2H cannot change the aperture to match it with the shutter speed is when the scale appears P Program mode w flex Program is a simple exposure mode that selects both aperture and shutter speed for you the range based on the lens attached ISO and the lig
50. d will be previewed Moose s Setting for the Playback Menu Delete Playback folder ND2H Slide show 2s Hide image Print Set Display mode gt Highlight Image review OFF After delete Show next The D2H Under the Hood and Layout The D2H is a whole new camera except for the lens mount This is important for many reasons The main one being that we don t have an old camera with new guts We have a whole new camera built around new features those that worked and improving those that needed improving There s no doubt that this whole new design was based around three basic major improvements Battery consumption frames per second fps and the LBCAST sensor Did Nikon succeed with their new design I wrote this book with about two months of shooting of the D2H under my belt Because I had what I felt is a limited time with the D2H and only was able to test shoot about a 30 different bodies I spent a lot of time talking with other peers to see what results they were capturing with the D2H I talked with a diverse group of shooters folks like David Black sports Vincent Versace celebrates fashion and John Shaw nature who all have different requirements and needs from their camera than I It s interesting that we all without any prearrangements instantly made large prints as one of our first tests of the D2H We all found that in 20x and 30x prints the quality was excellent So from that we all proceeded to give the D2H a true shake do
51. dobeRGB is 4000 colors Technically there is a difference between the three color modes but that technical difference will only matter depending on the final use of your image It s the game of numbers sRGB does not have as many colors as Adobe RGB But whether you need all those numbers for your image and its application is the big question Color Mode III is different from Color Mode I even though they are both sRGB Color Mode I is a basic curve rendering color in the final photograph basically as you see it Color Mode III on the other hand has a curve so reds are recorded deeper than is visually seen If you re working with a calibrated monitor you might want to shoot RAW files and then look at the differences the three color modes make and decide for yourself and your photography which works best Personally I always shoot in Adobe RGB What about the magenta skin cast problem some have reported After testing with a lot of D2Hs I did come across one with a definite magenta skin cast problem The interesting thing was the magenta skin cast was bad in low light and not bad in high noon light with this one camera It completely disappeared when using flash The majority see the magenta cast when in reality it s a lighting or complexion problem But since I found it in one camera it raises the possibilities there s more Is the color in the D2H perfect To some it s not to me it s the best Nikon has delivered to date
52. e Shooting Mode dial begins to blink speeding up the last couple of seconds before firing You set the duration of the self timer via CS c4 which gives you from 2s to 20s Keep in mind that if you need more time you can use the Intvl timer Shooting Menu gt Intvl timer shooting You can also use the self timer when you don t have a cable release and you re shooting at slow shutter speeds It helps camera movement stop prior to the shutter going off M up Mirror Up is a new feature that permits you to lessen the shutter lag which is already at 37 millisecond When set to M up you depress the shutter release and the mirror raises Depress the shutter release again and the D2H fires The mirror is lowered after the exposure but M up is still in action until you turn it off via the Shooting Mode dial Playback Button Located on the back top left of the D2H the Playback Button often just called the monitor button is what you depress to see images on the CF card While depressing the Playback Button displays an image there is a whole heck of a lot more that can be seen than just the image By depressing the Multi Select button left right up or down after you ve depressed the Playback button you have multi screens of info Photo Info There are a maximum of six pages of info all depending on how you ve set up Playback Menu gt Display mode In addition what you see on a given page is determined by what you ve activated or not activated like
53. e nearest full stop A triangle appear next to aperture to indicate you re using this mode When in M mode a analog graph appears to help indicate proper exposure Depending on how you ve set CS b3 determines how the analog graph displays the exposure increments But with all three if the arrow on the analog graph goes past the or sign that indicates a three stop range You can still take advantage of CS d4 even though you re shooting mode With all four of these exposure modes the shutter speed and aperture are displayed in the top LCD panel and in the viewfinder Depending on the exposure mode selected the shutter speed and aperture displayed may be accurate or just rounded off to the nearest setting You can always check the EXIF data for more precise exposure data Frame Counter Number of exposures remaining These counters inform you how many images you ve taken and the minimum number of captures remaining on the inserted CF card These numbers highly variable and are based on the image quality youre shooting When you re shooting for example Compressed RAW or Jpeg the counter determines their numbers based on the largest possible file size when in reality because of compression your file size probably will be much smaller Also keep in mind that if you re shooting Compressed RAW Jpeg that the Frame Counter increases by 1 even though 2 files are being written to the CF card If the Frame Counter says 15 there are actu
54. e top right of the viewfinder The Rear Control Panel also indicates when the voice memo is activated When activated on the far right you ll see REC and below it AM when in On auto or manual mode When the D2H is recording a microphone symbol flashes between REC and AM and you ll see the timer counting down how many seconds you have left to record to the far left When recording a microphone symbol flashes inside the viewfinder as well in the top right corner When recoding you can either let the camera stop itself or you can manually stop the recording by depressing the microphone button on the back of the camera If you have image review tuned on Playback menu gt Image review gt On then you cannot record a voice memo with this setting You can also record a message on images after the shooting is done Playback mode Simply depress the Monitor button and if in Thumbnail view highlight the image to attach the voice memo If in single image mode you re all set Depress the microphone button for a least one second until the red microphone icon appears in the top left corner of the preview Once the red icon is present start recording and the counter will count down how much time you have left to record You can stop the recording at anytime by depressing the microphone button When successful a music note icon appears in the top left corner of the image Once you made your voice memo it will playback when you depress the monitor button
55. en right Multi Selecting one more time The two options are AE L AF L button and Release Button If you select the first option AE L AF L button then you can lock exposure and focus by depressing and holding in the AE L AF L button on the back of the D2H If you select Release Button then you can lock exposure and focus by depressing the shutter release half way down or with the AE L AF L button to lock In either case with either setting AE L appears in the viewfinder when in operation c2 AE L AF L CS changes the actions the AE L AF L button performs when depressed To make the selection head to the CSM Menu and then Timers AE amp AF Lock by Multi Selecting and then to AE L AF L Right Multi Selecting brings up the menu with the options AE AF Lock AE Lock only AE Lock hold reset AE Lock hold and AF Lock When you select AE AF Lock which is the default highlight and right Multi Select you lock exposure and focus when you depress the AE L AF L button AE L appears in the viewfinder When AE Lock only is selected only exposure is locked focus in unaffected With AE Lock hold reset selected exposure is locked and stay locked until either the AE L AF L button is depressed again or the shutter release is depressed AE Lock hold when selected locks exposure when AE L AF L button is depressed and remains locked until the AE L AF L button is depressed again or the meter goes off When AF Lock is selected the focus is locked when the AE L AF L bu
56. en you depress the center Multi Select you can change the preview from full screen to thumbnail and back again With Histogram selected when in Playback mode even if you don t have Histograms selected Playback menu gt Display mode gt Histogram you can turn the Histogram and off by depressing the center Multi Select making it appear and disappear And with Zoom on off selected when in Playback you can zoom in and out of a preview When you highlight Zoom on off and right Multi Select another dialog box appears permitting you to select 2x 3x or 4x zoom amount Those Histogram fanatics out there should really like this option You can have Histograms on demand without having to bother to toggle through all the photo info pages Nice touch Nikon Note if you have Histogram selected Playback menu gt Display mode gt Histogram and you have Histogram selected above and you re displaying the Histogram in Playback via the photo info pages and you then depress the center Multi Select the D2H won t be happy Don t do it f2 Multi selector permits you to further program the Multi Selector You have the option of Do Nothing Reset mtr off delay or Initiate autofocus You access this CS by heading to the CSM Menu right Multi Select on Multi Selector Multi Selecting right and down to f2 Multi Selector and then right Multi Select one more time When Do Nothing is selected then the programming of the Multi Selector doesn t change When Reset mtr o
57. erture amp flash is varied when AE amp Flash is selected Flash only flash output is varied There are two exceptions to this CS If you re not using flash and you ve got CSb1 set to On the D2H varies the ISO only no matter what is selected here The flash bracketing only works with i TTL on the SB 800 AA modes in the SB 800 80D X and 28DX Auto Order is a olde but goodie It simply dictates the order of under over exposure when bracketing Multi Select to the CSM Menu to Bracketing Flash to e7 Auto BKT Order finally reaching the options You have the option of MTR gt Under gt Over right on gt overexposed gt underexposed or Under gt MTR gt Over under exposed gt right on gt over exposed Highlight your selection and right Multi Select to set e8 Auto BRKT selection CS speeds up how you use bracketing which if you use it a lot might be a time saver It effects what happens when you depress the BAT button on the top left of the D2H Multi Select through CSM Menu to Bracketing Flash right Multi Select to 8 Auto selection and then right Multi Select to make your selection You have two options Manual value set and Preset value set When Manual value set is selected highlight right Multi Select then when you depress the BKT button you must rotate the command and sub command dials to adjust and set your bracketing set When Preset value set is selected you have available via the sub command dial the last bracketing se
58. ff delay is selected when the camera turns itself off CS c3 if you depress the Multi Selector the meter turns back on And with Initiate autofocus is selected both the metering is reactivated and D2H autofocuses when the Multi Selector is depressed after auto off f3 PhotoInfo Playback determines how you view images or photo info when using the Multi Select button By Multi Selecting from the CSM Menu to Controls and right Multi Select to PhotoInfo Playback and once more you come to the menu with the options Off or On Off is the default where up down Multi Select in playback mode changes images being previewed and right left Multi Select changes photo info screens On switches this so up down Multi select changes photo info and right left changes images f4 FUNC Button Flash is way cool I m so glad Nikon added it and all of its features This CS lets you really program the FUNC button to fit your photography From the CSM Menu Multi Select to Controls FUNC Button and then right Multi Select to enter the options The FUNC Button is the button below the DOF button on the front of the D2H It s nothing like the Func button found on the D1 Family There are nine options available FV Lock FV Lock Lens data 1 step spd aperture Same as AE L AF L Flash off Bracketing burst Matrix metering Center weighted Spot metering When FV Lock is selected with the SB 800 is attached the flash exposure is locked when you depress the FUNC Button W
59. files You can expect a 40 60 file size reduction using compressed This isn t that really amazing speeding up the write process though is Shooting compressed RAW use to be the kiss of death when it comes to write times taking nearly three times longer then shooting uncompressed That s all changed now with compressed taking actually less time then uncompressed to write It s way cool It makes using RAW Jpeg a real tool The D2H offers us a better way to keep track of the Image quality settings Your Image quality setting can be seen in the viewfinder as well as on the rear LCD panel The Image quality is on the right bottom of the viewfinder This is what you ll see in the viewfinder on the left and rear LCD on the right when the camera is set to Image Quality Chart Setting Viewfinder Rear LCD RAW RAW With the option of RAW Jpeg that s the only Image quality setting I use anymore This option provides me with a really easily business workflow I have great quality Jpegs that my editorial clients can use and I can easily and quickly send to them At the same time I have a RAW file for those images that at some point if I want to make large prints I can quickly and easily do it And with compressed RAW saving space while being fast to write makes shooting with the D2H the perfect digital tool Note When you use RAW Jpeg or shoot RAW you cannot use white balance bracketing Image size is how you can vary the image or
60. good battery regime is important though Nikon and the D2H makes this a whole lot easier for you The EN EL4 requires the MH 21 charger The MH 21 is the latest in charger technology designed to maximize lithium ion The MH 21 has two rows of lights The row on the right has CAL ON 2h 4h and 6h The row the left has 50 adjacent to 2h 80 adjacent to 4h and 100 adjacent to 6h The row on the right only applies when you are Calibrating a EN EL4 The row of lights on the left is what you ll be referring to the majority of the time When you slip a totally exhausted battery into the charger the 2hr light starts blinking From a dead start totally discharged battery the EN EL4 takes approximately 120minutes to charge If there is any charge left in the battery since you can charge the battery at any state of discharge you might have any of the three green lights appear on the charger when you insert the EN EL4 The left row of lights indicate how much of a charge is present in EN EL4 As the battery charges the green lights progress until finally they hit 100 Once the charger indicates 100 I personally leave the EN EL4 in the charger for at least another 15 minutes Nikon has never made a charger that was 100 charged when the green light came on I don t think the MH 21 is any different The D2H has a battery icon on the top LCD screen the icon contains five bars When the first bar disappears you have 70 charge left When the
61. had the monitor on all the time and it slowly ate up the battery This would hold true if you re viewing images as well as menu items d Shooting Display d1 Shooting speed determines the number of frames per second when shooting in the CL mode not CH It also effects the fps for the Intvl Timer when in single frame and M up modes By Multi Selecting from the CSM Menu to Shooting Display and right Multi Select to Shooting speed and once more you come to the menu with the options of 1 7fps d2 Maximum shots is a way of setting the maximum number of captures one burst Head the CSM Menu and then Multi Select to Shooting Display right Multi Selecting again to d2 maximum shots and right Multi Selecting one final time to bring up the options You can Multi Select up and down to pick a number from 1 40 and once the number appears right Multi Select to select A burst is defined here as depressing the shutter release and letting the D2H rip until it stops The maximum number you can select is 40 that s all the buffer will hold But this maximum number is when you re shooting Jpegs If you re shooting TIFF the number drops to 35 uncompressed RAW the number drops to 26 Compressed RAW and uncompressed RAW Jpeg is 25 and compressed RAW Jpeg is 24 Note the buffer size by simply extrapolating number of captures per burst the buffer is approximately 90MB Can you juice more out of a burst than these numbers The answer is no but you can av
62. he battery into the MH 21 if you watch the Calibration Light on the MH 21 bottom light on the right and it blinks for about ten seconds right when the battery is inserted it s time for Calibration you don t have to Calibrate technically at this time though it is advised Calibration is about an six hour process max To Calibrate depress the Calibrate button on the MH 21 for about one second Now you can interrupt the Calibration by simply depressing the Calibration button which will start the normal charging process Calibration is not the exact same thing as refresh with the EN4 it helps with maintaining accurate readout information in the Battery info options When not in use and inserted in the D2H it is important the EN EL4 has its clear white cap on the contact end in place There are many reasons for this the main one being that if the battery were in your pocket with no cap and you should accidentally short out the battery contacts with your keys you could have a real rude awakening You shouldn t on accident or on purpose charge a fully charged battery Cold temperature performance of the EN EL4 is pretty impressive With the D2H mounted a 600f4AFS in 17degree te mps using the Battery info the charge dropped only 3 in two hours of exposure to cold That works for me With your EN EL4 battery charged and inserted into your D2H you re ready to go What kind of performance should you expect Using a Lexar 4GB 40x WA card and
63. head to CSM Menu and then Multi Select down to Controls right Multi Selecting and highlighting f7 No CF Card and then right Multi Selecting one more time When On is selected the shutter release is disabled when there is no CF card in the D2H With Off selected the D2H will operate when there is no CF card is inserted Moose s Setting for the CSM Menu C Bank select A R Menu reset A Autofocus al AF C mode priority release button a2 AF S mode priority release button a3 Group dynamic AF Pattern 2 a4 AF activation Shutter AF ON a5 Focus Are Manual focus mode gt ON gt 1s Continuous mode gt ON gt 1s a6 Focus area ON a7 Vertical AF ON Focus area only b Metering Exposure b1 ISO auto OFF ISO step value 22 stop b3 EV step stop b4 Exposure EV 22 stop b5 Exposure comp OFF b6 Center weight 8mm c Timers AE amp AF Lock cl AE Lock OFF c2 AE 1 AF L AE AF Lock c3 Auto meter off 6s c4 Self timer 10s c5 Monitor Off 20s d Shooting Display d1 Shooting speed 4 5 d2 Maximum shots 40 d3 Exp delay mode OFF d4 Long exp NR OFF d5 File No Seq d6 Cntr panel finder gt Rear control panel gt Exposures remaining gt Viewfinder display gt Exposure remaining d7 Illumination OFF e Bracketing Flash 1 Flash sync speed 1 250 FP auto e2 Flash shutter spd 1 15 e3 AA flash mode ON e4 Modeling flash ON e5 Auto set amp flash e6 Manual mode bkting Flash speed Auto BAT Order MTR gt Under gt Over e8 Auto
64. hen go off If you have any compensation dialed into the flash the exposure compensation indicator appears in the viewfinder If you have an SB 800 attached to the D2H depressing the DOF button fires off the modeling light refer to CS f4 pg This is way cool because it makes it very easy to be looking through the viewfinder to see the effect of the modeling light On the front right of the D2H is the PC sync terminal The above flash sync modes does not effect this terminal This is for plugging in your standard PC cord for syncing the D2H for example with studio strobes Memory card indicator is simply an icon to inform you have a CF card inserted into the D2H If no card is inserted then the indicator is not present At the same time a E appears in the Frame Counter If a CF card is not inserted your camera may not fire depending on how you set CS f7 When the CF card is full this icon blinks D2H Buttons back The D2H has a bunch of buttons all over the place The majority of these button do important operations so they need to be understood Some have already been covered in the text In either case I m going to go over them and what they perform in the operation of the D2H Bracketing Button Located on the top left of the D2H the BKT button is how you engage the bracketing feature in the D2H The D2H offers four different bracketing sets exposure and flash AE amp Flash exposure bracketing AE only flash bracket
65. hotographers manage with the date and time not set but they do Personally using the windows system correct date and time stamp is essential The Date and Time you set if written into both the file name as well as the EXIF The D2H is EXIF 2 2 Setting the date is pretty straight forward Select Date in the Set Up menu and right Multi Select The first thing that is highlighted is the last two digits of the year Toggle the Multi Select using the up and down arrow to make changes To select next the month they day hour minute and second right Multi Select Change the selected option with the up and down arrow If you need to go back and change something and the menu is still active Just left Multi Select The clock runs on a 24 hour format 1am to 12 Noon are the numbers 1 12 One pm until midnight is 13 24 Once you have everything selected depress the ENTER button to set your selections If you re in the process of making your selections and the menu monitor should shut off any changes you have made to the date time will not be retained The D2H IB notes that the D2H doesn t keep accurate time Since reading that kept track of the D2H clock with Atom Time and in 6 weeks it lost only three seconds The IB recommends constant checking of the clock I ve not found that necessary Language is a simple thing The setting you select is the language in which all the menus will appear on the D2H You have six options Deutsch English Sp
66. hree separate sensors to realize highly precise Auto White Balance A WB and Auto Tone Control ATC The system also features new easy to use preset WB controls o Nikon s acclaimed 1 005 pixel RGB Exposure Color Matrix Metering Sensor performs direct through the lens TTL metering of the subject o The new LBCAST imaging sensor calculates the lighting characteristics of the actual image to be shot o The new external Ambience Light Sensor meters ambient light without being affected by the color of the subject and distinguishes artificial light from natural light e Real time noise reduction High performance real time noise reduction can be accomplished in a single shot Rugged Functional Design e Lightweight and durable The magnesium alloy body is lightweight durable and compact combining size and strength in a functional package appreciated by professionals Dimensions W x H x D 157 5 x 149 5 x 85 5 mm 6 2 x 5 9 x 3 4 in Weight Approx 1 070 g 2 4 lbs plus battery 180 g 6 3 oz e Weather resistant The body is specially sealed to be highly resistant to drops of water and dust e Operational ease The large buttons and controls are ergonomically designed and sensibly located to facilitate access and maximize operational ease e Reliable shutter unit The shutter unit is built to endure over 150 000 cycles e Extra large 2 5 inch 211 200 pixel LCD monitor Located directly below the viewfinder the high resolution LCD mo
67. ht that is available When selected a P appears in the top LCD panel and inside the viewfinder right of center What the D2H selects is based on the exposure data base helping the D2H to maximize shutter speed and aperture for you If you re using Non CPU lens data and you switch to P mode the D2H automatically goes to A mode You have the ability even though the camera is selecting shutter speed aperture to change this combination It s called Flexible Program While you can change the shutter speed aperture combination you re not changing the actual exposure value Simply rotate the command dial and you ll see different shutter speeds apertures appear When in Flex Program an asterisk appears by the P to indicate you re in Flex operation You can cancel Flex Program by either rotating the command dial until the asterisk disappears or by turning the camera off M Manual mode is where you select both the shutter speed and aperture You have the aperture range of the aperture of the attached lens and shutter speeds from Bulb 30s to 1 8000 Depending on how you have set up CS f5 you rotate the command and sub command dials to change aperture and shutter speed The D2H has the Non CPU lens data feature Shooting Menu gt Non CPU lens data When in M mode and you re using a Non CPU lens and you ve taken advantage of this feature be aware that the while working in aperture priority the aperture that is selected will appear at being rounded to th
68. i Selector is depressed To erase an active character selected by mistake depress the Trash Can button To move backwards to erase a character depress the checkerboard button and while depressed left Multi Select cursor movements are illustrated at the top of the Input comment menu as reminders The very first seemingly missing character in the keyboard area is actually the space holder character If you need to place a space between words this is what you need to select The other characters that are available are pretty clear cut Most folks simply input their name You have the option of using all caps or upper lower case Once you have inputted all that is desired you must depress ENTER or you input will not be selected With your message completed and stored you still have to do one more thing to input the comment into the EXIF You need to call up the Image comment menu again and down Multi Select to Attach comment When it is highlighted right Multi Select placing a check mark to the left of Attach comment You re not finished yet You need to now up arrow select until Done is highlighted When it is highlighted right Multi Select finishing the whole process You can remove the Image comment by simply reversing this process which Just stops the input and doesn t erase what you ve entered Auto image rotation is a long awaited feature that was included in the D2H seemingly at the last minute since it s not in the instruction book yo
69. icating where you are in the sequence There are a lot of variances on bracketing so it s important you TEST before you actual have to use it If while capturing a bracketing set you run out of CF card space when you insert a new card the D2H picks up the bracketing where it left off unless you cancel it If you have CS b1 ISO auto activated and during your bracketing set the ISO must be changed to accomplish the bracketing it will be done so automatically And remember you always have CS e5 e6 e7 and e8 to customize your bracketing even further White balance bracketing in only slightly different from exposure bracketing You first must select it via CS e5 Then depress the BKT button and rotate the main command dial to choose the number of images you want in the bracketing sequence Next while depressing the BKT button rotate the sub command dial to select the white balance adjustment desired refer to the chart on pg 105 of the IB The D2H White balance fine tuning chart helps you determine what white balance adjustment or direction you want the bracketing to accomplish Note flash bracketing only works with i TTL and AA Command Lock Button L This button is located top left on the D2H amongst the three button array Depending on the exposure mode the D2H is set to the L button locks either shutter speed or aperture This is to prevent the locked value from being possibly mistakenly change and the user unaware of the change In shu
70. ike a video camera where you can talk while shooting and it records your voice The image needs to be already captured to add a voice message You can add a message up to 1 minute in length to the last image captured when shooting and selected images when in Playback mode To start go the Set Up menu and then up or down Multi Select until Voice memo is highlighted Once highlighted right Multi Select to enter the Voice memo menu You have three options in the Voice memo menu Off On auto and manual and Manual only Off is obvious it turns the Voice memo off On auto and manual is not obvious but operation is quite simple Operation of the On auto and manual option depends if recording when still shooting or just viewing your images in Playback mode Lets start with when youre still shooting When you re shooting you can add a voice memo to the very last images captured When you ve selected the On auto and manual you can record a message to the maximum length of time you ve selected To select a record time right Multi Select so On auto and manual has been highlighted This brings up another menu with times all in seconds of 5s 10s 20s 30s 45s and 60s Highlight the desired time and then right Multi Select to complete With this all accomplished once you take your finger off the shutter release you can start recording a message for the length of time selected When you have voice memo activated a microphone symbol is present in th
71. ing Flash only and white balance bracketing WB bracketing You select the bracketing you which to do via CS e5 When exposure or flash or with both bracketing one frame is taken at a time at the various setting no more White balance bracketing multiple files are produced from one capture to produce the bracketing but cannot be performed when the white balance has been set to K or shooting RAW or RAW Jpeg You start the process by selecting the bracketing set you want to do via CS e5 With AE amp Flash AE only or Flash only you then depress the button and rotate the command dial The number on the left accompanied with the letter F dictates the number of shots in the bracketing set This number ranges from 3 to 9 each number causing a different bracketing sequence to be fired Refer to the large chart on pg 100 of the IB to find the set that works best for your needs The number on the right when the is depressed is how you program the bracketing exposure compensation The range available is dictated by what you set at CS b4 Once you have programmed you bracketing set just depress the shutter release and depending on the advance mode selection your images will be captured While capturing a bracketing set a BAT appears in the top LCD panel as well as in the viewfinder next to the metering icon on the far left A analog graph appears as well with hash marks These marks disappear one by one as the bracketing set if fired off ind
72. ing Exposure group and continue Multi Selecting until you reach b2 ISO step value Because of the dynamic range of digital I personally prefer 1 2 stop b3 EV step permits you to change the incremental range between aperture and shutter speed settings You have the option of 1 3 1 2 or 1 stop You select the desired value by going from the CSM Menu to Metering Exposure group and continue Multi Selecting until you reach b3 EV step Because of the dynamic range of digital I personally prefer 1 2 stop b4 Exposure comp EV permits you to change the incremental range when using exposure compensation You have the option of 1 3 1 2 or 1 stop You select the desired value by going from the CSM Menu to Metering Exposure group and continue Multi Selecting until you reach b4 Exposure comp EV Because of the dynamic range of digital I personally prefer 1 2 stop b5 Exposure comp permits you to change how you dial in exposure compensation You normally would depress the exposure compensation button next to the shutter release and while depressed rotate the command dial You can change that operation with this CS so that depending on the exposure mode you re in you can change exposure compensation via the command or sub command dial make your choice head to the CSM Menu gt Metering Exposure gt b4 Exposure comp and continue Multi Selecting to the right to reach the menu If you select amp CMD dial then you ll depress the exposure compensation but
73. ing is a book in itself While it might seem clear cut in getting it set up to talk with your computer I personally spent four days struggling with it when I finally called Nikon Tech Support They then spent another five hours over two days helping me figure out the exact order of things to make it work This is not a reflection on the WT 1 but just the current state of computer networks and all the possible variables I can honestly tell you that once it s up and going it s too way cool to describe You can do yourself a big favor by not using the Nikon Configurator program but using Thomas Sapiano s ITP http 66 34 100 243 itp index html ITP takes care of the FTP at the computer side and the Configure WT 1 takes care of the WT 1 side With a couple of clicks you ll be up and going and not going through the trouble I went through to use this cool tool A not of trivia the setting you enter into the D2H for the WT 1 reside with the WT 1 When you attach the WT 1 on one D2H and then attach it to another the settings will remain the same The WT 1 has had one firmware update so keep checking the Nikon website for future firmware updates Firmware version is user upgradeable I highly recommend you check the Nikon website once a month to keep up with the latest updates http www nikonusa com template php goingto dtc_home You ll download the firmware from the web onto a CF card You ll then upload the update to the D2H via the CF card and
74. ith FV Lock Lens data selected when the FUNC Button is depressed and an SB 800 is attached the operation is the same as FV Lock If a SB 800 is not attached by a Non CPU lens is you can set focal length and maximum aperture with the command dial 1 step spd aperture is kind of cool when selected and you depress the FUNC button if you re in A or M the aperture is changed by one stop increments overriding CS b2 If you re in S or P the shutter speed is change in increments of on stop Same as AE L AF L is just that the FUNC button does the same operations as the AE L AF L button Flash off is cool With the SB 800 attached depressing the FUNC button prevents the SB 800 from firing even though the flash is turned on Bracketing burst permits you to repeat your bracketing bursts after the set duration and been achieved be sure to set the camera to S firing mode The last three Matrix metering Center weighted Spot metering are pretty clear cut No which metering mode you ve selected via the Metering Selector on the prism you ll have the metering pattern you ve selected here when you depress the FUNC Once you let up on the FUNC button the metering pattern returns to what is selected by the Metering Selector f5 Command dials has four options giving you the ability to program and command and sub command dials Multi Select through CSM Menu to Controls right Multi Select to 5 Command dials selection and then right Multi Select to make your
75. l 1 250 a6 No wrap e2 1 60 a7 AF ON Focus area e3 On b Off e4 b2 1 3 step b3 1 3 step b4 1 3 step b5 amp CMD dial b6 8mm cl AE L AF L button c2 AE AF Lock c3 6S c4 10s c5 20s d1 3fps A Autofocus 5 amp Flash e6 Flash speed MTR gt Under gt Over e8 Manual value select f1 Center AF area Thumbnail on off f2 Do nothing f3 Info lt gt PB f4 FV Lock f5 Normal Off Sub command dial Off f6 default f7 On al AF C mode priority Custom Setting determines when in AF C autofocus continuous if the D2H fires when either the subject is in focus or when you depress the shutter release In the Custom Setting menu Multi Select up or down until Autofocus is highlighted then Multi Select until AF S mode priority is highlighted Then right Multi Select bringing up the options of Release button or Focus Right Multi select to finalize your selection With Release button is selected the D2H fires when you depress the shutter release When Focus is selected the D2H fires when the D2H determines the subject is in focus Depending on the type of subjects you re photographing the right option can make a difference in getting a sharp image a2 AF S mode priority Custom Setting determines when in AF S autofocus single if the D2H fires when either the subject is in focus or when you depress the
76. l see in the viewfinder the same A S P and M as that s displayed on the top LCD panel In A S and P modes the aperture ring must be set to the minimum aperture if not FEE appears There are exceptions which will be noted A Aperture Priority mode permits you to select the desired aperture and the D2H selects the correct shutter speed between 30s 1 8000 When selected an A appears in the top LCD panel and inside the viewfinder right of center You select the aperture by either rotating the sub command dial or if you ve activated CS f5 Aperture ring you rotate the lens aperture ring If you have f5 set to sub command dial but the aperture ring is not set at it s minimum f stop FEE error appears In either case when you select the aperture the D2H selects the shutter speed which will be stepless If you select an aperture that requires a shutter speed slower than 30s the warning Lo appears You either have to select a faster aperture or use flash If you have activated CS b1 ISO auto the D2H increases the ISO in this instance refer to CS b1 more info When the D2H changed the ISO ISO A is displayed in the viewfinder and ISO AUTO flashes on the rear LCD panel The D2H has the Non CPU lens data feature Shooting Menu gt Non CPU lens data When in A mode and you re using a Non CPU lens and you ve taken advantage of this feature be aware that while working in aperture priority the aperture that is selected appears being rounde
77. lders already present on the CD card This doesn t work if you re already on folder 999 Note folder numbers are retained in the CF cards If you reset your folder number to a lower number then the folder number on the CF card when that card is inserted the higher folder number might be used Image quality is how you set the file type you wish to capture there is another and faster way of setting this I ll describe it in a moment The D2H is the first Nikon to permit us to write two Image qualities with one click on the shutter release An option asked for by many the RAW ability is pretty darn cool You get two files a RAW NEF and a Jpeg two files are written but the D2H counts them as Just one on its counters The RAW is raw censor data unprocessed by the camera and written directly to the CF card The RAW is not effected by any of the sharpening tone white balance of other image settings you might have programmed into the D2H You must finish the processing yourself using Nikon Capture 4 1 in post D2H RAW NFF files cannot be viewed by an earlier version of Nikon Capture The Jpeg as discussed in a moment can be one of three compressed files processed by the camera based on the settings you have programmed into the D2H You have 8 options RAW NEF Jpeg Fine RAW NEF Jpeg Normal RAW NEF Jpeg Basic RAW NEF TIFF Jpeg Fine Jpeg Normal and Jpeg Basic you can also select Large or Medium for most to be covered later To
78. le creative lighting patterns One very simple example of this can be found by depressing the DOF This single action fires the modeling light of not just the SB 800 directly attached to the D2H but fires all the modeling lights for all the SB 800s working wirelessly with the system This is flash like SLR photographers let alone digital photographers have never known before Image quality and Image size directly effects how fast your files are written to the CF card While this really shouldn t effect your decision on what settings to use for your own photography here s some trivia on image settings vs write times D2H CompactFlash Write Time Chart 1GB Lexar 2GB Lexar 40x WA 40x WA RAW Jpeg Fine Compressed 1 47sec RAW Jpeg Fine UnCompressed 2 02sec RAW Jpeg Normal Compressed 1 39sec 1 29sec 1 97sec 1 85sec RAW Jpeg Basic Compressed 1 31sec RAW Jpeg Basic UnCompressed 1 89sec RAW Compressed Losec 96sec RAW UnCompressed 1 62sec 1 55 TIFF 15 8850 Jpeg Fine 6228 499 Jpeg Normal 5418 4378eC Jpeg Basic 44 2sec Image Quality Setting Image Size RAW Jpeg Normal UnCompressed D2H White Balance Fine Tuning Chart White balance 2 1 1 8 2 3 Incandescent 2800k 2900k 3000k 3100k Fluorescent 2700k 3000k 6500k Direct Sunlight 4800k 5400k Flash 3500k Coud 700k 5100k Shade STOO D2H Flash Compatibility Chart with DX flash units Speedlight
79. ll as the high end afforded by FP e3 AA flash mode works when you have the SB 28DX or SB 80DX set to AA rather then TTL flash mode Multi Select to the CSM Menu to Bracketing Flash to e3 AA flash mode finally reaching the options You have the option of On which when selected default the flash level is automatically set based on the aperture selected when the flash is set to AA This only works with the above two flash units the SB 800 is not effected by this CS If set to Off you have to work with the normal AA function of the flash If you re shooting with a non CPU lens you need to specify maximum aperture via Shooting Menu gt Non CPU lens data e4 Modeling flash is a cool new feature I like When using the SB 800 and this CS is activated when the DOF button is depressed the modeling light from the SB 800 fires This is way cool since you can look through the lens as the modeling light fires This is a pretty easy CS to set You access this CS by heading to the CSM Menu right Multi Select on Bracketing Flash Multi Selecting right and down to e4 Modeling light and then right Multi Select one more time Select On or Off What you might not realize is that this feature effects not only the SB 800 attached to the D2H s hot shoe but all other SB 800 that might be wirelessly connected in groups You can fire all the modeling lights from all the SB 800s at once by simply depressing the DOF button and see in the viewfinder your exact lighting p
80. mage quality setting in the D2H You can select RAW Fine RAW Normal RAW Basic RAW TIFF FINE Normal and Basic You cannot select Compressed or Uncompressed RAW with the QUAL button You can only do that via Shooting Menu gt Raw compression You can also set Large or Medium via the QUAL button and the sub command dial You can only do that via Shooting Menu gt Image size Note Image quality Image size file size WB Button The WB or White Balance button is a quick an easy way to set your white balance By depressing the WB button and rotating the command dial you can cycle through the various icons which represent the D2H s white balance settings With white balance setting selected you can continue to depress the WB button and rotate the sub command dial to set the white balance fine tune The WB settings you access are Auto Incandescent Fluorescent Direct sunlight Flash Cloudy Share PRE Note there is no B amp W mode Note when shooting RAW Jpeg only the Jpeg is previewed in Playback Note viewing RAW files with Nikon software can only be accomplished with Nikon View 6 1 or Nikon Capture 4 1 Microphone Button The Microphone Button is how you create and listen to voice messages Refer to Voice Message on pg for information on how to use this button Card Slot Door Inserting and removing CF cards requires first the card slot button door be flipped open and then the button depressed This opens the CF compa
81. n the left side of the prism between the flash hot shoe and Shooting Mode dial is the Focal Plane Indicator This is for precise measurement between the subject and the film plane This is something used in scientific criminal photography when this distance is an important part of the collection of data The distance between the lens mounting flange and the focal plane is 46 5mm Camera battery You might at some point during the life of your D2H see the CLOCK icon appear in the top LCD panel This is telling you the clock battery in the D2H must be replaced You can continue to take photos if this battery goes dead but the files will not be time stamped Unlike previous cameras this battery is not recharged by the camera s main battery It is a standard CR1616 battery You must remove the EN EL4 battery to access the battery for replacement SB 800 Flash and D2H Simply put this is a dynamo combo I ve found shooting flash to be a simple joy again like the days of shooting with the F5 The technology software wise is a vast improvement making correct exposures a snap While the SB 800 is only glorified SB 80 with the same power and general attributes the software changes are radically improved providing us with killer flash exposures The SB 800 is part of Nikon s new CLS Creative Light System It starts with all that a single SB 800 when connected to the D2H can perform It continues when you add additional SB 800s in groups for incredib
82. nc down to 30s and up to 1 250 You do not have use of FP auto Rear curtain Slow rear curtain sync the flash fires when the shutter is closing as opposed to firing when the shutter first opens If you re in S or M modes the Flash sync mode Just says Rear but if you re in A or P it says Slow Rear In this mode you sync at speeds of 30s to 1 250 You will see the pre monitor flash when you first depress the shutter release You do not have available FP auto SC 29 is the TTL cord for the D2H SB 800 in this mode Red eye reduction is a mode in which three pre flashes are sent out to constrict the subject s pupils to reduce red eye This feature is available with only the SB25 26 27 28 280 80DX and 800 The sync speeds are 1 60 to 1 250 unless you ve set CS e1 to a slower shutter speed Auto FP does not work with this flash sync Red eye reduction with slow sync does the exact same as above but permits you to sync down to 30s All of these flash sync modes are for flashes that are directly attached to the D2H flash hot shoe or via SC17 SC29 cords When a flash is connected to the D2H in one of these two methods and the flash is ready to be fired a red lightning bolt appears in the viewfinder in the lower right corner This lightning bolt goes off and then on indicating the exposure was correct If there was not enough light from the flash for a proper exposure then the lightning bolt blinks for a few seconds and t
83. nitor has a resilient tempered glass surface and offers clear viewing of menus playback modes One touch Zoom and the new on demand information e Professional design viewfinder The eyelevel viewfinder provides virtually 100 frame coverage e New lithium ion battery system The new Rechargeable Lithium ion Battery EN EL4 combines light weight 180g 6 30z high energy capacity and improved discharge cycle characteristics for extended battery life Free of memory effect it can be recharged at any time e Voice memo This new feature allows the photographer to record memos to 60 seconds in length and play them back on the built in speaker e Built in interval timer Time lapse photography uses the D2H s new built in interval timer Convenient Data Transfer e USB 2 0 Hi Speed interface e IEEE 802 116 Wireless Transmitter WT 1 optional The new wireless transmitter attaches to the camera bottom and connects to the USB port for direct wireless transfer of images to any IEEE 802 11b compatible access point Maximum range is approx 150 m 500 ft with Extended Range Antenna WA E1 A choice of three security protocols add data protection while four transmission channels avoid interference and accidental firing e Integrated Nikon Software Solutions o Nikon Capture 4 optional A comprehensive image editing and remote camera control package that fully supports RAW NEF TIFF and JPEG data Among other features the package offe
84. noise correction at power up e Optical Low Pass Filter OLPF New thinner OLPF effectively suppresses moire patterns e New Multi CAM 2000 Autofocus AF Sensor Module The advanced high speed high precision 11 area AF system with 9 cross type AF sensors ensures quick response and sharp focus regardless of shooting conditions e 4 AF Area Modes o Single Area AF o Dynamic AF with Focus Tracking and Lock on o Closest Subject Priority Dynamic AF o Group Dynamic AF New Innovative Image Processing e Improved Processing Algorithm The advanced image processing engine features 3D Matrix Image Control and innovative technologies to deliver subtle color gradations reduce false colors and minimize the appearance of Jaggies on diagonal lines and around color edges e Color Reproduction System A choice of three color modes to best match different subjects assignment and conditions Mode I Optimized for portraits and natural skin tones sRGB Mode II Optimized to realize a wide color gamut Adobe RGB Mode Optimized for landscapes and flora colors sRGB e New JPEG and RAW NEF Combination Filing System The system enables simultaneous recording of RAW NEF Nikon Electronic Image File and JPEG data for the same shot to the camera s CompactFlash or Microdrive media to optimize and accelerate workflow operations e Precise easy to use Auto White Balance Auto Tone Control System The new metering technology combines t
85. nual Mostly it s a get the most out of the D2H manual by spelling out each D2H function There is only so many ways of saying turn the camera on or off but when it comes to maximizing White Balance or the new AF system you ll find the answers here Like everything in photography you ll get the most out of this book by applying what works for you and ignoring the rest You re probably wondering what my favorite new features of the 2H are well the battery and its removable interchangeable cap the Battery info screen and all of its features the eyepiece locking mechanism the new 1 TTL flash and metering Wi Fi RAW Jpeg and most of all 8 frames per second Heck I love it all I want to say thanks for the D2H testers around the globe who helped me unlock some of the D2H features I was very fortunate that I could email questions out to nearly 30 D2H owners asking them to try this or that so I could quickly see if what I was finding could be duplicated on other bodies I ve never done this before but it was great fun besides verifying operation of key features Thanks to you all D2H Specs Type of Camera Lens interchangeable digital SLR camera Effective Pixels 4 1 million Image Sensor JFET image sensor LBCAST 23 3 x 15 5mm size 4 26 million total pixels Recording Pixels L 2 464 x 1 632 pixel M 1 840 x 1 224 pixel Sensitivity ISO equivalency 200 to 1 600 variable in 1 2 1 3 or 1EV steps Sensitivity can be extende
86. oid being hampered by the limit if you understand how it works The variables is the image quality you have set and the CF card youre using The write speed of your card helps determine how fast the D2H buffer empties and has room for more images Lexar s WA technology for example helps Shooting compressed RAW Jpeg once the buffer fills there is a momentary lag before you can start to shoot again and then only a couple of captures If you shoot in short burst 18 images at a time for example you ll find you can keep shooting without much delay in the system But when you remember that the RAW Jpeg is not 24 but actually 48 files being written it s understandable why there is a momentary lag If you re just shooting Jpegs rip boy rip The Remaining frame counter in the viewfinder indicates how many images can be stored in the buffer When the buffer is empty it indicates the maximum number based on the image quality you ve selected As you shoot this maximum number when the shutter released is depressed drops based on how many images are already in the buffer Note when you depress the shutter release a bracket with a and a number appears bottom right in the viewfinder This is the remaining number of captures you have available until the buffer is full d3 Exp delay mode is to help minimize any possible camera movement in extreme conditions that might occur from shutter movement A good example would be if you re shooting on a
87. on t have to focus If you cannot make a GOOD by focusing on a gray object with this method The D2H offers you a second method you can use You can make use of the Ambient Light Sensor white dome on the prism to make your white bal reading Depress the WB button until PRE is blinking and then depress the FUNC button on the front of the camera Again if you make a good reading GOOD blinks and if not no GD blinks If you already have one PRE saved when you head to Shooting Menu gt White bal gt PRE White bal preset gt you ll see a thumbnail or camera icon The thumbnail indicates the preset was created by method one using gray object and camera icon method two using Ambient light Sensor If you need to create another preset and want to save one you ve already created you need to copy it The D2H always makes the new PRE to 4 0 so you must copy the current 4 0 preset before creating a new one You copy a preset by going to Shooting Menu gt White bal gt PRE White bal preset gt PRE which displays created presets remember you ll either see a thumbnail or camera icon Making sure 4 0 is selected indicated by a yellow box around the preview depress the Multi Select button This brings up another menu that says d 0 and has two options available Set and Edit comment with Set highlighted You need to up Multi Select to highlight d o Right Multi Select when 4 0 is highlighted and change the preset number to 4 1 through 4 4 With that changed
88. on has been greatly enlarged so now you can depress it even when wearing bulky gloves on the planet You must depress the button and then rotate a lens clockwise to remove it To attach a lens merely line up the white dots the lens barrel and the lens mount and rotate the lens counter clockwise until you hear the click Focus Mode Selector Lever Newly designed on the D2H this much improve lever is how you set the AF to either M manual focus S single servo or C Continuous servo M is obvious you must manually focus the lens Remember if you re shooting with an AF S lens you can manually focus even though you re in S or mode S the camera focuses and locks focus on that subject until you release the shutter release and then depress it again C the camera focuses and continues to focus even if you reframe and change subjects Refer to Under the Hood Autofocus to learn more on how to take advantage of the D2H s autofocus DOF Button The Depth of Field button now has two functions Depress the DOF button and the lens aperture is closed down so you can previsualize depth of field through the viewfinder The new function for the DOF button which is really cool when a SB 800 is attached depressing the DOF fires off the modeling light This is a really nice feature because it permits you to view through the viewfinder as the modeling light goes off FUNC Button The Function Button located under the DOF button is a whole new butt
89. on in a new local This button can do many things you program the operation of the FUNC button via CS f4 You perform the operation by simply depressing the FUNC button PC 10 pin Remote Terminal These two sockets on the front of the D2H serve simple functions The PC socket is where you plug in a standard PC cord for firing off studio strobes The 10 pin socket is where you attach remote firing devices such as MC 20 MC 21 MC 22 MC 23 MC 25 MC 30 ML 2 and ML 3 It is important that when either or both of these sockets are not in use they are covered with their appropriate caps AV out DC in Door On the left side of the D2H is one of the major design improvements The AV out DC in Door is where you plug in either the EG D2 AV cable or the EH 6 AC adapter You can plug in both at the same time for most operations involving the EG D2 you should use the EH 6 Unlike the same access points on the D1 Family this is a much improved door location USB 2 0 Door Right below the AV out DC in Door is the USB 2 0 Door This is where you can plug the D2H into a computer with the accompanying UC E4 cable When using this cable and connecting to a computer be sure you have correctly set Shooting Menu gt USB is set correctly for your computer operating system When the D2H is successfully connected to the computer PC appears on the rear LCD panel and takes the place of the remaining frames counter on the top LCD panel Focal Plane Indicator O
90. oo dark or too bright You access it by going to the CSM Menu highlighting and Multi Selecting Metering Exposure right Multi Selecting and then up or down until b1 ISO auto is highlighted One more right Multi Select and you have the options of On or Off available Off is obvious When On is selected if you re in A P or S exposure mode and HI 1 or HI 2 are not selected the D2H automatically varies the ISO When engaged ISO AUTO appears on the read LCD panel when d6 is set to rear panel ISO as well as appearing in the viewfinder as ISO A bottom right With all that said and done I have a couple of observations in regard to this CS This is not an option I would personally use but in the process of writing this book I had to test it m not impressed at all It seems to become readily active when you ve set a high ISO value and because of prevailing light values it can lower the ISO and so by improve the image reduction in noise I had to try really work hard to get it function at ISO 200 and increase when in low light levels It doesn t seem to want to increase ISO but readily will lower it When ISO auto actually functions ISO A blinks in the viewfinder and if you look at the photoinfo in playback the ISO will be in red when ISO auto actually worked b2 ISO step value permits you to change the incremental range between ISO settings You have the option of 1 3 1 2 or 1 stop You select the desired value by going from the CSM Menu to Meter
91. or 20 seconds Vertical Shutter Release When the D2H is turned vertically so the thumb of your right hand is resting on the CF door your index finger will be on the vertical shutter release The release works all the same functions in the same way as the normal shutter release The only difference is the vertical shutter release as a locking ring that when rotated L is adjacent to the white line the vertical shutter release is locked Match the white dot and white line to unlock the shutter release Mode Button The mode button serves two functions to change exposure modes and as the second format button Depress the Mode button while rotating the command dial and you can switch between A S P and M exposure modes refer to JM Depress the MODE button the same time as the Trash Can button and you can format the CF card Depress the two buttons simultaneously and FOR appears where the shutter speed would normally be displayed on the top LCD Let go of the two buttons and then depress them again simultaneously and FOR appear in the Frame Counter and the CF card is formatted Exp Comp Button The button when depressed lets you dial in exposure compensation by rotating the command dial The increments is set via CS b4 You can by pass depressing the Exp Comp Button via CS b5 Lens Release Button This is a history making button This is the first time since 1959 the beginning of Nikon SLR line that the Lens Release Button has been changed The butt
92. ou can have one bank of specific settings for sports another for portraits and perhaps another for some other specialized setting needs Changes you make to one bank of settings doesn t effect the settings in another bank they are each unique onto themselves You select a bank by heading to Shooting Menu and then right and down Multi Select until Shooting menu bank is highlighted You then right Multi Select and then down Multi Select to choice the bank you which to either program or use The default bank is A this the bank that most photographers have programmed and have saved all their settings to The other three banks B C and D are also available to be programmed with different settings You can change Just one setting or all of them and save them to a different bank Just be sure that you have selected a different bank right down right Multi Select when start your programming so you don t overwrite previous settings for an established bank of settings What s cool with the D2H is you can rename a bank actually it s a subtitle This is done by highlighting Shooting menu bank right Multi Select down Multi Select to highlight ABC Rename right Multi Select highlight the bank to be renamed and then right Multi Select again This brings up the comment keyboard You rename a bank the same way you enter a Image comment ref to Set Up menu JM You can enter any name you want up to 20 characters long Don t freak when y
93. ou look at the Shooting Menu gt Shooting menu bank you will only see A B C D You will only see your rename when you right Multi Select with one of the four banks highlighted you will also only see A B C D on the rear panel This gives you the ability to give a bank a name that you can use as a reminder what settings you have in that bank For example I renamed A bank Wildlife as a reminder what settings I ve programmed into that bank what you see listed at the end of this section Reset shooting menu permits you to reset Shooting Menu settings for the selected shooting bank Select Shooting Menu and then Multi Select up or down to highlight Reset shooting menu and the right Multi Select to the No Yes menu Prior to using this option you need to go to Shooting menu bank and select the bank you want to reset These are the defaults you ll be resetting the Shooting Menu to Image quality Jpeg Normal Tone compensation Auto Image size Large Color mode I sRGB Raw compression Comp NEF Raw Hue 0 White bal Auto Intvl Timer Now 00 01 00 1 1 Off ISO 200 Non CPU lens data N A N A Image sharpening Auto Note if you use the Two Button Reset option just these Shooting Menu options are returned to their default settings for current bank Image quality Jpeg Normal Image size Large White bal Auto ISO 200 Active folder gives you the option of selecting the folder where
94. ou to depress the microphone button to start the voice memo operation and then depress the microphone button again to stop it Audio output is how you select the way in which you ll hear your voice memo You get there by going to Set Up menu and then up or down Multi Select highlighting the Audio output option You right Multi Select to enter the menu where you can select Via speaker the one built into the D2H Via Video Out when you have the D2H hooked up to a TV VCR and you re showing images or Off I think the three options are pretty self explanatory The one exception is when you select Via speaker you right Multi Select taking you into a menu to select speaker volume 2 to 2 USB is an important setting so your D2H can communicate with your computer The selection you make is based on the operating system of your computer To set it access the Set Up menu up or down Multi Select to the USB so it is highlighted and then right arrow select it to enter the menu You have the options of Mass Storage or PTP If you re using Nikon Transfer and using either Windows XP or running Mac OS X you can have it set to Mass Storage or PTP If you re using Nikon Transfer with Windows 2000 98 of Mac OS 9 you need to have it set to Mass Storage If you re using any of these operating systems and you re connecting the D2H using Nikon capture 4 1 select PTP Dust Off ref photo is a method of removing dust specs from NEF files only using
95. out the LBCAST sensor Under the Hood Color Color is an incredibly important part of digital As far as Im concerned the D2H does color the best of any digital camera I ve ever shot in the last decade This is because Nikon has rethought and re engineered color in the D2H The LBCAST sensor is a big part of this improvement but it s really only part of the story It actually starts outside the D2H That little white dome thingie on the prism is key to this improved color The Ambient Light Sensor magically as far as I m concerned reads the color of the light source I ve tried to full it by wearing a red baseball cap but it wasn t fooled The information from the ALS is compared and combined with that from the 1005 pixel RGB exposure and color metering sensor This information along with that from the LBCAST sensor goes through a new image processing engine The new image processing engine on the system LSI has a new set of improved algorithms When this takes in the information from the reflected light sensor RGB sensor the LBCAST sensor reading image area and the ALS reading the ambient light wow This is what makes the new Auto White Balance AWB and Auto Tone Control ATC work where they didn t in previous Nikon DSLRs The D2H is the first DSLR where I can shoot in Auto WB and rely on it delivering This is also true for Tone which couldn t be set to Auto in previous bodies But with all of this technology I ve fo
96. p menu gt Voice memo button You have the option of Press and hold or Press to start stop both of which are pretty self explanatory Note you cannot attach a voice memo to a Dust Off Ref Photo Voice memo protect option protects a recorded voice memo from being overwritten when you re shooting since voice memos cannot be overwritten in Playback mode Sorry but this seems to be a bit of a goofy option to me If you take a photo and record a message and before you actually look at the image on the monitor because you cannot overwrite a message in Playback and you happen to depress and hold in the microphone button again this option will protect that recorded message This option does not protect a voice memo from being deleted via the Trash Can delete button To access this vital function go to Set Up menu and Multi Select up down to Voice memo protect and highlight it Once highlighted right Multi Select either On or Off With On selected you cannot overwrite a voice memo with it Off you can Voice memo button can be changed to function in one of two ways You access it by selecting Set Up menu and then up or down Multi Select to Voice memo button then right arrow to access the menu You have two options Press and hold and Press to start stop This is pretty clear cut With Press and hold selected you have to depress and hold down the microphone button to effect the options mentioned under Voice memo The Press to start stop option permits y
97. pecific selection requires two things knowledge of the system and knowledge of what you want Often problems with digital cameras come from not knowing what you want or how to get it It is vitally important that you first remember digital photography is still photography and then remember that you can change your selections if things don t work they way you want them to One of the great advantages of digital is the ability to easily experiment Format is a vitally important part of digital photography The first time you use a CF card and after each time you upload your images into your computer you must format the CF card You can either do this in the computer or in the camera Formatting the CF card in the computer is now easier in that the D2H can work with FAT32 which is the default for Windows XP However you do it you must format after every time you upload images Using the Format menu in the Set Up menu is probably the slowest method of formatting Using this method you select Format and then right Multi Select A screen appears that says WARNING ALL IMAGES WILL BE DELETED and then two options No and Yes If you select No your card will not be formatted Depress the ENTER button to exit out of the options If you want to format your card Multi Select down selecting Yes then depress the ENTER button to complete the action The fastest way to format your CF card in the camera is the two button method To accomplish this depress the M
98. pter correction The Meter Selector permits you to select between Matrix Center weighted and Spot Metering refer to Under the Hood Metering The Diopter correction permits you to dial in corrective Diopter correction if you vision so requires Pull out the Diopter knob and rotate it to achieve 3 to 1 correction Be sure to push the knob back in once you ve dialed in the correct correction No glass wears should check the Diopter correction every so often This knob can easily get pulled out when getting the D2H in and out of the camera bag and reset itself without your knowledge A zero setting had the and parallel with the top of the body You might have noticed that the prism on the D2H is slightly different compared to cameras of the past It extends out over the lens more than normal This is to house the Ambient Light Sensor which is such and important part of the D2H color management To the right of the viewfinder is the top LCD panel On the D2H much of the information that is communicated on the top LCD is now also communicated in the viewfinder When the camera is in stand by mode certain information is still displayed The viewfinder will be vacant of any info but the top LCD panel displays Exposure mode Comment Set Up menu gt Image comment Battery status Frame count number of shots captured Number of exposures remaining Flash sync mode Focus area refer to pg and Memory card indicator When active the
99. r shooting finger The number of captures you can make is based on the image quality setting verses the buffer size a fixed size Maximum shoots for CL amp CH Image Quality No Noise Noise Reduction Reduction ON CS d4 You can lower the maximum numbers via CS d2 These numbers appear on the top LCD panel and inside the viewfinder when you first depress the shutter release according to the image quality setting you ve selected For example if you ve selected Compressed RAW Jpeg when you depress the shutter release the Remaining Exposure counter s number changes to r24 As you fire the camera this counter counts down so you know how many images you have left before the buffer is full Once the buffer is full the D2H stops firing You can continue firing once the buffer starts to empty out CH Continuous High is the setting that sets the D2H free This is the setting that rips at 8fps The buffer capacity does not change so the above chart is still in effect To rip off at 8fps you need a shutter speed above 1 125 and you must depress and hold down the shutter release When you re in CL CH mode you can fire off just one frame by only depressing the shutter release and letting up on it after the first frame has fired But that s no fun let the sucker rip Self timer is the mode most parents know well This is where you can set the camera up to take images on its own When you depress the shutter release a red light under th
100. r 2 I recommend you check it out Remember you have the option of viewing Histograms without setting them here You can head to f1 Center button gt Playback mode gt Histogram gt On and see Histograms by simply depressing the center Multi Select Image review is a simple feature It makes it possible for you to see an image automatically right after it s captured without depressing any buttons Head to the Playback Menu and highlight Image review Select On if you want the images to appear right after taking them or Off if not This works great when shooting in S Single mode like doing landscapes or portraits But if you re shooting CL or CH and you take a burst the D2H previews every image You can shut it off by simply going back to shooting but this does slow down the system a tad as well as start to eat up battery power After delete 15 kind of different it determines what image you see after youve deleted an image during chimping You have three options Show next Show previous and Continue as before You reach these options by going from the Playback Menu to After delete using the Multi Select Show next which is the default when selected shows the next image in order after the one that was deleted Show previous displays the image just prior to the one deleted Continue as before is for when you ve scrolled back or forth through your images and you delete one Depending on the direction you were scrolling the next image displaye
101. re are many features that might be represented on the top LCD panel as well as in the viewfinder Viewfinder Information The D2H has more information then any previous Nikon which is way cool The information you see in the viewfinder along the right side in order from top to bottom is Voice Memo Status microphone icon White Balance Bracketing WB BKT White Balance Mode WB icons according to selection Image size L or M Image quality various letters refer Image Quality Chart 8 ISO Along the bottom of the viewfinder reading right to left you ll find Flash ready indicator lightning bolt Frame counter number and K if the number is greater than 3 digits Exposure compensation icon Exposure mode letter and possibly analog scale Aperture Aperture Lock icon L Aperture stop indicator triangle F Shutter Speed Sync indicator x Shutter speed lock icon L Autoexposure lock AE L FV lock indicator lightning bolt L Battery state battery icon Bracket indicator BKT Metering icon Electronic ranger finder The icons appear or not all depending on what functions and options you have selected in programming your Exposure mode The D2H has four exposure modes A Aperture Priority S Shutter Priority P Program Mode w flex Program and M Manual Selecting a exposure mode is a simple as depressing the MODE button by the shutter release and then rotating the command dial until the desired mode appears You wil
102. rs Image Dust Off sensor dust and particle shade removal control Digital DEE scene specific automatic dodge and burn control and transformation of shots from the AF DX Fisheye Nikkor 10 5mm f 2 8G ED lens to ultra wideangle images o Nikon View 6 Versatile bundled software that simplifies and improves data transfer as well as browsing and editing of image files NEF images taken with the D2H are supported by Nikon Capture 4 only Creativity and Versatility e Creative Lighting System The new i TTL system supports Advanced Wireless Lighting and versatile functions for up to four groups of Speedlights 3 remote i TTL Speedlight groups controlled through the master SB 800 The new Nikon Speedlight SB 800 with i TTL flash control features Flash Value Lock FV Lock AUTO FP High Speed Sync and Flash Color Information Communication Also new is the Wide Area AF Assist Illuminator that is tailored to the D2H s new 11 AF system The D2H is also compatible with the D TTL flash control of Nikon SB 80DX 50DX 28DX Speedlights and with wired multiple flash control e Lens compatibility The D2H is compatible with AF Nikkor lenses as well as the new DX Nikkor lenses Designed specifically for Nikon DX Format digital SLRs the DX line extends coverage to the ultra wideangle range while providing high performance optics in a lightweight compact design Two new lenses now join the DX Nikkor range the AF S DX Zoom Nikkor 17 55mm f 2 8G IF E
103. rtment Depress the gray button completely to remove the CF card Great care should be taken when removing and inserting a CF card as to not damage the wire leads inside the compartment You should never remove the CF card while the D2H is writing to the card You ll know the D2H is writing to the card by the presence of the green light right above the door I personally make sure the camera is always turned off when I remove or insert a CF card The card door is a pain to get open If you depress the button that opens the door for quite a while it opens You use two hands one to depress the button and the other to open the door it s a little faster The only thing I ve found to make it better is simply play with it while I m reading I push the button and open the door essentially breaking in the button latch AF area Mode Selector Actually a lever and not a button the AF area Mode selector is how you select Single area AF Dynamic as AF Group dynamic AF or Dynamic area with closest subject priority Refer to Under the Hood Autofocus Multi Select Is a button you should be all too familiar with by this time Surrounding the Multi Select button is a lever that when rotated locks the Multi Select from moving When locked you cannot access the Multi Select for any operation Vertical Command and Sub command dials When the you re shooting vertically and grasping the D2H in a vertical fashion you ll find a vertical command
104. s The vertical AF ON button is the one on the lower right back corner on the D2H when shooting vertically this button will be top back right You have five options AF ON Focus area AF ON AE AF L Focus area AE AF L Focus area only Head to the CSM Menu highlight Vertical AF ON and right Multi Select to bring up the menu Multi Select up or down to highlight the desired option and then right Multi Select to confirm selection The five different options assign different functions to the vertical AF ON button The default AF ON Focus area the vertical AF ON button when depressed activates the AF system and when you rotate the vertical sub command dial you can change AF sensors groups When AF ON is selected depressing the vertical AF ON button activates the AF system With AE AF L Focus area selected when you depress the vertical AF ON button you lock auto exposure autofocus and can change focus area by rotating the vertical sub command dial You cannot activate the AF system when this option is selected you have to depress the shutter release AE AF L when selected permits you to lock auto exposure and autofocus when the vertical AF ON button is depressed Finally when Focus area only is selected when you depress the vertical AF ON button you can change AF sensors by rotating the vertical sub command dial b Metering Exposure b1 ISO auto is a simple CS that when engaged lets the D2H change the ISO automatically if the scene is t
105. shutter release In the Custom Setting menu Multi Select up or down until Autofocus is highlighted then Multi Select until AF S mode priority is highlighted Then right Multi Select bringing up the options of Focus or Release button Right Multi select to finalize your selection When Focus is selected the D2H fires when the D2H determines the subject is in focus With Release button is selected the D2H fires when you depress the shutter release Remember when shooting in AF S mode the focus is locked by the mere depressing of the shutter release and will not refocus again until you undepress and then depress the shutter release again a3 Group dynamic AF is a new Custom Setting that determines which AF group pattern you use when in dynamic AF Once in the Custom Setting menu highlight Autofocus right Multi Select and then highlight and select Group dynamic AF Right Multi Select and you see your two options Pattern 1 and Pattern 2 The differences in the two patterns is Pattern 1 basically has one more active AF sensor per group except for the center group This creates a larger overall sensor group No matter which pattern you ve selected selecting the center group no matter which group is active is as easy as depressing the Multi Select Once the center group is selected if you have Custom Setting f1 set to Multi selector Center button gt Shooting mode gt Center AF area then by depressing the Multi Select again the center group will
106. slide show all the images on the CF card unless Hidden Head to the Playback Menu and then Multi Select and highlight Slide show to start the process You can simply right Multi Select highlight Start right Multi Select again and start the show without doing anything else You can fine tune the show to your own likes Highlight Frame intvl and right Multi Select you can select between 2 3 5 and 10s intervals This really determines how long your image will be visible before it s changed You can highlight Audio playback and any messages you might made on a image will be played to select the speaker Set Up gt Audio output While the slide show is being played you can also perform a couple of other functions By up down the Multi Selector you can skip or see previous image By right left Multi Selecting you can select or change photo info to be displayed You pause the slide show by depressing ENTER and the Menu button ending the slide show and taking yourself back to the Playback Menu Depress the monitor button to end the show on the image being seen And depress the shutter release to turn off the slide show menu and continue on shooting Hide image is a simple process permitting you to hide an image from either being deleted by accident in the camera or being viewed in a slide show Head to the Playback Menu and highlight Hide image and then right Multi Select again You have two options you can select images one by one via Selec
107. st Subject the spot is based on the center sensor D2H Layout All that s left to make this baby sing understanding the functions of the varies buttons laid out on the D2H As already mentioned the ergonomics of the D2H as by far the best on any Nikon DSLR perhaps any Nikon ever The layout of the buttons as well as the size of the buttons is better and larger than on the D1 Family The viewfinder on the D2H is a virtual 100 viewfinder This is a huge improvement The most obvious is compositional you can compose in the viewfinder knowing that what you see is what you ll get The D2H comes with the B type BrightView Clear Matte Screen III You can purchase either a E type BrightView Clear Matte Screen which is known as the grid screen The other big benefit is the tunnel feel of the old viewfinders is no longer present which does present some like myself eye relief The viewfinder eyepiece is higheye point which is nothing new but the eyepiece itself is big time news The eyepiece is lockable When the eyepiece shutter is open the eyepiece is locked in place and cannot unscrew To unscrew the eyepiece to attach an eyecup DK 2 close the viewfinder eyepiece shutter Note when a eyecup is attached to the D2H its depth is too great so the locking mechanism cannot engage So you can still have an eyecup accidentally become unscrewed and fall off with this new locking system On the side of the viewfinder is the Meter Selector and Dio
108. stments you can make if you re a digital photographer LCD brightness effects the brightness of the Monitor The default is Personally found to get a feel for the overall look of the final photograph setting this to 1 helps me This might help you to see the Monitor to check composition but this does not help you with exposure or color decisions Like most digital cameras you cannot base your exposure or color decisions by viewing the Monitor on the D2H Note changing this setting from the factory default will not improve your ability to determine correct exposure by just viewing the image on the monitor Mirror lock up is a way of raising the mirror so you can clean the CCD the LBCAST sensor Technically you re cleaning the low pass filter in front of the LBCAST sensor This options is only active when you have the EH 6 AC adapter attached Note The Digital Camera Battery with the D1 Family cable does not fit nor power the D2H so cannot be used with this feature Video output permits you to select the matching output for TV or VCR when you re hooking the D2H up for viewing You can view your images directly from the D2H through these mediums You have two options NTSC default or PAL Highlight the option desired using by Multi Selecting and then select it by depressing the right arrow on the Multi Select Date is still one of the most important yet incorrectly set feature on digital cameras I m not sure how some p
109. t Set or Deselect all When you Select Set you one by one view images depress checkerboard to zoom and depress the center of the Multi Select to hide and image When an image is hidden a small box with a line through it icon appears on the image When you re done hiding images depress ENTER to save You can use the Deselect all to globally unselect all hidden images if you hide some to do a slide show for example and once the show is done you want to remove the hide tag You can protect images when you re simply viewing them on the monitor depressing the Monitor button When viewing images depress the Key button which prevents an image from being deleted but does not hide it If you have tagged an image with hide or protect when that images is viewed on a Windows platform he file will be given a read only status Print Set gives you the ability to create a print order for images on the current CF card that you can get made by taking your CF card to a DPOF compatible printer device To start the process go to the Playback Menu and highlight Print set and then right Multi Select The first menu has two options Select Set and Deselect all the same as with Hide image When you Select Set you one by one view images depress checkerboard to zoom and depress the center of the Multi Select to select and image When an image has been selected a printer icon appears in the image This method
110. t aspect ratio difference with the D2H at 2464x1632 pixels where we were at 2000x1312 JFET stands for Junction Field Effect Transistor and LBCAST stands for Lateral Buried Charge Accumulator and Sensing Transistor array Is there plain English for these two terms The LBCAST sensor is not a traditional CCD nor CMOS chip Like the CMOS chip the LBCAST is made using conventional semiconductor technologies While this is all basic conjecture since it s all proprietary based on known technologies the LBCAST uses a new kind of signal amplifier that is associated with each individual pixel the amplifiers are the start of the speed up process getting us 8fps Unlike the CMOS that normally uses MOSFETS s the LBCAST sensor uses JFET s in the cell amplifiers The LBCAST uses a X Y Address type sensor that has noise canceling functions among other benefits Since the LBCAST uses the X Y Address method the signal is read through two signal lines These are differentiated by color providing even faster image read more speeding up of the process The typical CMOS sensor also uses two output lines to read data but their output imagery reveals an image mismatch at the division line In the LBCAST the division is made by color green vs blue and red instead of area eliminating the traditional mismatch Reading both output lines simultaneously boosts operating speed even more while improving image quality You might be saying to yourself This is plain
111. t the D2H had to meet Being rugged was just part of it Being able to deal with environmental conditions such as rain was another The D2H sports a new and improved sealing system that is an integral part of the magnesium body Improved button size and placement was another big factor in the D2H design Meeting these requirements demanded the improved sealing system to deal with the larger buttons It also meant that the layout of those buttons had to be functional for the user Nikon brought in fame industrial designer Giorgetto Giugiaro to exclusively design this aspect of the next generation of Nikon DSLR cameras Note The D2H still uses the BF 1a body cap It is essential that when no lens is attached to the D2H that this body cap be attached The main reason is the prevention of any foreign material possibly reaching the sensor Under the Hood the LBCAST sensor All of this outward change was based on what had to be incorporated inside The biggest advancement is the new Nikon DX Format JFET image sensor LBCAST it was so much easier when you could just say CCD which this is not In the development for over a decade folks that long before the D1 was announced the LBCAST is a new generation sensor DX Formant means in plain English that the D2H still has a 1 5x focal factor You place a 50mm lens on the D2H and you have the effective focal length of 75mm The format of the sensor is slightly different from the D1 Family You now have a sligh
112. t the same as Shooting Menu banks In bank A and D you can have a different set of Custom Settings in each that you can recall via Bank select You must change the bank prior to making new selections to prevent from overwriting those settings you want to save You also have the ability to name a bank for easy reference Multi Select to highlight Bank select and then right Multi Select to call up the bank menu Up or down Multi Select to highlight chosen bank and right Multi Select again to set Refer to Image comment for instructions on renaming a bank As with the Shooting banks I named A bank here Wildlife When Custom Settings are in use the word CUSTOM along with the letter for the bank in use appears on the rear LCD panel above image quality R Menu reset permits you to reset a Custom Settings bank back to the factory defaults Before starting this procedure be sure you have selected the bank you and to reset You simply Multi Select to highlight Menu reset right Multi Select to bring up the options of Yes or No Highlight the appropriate option and right Multi Select The two button reset does not effect Custom Settings this is the only way to reset a bank The D2H Custom Setting defaults are al Release button d2 40 frames a2 Focus d3 Off a3 Pattern 1 d4 Off a4 Shutter AF ON d5 Off a5 Manual focus mode On d6 ISO Frame count Continuous mode On d7 Lamp on switch When selected 0 15 e
113. t to highlight Raw compression and then right Multi Select You have the simple options of ON Comp NEF RAW or OFF NEF RAW Refer to Image quality for a discussion on compression White bal is a critical element in digital photography that you must understand to get the most out of the D2H and your photography You ll find lots general information about white balance in the 2 chapter What is here is specific for the D2H The D2H offers 9 white balance settings You access these by heading to Shooting Menu up or down Multi Select until you highlight White bal Once you reach the white balance menu you have the options of Auto Incandescent Fluorescent Direct Sunlight Flash Cloudy Shade Choose color temp and PRE White bal Auto Incandescent Fluorescent Direct Sunlight Flash Cloudy and Shade can be modified 3 by right Multi Select after a white balance has been highlighted see chart in appendix Which white balance setting should you use These white balance titles are misleading this might shed some light on it The different white balance terms are not reflective of when you should use a particular white balance but rather just poor titles representing a Kelvin temperature Incandescent 3000k Fluorescent 4200k Direct Sunlight 5200k Flash 5400k Cloudy 6000k and Shade 8000k Auto has a flexible Kelvin range of 3500 8000k The goal in the perfect world would be to match the correct Kelvin temp white balance setting
114. t you programmed into the D2H f Controls f Center button is a new feature to a Nikon DSLR and I m so glad they went so far as to let us program it to fit our needs This CS permits us to change how depressing the center of the Multi Select button effects Shooting Mode and Playback mode You head to CSM Menu and then Multi Select down to Controls right Multi Selecting and highlighting f1 Center button and then right Multi Selecting one more time A dialog appears with the two options Shooting mode and Playback mode Highlight Shooting mode and right Multi Select that brings up another dialog box with the options of Center AF area Illuminate AF area and Not used When Center AF area is selected when you depress the center Multi Select if you have a group pattern set and the AF sensors are active horizontally then pattern changes to vertical or visa a versa This is really cool for when you switch from horizontal to vertical shooting and back again If Illuminate AF area is selected when you depress the center Multi Select then the AF sensors illuminate but focusing is not performed If Not used is selected nothing happens when you depress the center Note if you select Illuminate AF area then CS a3 Pattern 2 is no longer useable Highlight Playback mode and right Multi Select that brings up another dialog box with the options of Thumbnail on off Histogram on off and Zoom on off When Thumbnail on off is selected when in Playback mode wh
115. the Key icon just depress the key button again You can remove protection from all the images on the CF card if you depress the Trash Can and Key buttons at the same time You can Protect images faster when youre viewing thumbnails either in 2x2 3x3 Protecting an image in this way will not protect it from being erased if you format the CF card Protected images when loaded in a Windows will be read only If you depress the Key Button when you turn on the D2H you will create a new folder ENTER Button The ENTER button serves two functions finishing menu selections and Zoom during playback The enter stuff is pretty self explanatory The Zoom function is pretty cool When in playback depressing the ENTER button zooms the image 2x depress the checkerboard button and rotate the command dial and you can zoom in more Once zoomed in you can depress the Multi Select to move around in the zoomed image to view different sections of the image Note you can do one button zoom with the Multi Select CS f1 ISO Button The ISO button provides quick and easy access to ISO settings By depressing the ISO button and rotating the command dial you can select ISO 200 to 1600 HI 1 amp HI 2 in steps based on CS b2 This can also be effected if you have ISO Auto CS b1 If On you cannot select 1 HI 2 QUAL Button This is the quick and easy way to change image quality You can depress the QUAL button and rotate the command dial and change the i
116. the instructions that will be furnished at the time of the firmware update Moose s Setting for the Set Up Menu Format LCD Brightness 7 Mirror Lock up OFF Video mode NTSC Date Language En Image comment ON Auto image rotation ON Voice memo OFF Voice memo protect OFF Audio output A V out USB Dust Off ref photo Battery info Wireless LAN Firmware Version Shooting Menu The next obvious thing to program in the D2H is the Shooting Menu The Shooting Menu has some new cool features and some delightful new twists on old features In either case setting them correctly for your style of photography can greatly increase your success with the D2H You have fourteen options under the Shooting Menu Shooting menu bank Reset shooting menu Active folder Image quality Image size Raw compression White bal ISO Image sharpening Tone compensation Color mode Hue adjustment Intvl timer shooting Non CPU lens data You access one of these by first depressing the right arrow on the Multi Selector and then top or bottom arrow up and down through the selections and then right arrow to select the particular item The Up Down Left amp Right Multi Select is how you get in and out of the menus Shooting menu bank provides you the ability to have a maximum of four banks of unique D2H Shooting Menu settings to be recalled and used as fast as you can access the menu does not effect Custom Setting banks The idea behind this is y
117. ther light situation Auto might not work as well is in mixed lighting such as an indoor arena though had marvelous results with Auto here as well This is when PRE White bal preset can be a marvel The PRE in the D2H has been refined and expanded in a big way The D2H has four PRE options for obtaining white balance and can save five PREs that you create Creating your own PRE is really quite simple in the D2H While you can start this process using the menu you access under the Shooting Menu I don t recommend it That best and fastest way is to make use of the WB button on the back of the D2H You have four ways of selecting a PRE here s the first Depress the WB button and rotate the sub command dial until PRE appears When PRE appears 4 0 appears as well you ll see the same thing looking through the viewfinder 4 0 is the first of the five presets that you can save your PREs to But 4 0 is where all new presets are stored so if you ve already created one if you don t copy it it will be overwritten Getting to PRE in this way you must undepress and then depress the WB button until PRE starts to flash Then simply point the camera at a gray card object and depress the shutter release If you made a useable PRE the word GOOD flashes in the rear and top LCD panel If the D2H was unable to make a good reading no Gd appears and flashes for about three seconds Unlike previous Nikons with the D2H you can use any exposure mode and you d
118. to the Kelvin temp of the light hitting the subject Getting this right was essential in the D1 Family since the Auto setting was not so hot This is not at all the case with the D2H Note the easiest way to change White bal is to depress the WB button on the back of the D2H and rotate sub command dial until the desired White bal icon appears in the rear LCD panel As you ll find out later the D2H has a totally new and vastly improved methodology and software to deal with color Called advanced White Balance AWB in combination with Auto Tone Control ATC the D2H like no other DSLR does a great job with Auto white balance I use Auto all the time now and I ve been quite happy with the results talking with other pros they too have found Auto to be killer Auto though has an upper limit of 8000k what if you need a higher Kelvin to match the capture to the light Not a problem in the D2H there is now for the first time a K setting K Choose color temp gives you the option of selecting a Kelvin temperature from 2500 to 10000 To select a temp highlight White bal and then right Multi Select up or down Multi Select until K Choose color temp is highlighted and then right Multi Select Once the temps appear up or down Multi Select until the temp desired is highlighted Right Multi Select to make your choice Note you can depress the WB button rotate the command dial to select K and then rotate the sub command to set the desired Kelvin temp The o
119. ton and rotate the command dial to dial in exposure comp If you select CMD Dial only then you simply rotate the command dial S mode or sub command dial A P mode to dial in compensation You do not have to depress the exposure compensation button with this option I know a number of photographers who have opted for CMD Dial option and end up shooting themselves in the foot Even though the icon appears in the viewfinder accidentally exposure compensation was dialed in and not until it s too late was it discovered ruining their exposures Just a warning that if you take advantage of this CS be aware of the exposure compensation icon in the viewfinder b6 Center weight option in the CSM menu permits you to vary the size of the circle when using Center weighted metering You access this option to make a selection by Multi Selecting from the CSM Menu to Metering Exposure to b6 Center weight Right Multi Select to the right one more time to call up the menu with options You have available 6mm 8mm 10mm 13mm and Average The D2H B and E screen provide only one reference circle for using Center weighted metering The circle you see is for the default of 8mm You have to approximate the other sizes based on the 8mm reference circle c Timers AE amp AF Lock c1 AE Lock CS gives you two options for locking auto exposure You head to CSM Menu and then Multi Select down to Timers AE amp AF Lock right Multi Selecting and highlighting AE Lock and th
120. ts no matter what shutter speed youre shooting at 14 Compressed RAW or Compressed RAW Jpeg 15 RAW Jpeg 15 TIFF 16 Uncompressed RAW or 30 Jpegs If you preview an image on the monitor when the Job nr is appearing you ll probably not see the image with the NR completed d5 File No Seq is a feature I couldn t live without When this is turned Off every time you insert a CF card the file numbering starts over at 0001 When it s turned On when you insert a CF card the first file number will be 1 greater than the last file number Head to the CSM Menu right Multi Select on Shooting Display Multi Selecting down to d5 File No Seq and then right Multi Select one more time This brings up three options Off On and Reset When Off is selected every time you create a new folder format your CF card or insert a CF card the first file will always be numbered 0001 When On is selected when a new folder is created card is formatted or when card is inserted the beginning file number will be 1 greater than the last file number This numbering will continue until you reach file number 9999 at which time a new folder will be automatically created and the file numbering will start over at 0001 Reset when selected is just like On except when used it will increase the file number by 1 d6 Cntr panel finder is a new CS that s kind of slick It permits you to change what s displayed on the rear LCD panel and inside the viewfinder in reg
121. tter priority or manual the shutter speed is locked This is accomplished by depressing the L button and rotating the command dial A L appears next to the shutter speed when it is lock in this manner on the top LCD and in the viewfinder In aperture priority the aperture is locked This is accomplished by depressing the L button rotating the sub command dial until the L appears above the aperture on the top LCD panel and in the viewfinder You can only turn off the Lock by reversing the procedure depressing the L button and rotating the corresponding dial Shooting Mode Dial This is the heart and soul of the D2H Everything in the D2H was designed around the motordrive which is controlled by the Shooting Mode Dial The Shooting Mode Dial is located at the base of three button array on the top left of the D2H You make a selection by depressing the small button at eleven o clock and then rotating the dial You want to line up with the white line your desired shooting mode 5 Single Frame mode when selected means you can fire one frame each time you depress the shutter release To take another frame you must depress the shutter release again CL Continuous low speed is determined by CS d1 You can fire from 1 to 7fps when you depress the shutter release Depressing the shutter release fires off a burst the number of frames per second based on your selection CS d1 and the shutter speed You can also fire one frame of at a time once you train you
122. tton is depressed and does not effect exposure c3 Auto meter off is pretty straight forward it determines how long your meter stays on after you remove your finder from the shutter release Go the CSM Menu Multi Select to Timers AE amp AF Lock right Multi Select to Auto meter off and right Multi Select to call up the options You have the option of 4s 65 85 16s and No limit as in the meter never shuts off If the D2H is connected to 6 AC adapter no matter how you set this CS the D2H won t power off for ten minutes c4 Self timer simply sets how much time you have to run in front of the camera to take your own photo just kidding You can set the time duration between when you depress the shutter release and the D2H actually fires by 2s 5 s 10s and 20s Go the CSM Menu Multi Select to Timers AE amp AF Lock right Multi Select to Self timer and right Multi Select to call up the options c5 Monitor Off determines how long the monitor stays on after it s been activated and no other buttons on the D2H have been depressed You have the options of 10s 20s 1m 5m and 20m Set the monitor off by Multi Selecting to CSM Menu then Timers AE amp AF Lock right Multi Select to Monitor off and then select If the D2H is connected to the EH 6 AC adapter no matter how you set this CS the won t power off for ten minutes Having the monitor on does slowly use up battery life I don t have specific numbers but in writing this book I
123. u set up From the Custom Setting Menu highlight Autofocus and right Multi Select on Focus area Illum then right Multi Select again calling up the options You ll see Manual focus mode Continuous mode and When selected When you have either Manual focus mode or Continuous mode highlighted when you right Multi Select a menu appears with On or Off Select what s desired To complete this operation you need to lastly go to When selected With it s highlighted right Multi Select bringing up a menu with two options 0 2s and 1s This is what determines the duration in which the AF sensors stay illuminated a6 Focus area is a custom setting that can speed up your use of the AF system No matter if you re using single AF sensors or a group this custom setting permits you to wrap around when selecting an active AF sensor Head to the CSM Menu and up down Multi Select until Focus area is highlighted right Multi Select calling up a menu You have just two options OFF no wrap and ON Wrap With this CS turned on when you have for example a right AF sensor group active and you want the left sensor group active you can Multi Select right just once to reach the left sensor group Or if you have the top sensor group active you can go to the bottom sensor group but Multi Selecting up one This saves you the time of Multi Selecting a couple of times to reach the same sensor group a7 Vertical AF ON assigns what operation the vertical AF ON button perform
124. u should have read about it on an enclosed pink sheet Auto image rotation effects the image only when you re viewing the images on a computer it does not rotate images on the D2H s monitor You access Auto image rotation by first selecting the Set Up menu and then thumbing up or down until you reach and highlight Auto image rotation Next right Multi Select and enter the Auto image rotation menu You have two options On or Off select the one desired by highlighting it and then right Multi Select There s nothing more to it When Auto image rotation is selected whenever you rotate the camera either clockwise or counter clockwise the file is tagged so software previewers who recognize the tag like DigitalPro PhotoShop CS or NikonView automatically rotate the file This is a huge workflow aid When youre shooting in either CH or CL the D2H tags the first image in the burst and not the rest If for some reason during a burst as in while you re still shooting you rotate D2H from vertical to horizontal the horizontal images may end up being tagged as verticals If you re shooting straight down or directly overhead the internal switch might not pick up that you re shooting vertically so images might not be tagged In those situations you might have to rotate your previews in the computer manually like you ve always done Voice memo is a means in which you can add a voice message to an image that has already been captured It s not l
125. und I can completely rely on the ATC which sure is a delight Keep in mind that only some of the technology is applied to RAW NEF capture Some of this technology such as AWB and ATC is only applied during in camera processing of TIFF and Jpeg files thought RAW files are tagged with this info in case you select to use it in their post processing Since only shooting RAW Jpeg now I do see the effectiveness of this new system on the Jpegs The color balance from Tungsten to noon has been quite excellent When in situations where I know the color temp is above 8000k I switch to K and dial in the temp manually mentioned this before but want to bring it up again The magenta skin thing did appear in one of the D2Hs I shot with While only one is a really small error margin if it happens once I can only conclude it might happen again If you go looking for the problem you ll find it If you take into account the light the subject s complexion and other normal photography factors I doubt very few truly have the magenta problem Under the Hood shutter There is a departure here from the D1 Family which on the surface looks like a step backwards The D2H utilizes a mechanical shutter which is a modified version of the F5 shutter This double bladed shutter delivers a top end speed of 1 8000 slower than the D1 Family s 1 16000 and a flash sync speed of 1 250 one stop slower than the D1 Family s 1 500 While technology can t make
126. ur EN EL4 battery this is to clear the battery info more than condition the battery itself No more guess work no more sticky note reminders the Calibration option lets you know when it s time to calibrate your battery of course you have to check the Battery info to know this Charging life is the last item and it simply tells you how much overall battery life your EN EL4 has left With the D2H and this battery technology being new we won t know for a year or more just how many times we can charge the battery and how much life it does have We can draw some inference from the D100 battery which is the same basic technology but keep in mind its battery cannot be calibrated My D100 battery is still going strong after nearly two years of constant use I think we can expect the same from the EN EL4 The EN EL4 battery is new and different in other ways The battery is not connected to the end Battery chamber cover BL 1 The idea being that you can save money by just buying one BL 1 and number of batteries to interchange with the BL 1 when it was time to insert the battery This would also save you space when traveling and shooting If you switch batteries between D2Hs the Battery info displayed is particular to that one battery The chip in the EN EL4 is what keeps that info unique way cool If you don t check the Battery info the MH 21 charge will also let you know when your EN EL4 needs to be calibrated When you insert t
127. using the Monitor sparingly to preview shooting with an AFS lens shooting basic stuff I routinely made 1300 RAW Jpeg captures using only about 45 of the battery charge During testing I made 4609 Jpeg Fine captures and the battery meter read 18 The only time I ve taken the D2H to a 1 battery charge the picture meter read 6121 That was capturing RAW Jpeg Fine Darn that s hot Note The Digital Camera Battery cable for the D1 Family does not work in the D2H The Set Up Menu The start of getting the most out of your D2H logically starts with the Set Up Menu To access the Start Up Menu depress the MENU button on the top left corner on the back of the D2H If the menu that first comes up doesn t say SET UP at the top then depress the left Multi Select and then either top or bottom Multi Select until the SET UP menu appears You have 17 options in the SET UP menu Format LCD brightness Mirror lock up Video output Date Language Image Comment Auto image rotation Voice memo Voice memo protect Voice memo button Audio output USB Dust Off ref photo Battery info Wireless LAN and Firmware version You access one of these by first depressing the right arrow on the Multi Select and then top or bottom arrow up and down through the selections and then right arrow to select the particular option you navigate through the menus using the Multi Select depressing up down right or left In selecting a particular item and then making a s
128. wn The results was for all I talked with is that the D2H was a very usable tool one we could take to work to do our jobs Why am starting off with this I m trying to emphasis that the D2H is a tool one that photographers in the business to communicate with their images find to be an good to excellent tool Does this imply that the D2H is perfect Not in the least and that s not what I m saying here or anywhere in this book The isn t perfect for probably two reasons neither of which I can change The first reason is how do we define perfection No noise full frame frames per second 100 viewfinder incredibly fast write times perfect flash exposure Just what is our measure for being perfect Second even if we can defined perfection can technology deliver it and more to the point for many can technology deliver it for a price the masses can afford Since we don t have those answers then as photographers we have to take the tool at hand and use the skills and talents we individually have to make the images with that tool in this case the D2H In other words it still depends on the person behind the camera Under the Hood the body Nikon as always went all out in the designing of the D2H The body is made from their long proven magnesium alloy This very durable yet lightweight material is an important part of what makes the D2H feel so good in the hand Nikon in creating this new design had a number of requirements tha
129. xposure Metering Range 1 3D Color Matrix Metering EV 0 to 20 2 Center Weighted Metering EV to 20 3 Spot Metering EV 2 to 20 at normal temperature 68F ISO 100 equivalent f 1 4 lens Exposure Meter Coupling CPU and AI Automatic maximum aperture Indexing Exposure Mode 1 P Programmed Auto Flexible program possible 2 S Shutter Priority Auto 3 Aperture Priority Auto 4 M Manual Exposure Compensation Exposure compensated 5 0 EV range in 1 3 1 2 or 1 EV steps Auto Exposure Lock Detected exposure value locked by pressing AE L AF L button Number of shots 2 to 9 frames Compensation steps 1 3 1 2 2 3 or 1EV steps Shutter Electromagnetically controlled vertical travel focal plane shutter 30 to 1 8 000 s and bulb Sync Contact X contact only flash synchronization up to 1 250 second Flash Control 1 New Creative Lighting System i TTL Balanced Fill Flash controlled by five segment TTL Multi Sensor with Nikon Speedlight SB 800 Advanced Wireless Lighting FV Flash Value lock Flash Color Information Communication for Auto White Balance Auto FP High Speed Flash Sync Modeling Flash 2 D T TL Balanced Fill Flash When used with the Speedlight SB 80DX 50DX and in accordance with the mounted lens five segment TTL Multi Sensor control makes available 3D Multi Sensor Balanced Fill Flash Multi Sensor Balanced Fill Flash and Standard D TTL Balanced Fill Flash 3 AA Auto Aperture type Flash availa

The D2H - Moose Peterson

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