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Nikon-D3100

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1. Chapter 6 m Live View and Shooting Movies 215 To do in camera editing trimming follow these steps 1 Activate edit While viewing a movie clip press the down button to pause and then press the AE L AF L button The Edit Movie prompt will appear See Figure 6 7 2 Select start end point Press the right multi selector button and highlight either Choose Start Point or Choose End Point and press OK 3 Resume playback Press the center button of the multi selector to start or resume playback You can use the Pause Rewind Advance and Single Frame controls described previously to move around within your clip 4 Mark trim point When you reach the point where you want to trim press the Pause button if the movie is not already paused and then press the multi selector up button All frames prior to the pause will be deleted if youre in Choose Start Point mode all frames after the pause will be deleted if you re in Choose End Point mode Your trimmed movie must be at least two seconds long 5 Confirm trim A Proceed Prompt appears Choose Yes or No and press OK 6 Save movie You ll see a Saving Movie message and a green progress bar as the D3100 stores the trimmed clip to your memory card Storage takes some time and you don t want to interrupt it to avoid losing your saved clip So make sure your camera has a fully charged battery before you start to edit a clip Edit movie 2X Choose end point lt 2 Sav
2. Output resolution You can choose Auto in which case the camera selects the right format or to suit your particular HDTV one of three progressive scan options 480p 640 x 480 pixels 576p 720 x 576 pixels 720p 1280 x 720 pixels and one interlaced scan option 1080i 1920 x 1080 pixels m Device control You can select On or Off This option applies when the D3100 is connected to a television that supports HDMI CEC remote control operations When you select On if both the camera and HDTV are powered up you will see a Play Slideshow menu on the TV screen and you can use the TV remote control as if they were the multi selector directional buttons and OK button during picture review and slide shows An indicator reading CEC will appear in the camera viewfinder in place of the exposures remaining indicator Select Off and the tele vision remote control is disabled Flicker Reduction This option reduces flicker and banding which can occur when shooting in Live View mode and Movie mode under fluorescent and mercury vapor illumination because the cycling of these light sources interacts with the frame rate of the camera s video system In the United States youd choose the 60Hz frequency in locations where 50Hz cur rent is the norm select that option instead Time Zone and Date Use this menu entry to adjust the D3100 s internal clock Your options include Time zone A small map will pop up on the setting screen and y
3. Why Three Firmware Modules Your Nikon D3100 s firmware is divided into three parts all earlier Nikon models before the Nikon D90 had the firmware in just two sections Why chop the firmware up in the first place And what s that third module for anyway WHEN TO UPGRADE YOUR FIRMWARE I always recommend waiting at least two weeks after a firmware upgrade is announced before changing the software in your camera This is often in direct contradiction to the online Nikon gurus who breathlessly announce each new firmware release on their web pages usually with links to where you can download the latest software Don t do it Yet Nikon has in the past introduced firmware upgrades that were buggy and added prob lems of their own If you own a camera affected by a new round of firmware upgrades I urge you to wait and let a few million over eager fellow users beta test this upgrade for you Within a few weeks any problems although I don t expect there will be any will surface and you ll know whether the update is safe Your camera is working fine right now so why take the chance Chapter 10 m Nikon D3100 Troubleshooting and Prevention 315 Earlier Nikon cameras and many of the new ones as I write this the third firmware module has been added only to the D90 D5000 D7000 and D3100 had an A and B firmware listing The firmware number can be found in the Firmware Version entry in the Setup menu There s a g
4. 252 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Nikon makes five lenses that are officially designated as macro lenses They include m AF S Micro Nikkor 60mm f 2 8G ED This type G lens supposedly replaces the type D lens listed next adding an internal Silent Wave autofocus motor that should operate faster and which is also compatible with cameras lacking a body motor such as the Nikon D40 D40x and D3100 It also has ED lens elements for improved image quality However because it lacks an aperture ring you can con trol the f stop only when the lens is mounted directly on the camera or used with automatic extension tubes Should you want to reverse a macro lens using a special adapter the Nikon BR2 A ring to improve image quality or mount it on a bel lows you re better off with a lens having an aperture ring m AF Micro Nikkor 60mm f 2 8D This non AF S lens won t autofocus on the Nikon D3100 but then you might be manually focusing most of the time when shooting close ups and may appreciate the lower cost of an obsolete lens m AF S VR Micro Nikkor 105mm f 2 8G IF ED This G series lens did replace a similar D type non AF S version that also lacked VR I own the older lens too and am keeping it because I find VR a rather specialized tool for macro work Some 99 percent of the time I shoot close ups with my D3100 mounted on a tripod or at the very least on a monopod so camera vibration is not much of a
5. m AF S This single autofocus mode which Nikon calls single servo AF locks focus when the shutter release is pressed halfway This mode uses focus priority the shut ter can be fully released to take a picture only if the D3100 is able to achieve sharp focus m AF F This new mode is roughly the equivalent of AF C Nikon calls it full time servo AF The D3100 focuses and refocuses continually as you shoot stills in Live View modes or record movies Unlike AF C this mode also uses focus priority You can t release the shutter unless the camera has achieved sharp focus m MF Manual focus You focus the image by rotating the focus ring on the camera Focus Area Still in information edit mode choose the D3100 s AF area mode for Live View You can also choose AF area mode in the Shooting menu under the Live View Movie entry as described in Chapter 3 Your choices are as follows Face priority AF The camera automatically detects faces and focuses on subjects facing the camera as when youre shooting a portrait You can t select the focus zone yourself Instead a double yellow border will be displayed on the LCD when the camera detects a face You don t need to press the shutter release to activate this behavior Up to five faces may be detected the D3100 focuses on the face that is closest to the camera When you press down the shutter release halfway the cam era attempts to focus the face As sharp focus is achieved the bo
6. Working with Short Exposures You can have a lot of fun exploring the kinds of pictures you can take using very brief exposure times whether you decide to take advantage of the action stopping capabili ties of your built in or external electronic flash or work with the Nikon D3100 s faster shutter speeds Here are a few ideas to get you started m Take revealing images Fast shutter speeds can help you reveal the real subject behind the facade by freezing constant motion to capture an enlightening moment in time Legendary fashion portrait photographer Philippe Halsman used leaping Chapter 5 m Advanced Shooting Tips for Your Nikon D3100 193 photos of famous people such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor Richard Nixon and Salvador Dali to illuminate their real selves Halsman said When you ask a person to jump his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears Try some high speed portraits of people you know in motion to see how they appear when concentrating on something other than the portrait m Create unreal images High speed photography can also produce photographs that show your subjects in ways that are quite unreal A helicopter in mid air with its rotors frozen or a motocross cyclist leaping over a ramp but with all motion stopped so that the rider and machine look as if they were frozen in mid air make for an unusual picture When we re accustomed to seeing
7. Y Adjust Device Nikon 03100 Y4 Contrast Brightness Lens 18 55mn Fi 55 66 Focel Length 38mm Pocus Mode APC AP Asta Mode Auto VR AF Fine Tune Exposure Aperture F468 Shutter Speed 1 10008 Benen teeta Chater Sent Auto Color Aberration Vignette Control wert Contrast Brightness Contrast Y XMPAPTC Information Apo 4 O9ORO8G99 y Signet The detractors are usually those who are comfortable with another program such as Photoshop or even Capture 4 this program s predecessor and are upset that even the simplest functions can be confoundingly difficult for a new user to figure out Capture NX s murky Help system isn t a lot of help there s room for a huge book or two to explain how to use this program For example instead of masks Capture NX uses Nik Software s U Point technology which applies Control Points to select and isolate parts of an image for manipulation There are Color Control Points with up to nine different sliders for each selected area see Figure 9 6 There are also Black and White Control Points for setting dynamic range Neutral Control Points for correcting color casts and a Red Eye Reduction Control Point that removes crimson glows from pupils The workflow revolves around an Edit List which contains a list of enhancements including Camera Adjustments RAW Adjustments Light amp Color Adjustments Detail Adjustments and Lens Adjustments which can eac
8. in terms of camera shake blurring That is if you feel you can t hand hold the camera at a shutter speed slower than 1 30th second you can tell the D3100 that when the metered exposure will end up with a speed slower than that ISO Auto should kick in and do its stuff When the shutter speed is faster shorter than the speed you specify ISO Auto will not take effect and the ISO set ting you ve made yourself remains in force The default value is 1 30th second because in most situations any shutter speed longer slower than 1 30th is to be avoided unless youre using a tripod monopod or looking for a special effect If you re working with a telephoto lens and find even a relatively brief shutter speed dangerous you can set a minimum shutter speed threshold of 1 250th second Of course lenses with vibration reduction VR built in can raise your minimum shutter speed threshold preference Active D Lighting D Lighting is a feature that improves the rendition of detail in highlights and shadows when you re photographing high contrast scenes those which have dramatic differences between the brightest areas and the darkest areas that hold detail It s been available as an internal retouching option that could be used after the picture has been taken and has been found in Nikon s lower end cameras by that I mean the CoolPix point and shoot line for some time and has gradually worked its way up through the company s dSLR produc
9. 2e5 ved cased Bedok 4 eNO FON Sak aed ea ea 313 How It Works lt isciesoxttecaneacsaathedanteasteueaxeiaes 314 Why Three Firmware Modules 00 cc cceecceeccees 314 Getin Read eeue nea wow de Rak Ae ad bk A ae Re 317 xii David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Updating from a Card Reader lt 0 2aiacnacdae sed cekawees ces 319 Updating with a USB Connection 0 e ecw eee eeeees 319 Starting the Update siese eee 4 dhe ON resse tedeii ette kiEi 320 Protect Your LCD 0s ciadnnt eee ineed ee ti Erud TECEN REAR 320 Troubleshooting Memory Cards lt 4 65404 085 4400 eG Gen ed eaees 322 All Your Eggs in One Basket nununununnnunann nnee 322 What Can Go Wrong serssvedesewe pr wee en eRe Beebe nee es 324 What Can You DG ss se bans eee tak cae eee taet EEEIEE vedas 325 Clean Your Sensor i44 424544nciucceseeacdid rana e rri ex 327 Dust th FAQs Ma aii se 1 va 64s dsa nsiro wad EERE REEERE EE 328 Identifying and Dealing with Dust 22 2244 622 24s ba teed ue ceed 330 Avoiding DUST 13d es 0x Sob 8 eee as uei Sew eda eae ee sae ek 331 Sensor Cleaning vies one chs oR HNO e PRS NES HRT EREERS ERE RS 332 Glossary 339 Index 351 MACH You don t want good pictures from your new Nikon D3100 you demand outstanding photos After all the D3100 is the most advanced entry level camera that Nikon has ever introduced It boasts 14 2 megapixels of resolution and blazing fast automatic focus But y
10. 64 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Underneath Your Nikon D3100 There s not a lot going on with the bottom panel of your Nikon D3100 You ll find the battery compartment access door and a tripod socket which secures the camera to a tri pod The socket accepts other accessories such as flash brackets and quick release plates that allow rapid attaching and detaching of the D3100 from a matching platform affixed to your tripod Figure 2 27 shows the underside view of the camera Battery Figure 2 27 door latch Tripod socket Nikon DIGITAL CAMERA 7 4 9V 25A D3100 NIKON CORP JAPAN MADE IN THAILAND Looking Inside the Viewfinder Much of the important shooting status information is shown inside the viewfinder of the Nikon D3100 Not all of this information will be shown at any one time Figure 2 28 shows what you can expect to see These readouts include m Focus points Can display the 11 areas used by the D3100 to focus The camera can select the appropriate focus zone for you or you can manually select one or all of the zones as described in Chapters 1 and 5 Active focus point The currently selected focus point can be highlighted with red illumination depending on focus mode m Battery indicator Appears when the D3100 s battery becomes depleted The cur rent battery condition appears on the LCD so you re not totally surprised Chapter 2 m Nikon D3100 Roadmap 65 Figure 2
11. Glossary 345 hot shoe A mount on top of a camera used to hold an electronic flash while provid ing an electrical connection between the flash and the camera Also called an accessory shoe hyperfocal distance A point of focus where everything from half that distance to infin ity appears to be acceptably sharp For example if your lens has a hyperfocal distance of four feet everything from two feet to infinity would be sharp The hyperfocal dis tance varies by the lens and the aperture in use If you know you ll be making a grab shot without warning sometimes it is useful to turn off your camera s automatic focus and set the lens to infinity or better yet the hyperfocal distance Then you can snap off a quick picture without having to wait for the lag that occurs with most digital cam eras as their autofocus locks in image rotation A feature that senses whether a picture was taken in horizontal or ver tical orientation That information is embedded in the picture file so that the camera and compatible software applications can automatically display the image in the cor rect orientation image stabilization A technology that compensates for camera shake usually by adjust ing the position of the camera sensor or with the implementation used by Nikon by rearranging the position of certain lens elements in response to movements of the camera incident light Light falling on a surface International Organization for Standard
12. g SELLING CAMERA fg GUIDE AUTHOR OVER 1 MILLION BOOKS IN PRINT David D Busch DAVID BUSCH S NIKON D3100 GUIDE TO DIGITAL SLR PHOTOGRAPHY David D Busch Course Technology PTR A part of Cengage Learning e o COURSE TECHNOLOGY a CENGAGE Learning Australia Brazil Japan Korea Mexico Singapore Spain United Kingdom United States e o COURSE TECHNOLOGY a CENGAGE Learning David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography David D Busch Publisher and General Manager Course Technology PTR Stacy L Hiquet Associate Director of Marketing Sarah Panella Manager of Editorial Services Heather Talbot Marketing Manager Jordan Castellani Executive Editor Kevin Harreld Project Editor Jenny Davidson Technical Reviewer Michael D Sullivan Interior Layout Tech Bill Hartman Cover Designer Mike Tanamachi Indexer Katherine Stimson Proofreader Sara Gullion Printed in the United States of America 1234567131211 2012 David D Busch ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced transmitted stored or used in any form or by any means graphic electronic or mechanical including but not limited to photocopying recording scanning digitizing taping Web distribution information networks or information storage and retrieval systems except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 Unite
13. m going to provide instructions for using this menu anyway because the mere thought of going out and taking pictures with nothing but training wheels for support is frightening for some who ve purchased the D3100 camera as their first digital cam era or digital SLR Guiding Light Rotate the mode dial to GUIDE and the LCD lights up with the screen as shown in Figure 1 20 If it is not visible press the MENU button located to the left of the LCD to make it appear You can choose guides for shooting viewing deleting images and setting up your camera Use the left right buttons on the multi selector pad to highlight Shoot View delete or Set up and then press the OK button in the center of the pad Chapter 1 m Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 33 Shoot Options If you choose Shoot you ll see a simple menu like the one shown in Figure 1 21 There are only three options You can use the up down buttons to highlight one then press the multi selector right button to view that menu m Easy operation This lists functions like Auto No Flash Distant Subjects Close ups Sleeping Faces Moving subjects Landscapes Portraits and Night Portraits If you haven t jumped directly to this section from the beginning of the chapter you might recognize that these options correspond to the scene modes that are also built into the mode dial The first page of the Easy Operation choices are shown in Figure 1 22 You can scroll with the multi sel
14. t take any more pictures Don t do anything with the card until youve figured out what s wrong Your second line of defense your first line is to be suf ficiently careful with your cards that you avoid problems in the first place is to do no harm that hasn t already been done Read the rest of this section and then if necessary decide on a course of action such as using a data recovery service or software described later before you risk damaging the data on your card further Now that you ve calmed down the first thing to check is whether you ve actually inserted a card in the camera If you ve set the camera so that the No Memory Card option has been set to allow taking pictures without a card it s entirely possible although not par ticularly plausible that you ve been snapping away with no memory card to store the pictures to which can lead to massive disappointment later on You can avoid all this by setting the Slot Empty Release Lock in the Setup menu to Release Locked and leav ing it there Things get more exciting when the card itself is put in jeopardy If you lose a card there s not a lot you can do other than take a picture of a similar card and print up some Have You Seen This Lost Flash Memory flyers to post on utility poles all around town If all you care about is reusing the card and have resigned yourself to losing the pic tures try reformatting the card in your camera You may find that reformatting
15. ually rather than use the camera s internal electronic aperture control An aperture ring is useful when a lens is mounted on a non automatic extension ring bellows or other accessory that doesn t couple electronically with the camera Aperture rings also allow using a lens on an older camera that lacks electronic control In recent years Nikon has been replacing lenses that have aperture rings with versions that only allow setting the aperture with camera controls m Aperture lock If you want your D3100 or other Nikon dSLR to control the aper ture electronically you must set the lens to its smallest aperture usually f 22 or f 32 and lock it with this control m Focus limit switch Some lenses have this switch shown in Figure 2 25 which limits the focus range of the lens thus potentially reducing focus seeking when shooting distant subjects The limiter stops the lens from trying to focus at closer distances in this case closer than 2 5 meters m Vibration reduction switch Lenses with Nikon s Vibration Reduction VR fea ture include a switch for turning the stabilization feature on and off Figure 2 25 and in some cases for changing from normal vibration reduction to a more aggres sive active VR mode useful for say shooting from moving vehicles More on VR and other lens topics in Chapter 7 Vibration Focus limit reduction switch On Off switch EULL co 25m on VR off _ _ i NORMAL ACT
16. Be careful not to accidentally switch the power off or open the Secure Digital card or battery compartment doors as you work If that happens the shutter may be damaged if it closes onto your cleaning tool 6 When youre finished turn the power off replace your lens and switch your cam era back on Air Cleaning Your first attempts at cleaning your sensor should always involve gentle blasts of air Many times you ll be able to dislodge dust spots which will fall off the sensor and with luck out of the mirror box Attempt one of the other methods only when you ve already tried air cleaning and it didn t remove all the dust Here are some tips for doing air cleaning m Use a clean powerful air bulb Your best bet is bulb cleaners designed for the job like the one shown in Figure 10 7 Smaller bulbs like those air bulbs with a brush attached sometimes sold for lens cleaning or weak nasal aspirators may not provide sufficient air or a strong enough blast to do much good Hold the Nikon D3100 upside down Then look up into the mirror box as you squirt your air blasts increasing the odds that gravity will help pull the expelled dust downward away from the sensor You may have to use some imagination in positioning yourself m Never use air canisters The propellant inside these cans can permanently coat your sensor if you tilt the can while spraying It s not worth taking a chance m Avoid air compressors Super strong blasts
17. Figure 6 10 establishes the scene and tells the viewer where the action is taking place Let s say you re shooting a video of your offspring s move to college the estab lishing shot could be a wide shot of the campus with a sign welcoming you to the school in the foreground Another example would be for a child s birthday party the establishing shot could be the front of the house decorated with birthday signs and streamers or a shot of the dining room table decked out with party favors and a candle covered birthday cake Or in Figure 6 10 I wanted to show the studio where the video was shot Medium shot This shot is composed from about waist to head room some space above the subject s head It s useful for providing variety from a series of close ups and also makes for a useful first look at a speaker See Figure 6 11 Close up The close up usually described as from shirt pocket to head room provides a good composition for someone talking directly to the camera Although its common to have your talking head centered in the shot that s not a require ment In Figure 6 12 the subject was offset to the right This would allow other images especially graphics or titles to be superimposed in the frame in a real pro fessional production But the compositional technique can be used with your videos too even if special effects are not going to be added Extreme close up When I went through broadcast training ba
18. Guy 219 Roscoe lighting gels 263 Rotate Tall options Playback menu 76 77 rotating images See also auto image rotation with Adobe Camera Raw 307 Playback menu options 76 77 RPT Repeating flash 284 rubber port cover 40 41 S S Shutter priority mode 20 22 built in flash in 29 30 equivalent exposures changing to 153 flash sync modes in 277 working with 163 164 SanDisk s RescuePRO software 326 327 saturation with Adobe Camera Raw 308 Picture Controls and 84 86 saving cropped images 131 movies 215 216 Scene Selection L firmware for 315 316 SCN Scene modes 20 22 See also specific modes with Live View 210 Scotch Brand Magic Tape for sensor cleaning 338 scrolling through images 28 second curtain sync 269 272 in A Aperture priority mode 275 ghost images and 270 271 in M Manual mode 277 in P Program mode 275 problems avoiding 271 272 in S Shutter priority mode 277 Secure Digital cards See memory cards self timer 17 18 default value 106 in Live View 212 remote cable for 7 Setup menu delay options 116 self timer lamp 37 38 sensor cleaning 332 338 air cleaning 333 334 brush cleaning 333 335 default value 106 liquid cleaning 333 335 337 microscopes for checking 336 338 mirror placement for 110 334 Setup menu options 109 tape cleaning 333 338 sensor microscopes 336 338 sensors See also sensor cleaning crop factor and 225 228 dynamic range of 149
19. No matter how careful you are and how cleanly you work eventually you will get some of this dust on your camera s sensor But as I mentioned one of the Nikon D3100 s most useful features is the automatic sen sor cleaning system that reduces or eliminates the need to clean your camera s sensor manually The sensor vibrates ultrasonically each time the D3100 is powered either on or off or both at your option shaking loose any dust Although the automatic sensor cleaning feature operates when you power the camera up you can activate it manually at any time Choose Clean Image Sensor from the Setup menu and select Clean Now 328 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography If some dust does collect on your sensor you can often map it out of your images mak ing it invisible using software techniques with the Image Dust Off Ref feature in the Setup menu Operation of this feature is described in Chapter 3 Of course even with the Nikon D3100 s automatic sensor cleaning dust resistance fea tures you may still be required to manually clean your sensor from time to time This section explains the phenomenon and provides some tips on minimizing dust and elim inating it when it begins to affect your shots I also cover this subject in my book Digital SLR Pro Secrets with complete instructions for constructing your own sensor cleaning tools However lll provide a condensed version here of some of the information in th
20. PR consultant for a large Rochester N Y company which shall remain nameless My trials and travails with imaging and computer technology have made their way into print in book form an alarming number of times including a few dozen on scanners and photography Like you I love photography for its own merits and I view technology as just another tool to help me get the images I see in my mind s eye But also like you I had to mas ter this technology before I could apply it to my work This book is the result of what I ve learned and I hope it will help you master your Nikon D3100 digital SLR too As I write this I m currently in the throes of upgrading my website which you can find at www nikonguides com adding tutorials and information about my other books There s a lot of information about several Nikon models right now but I ll be adding tips and recommendations about the Nikon D3100 including a list of equipment and accessories that I can t live without in the next few months I hope you ll stop by for a visit I ve also set up a wish list of Nikon cameras lenses and accessories on xxii David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Amazon com for those who want to begin shopping now I hope you ll stop by for a visit to my blog at http www dslrguides com blog where you ll find a list of any typos sharp eyed readers have reported You ll find my equipment recommendations at http astore amazon c
21. Quick charger MH 24 This charger is required to vitalize the EN EL14 battery Neck strap Nikon provides you with a steal me neck strap emblazoned with the Nikon name and while useful for showing off to your friends exactly which nifty new camera brand you bought it s not very adjustable I never attach the Nikon strap to my cameras and instead opt for a more serviceable strap from UPstrap Chapter 1 Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 5 www upstrap pro com or Op Tech www optechusa com If you carry your cam era over one shoulder as many do I particularly recommend UPstrap shown in Figure 1 1 It has a patented non slip pad that offers reassuring traction and elim inates the contortions we sometimes go through to keep the camera from slipping off I know several photographers who refuse to use anything else If you do pur chase an UPstrap be sure to tell photographer inventor Al Stegmeyer that I sent you hence BF 1A B body cap rear lens cap The body cap keeps dust from infiltrating your camera when a lens is not mounted Always carry a body cap and rear lens cap also supplied with the D3100 in your camera bag for those times when you need to have the camera bare of optics for more than a minute or two That usually hap pens when repacking a bag efficiently for transport or when you are carrying an extra body or two for backup The body cap lens cap nest together for compact storage DK 20 rubber eyecup This
22. Stop filming by pressing the movie button again Movies up to 4GB in size can be taken assuming there is suf ficient room on your memory card which limits you to 10 minutes for an HDTV clip Shooting Movies with the D3100 As youve probably gathered movie making is an extension of the Live View concept Once you ve directed the output of the sensor to the LCD capturing it as a video file with audio is relatively easy All the focus modes and AF area modes described for plain old Live View mode can be applied to movie making Here are some considera tions to think about m Stills too You can take a still photograph even while you re shooting a movie clip by pressing the shutter release all the way down m Exposure compensation When shooting movies exposure compensation is avail able in plus minus 3 EV steps in 1 3 EV increments m Size matters Individual movie files can be up to 4GB in size this will vary accord ing to the resolution you select and no more than 10 minutes in length The speed and capacity of your memory card may provide additional restrictions on size length Choose your resolution Use the Movie Settings entry in the Shooting menu Or when Live View is activated and before you start shooting your video clip you can select the resolution frame rate of your movie Press the information edit button once navigate to the movie size choice at the bottom of the right hand column and press OK Then u
23. and Manual modes as well as one of the scene modes You can change modes while Live View is active This indicator appears on the LCD even when shooting infor mation is turned off m Audio recording indicator Shows when the monaural microphone is being used m No Movies Possible This shows that it is not possible to shoot movies because there is not enough space remaining on your memory card m Live View time remaining This is displayed when the amount of shooting time in Live View mode is 30 seconds or less Although Live View is possible for 60 min utes if the D3100 overheats this countdown display appears and the camera exits Live View before damage is done m Current AF mode Shows AF S AF E or M focus Chapter 6 m Live View and Shooting Movies 211 Figure 6 6 No Current Current Active The Live View Shooting movies Flash AF AF area D Lighting Image Image White display includes mode possible mode mode mode status size quality balance a lot of infor mation some of which can be hidden Audio recording indicator Live View time remaining Movie time remaining Movie frame size Focus point Beep on Battery status 1 500 F8 200 255 Metering Shutter Aperture ISO setting Shots mode speed remaining m Current AF area Shows whether Wide area Normal area or Face priority auto focus will be used This indicator still appears when the alignment grid is displayed even when other shooting informa
24. and in which direction focus is too near or too far thanks to the amount and direction of the displacement of the split image The camera can quickly and precisely snap the image into sharp focus and line up the vertical lines as shown in Figure 5 2 Of course this scenario vertical lines being interpreted by a horizontally oriented sensor is ideal When the same sensor is asked to measure focus for say horizontal lines that don t split up quite so conveniently or in the worst case Chapter 5 m Advanced Shooting Tips for Your Nikon D3100 177 Figure 5 1 When an image is out of focus the split Figure 5 2 Using phase detection the D3100 is able to lines don t align precisely align the features of the image and achieve sharp focus quickly subjects such as the sky which may have neither vertical nor horizontal lines focus can slow down drastically or even become impossible Phase detection is the normal mode used by the D3100 As with any rangefinder like function accuracy is better when the base length between the two images is larger Think back to your high school trigonometry you could calculate a distance more accurately when the separation between the two points where the angles were measured was greater For that reason phase detection autofocus is more accurate with larger wider lens openings especially those with maximum f stops of f 2 8 or better than with smaller lens openings and may not work at
25. and the cam era takes a picture 10 seconds later You can also specify a 2 second delay instead in the Shooting menu s Self Timer Delay entry as described in Chapter 3 The self timer is a good way to get into the picture yourself or to allow the vibration induced in a tripod mounted camera to settle down after you ve punched the shutter release A white lamp on the front of the camera will blink while the timer counts down then remain on continuously for about two seconds just before the picture is taken Any time you use the camera on a tripod with the self timer or otherwise make sure there is no bright light shining on the viewfinder window if so cover it or locate that eyepiece cap and block the window If you plan to dash in front of the camera to join the scene consider using man ual focus so the D3100 won t refocus on your fleeing form and produce unin tended results Nikon really needs to offer an option to autofocus at the end of the self timer cycle Chapter 1 Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 19 m Quiet shutter release Think of this as a quieter shooting mode rather than a true quiet mode In this mode the camera takes a single picture when the shutter but ton is pressed all the way down just as in Single frame mode However the cam eras internal beeper won t chirp when autofocus is achieved and after the shutter trips capturing the image the camera s viewing mirror doesn t flip b
26. behind him See also front curtain sync first curtain sync red eye An effect from flash photography that appears to make a person s eyes glow red or an animal s yellow or green It s caused by light bouncing from the retina of the eye and is most pronounced in dim illumination when the irises are wide open and when the electronic flash is close to the lens and therefore prone to reflect directly back Image editors can fix red eye through cloning other pixels over the offending red or orange ones RGB color A color model that represents the three colors red green and blue used by devices such as scanners or monitors to reproduce color Photoshop works in RGB mode by default and even displays CMYK images by converting them to RGB Retouch menu The D3100 s list of special effects and editing changes you can make to images you ve already taken Choices in this menu allow you to trim crop photos and add effects such as fisheye looks saturation The purity of color the amount by which a pure color is diluted with white or gray selective focus Choosing a lens opening that produces a shallow depth of field Usually this is used to isolate a subject in portraits close ups and other types of images by caus ing most other elements in the scene to be blurred self timer A mechanism that delays the opening of the shutter for some seconds after the release has been operated sensitivity A measure of the degree of response o
27. capabilities because you can often shoot at lower shutter speeds to compensate for the limited maxi mum aperture Image quality Your starter lens should have good image quality because that s one of the primary factors that will be used to judge your photos Even at a low price several of the different lenses that can be used with the D3100 kit include extra low dispersion glass and aspherical elements that minimize distortion and 230 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography chromatic aberration they are sharp enough for most applications If you read the user evaluations in the online photography forums you know that owners of the kit lenses have been very pleased with its image quality m Size matters A good walking around lens is compact in size and light in weight m Fast close focusing Your first lens should have a speedy autofocus system which is where the Silent Wave motor found in all but the bargain basement lenses older non AF S models is an advantage Close focusing to 12 inches or closer will let you use your basic lens for some types of macro photography You can find comparisons of the lenses discussed in the next section as well as evalua tions of lenses I don t describe third party optics from Sigma Tokina Tamron and other vendors in online groups and websites I ll provide my recommendations but more information is always helpful Buy Now Expand Later When the Nikon D3100
28. continuous lighting Your D3100 has no problem calculating exposure for continuous lighting because it remains constant and can be measured through a sensor that interprets the light reaching the viewfinder The amount of light available just before the exposure will in almost all cases be the same amount of light present when the shutter is released The D3100 s Spot meter ing mode can be used to measure and compare the proportions of light in the high lights and shadows so you can make an adjustment such as using more or less fill light if necessary You can even use a hand held light meter to measure the light yourself and transfer the settings to the camera in Manual exposure mode Exposure calculation Con electronic flash Electronic flash illumination does nt exist until the flash fires and so it can t be measured by the D3100 s exposure sensor when the mirror is flipped up during the exposure Instead the light must be measured by metering the intensity of a preflash that is triggered an instant before the main flash as it is reflected back to the camera and through the lens An alter native is to use a sensor built into an external flash itself and measure reflected light that has not traveled through the lens If you have a do it yourself bent there are the hand held flash meters I already mentioned which include models that meas ure both flash and continuous light 260 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digita
29. doled out to the memory card as quickly as they can be written to the card Technically the D3100 takes the RAW data received from the digital image processor and converts Chapter 5 m Advanced Shooting Tips for Your NikonD3100 191 Figure 5 11 Continuous shooting allows you to capture an entire sequence of exciting moments as they unfold it to the output format you ve selected either JPG or NEF RAW and deposits it in the buffer ready to store on the card This internal smart buffer can suck up photos much more quickly than the memory card and indeed some memory cards are significantly faster or slower than others When the buffer fills you can t take any more continuous shots until the D3100 has written some of them to the card making more room in the buffer You should keep in mind that faster memory cards write images more quickly freeing up buffer space faster A Tiny Slice of Time Exposures that seem impossibly brief can reveal a world we didn t know existed In the 1930s Dr Harold Edgerton a professor of electrical engineering at MIT pioneered high speed photography using a repeating electronic flash unit he patented called the stroboscope As the inventor of the electronic flash he popularized its use to freeze objects in motion and you ve probably seen his photographs of bullets piercing balloons and drops of milk forming a coronet shaped splash Electronic flash freezes action by virtue of its ex
30. in fact measured using something called a circle of confusion An ideal image consists of zil lions of tiny little points which like all points theoretically have no height or width There is perfect contrast between the point and its surroundings You can think of each point as a pinpoint of light in a darkened room When a given point is out of focus its edges decrease in contrast and it changes from a perfect point to a tiny disc with blurry edges remember blur is the lack of contrast between boundaries in an image See Figure 5 6 If this blurry disc the circle of confusion is small enough our eye still perceives it as a point It s only when the disc grows large enough that we can see it as a blur rather Figure 5 6 When a pin point of light left goes out of focus its blurry edges form a circle of confusion cen ter and right 182 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography than a sharp point that a given point is viewed as out of focus You can see then that enlarging an image either by displaying it larger on your computer monitor or by making a large print also enlarges the size of each circle of confusion Moving closer to the image does the same thing So parts of an image that may look perfectly sharp in a 5 x 7 inch print viewed at arm s length might appear blurry when blown up to 11 X 14 and examined at the same distance Take a few steps back however and it may look s
31. lock in a 1 1 000th second shutter speed only to find my D3100 refused to shoot when the sun dipped behind some trees and there was no longer enough light to shoot at that speed even with the lens wide open Figure 4 13 Lock the shutter at a high speed to freeze action or use a slower speed to allow some interesting motion blur 164 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Like A mode it s possible to choose an inappropriate shutter speed If that s the case you ll receive the same warnings Program Mode Program mode P uses the D3100 s built in smarts to select the correct f stop and shutter speed using a database of picture information that tells it which combination of shutter speed and aperture will work best for a particular photo If the correct expo sure cannot be achieved at the current ISO setting the Lo or Hi indicator in the viewfinder and LCD will appear You can then boost or reduce the ISO to increase or decrease sensitivity The D3100 s recommended exposure can be overridden if you want Use the EV set ting feature described later because it also applies to S and A modes to add or sub tract exposure from the metered value And as I mentioned earlier in this chapter in Program mode you can rotate the command dial to change from the recommended set ting to an equivalent setting as shown in Table 4 1 that produces the same exposure but using a different combination of f stop a
32. orange Retouch menu purple and Recent Settings gray 72 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Playback Menu Options The blue coded Playback menu has seven entries used to select options related to the display review and printing of the photos you ve taken The choices you ll find include m Delete m Rotate Tall m Playback Folder m Slide Show m Display Mode m Print Set DPOF m Image Review Delete Choose this menu entry and youll be given three choices as shown earlier in Figure 3 3 Selected Select Date and All If you choose Selected you ll see an image selection screen like the one shown in Figure 3 4 Then follow these instructions 1 Review thumbnails Use the multi selector up down left right buttons to scroll among the available images 2 Examine image When you highlight an image you think you might want to delete press the Zoom button to temporarily enlarge that image so you can evaluate it fur ther When you release the button the selection screen returns Figure 3 4 gt D e ete Images selected for deletion are marked with a Selected eae B aset Eom Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 73 3 Mark unmark images To mark an image for deletion press the Zoom out Thumbnail button ot the Trash button A trash can icon will appear overlaid on that image s thumbnail To unmark an image press the Zoom out Thumbnail button again 4 Remove images Wh
33. sor The two halves are compared much like actually exactly like a two window rangefinder used in surveying weaponry and non SLR cameras like the venerable Leica M film models The contrast between the two images changes as focus is moved in or out until sharp focus is achieved when the images are in phase or lined up The eleven autofocus sensors of Nikon s Multi CAM 1000 autofocus module are located in the floor of the mirror box just under the flip up mirror which is partially silvered so that most of the light reaching it from the lens is bounced upwards to the viewfinder while some light is directed downward towards the focus sensors If you lock up the mirror of your camera using the Lock Mirror Up for Cleaning option in the Setup menu you can see where these sensors are located You can visualize how phase detection autofocus works if you look at Figures 5 1 and 5 2 However your camera s actual autofocus sensors don t look anything like this Pm providing a greatly simplified view just for illustration In Figure 5 1 a typical hori zontally oriented focus sensor is looking at a series of parallel vertical lines in a weath ered piece of wood The lines are broken into two halves by the sensor s rangefinder prism and you can see that they don t line up exactly the image is slightly out of focus Fortunately the rangefinder approach of phase detection tells the D3100 exactly how out of focus the image is
34. the second curtain begins moving before the first curtain reaches the bottom of the frame As a result a moving slit the distance between the first and second curtains exposes one portion of the sensor at a time as it moves from top to bottom Figure 8 9 shows three views of our typical but imaginary focal plane shutter At left is pictured the closed shutter in the middle version you can see the first curtain has moved down about 1 4 of the distance from the top in the right hand version the second curtain has started to chase the first curtain across the frame towards the bottom If the flash is triggered while this slit is moving only the exposed portion of the sensor will receive any illumination You end up with a photo like the one shown in Figure 8 10 Note that a band across the bottom of the image is black That s a shadow of the Figure 8 9 A closed shutter left partially open shutter as the first curtain begins to move downwards middle only part of the sensor is exposed as the slit moves right 272 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 8 10 If a shutter speed faster than 1 200th second is used you can end up photographing only a portion of the image second shutter curtain which had started to move when the flash was triggered Sharp eyed readers will wonder why the black band is at the bottom of the frame rather than at the top where the second curtain begins its
35. the advantage goes to electronic flash The brief dura tion of electronic flash serves as a very high shutter speed when the flash is the main or only source of illumination for the photo Your D3100 s shutter speed may be set for 1 200th second during a flash exposure but if the flash illumination pre dominates the effective exposure time will be the 1 1 000th to 1 50 000th second or less duration of the flash as you can see in Figure 8 4 because the flash unit reduces the amount of light released by cutting short the duration of the flash The only fly in the ointment is that if the ambient light is strong enough it may pro duce a secondary ghost exposure as I ll explain later in this chapter Cost Pro continuous lighting Fluorescent lamps or incandescent lamps the use of which will be limited by new efficiency standards that go into effect between 2012 and 2014 are generally much less expensive than electronic flash units which can easily cost several hundred dollars I ve used everything from desktop hi inten sity lamps to reflector flood lights for continuous illumination at very little cost There are lamps made especially for photographic purposes too priced up to 50 or so Maintenance is economical too many incandescent or fluorescents use bulbs that cost only a few dollars Cost Con electronic flash Electronic flash units aren t particularly cheap The lowest cost dedicated flash designed specificall
36. the easiest way to protect your sensor from dust is to prevent it from settling on the sensor in the first place Here are my stock tips for eliminating the problem before it begins m Clean environment Avoid working in dusty areas if you can do so Hah Serious photographers will take this one with a grain of salt because it usually makes sense to go where the pictures are Only a few of us are so paranoid about sensor dust considering that it is so easily removed that we ll avoid moderately grimy loca tions just to protect something that is when you get down to it just a tool If you find a great picture opportunity at a raging fire during a sandstorm or while sur rounded by dust clouds you might hesitate to take the picture but with a little caution don t remove your lens in these situations and clean the camera after wards you can still shoot However it still makes sense to store your camera in a clean environment One place cameras and lenses pick up a lot of dust is inside a camera bag Clean your bag from time to time and you can avoid problems m Clean lenses There are a few paranoid types that avoid swapping lenses in order to minimize the chance of dust getting inside their cameras It makes more sense just to use a blower or brush to dust off the rear lens mount of the replacement lens first so you wont be introducing dust into your camera simply by attaching a new dusty lens Do this before you remove the current l
37. to 100 daylight and most incandescent lamps Daylight fluorescents and deluxe cool white fluorescents might have a CRI of about 79 to 95 which is perfectly acceptable for most photographic appli cations Warm white fluorescents might have a CRI of 55 White deluxe mercury vapor lights are less suitable with a CRI of 45 while low pressure sodium lamps can vary from CRI 0 18 Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 265 Remember that if you shoot RAW you can specify the white balance of your image when you import it into Photoshop Photoshop Elements or another image editor using Nikon Capture NX Adobe Camera Raw or your preferred RAW converter While color balancing filters that fit on the front of the lens exist they are primarily useful for film cameras because film s color balance can t be tweaked as extensively as that of a sensor Daylight Daylight is produced by the sun and so is moonlight which is just reflected sunlight Daylight is present of course even when you can t see the sun When sunlight is direct it can be bright and harsh If daylight is diffused by clouds softened by bouncing off objects such as walls or your photo reflectors or filtered by shade it can be much dim mer and less contrasty Daylight s color temperature can vary quite widely It is highest in temperature most blue at noon when the sun is directly overhead because the light is traveling through a minimum amount of the filtering layer we
38. too bright Click the triangles in the upper left cor ner of the histogram display shadow clipping and upper right corner highlight clipping to toggle these indicators on or off 6 Also in the Basic tab you can choose white balance either from the drop down list 8 or by setting a color temperature and green magenta color bias tint using the sliders Other sliders are available to control exposure recovery fill light blacks bright ness contrast vibrance and saturation A check box can be marked to convert the image to grayscale Make other adjustments described in more detail below 9 ACR makes automatic adjustments for you You can click Default and make the changes for yourself or click the Auto link located just above the Exposure slider to reapply the automatic adjustments after you ve made your own modifications 308 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography 10 If you ve marked more than one image to be opened the additional images appear in a filmstrip at the left side of the screen You can click on each thumbnail in the filmstrip in turn and apply different settings to each 11 Click Open Image Open Image s into Photoshop using the settings you ve made The Basic tab is displayed by default when the ACR dialog box opens and it includes most of the sliders and controls you ll need to fine tune your image as you import it into Photoshop These include m White Balan
39. trol over both shape and light in their work as well as the viewing angle so they can use both the contours of their two dimensional subjects and the qualities of the light they use to illuminate those subjects to evoke the image they want to produce Photography is a third form of art The photographer may have little or no control over the subject other than posing human subjects but can often adjust both viewing angle and the nature of the light source to create a particular compelling image The direc tion and intensity of the light sources create the shapes and textures that we see The distribution and proportions determine the contrast and tonal values whether the image is stark or high key or muted and low in contrast The colors of the light because even white light has a color balance that the sensor can detect and how much of those colors the subject reflects or absorbs paint the hues visible in the image As a Nikon D3100 photographer you must learn to be a painter and sculptor of light if you want to move from faking a picture to making a photograph This chapter 258 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography provides an introduction to using the two main types of illumination continuous light ing such as daylight incandescent or fluorescent sources and the brief but brilliant snippets of light we call electronic flash Continuous Illumination versus Electronic Flash Continuous li
40. when not mounted on the camera function in low light situations Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 103 m On This default value will cause the AF assist illuminator lamp to fire when light ing is poor but only if Single servo autofocus AF S or Automatic autofocus AF A are active or you have selected the center focus point manually and either Single point or Dynamic area autofocus rather than Auto area autofocus has been chosen It does not operate in Manual focus modes in AF C mode or when AF A has switched to its AF C behavior nor when Landscape or Sports scene modes are used With some lenses the lens hood can block the AF assist lamp s illumination you may have to remove the hood in low light situations m Off Use this to disable the AF assist illuminator You d find that useful when the lamp might be distracting or discourteous say at a religious ceremony or acoustic music concert or your subject is located closer than one foot eight inches or farther than about 10 feet One downside of turning AF assist off is that the D3100 may be unable to focus accurately in situations where it really really needs the extra light from the supplementary lamp You may have to focus manually in such situations Metering This is a duplicate of the settings you can make from the information edit screen PH explain each of the Nikon D3100 s three metering modes in more detail in Chapter 4 As I explained in Chapter 1
41. 200mm zoom I mentioned earlier Even so you might be willing to carry an extra prime lens or two in order to gain the speed or image qual ity that lens offers Image quality Prime lenses usually produce better image quality at their focal length than even the most sophisticated zoom lenses at the same magnification Zoom lenses with their shifting elements and f stops that can vary from zoom posi tion to zoom position are in general more complex to design than fixed focal length lenses That s not to say that the very best prime lenses can t be complicated as well However the exotic designs aspheric elements and low dispersion glass can be applied to improving the quality of the lens rather than wasting a lot of it on com pensating for problems caused by the zoom process itself Maximum aperture Because of the same design constraints zoom lenses usually have smaller maximum apertures than prime lenses and the most affordable zooms have a lens opening that grows effectively smaller as you zoom in The difference in lens speed verges on the ridiculous at some focal lengths For example the 18mm 55mm basic zoom gives you a 55mm f 5 6 lens when zoomed all the way out while prime lenses in that focal length commonly have f 1 8 or faster maxi mum apertures Indeed the fastest f 2 f 1 8 f 1 4 and f 1 2 lenses are all manual focus primes at least on the D3100 because they are AF models and if you require speed a fixed focal l
42. 24mm lens while Figures 7 6 and 7 7 were taken from the same position as Figure 7 5 but with focal lengths of 75mm and 200mm respectively Bring your camera closer Macro lenses allow you to focus to within an inch or two of your subject Nikon s best close up lenses are all fixed focal length optics in the 60mm to 200mm range but you ll find good macro zooms available from Sigma and others They don t tend to focus quite as close but they provide a bit of flexi bility when you want to vary your subject distance say to avoid spooking a skit tish creature Chapter 7 m Working with Lenses 237 Figure 7 5 A wide angle lens Figure 7 6 This photo taken Figure 7 7 A long telephoto lens provided this view of Castle Rock from the same distance shows the captured this close up view of the in Sedona Arizona view using a short telephoto lens formation from the same shooting position Look sharp Many lenses are prized for their sharpness and overall image quality While your run of the mill lens is likely to be plenty sharp for most applications the very best optics are even better over their entire field of view which means no fuzzy corners are sharper at a wider range of focal lengths in the case of zooms and have better correction for various types of distortion Of course these lenses cost a great deal more sometimes 1 000 or more each More speed Your Nikon 70 300mm f 4 5 5 6 telephoto zoom lens might have the perf
43. 28 Number of exposures remaining Number of shots remaining before buffer fills White balance recording Auto ISO indicator Exposure compensation Focus sensitivity value Flash compensation value Thousands points indicator ISO sensitivity of exposures Exposure compensation Battery indicator Flexible program indicator Focus indicator Autoexposure Shutter Aperture Exposure indicator Flash Flash Warning lock indicator speed Exposure compensation exposure ready indicator display Electronic compensation indicator rangefinder Focus confirmation indicator This green dot stops blinking when the subject cov ered by the active autofocus zone is in sharp focus whether focus was achieved by the AF system or by you using manual focusing m Autoexposure lock Shows that exposure has been locked m Shutter speed Displays the current shutter speed selected by the camera or by you in Manual exposure mode m Aperture Shows the current aperture chosen by the D3100 s autoexposure system or specified by you when using Manual exposure mode 66 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Automatic ISO indicator Shown as a reminder that the D3100 has been set to adjust ISO sensitivity automatically It flashes when the exposure meters are active as a warning to you that the camera may be adjusting the ISO setting m Electronic analog exposure display This scale shows the current exposure level with the
44. 3 P ll show you how to select it using the Information edit display format entry in the Setup menu Press the information edit button again to access the information edit screen at right in Figure 1 11 which allows you to modify the most frequently accessed options To change release modes follow these steps 1 Ifthe LCD screen is blank press the information edit button twice it s the bottom button to the left of the LCD to access the information edit screen 2 Use the multi selector pad s left right up down buttons to navigate to the settings at the bottom and side of the screen to the option you want to change 3 Press the OK button in the center of the multi selector pad to produce a screen where you can change options These include image size image quality ISO focus modes and other settings as described in Chapter 3 20 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography S Shutter priority auto oun FINE 500 F8 k m e J 133 40 0 540 0 40 0 40 0 Set E mBak Move Figure 1 11 Press the information edit button to view the information screen left or a second time to use the information edit screen right to modify your options 4 Press the OK button to confirm your choice 5 Press the information edit button to exit the screen Selecting a Shooting Mode This section shows you how to choose an exposure mode If you d rather have the D3100 make all of the decisions for y
45. 37 38 DPOF Digital Print Order Format and 79 eggs in one basket argument 323 failure rates for 324 formatting 16 17 reformatting 326 Setup menu options 16 107 inserting 14 15 interleaving shots on 323 managing 313 number of shots on 16 17 recovering images on 325 327 reference manual on 6 reformatting 326 storage folder options 124 125 troubleshooting problems with 322 327 WB white balance library on 94 MENU button 9 43 44 operation of 68 69 menus color coding for 71 columns information in 69 confirming menu selections 71 description of 68 71 exiting menu system 71 navigating among 70 71 quick return to 71 selecting menu choices 70 mercury vapor lights 264 267 Merge to HDR 167 172 metering modes See also center weighted metering matrix metering spot metering flash metering modes 274 275 L firmware and 315 in Live View 205 Live View information on 211 212 selecting 23 24 154 156 161 shooting information display on 57 Shooting menu options 103 MF manual focus 26 175 See also rangefinder activating 180 in Live View 206 208 with self timer 18 Shooting menu options 104 working with 186 188 Micro lenses 235 microphone 38 39 tips for using 224 Miniature Effect Retouch menu 142 143 mirror lenses 249 mirrors dust on 328 sensor cleaning placement for 110 334 Setup menu options 110 mode dial 59 60 modeling light 268 monitor preflash 273 monoc
46. 37 The Nikon D3100 s Business End 02 c cee ceccecceecceecs 41 Playing Back Images 2 4 cnesee hea dues sirara da ea a eee 45 Zooming the Nikon D3100 Playback Display 0006 46 Viewin Thumbnail Ssi 25 204 08aendndede E E eens OR A 48 Working with Calendar View nnaou nannan ennen oe 4 nae 49 Working with Photo Information 54 i0004s5 445 hes dese sees 50 Shooting Information Display Information Edit Screen 55 Going Topside oa x sssese errre u ani MEERE EEE EME RHEE ENS 58 Lens Components 0c a0s es rerni dean eee ree ee a dea aes 60 Underneath Your Nikon D3100 po oc e4 oedt e decd eacedee beh hed 64 Looking Inside the Viewfinder ss sive tesisat Oe eee RRA 64 Chapter 3 Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 67 Anatomy of the Nikon D3100 s Menus 0 200 ce cece neces 68 Playback Menu Opti nS cis 4 028 aw ade wae eRe aa t siatt ent eed 72 Delete cand sine sedwsdakeds Eeue ERE seed vee EARE EEk WE 72 Playback Foldet seseris Poste eo acan e dd dedno E Enee eane 73 Display Modes 4 lt u ac abe besos Re kde eb oes Cee che EREE A S 74 Image REVIEW 224 24 2esectaradadeeadeatenalaereeanuacd mes 75 Rotate Tall sesh ek ude eeanes Oh che oe dae ook enw epee es Karke 76 SlideShow pace yuo tere haere sus oaa poe ere eau ere ewes 78 Print Set DPOF 4 3 cc200eecedsenacbsentbeadedereakbans 79 Shooting Mena O pHtOns 4 654 2448 Jen dd dk 4 aon Con EEA 81 Reset Shooting Opionss 20d ee sie eia thee Siceeeeti
47. 4 lens has more Chapter 5 m Advanced Shooting Tips for Your NikonD3100 181 depth of field anda dimmer view That s yet another reason why lenses with a maxi mum aperture smaller than f 5 6 can give your D3100 s autofocus system fits increased depth of field joins forces with a dimmer image and more difficulty in achieving phase detection To make things even more complicated many subjects aren t polite enough to remain still They move around in the frame so that even if the D3100 is sharply focused on your main subject it may change position and require refocusing This is where the Subject Tracking mode available in Live View is handy once you ve specified an area of focus the D3100 is smart enough to follow your subject around the frame as your sub ject moves or you reframe the picture Ill explain Subject Tracking in detail later in this chapter In other cases an intervening subject may pop into the frame and pass between you and the subject you meant to photograph You or the D3100 have to decide whether to lock focus on this new subject or remain focused on the original subject Finally there are some kinds of subjects that are difficult to bring into sharp focus because they lack enough contrast to allow the D3100 s AF system or our eyes to lock in Blank walls a clear blue sky or other subject matter may make focusing difficult If you find all these focus factors confusing youre on the right track Focus is
48. Although you can t replace this battery yourself you can expect it to last for the useful life of the camera So your main concern will be to provide a continuous reliable source of power for your D3100 As I noted in Chapter 1 you should always have a spare battery or two so you wont need to stop shooting when your internal battery dies I recommend buying Nikon brand batteries saving 20 or so for an after market battery may seem like a good deal but it can cost you much more than that if the battery malfunctions and damages your camera Figure 10 1 Mark your batteries or memory cards so youll know which are ready for use Chapter 10 m Nikon D3100 Troubleshooting and Prevention 313 KEEPING TRACK OF YOUR BATTERIES AND MEMORY CARDS Here s a trick I use to keep track of which batteries are fresh discharged and which memory cards are blank exposed I cut up some small slips of paper and fold them in half forming a tiny booklet Then I write EXPOSED in red on the inside pages of the booklet and UNEXPOSED in green on the outside pages Folded one way the slips read EXPOSED on both sides folded the other way the slips read UNEXPOSED I slip them inside the plastic battery cover which you should a ways use when the batteries are not in the camera to avoid shorting out the contacts folded so the appropriate state of the batteries is visible The same slips are used in the translucent plastic cases I use
49. Blue Purple Blue and Red Purple Keep in mind that once you ve taken a JPEG photo using a Monochrome style you can t convert the image back to full color Shoot using RAW JPEG and you ll get a monochrome JPEG plus the RAW file that retains all the color information When you press the Zoom in button a grid display like the one shown in Figure 3 13 appears showing the relative contrast and saturation of each of the predefined Picture Controls Because the values for autocontrast and autosaturation may vary the icons Standard Saturation 86 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography for any Picture Control that uses the Auto feature will be shown on the grid in green with lines extending up and down from the icon to tip you off that the position within the coordinates may vary from the one shown Each of these provides varying amounts of five different attributes sharpness contrast color mode saturation and hue The individual parameters affect your images in vari ous ways m Sharpness This affects the contrast of the edges or outlines of your image mak ing a photo look more or less sharp m Contrast This factor affects an attribute called tone compensation which controls whether detail is visible or lost in the brightest areas and darkest areas of your image An image with high contrast shows less detail in the highlights and shadows but produces a more dramatic appearance A lower contrast ima
50. Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography in the center So if the D3100 reads the center portion and determines that the expo sure for that region should be f 8 at 1 250th second while the outer area which is a bit darker calls for f 4 at 1 125th second the camera will give the center portion the most weight and arrive at a final exposure of f 5 6 at 1 250th second Center weighting works best for portraits architectural photos backlit subjects with extra bright backgrounds such as snow or sand and other pictures in which the most important subject is located in the middle of the frame As the name suggests the light reading is weighted towards the central portion but information is also used from the rest of the frame If your main subject is surrounded by very bright or very dark areas the exposure might not be exactly right However this scheme works well in many sit uations if you don t want to use one of the other modes This mode can be useful for close ups of subjects like flowers or for portraits Spot Metering Spot metering is favored by those of us who used to work with a hand held light meter to measure exposure at various points such as metering highlights and shadows sepa rately However you can use Spot metering in any situation where you want to indi vidually measure the light reflecting from light midtone or dark areas of your subject or any combination of areas Figure 4 11 Spot meter
51. C AF S AF A and manual focus modes Autofocus area indicator Displays the autofocus area status from among Single point Dynamic area Auto area and 3D tracking 11 points all discussed earlier m Metering mode Indicates whether Matrix Center weighted or Spot metering has been selected m ISO Auto indicator Displayed when you ve set the D3100 to adjust ISO for you automatically m Electronic analog display additional functions This is a continuous scale that shows that correct exposure is achieved when the indicator is in the center and how many stops off exposure is when the indicator veers to the right underexposure or left overexposure This scale is also used to display other information such as expo sure compensation m Exposure compensation Appears when you ve dialed in exposure compensation Monitor this indicator as it s easy to forget that you ve told the Nikon D3100 to 58 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography use more or less exposure than what its reasonably intelligent metering system would otherwise select m Flash compensation Reminds you that you ve tweaked the D3100 s electronic flash exposure system with more or less exposure requested m Number of exposures additional functions This indicator shows the number of exposures remaining on your memory card as well as other functions such as the number of shots remaining until your memory buffer fills Battery st
52. CCEC orrec mEnE iT ponus m ERGCAES pEPNF AHT se TU LASA gene ce otto ea ene m JPEG RAW or both You can elect to store only JPEG versions of the images you shoot or you can save your photos as RAW images which Nikon calls NEE for Nikon Electronic Format files RAW images consume more than twice as much space on your memory card Or you can store both RAW and a JPEG Basic file at once as you shoot Many photographers elect to save both JPEG and a RAW so they ll have a JPEG Basic version that might be usable as is as well as the original digital negative RAW file in case they want to do some processing of the image later You ll end up with two different versions of the same file one with a jpg exten sion and one with the nef extension that signifies a Nikon RAW file To choose the combination you want access the Shooting menu scroll to Image Quality and select it by pressing OK or the multi selector right button Scroll to high light the setting you want and either press OK or push the multi selector right button to confirm your selection In practice youll probably use the JPEG Fine or NEF RAW JPEG Fine selections most often although beginners concerned about squeezing many images onto a card or who display them only online may prefer a more compact JPEG setting Why so many choices then There are some advantages to using the JPEG Normal and JPEG Basic settings Settings tha
53. D3100 27 Note that the autofocus manual focus switch on the lens and the setting made in camera body must agree if either is set to manual focus then the D3100 defaults to manual focus regardless of how the other is set Adjusting White Balance and ISO This section describes some optional features you can select if you feel you need to choose the white balance or change the camera s sensitivity setting There are a few other settings you can make if you re feeling ambitious but don t feel ashamed if you postpone using these features until you ve racked up a little more expe rience with your D3100 If you like you can custom tailor your white balance color balance and ISO sensi tivity settings lll explain more about what these settings are and why you might want to change them in Chapter 3 To start out it s best to set white balance WB to Auto and ISO to ISO 200 for daylight photos and ISO 400 for pictures in dimmer light Don t be afraid of ISO 1600 however the D3100 does a much better job of produc ing low noise photos at higher ISOs than most other cameras You ll find complete rec ommendations for both these settings in Chapter 4 You can adjust either one now using the information edit screen as described multiple times in this chapter I wont repeat the instructions again The WB for white balance and ISO settings are third and fourth from the top of the right hand column in the information edit scr
54. Effective lighting is the one element that differentiates great photography from candid or snapshot shooting Lighting can make a mundane subject look a little more glam orous Make subjects appear to be soft when you want a soft look or bright and sparkly when you want a vivid look or strong and dramatic if that s what you desire As you might guess having control over your lighting means that you probably can t use the lights that are already in the room You ll need separate discrete lighting fixtures that can be moved aimed brightened and dimmed on command Selecting your lighting gear will depend on the type of photography you do and the budget you have to support it It s entirely possible for a beginning D3100 photogra pher to create a basic inexpensive lighting system capable of delivering high quality results for a few hundred dollars just as you can spend megabucks 1 000 and up for a sophisticated lighting system Basic Flash Setups If you want to use multiple electronic flash units the Nikon speedlights described ear lier will serve admirably The higher end models can be used with Nikon s wireless i TTL features which allow you to set up to three separate groups of flash units several flashes can be included in each group and trigger them using a master flash and the camera Just set up one master unit and arrange the compatible slave units around your subject You can set the relative power of each unit separa
55. Front curtain sync fill flash This setting should be your default setting This mode is also available in Program and Aperture priority mode as described above and with high ambient light levels can produce ghost images discussed below m Red eye reduction This mode with its one second lag and red eye lamp flash is described above m Rear curtain sync As noted previously in this sync mode the front curtain opens completely and remains open for the duration of the exposure Then the flash is fired and the rear curtain closes If the subject is moving and ambient light levels are high enough the movement will cause that ghost exposure that appears to be trailing the flash exposure In Auto Portrait Child Close Up Party and Pet scene modes the following flash sync options are available m Auto This setting is the same as front curtain sync but the flash pops up auto matically in dim lighting conditions m Red eye reduction auto In this mode there is a one second lag after pressing the shutter release before the picture is actually taken during which the D3100 s red eye reduction lamp lights causing the subject s pupils to contract assuming they are looking at the camera and thus reducing potential red eye effects Don t use with moving subjects or when you cant abide the delay m Flash off This is not really a sync setting although it is available from the same selection screen It disables the flash f
56. LCD safe and in some cases make it a little easier to view Of course your first line of defense is just to swivel the LCD so the glass portion is facing inwards I do that when transporting the camera when I know I m not going to be using it for awhile or when I think I can shoot with out needing to review images or use the menus Here s a quick overview of your other options some of which are likely to add enough thickness to your LCD to prevent you from reversing the LCD when you need to That s a choice you ll have to make Chapter 10 m Nikon D3100 Troubleshooting and Prevention 321 m Plastic overlays The simplest solution although not always the cheapest is to apply a plastic overlay sheet or skin cut to fit your LCD These adhere either by static electricity or through a light adhesive coating that s even less clingy than stick it notes You can cut down overlays made for PDAs although these can be pricey at up to 19 95 for a set of several sheets or purchase overlays sold specifically for digital cameras Vendors such as Hoodman www hoodmanusa com offer overlays of this type These products will do a good job of shielding your D3100 s LCD screen from scratches and minor impacts but will not offer much protection from a good whack Acrylic and glass shields These scratch resistant acrylic and tempered glass pan els laser cut to fit your camera perfectly are my choice as the best protection solu tion Ho
57. Lens As youll see my recommended lens mounting procedure emphasizes protecting your equipment from accidental damage and minimizing the intrusion of dust If your D3100 has no lens attached select the lens you want to use and loosen but do not remove the rear lens cap I generally place the lens I am planning to mount vertically in a slot in my camera bag where it s protected from mishaps but ready to pick up quickly By loosening the rear lens cap you ll be able to lift it off the back of the lens at the last instant so the rear element of the lens is covered until then After that remove the body cap by rotating the cap away from the release button You should always mount the body cap when there is no lens on the camera because it helps keep dust out of the interior of the camera While the D3100 s automatic sensor clean ing mechanism works fine the less dust it has to contend with the better The body cap also protects the camera s innards from damage caused by intruding objects includ ing your fingers if youre not cautious Once the body cap has been removed remove the rear lens cap from the lens set it aside and then mount the lens on the camera by matching the alignment indicator on the lens barrel with the white dot on the camera s lens mount See Figure 1 6 Rotate the lens toward the shutter release until it seats securely Some lenses are trickier to mount than others especially telephoto lenses with special
58. Making Light Work for You 259 or used off camera and linked with a cable or triggered by a slave light which sets off a flash when it senses the firing of another unit Studio flash units are electronic flash too and aren t limited to professional shooters as there are economical monolight one piece flash power supply units available in the 200 price range Serious photog raphers with some spare cash can buy a couple to store in a closet and use to set up a home studio or use as supplementary lighting when traveling away from home You ll need a remote trigger mounted on the D3100 s accessory hot shoe or an accessory hot shoe to PC connector adapter to use studio flash with your camera There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of illumination Here s a quick checklist of pros and cons m Lighting preview Pro continuous lighting With continuous lighting you always know exactly what kind of lighting effect you re going to get and if multi ple lights are used how they will interact with each other as shown in Figure 8 2 With electronic flash the general effect you re going to see may be a mystery until youve built some experience and you may need to review a shot on the LCD make some adjustments and then reshoot to get the look you want In this sense a dig ital camera s review capabilities replace the Polaroid test shots pro photographers relied on in decades past m Exposure calculation Pro
59. Nikon D3100 Roadmap 61 Lens hood alignment indicator Filter thread Lens hood bayonet Focus ring Autofocus Manual focus switch Focus scale Zoom ring Zoom setting Aperture lock 5 16 11 8 56 4 28 w n a s 4 Aperture ring m Lens hood bayonet Lenses like the 17 35mm zoom shown in the figure use this bayonet to mount the lens hood Such lenses generally will have a dot on the edge showing how to align the lens hood with the bayonet mount m Focus ring This is the ring you turn when you manually focus the lens or fine tune autofocus adjustment It s a narrow ring at the very front of the lens on the 18 55mm kit lens or a wider ring located somewhere else m Focus scale This is a readout found on many lenses that rotates in unison with the lens s focus mechanism to show the distance at which the lens has been focused It s a useful indicator for double checking autofocus roughly evaluating depth of field and for setting manual focus guesstimates Chapter 7 deals with the mysteries of lenses and their controls in more detail Zoom setting These markings on the lens show the current focal length selected Zoom ring Turn this ring to change the zoom setting m Autofocus Manual switch Allows you to change from automatic focus to man ual focus 62 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Aperture ring Some lenses have a ring that allows you to set a specific f stop man
60. Shooting Movies 205 Shoot from tripod or hand held Of course holding the camera out at arm s length to preview an image is poor technique and will introduce a lot of camera shake If you want to use Live View for hand held images use an image stabilized lens and or a high shutter speed A tripod is a better choice if you can use one m Watch your power Live View uses a lot of juice and will deplete your battery rap idly The optional AC adapter is a useful accessory Beginning Live View Activate Live View by rotating the Live View switch on the back of the camera just to the right of the LCD clockwise until the mirror flips up and the Live View preview is shown on the display See Figure 6 1 The first thing to do when entering Live View is to double check three settings that affect how your image or movie is taken These settings include Metering Mode While using Live View you can press the Information button just one press is needed when Live View is active to view the information edit screen There you can select the Metering option it s third from the bottom of the right hand column and press OK Then choose Matrix Center weighted or Spot metering Live View switch Movie button 206 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Focus Mode While the information edit screen is visible adjust the focus mode The available modes differ slightly from those possible when not shooting in Live View
61. Shooting stills and movies in Live View is easy Just follow these steps 1 Rotate LV switch Activate Live View by rotating the switch See Figure 6 1 The D3100 can be hand held or mounted on a tripod Using a tripod mode makes it easier to obtain and keep sharp focus You can exit Live View at any time by press ing the LV button again 2 Zoom in out Check your view by pressing the Zoom In button located at the lower left corner next to the color LCD second button from the bottom Five lev els of magnification are available up to 6 7X zoom A navigation box appears in the lower right of the LCD with a yellow box representing the portion of the image zoomed just as when youre reviewing photos you ve already taken using Playback mode Use the multi selector keys to change the zoomed area within the full frame Press the Zoom Out button to zoom out again 3 Make exposure adjustments While using an automatic exposure mode you can add or subtract exposure using the EV settings as described in Chapter 4 Hold down the EV button just southeast of the shutter release and rotate the main com mand dial to add or subtract exposure when using P S and A modes The back panel color LCD will brighten or darken to represent the exposure change you make Chapter 6 m Live View and Shooting Movies 213 4 Shoot Press the shutter release all the way down to take a still picture or press the red movie button to start motion picture filming
62. TransferQueue 5 photo s in the queue Source Destination 1 DSC_0001 NEF 18 7 MB To be transferred D3100 C Nikon Transfer fd 2 DSC_0002 NEF 18 3 MB To be transterred 03100 C Nikon Transfer 3 OSC_0003 NEF 18 1 MB To be transferred D3100 C4 ANikon Transfer 4 DSC_0004NEF 19 3 MB To be transferred 03100 C Nikon Transfer v Figure 9 2 After Nikon Transfer dis plays thumb nails of the images on your memory card or camera mark the ones you want to transfer Figure 9 3 Copy files to a destination you specify using an optional file name template you can define 299 Chapter 9 m Useful Software for the Nikon D3100 Primary Destination C4 My Pictures Nikon Transfer Backup Destination Preferences Micreate subfolder for each transfer copy folder names from camera Meneame photos during transfer Primary destination folder C My Pictures Nikon Transfer hd Thumbnails 5 of 5 photo s selected Group Folder bal OSC_0003 NEF OSC_0001 NEF SA DSC_0002 NEF S SA DSC_0004 NEF i v DSC_0005 NEF TrensterQueue 5 photo s in the queue Source Destination 1 DSC_0001 NEF 18 7 MB To be transferred 03100 C Nikon Transfer a 2 DSC_0002 NEF 18 3 MB To be transferred D3100 C Nikon Transfer 3 DSC_0003 NEF 18 1 MB To be transferred D3100 CA Nikon Transfer Process Then click on the Primary Destination tab see Figure 9 3 and c
63. a soccer game outdoors with a telephoto lens and want a relatively high shutter speed but you don t care if the speed changes a little should the sun duck 162 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 4 12 Use Aperture priority to lock in a large f stop when you want to blur the background behind a cloud Set your D3100 to A and adjust the aperture until a shutter speed of say 1 1 000th second is selected at your current ISO setting In bright sunlight at ISO 400 that aperture is likely to be around f 11 Then go ahead and shoot knowing that your D3100 will maintain that f 11 aperture for sufficient depth of field as the soccer players move about the field but will drop down to 1 750th or 1 500th second if nec essary should the lighting change a little A Lo or Hi indicator in the viewfinder accompanied by a Subject Is Too Dark or Subject Is Too Bright warning on the LCD indicates that the D3100 is unable to select an appro priate shutter speed at the selected aperture and that over and underexposure will occur at the current ISO setting That s the major pitfall of using A you might select an f stop that is too small or too large to allow an optimal exposure with the available shutter speeds For example if you choose f 2 8 as your aperture and the illumination is quite bright say at the beach or in snow even your camera s fastest shutter speed might not be able to cut down the amount of
64. a user definable white balance you can base on the lighting in a scene of your choice The White Balance menu on the other hand gives you the additional option of fine tuning the white balance precisely Different light sources have different colors at least as perceived by your D3100 s sensor Indoor illumination tends to be somewhat reddish while daylight has in Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 91 comparison a more bluish tinge If the color balance the camera is using doesn t match the light source you can end up with a color rendition that is off kilter as you can see in Figure 3 16 This menu entry allows you to choose one of the white balance values from among Auto incandescent seven varieties of fluorescent illumination the information edit screen has only a generic fluorescent option direct sunlight flash cloudy shade a specific color temperature of your choice or a preset value taken from an existing photograph or a measurement you make In this section I m going to describe only the menu commands at your disposal for set ting white balance When you select the White Balance entry on the Shooting menu you ll see an array of choices like those shown in Figure 3 17 One additional choice PRE Preset Manual is not visible until you scroll down to it Choose the predefined value you want by press ing the multi selector right button or press OK If you choose Fluorescent you ll be taken to ano
65. also use the AE L AF L button to start autofocus as described in Chapter 3 Autofocus isn t some mindless beast out there snapping your pictures in and out of focus with no feedback from you after you press that button There are several settings you can modify that return at least a modicum of control to you Your first decision if you ll be composing your image through the optical viewfinder should be whether you set the D3100 to AF S AF C AF A or Manual Special issues for focusing in Live View mode are discussed in Chapter 6 To change to any of the automatic focus modes use the information edit menu and select the focus mode AF is fifth from the bottom of the screen With the camera set for one of the scene modes AF S will be used automatically except when using the Sports Action scene mode To switch to manual mode slide the AF M or M A M switch on the lens to M AF S In this mode also called Single Autofocus focus is set once and remains at that setting until the button is fully depressed taking the picture or until you release the shutter button without taking a shot You can also use the AE L AF L button as described in 186 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Chapter 3 if you ve set that button to lock focus when pressed For non action pho tography this setting is usually your best choice as it minimizes out of focus pictures at the expense of spontaneity The drawback here is that yo
66. angle image enlarged and cropped to provide the same subject size as a telephoto shot would have the same depth of field Try it take a wide angle photo of a friend from a fair distance and then zoom in to duplicate the picture in a tele photo image Then enlarge the wide shot so your friend is the same size in both The wide photo will have the same depth of field and will have much less detail too Avoiding Potential Wide Angle Problems Wide angle lenses have a few quirks that you ll want to keep in mind when shooting so you can avoid falling into some common traps Here s a checklist of tips for avoiding common problems Symptom converging lines Unless you want to use wildly diverging lines as a cre ative effect it s a good idea to keep horizontal and vertical lines in landscapes archi tecture and other subjects carefully aligned with the sides top and bottom of the frame That will help you avoid undesired perspective distortion Sometimes it helps to shoot from a slightly elevated position so you don t have to tilt the camera up or down Symptom color fringes around objects Lenses are often plagued with fringes of color around backlit objects produced by chromatic aberration which is produced when all the colors of light don t focus in the same plane or same lateral position that is the colors are offset to one side This phenomenon is more common in wide angle lenses and in photos of subjects with contras
67. as implied above a wide angle lens also provides a larger field of view including more of the subject in your photos More foreground As background objects retreat more of the foreground is brought into view by a wide angle lens That gives you extra emphasis on the area that s closest to the camera Photograph your home with a normal lens normal zoom setting and the front yard probably looks fairly conventional in your photo that s why they re called normal lenses Switch to a wider lens and you ll discover that your lawn now makes up much more of the photo So wide angle lenses are great when you want to emphasize that lake in the foreground but problematic when your intended subject is located farther in the distance Super sized subjects The tendency of a wide angle lens to emphasize objects in the foreground while de emphasizing objects in the background can lead to a kind of size distortion that may be more objectionable for some types of subjects than others Shoot a bed of flowers up close with a wide angle and you might like the distorted effect of the larger blossoms nearer the lens Take a photo of a family mem ber with the same lens from the same distance and youre likely to get some com plaints about that gigantic nose in the foreground Chapter 7 Working with Lenses 241 Perspective distortion When you tilt the camera so the plane of the sensor is no longer perpendicular to the vertical plane of your su
68. autofocus and AF A which switches between the two as appropriate Pll explain all of these in more detail later in this section But first some confusion MANUAL FOCUS Manual focus is activated by sliding the switch on the lens to the M position or by speci fying MF using the information edit screen There are some advantages and disadvan tages to focusing yourself While your batteries will last longer in manual focus mode it will take you longer to focus the camera for each photo a process that can be difficult Modern digital cameras even dSLRs depend so much on autofocus that the viewfinders of models that have less than full frame sized sensors are no longer designed for optimum manual focus Pick up any film camera and you ll see a bigger brighter viewfinder with a focusing screen that s a joy to focus on manually Adding Circles of Confusion You know that increased depth of field brings more of your subject into focus But more depth of field also makes autofocusing or manual focusing more difficult because the contrast is lower between objects at different distances So autofocus with a 200mm lens or zoom setting may be easier than at a 28mm focal length or zoom setting because the longer lens has less apparent depth of field By the same token a lens with a maximum aperture of f 1 8 will be easier to autofocus or manually focus than one of the same focal length with an f 4 maximum aperture because the f
69. been imported into Optics Pro it can be manipulated within one of four main sections Light Color Geometry and Details It s especially useful for cor recting optical flaws color exposure and dynamic range while adjusting perspective distortion and tilting If you own a fisheye lens Optics Pro will de fish your images to produce a passable rectilinear photo from your curved image A new Dust Blemish Removal tool operates something like a manual version of the D3100 s Dust Off Reference Photo The user creates a dust blemish template and the program removes dust from the marked area in multiple images Figure 9 7 shows you DxO Optics Pro s clean user interface A DxO Optics Pro Elite Vo File Edit Workspace Help ct R wWwQuws Project Untitled3 304 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Phase One Capture One Pro C1 Pro If there is a Cadillac of RAW converters for Nikon and Canon digital SLR cameras C1 Pro has to be it This premium priced program from Phase One www phaseone com does everything does it well and does it quickly If you can t justify the price tag of this professional level software as much as 400 for the top of the line edition there are lite versions for serious amateurs and cash challenged professionals for as little as 130 You can try out either version for a limited period at no cost Aimed at photographers with high volume needs that would
70. built in They currently offer four models including the basic Eye Fi Home about 50 which can be used to 324 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography transmit your photos from the D3100 to a computer on your home network or any other network you set up somewhere say at a family reunion Eye Fi Share and Eye Fi Share Video about 60 and 80 respectively are basically exactly the same However the Share Video version is 4GB instead of 2GB in capacity and includes soft ware to allow you to upload your images from your camera through your computer net work directly to websites such as Flickr Facebook Shutterfly Nikon s own My Picturetown and also to upload to digital printing services that include Walmart Digital Photo Center The most sophisticated option is Eye Fi Explore a4GB SDHC Secure Digital High Capacity card that adds geographic location labels to your photo so you ll know where you took it and frees you from your own computer network by allowing uploads from more than 10 000 WiFi hotspots around the USA Very cool and the ulti mate in picture backup What Can Go Wrong There are lots of things that can go wrong with your memory card but the ones that arent caused by human stupidity are statistically very rare Yes a Secure Digital card s internal bit bin or controller can suddenly fail due to a manufacturing error or some inexplicable event caused by old age However if your SD card work
71. call the atmosphere The color tempera ture at high noon may be 6 000K At other times of day the sun is lower in the sky and the particles in the air provide a filtering effect that warms the illumination to about 5 500K for most of the day Starting an hour before dusk and for an hour after sunrise the warm appearance of the sunlight is even visible to our eyes when the color temper ature may dip to 5 000 4 500K as shown in Figure 8 5 Figure 8 5 At dawn and dusk the color temperature of daylight may dip as low as 4 500K and at sunset can go even lower 266 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Incandescent Tungsten Light The term incandescent or tungsten illumination is usually applied to the direct descen dents of Thomas Edison s original electric lamp Such lights consist of a glass bulb that contains a vacuum or is filled with a halogen gas and contains a tungsten filament that is heated by an electrical current producing photons and heat Tungsten halogen lamps are a variation on the basic light bulb using a more rugged and longer lasting fila ment that can be heated to a higher temperature housed in a thicker glass or quartz envelope and filled with iodine or bromine halogen gases The higher temperature allows tungsten halogen or quartz halogen quartz iodine depending on their con struction lamps to burn hotter and whiter Although popular for automobile head lamps today they
72. cameras you ll want to consider having the lens conversion done even though your D3100 doesn t require it to use the lens safely Today in addition to its traditional full frame lenses Nikon offers lenses with the DX designation which is intended for use only on DX format cameras like your D3100 While the lens mounting system is the same DX lenses have a coverage area that fills only the smaller frame allowing the design of more compact less expensive lenses especially for non full frame cameras The AF S DX Nikkor 35mm f 1 8G a fixed focal length non zoom lens with a fast f 1 8 maximum aperture is an example of such a lens 234 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Ingredients of Nikon s Alphanumeric Soup Nikon has always been fond of appending cryptic letters and descriptors onto the names of its lenses Here s an alphabetical list of lens terms you re likely to encounter either as part of the lens name or in reference to the lens s capabilities Not all of these are used as parts of a lens s name but you may come across some of these terms in discussions of particular Nikon optics m AF AF D AF I AF S In all cases AF stands for autofocus when appended to the name of a Nikon lens An extra letter is added to provide additional information A plain old AF lens is an autofocus lens that uses a slot drive motor in the camera body to provide autofocus functions and so cannot be used in AF mode
73. can open the lens up wide to create shallow depth of field or close it down a bit to allow more to be in focus The flip side of the coin is that when you want to make a range of objects sharp you ll need to use a smaller f stop to get the depth of field you need Like fire the depth of field of a telephoto lens can be friend or foe Figure 7 11 shows a photo of a statue shot with a 200mm lens and a wider f 2 8 f stop to de emphasize the distracting background Getting closer Telephoto lenses bring you closer to wildlife sports action and can did subjects No one wants to get a reputation as a surreptitious or sneaky pho tographer except for paparazzi but when applied to candids in an open and honest way a long lens can help you capture memorable moments while retaining enough distance to stay out of the way of events as they transpire m Reduced foreground increased compression Telephoto lenses have the opposite effect of wide angles they reduce the importance of things in the foreground by squeezing everything together This compression even makes distant objects appear to be closer to subjects in the foreground and middle ranges You can use this effect as a creative tool to squeeze subjects together m Accentuates camera shakiness Telephoto focal lengths hit you with a double whammy in terms of camera photographer shake The lenses themselves are bulkier more difficult to hold steady and may even produce a barely perceptib
74. centered under the 0 and the focus confirmation indicator will stop blinking File Number Sequence The Nikon D3100 will automatically apply a file number to each picture you take using consecutive numbering for all your photos over a long period of time spanning many different memory cards starting over from scratch when you insert a new card or when you manually reset the numbers Numbers are applied from 0001 to 9999 at which time the D3100 rolls over to 0001 again The camera keeps track of the last number used in its internal memory and if File Number Sequence is turned On will apply a number that s one higher or a number that s one higher than the largest number in the current folder on the memory card inserted in the camera You can also start over each time a new folder has been created on the memory card or reset the current counter back to 0001 at any time Here s how it works m Off At this default setting if you re using a blank reformatted memory card or a new folder is created the next photo taken will be numbered 0001 File number sequences will be reset every time you use or format a card or a new folder is cre ated which happens when an existing folder on the card contains 999 shots Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 119 m On The Nikon D3100 will apply a number one higher than the last picture taken even if a new folder is created a new memory card inserted or an existing mem ory card f
75. color coverage at a price any one can afford Special thanks to executive editor Kevin Harreld who always gives me the freedom to let my imagination run free with a topic as well as my veteran produc tion team including project editor Jenny Davidson and technical editor Mike Sullivan Also thanks to Bill Hartman layout Katherine Stimson indexing Sara Gullion proof reading Mike Tanamachi cover design and my agent Carole Jelen who has the amaz ing ability to keep both publishers and authors happy About the Author With more than a million books in print David D Busch is the world s 1 selling dig ital camera guide author and the originator of popular digital photography series like David Busch Pro Secrets and David Busch Quick Snap Guides He has written fifteen hugely successful guidebooks and compact guides for Nikon digital SLR models and several dozen additional user guides for other camera models as well as many popular books devoted to dSLRs including Mastering Digital SLR Photography Third Edition and Digital SLR Pro Secrets As a roving photojournalist for more than 20 years he illus trated his books magazine articles and newspaper reports with award winning images He s operated his own commercial studio suffocated in formal dress while shooting weddings for hire and shot sports for a daily newspaper and upstate New York college His photos have been published in magazines as diverse as Scientific Amer
76. contrast If the tones are spread out more or less evenly the image is probably high in contrast In either case your best bet may be to switch to RAW if you re not already using that format so you can adjust contrast in post processing However you can also change to a user defined Picture Style setting with contrast set lower 1 to 3 or higher 1 to 3 and bright ness adjusted to 1 or 1 as required Active D Lighting can also change the apparent brightness contrast ratios as discussed in Chapter 3 One useful but often overlooked tool in evaluating histograms is the Highlight display which can be activated under Display mode in the Playback menu as described in Chapter 3 The Highlight display shows blown out highlights in the image with a black blinking border Highlights can give you a better picture of what information is being lost to overexposure In working with histograms your goal should be to have all the tones in an image spread out between the edges with none clipped off at the left and right sides Underexposing to preserve highlights should be done only as a last resort because retrieving the under exposed shadows in your image editor will frequently increase the noise even if you re working with RAW files A better course of action is to expose for the highlights but when the subject matter makes it practical fill in the shadows with additional light using reflectors fill flash or other techniques ra
77. corrected using tools like the correction tools built into Photoshop and Photoshop Elements You can see an exaggerated example in Figure 7 12 especially when you see the inward bowing of the top and bottom edges of the door Symptom low contrast from haze or fog When you re photographing distant objects a long lens shoots through a lot more atmosphere which generally is mud died up with extra haze and fog That dirt or moisture in the atmosphere can reduce contrast and mute colors Some feel that a skylight or UV filter can help but this practice is mostly a holdover from the film days Digital sensors are not sensitive enough to UV light for a UV filter to have much effect So you should be prepared to boost contrast and color saturation in your Picture Controls menu or image edi tor if necessary Chapter 7 m Working with Lenses 247 m Symptom low contrast from flare Lenses are furnished with lens hoods for a good reason to reduce flare from bright light sources at the periphery of the pic ture area or completely outside it Because telephoto lenses often create images that are lower in contrast in the first place you ll want to be especially careful to use a lens hood to prevent further effects on your image or shade the front of the lens with your hand m Symptom dark flash photos Edge to edge flash coverage isn t a problem with telephoto lenses as it is with wide angles The shooting distance is A long lens might make a su
78. dial is used to set or adjust many functions such as shutter speed either alone or when another button is depressed simultaneously You ll be using the five buttons to the left of the LCD monitor shown in Figure 2 9 quite frequently so learn their functions now LCD View your images and navigate through the menus on this screen m Playback button Press this button to review images youve taken using the con trols and options I ll explain in the next section To remove the displayed image press the Playback button again or simply tap the shutter release button Playback LCD monitor MENU ThumbnaillZoom out Help Zoom in leant 101D3100 03 45 2044 _ 1 Information 44 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m MENU button Summons exits the menu displayed on the rear LCD of the D3100 When you re working with submenus this button also serves to exit a sub menu and return to the main menu m Thumbnail Zoom out Help button In Playback mode use this button to change from full screen view to six or nine thumbnails or to zoom out I ll explain zoom ing and other playback options in the next section When viewing most menu items on the LCD pressing this button produces a concise Help screen with tips on how to make the relevant setting m Zoom in In Playback mode press to zoom in on an image m Information edit button When shooting pictures press this button to restore the shooting infor
79. each shot You can still review your images by pressing the Playback button Or leave image review on but set the display for the minimum 4 seconds with this Auto Off Timers custom command m Auto meter off delay Set to 4 seconds using Auto Off Timers if you can tolerate such a brief active time m Reduce LCD brightness In the Setup menu s LCD Brightness option select the lowest of the seven brightness settings that work for you under most conditions If you re willing to shade the LCD with your hand you can often get away with lower brightness settings outdoors which will further increase the useful life of your battery m Turn off the shooting information display You can always turn it on manually by pressing the Info button m Reduce internal flash use No flash at all or fill flash use less power than a full blast m Cancel VR Turn off vibration reduction if your lens such as the 18 55mm VR kit lens has that feature and you feel you don t need it m Use a card reader When transferring pictures from your D3100 to your computer use a card reader instead of the USB cable Linking your camera to your computer and transferring images using the cable takes longer and uses a lot more power 116 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Of course if the meters have shut off and if the power switch remains in the On posi tion you can bring the camera back to life by tapping the shutter button You can se
80. find information here that is also in the owner s manual such as the parameters you can enter when changing your D3100 s operation in the various menus Basic descriptions before I dig in and start providing in depth tips and information may also be vaguely similar There are only so many ways you can say for example Hold the shutter release down halfway to lock in exposure But not everything in the manual is included in this book If you need advice on when and how to use the most important functions you ll find the information here David Buschs Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography is aimed at both Nikon and dSLR veterans as well as newcomers to digital photography and digital SLRs Both groups can be overwhelmed by the options the D3100 offers while underwhelmed by the explanations they receive in their user s manual The manuals are great if you already know what you don t know and you can find an answer somewhere in a booklet arranged by menu listings and written by a camera vendor employee who last threw together instructions on how to operate a camcorder Once you ve read this book and are ready to learn more I hope you pick up one of my other guides to digital SLR photography Four of them are offered by Course Technology PTR each approaching the topic from a different perspective They include Introduction xvii Quick Snap Guide to Digital SLR Photography Consider this a prequel to the book youre holding
81. flash An electronic flash unit such as the Nikon SB 400 Speedlight designed to work with the automatic exposure features of a specific camera depth of field A distance range in a photograph in which all included portions of an image are at least acceptably sharp diaphragm An adjustable component similar to the iris in the human eye which can open and close to provide specific sized lens openings or f stops and thus control the amount of light reaching the sensor or film diffuse lighting Soft low contrast lighting digital processing chip A solid state device found in digital cameras that s in charge of applying the image algorithms to the raw picture data prior to storage on the mem ory card diopter A value used to represent the magnification power of a lens calculated as the reciprocal of a lens s focal length in meters Diopters are most often used to represent the optical correction used in a viewfinder to adjust for limitations of the photographer s eyesight and to describe the magnification of a close up lens attachment equivalent focal length A digital camera s focal length translated into the correspon ding values for a 35mm film camera This value can be calculated for lenses used with the Nikon D3100 by multiplying by 1 5 exchangeable image file format Exif Developed to standardize the exchange of image data between hardware devices and software A variation on JPEG Exif is used by most digital cameras a
82. for 323 1 5X teleconverters for 227 telephoto lenses for 244 spot metering 24 103 working with 160 161 sRAW files noise reduction with 167 sRGB 98 100 Standard i TTL Fill Flash 275 Standard Picture Control 83 star filter effect 133 Stegmeyer Al 5 stepping back with wide angle lenses 240 stills with Live View 204 movies and shooting 213 Sto Fen diffusers 288 stopping action See freezing action stops vs f stops 156 storage folder options Setup menu 124 125 storyboards 217 storytelling in movies 217 218 straightening with Adobe Camera Raw 307 with Retouch menu 138 streaks with long exposures 196 197 stroboscopes 191 stuck pixels 328 329 studio flash 259 M Manual mode with 165 sync speed problems with 272 working with 289 290 Subject Is Too Dark Subject Is Too Bright warning 162 Subject tracking AF 102 181 L firmware for 315 316 in Live View 181 208 209 subjects AF autofocus and 184 invisible people with long exposures 196 wide angle lenses large subjects with 240 Index 373 submenus 71 72 sunlight 266 See also daylight sunlight for movies 223 swabs for sensor cleaning 336 Sylvania color rendering index CRI 264 267 sync speed 268 272 See also first curtain sync second curtain sync slow sync mode built in flash selecting for 279 choosing sync mode 275 277 ghost images and 270 271 problems avoiding 271 272 T taking aperture 63 Tamron lense
83. for my memory cards see Figure 10 1 For my purposes EXPOSED means the same as DISCHARGED and UNEXPOSED is the equivalent of CHARGED The color coding is an additional clue as to which batteries memory cards are good to go or not ready for use a 1 ae e2GBhe Kingston Fs Update Your Firmware The camera relies on its operating system or firmware which should be updated in a reasonable fashion as new releases become available The firmware in your Nikon D3100 handles everything from menu display including fonts colors and the actual entries themselves what languages are available and even support for specific devices and features Upgrading the firmware to a new version makes it possible to add or fine tune features while fixing some of the bugs that sneak in Firmware upgrades are used most frequently to fix bugs in the software and much less frequently to add or enhance features The exact changes made to the firmware are gen erally spelled out in the firmware release announcement You can examine the reme dies provided and decide if a given firmware patch is important to you If not you can usually safely wait a while before going through the bother of upgrading your firmware at least long enough for the early adopters such as those who haunt the Digital Photography Review forums at www dpreview com to report whether the bug 314 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography fixes ha
84. if all you have as a guide is the manual furnished with the camera Help is on the way I sin cerely believe that this book is your best bet for learning how to use your new camera and for learning how to use it well If you re a Nikon D3100 owner who s looking to learn more about how to use this great camera youve probably already explored your options There are DVDs and online tutorials but who can learn how to use a camera by sitting in front of a television or computer screen Do you want to watch a movie or click on HTML links or do you want to go out and take photos with your camera Videos are fun but not the best answer There s always the manual furnished with the D3100 It s compact and filled with infor mation but comes only on a CD that s not very convenient to tote around and there s really very little about why you should use particular settings or features Its organiza tion may make it difficult to find what you need Multiple cross references may send you searching back and forth between two or three sections of the book to find what you want to know The basic manual is also hobbled by black and white line drawings and tiny monochrome pictures that aren t very good examples of what you can do xvi David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Also available are third party guides to the D3100 like this one I havent been happy with some of these guidebooks which is why I wrote this one The exi
85. imprint feature m Date The date is overlaid on your image in the bottom right corner of the frame and appears in the shooting information display If you ve turned on Auto Image Rotation the date is overlaid at the bottom right corner of vertically oriented frames Figure 3 29 The last page of Setup menu entries Figure 3 30 You can select dates in the past or future and specify whether to dis play number of days or num ber of days and months or days months and years Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 123 m Date Time Both date and time are imprinted in the same positions m Date Counter This option imprints the current date on the image but also adds the number of days that have elapsed since a particular date in the past that you specify or the days remaining until an upcoming date in the future Using the Date Counter If you re willing to have information indelibly embedded in your images the Date Counter can be a versatile feature You can specify several parameters in advance or at the time you apply the Date Counter and activate the overprinting only when you want it The parameters shown in Figure 3 30 are as follows m Off Select this from the main Date Imprint screen Choosing Off disables the imprinting of date date time and the Date Counter When disabled no date or counter information is shown regardless of how you have set the other parameters m Choose date When you enter t
86. in Figure 6 9 Using the D3100 s 218 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography FH 1920 x 1080 format or 1280 x 720 formats you are limited to relatively wide frames If you want to show how tall your subject is it s often impractical to move back far enough to show him full length You really can t capture a vertical composition Tricks like getting down on the floor and shooting up at your subject can exaggerate the perspective but aren t a perfect solution m Wasted space at the sides Moving in to frame the basketball player as outlined by the yellow box in Figure 6 9 means that you re still forced to leave a lot of empty space on either side Of course you can fill that space with other people and or interesting stuff but that defeats your intent of concentrating on your main sub ject So when faced with some types of subjects in a horizontal frame you can be creative or move in really tight For example if I was willing to give up the height Figure 6 9 Movie shooting requires you to fit all your sub jects into a hor izontally oriented frame Chapter 6 m Live View and Shooting Movies 219 aspect of my composition I could have framed the shot as shown by the green box in the figure and wasted less of the image area at either side of the subject The least attractive option is to switch to a movie recording format that has less wide screen perspective specifically 640 x 424 pixel
87. in your pictures as vignetting A hood that has a front diameter that s too large isn t stopping all the light it should Generic lens hoods may not do the job When your telephoto is a zoom lens its even more important to get the right hood because you need one that does what it is supposed to at both the wide angle and tele photo ends of the zoom range Lens hoods may be cylindrical rectangular shaped like the image frame or petal shaped that is cylindrical but with cut out areas at the cor ners that correspond to the actual image area Lens hoods should be mounted in the correct orientation a bayonet mount for the hood usually takes care of this Telephoto Converters Teleconverters often called telephoto extenders outside the Nikon world multiply the actual focal length of your lens giving you a longer telephoto for much less than the price of a lens with that actual focal length These converters fit between the lens and your camera and contain optical elements that magnify the image produced by the lens Available in 1 4X 1 7X and 2 0X configurations from Nikon a teleconverter trans forms say a 200mm lens into a 280mm 340mm or 400mm optic respectively Given the D3100 s crop factor your 200mm lens now has the same field of view as a 420mm 510mm or 600mm lens on a full frame camera At around 300 400 each convert ers are quite a bargain aren t they You can also find less expensive telephoto extenders like
88. include school and por trait photographers as well as busy commercial photographers C1 Pro is available for both Windows and Mac OS X and supports a broad range of digital cameras Phase One is a leading supplier of megabucks digital camera backs for medium and larger for mat cameras so they really understand the needs of photographers The latest features include individual noise reduction controls for each image auto matic levels adjustment a quick develop option that allows speedy conversion from RAW to TIFF or JPEG formats dual image side by side views for comparison purposes and helpful grids and guides that can be superimposed over an image Photographers concerned about copyright protection will appreciate the ability to add watermarks to the output images Bibble Pro One of my personal favorites among third party RAW converters is Bibble Pro It sup ports one of the broadest ranges of RAW file formats available which can be handy if you find yourself with the need to convert a file from a friend or colleague s non Nikon camera including NEF files from Nikon cameras dating as far back as the Nikon D1 D1x h D2H and D100 The utility supports lots of different platforms too It s avail able for Windows Mac OS X and believe it or not Linux Bibble www bibblelabs com works fast which is important when you have to convert many images in a short time event photographers will know what I am talking about Bib
89. intensify the greens of foliage or deepen the blue of the sky m Cross screen This option adds radiating star points to bright objects such as the reflection of light sources on shiny surfaces You can choose four different attrib utes of your stars Number of points You can select from four six or eight points for each star added to your image Filter amount Select from three different intensities represented by two three and four stars in the menu this doesn t reflect the actual number of stars in your image which is determined by the number of bright areas in the photo Filter angle Select from three different angles steep approximately 45 degrees and a shallower angle Length of points Three different lengths for the points can be chosen short medium and long m Soft Creates a dreamy soft focus version of your image You can compare the before and after versions using a screen much like the one used for D Lighting Color Balance This option produces the screen shown in Figure 3 36 with a preview image of your photo Use the multi selector up down green pink and left right buttons blue red to bias the color of your image in the direction of the hues shown on the color square below the preview 134 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Small Picture This Retouch menu option allows you to create small copies of full images without cropping or trimming at res
90. is mounted on a tripod you can safely use slower shut ter speeds at a relatively low ISO setting so there is no need for a speed bump m On At other times you may want to activate the feature For example if youre hand holding the camera and the D3100 set for Program P or Aperture priority A mode wants to use a shutter speed slower than say 1 30th second it s 96 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography probably a good idea to increase the ISO to avoid the effects of camera shake If youre using a telephoto lens which magnifies camera shake a shutter speed of 1 125th second or higher might be the point where an ISO bump would be a good idea In that case you can turn on the ISO Sensitivity Auto Control or remember to boost the ISO setting yourself m Maximum sensitivity If the idea of unwanted noise bothers you you can avoid using an ISO setting that s higher than you re comfortable with This parameter sets the highest ISO setting the D3100 will use in ISO Auto mode You can choose from ISO 200 400 800 1600 3200 H1 or H2 as the max ISO setting the cam era will use Use a low number if youd rather not take any photos at a high ISO without manually setting that value yourself Dial in a higher ISO number if get ting the photo at any sensitivity setting is more important than worrying about noise Minimum shutter speed You can decide the shutter speed that s your personal danger threshold
91. is taken but you can adjust the way your camera behaves Indeed if your D3100 doesn t operate in exactly the way youd like chances are you can make a small change in the Playback Shooting and Setup menus that will tailor the D3100 to your needs This chapter will help you sort out the settings for all the D3100 s menus These include the Playback and Shooting menus which determine how the D3100 displays images on review and how it uses many of its shooting features to take a photo In the section on the Setup menu you ll discover how to format a memory card set the date time and LCD brightness and do other maintenance tasks You ll learn how to use the Retouch menu to remove red eye and fix up photos right in your camera As I ve mentioned before this book isn t intended to replace the manual you received with your D3100 nor have I any interest in rehashing its contents You ll still find the original manual useful as a standby reference that lists every possible option in exhaus tive if mind numbing detail without really telling you how to use those options to take better pictures There is however some unavoidable duplication between the Nikon manual and this chapter because I m going to explain all the key menu choices and the options you may have in using them You should find though that I will give you the information you need in a much more helpful format with plenty of detail on why you should make some settings
92. is the fastest way to transfer computer using a USB cable photos 3 Insert the Secure Digital card into your memory card reader Your installed soft ware detects the files on the card and offers to transfer them The card can also appear as a mass storage device on your desktop which you can open and then drag and drop the files to your computer Using the Guide Mode Here s the Guide mode overview The Nikon D3100 is the first Nikon digital SLR to have a clever mode installed right on the mode dial in the form of the Guide mode shown in Figure 1 20 This mode gives you fast access to some of the most used commands through an easy to navigate series of screens that lead you right through accessing the functions you need to shoot view or delete your photos or set up the D3100 camera 32 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 1 20 Rotate the GUIDE MENU cee are GUIDE to use the ultra easy Guide mode l i i cient View Set up delete 509 The Guide mode doesn t really need much in the way of instructions once you rotate the mode dial to the GUIDE position you can easily figure out what you want to do by following through the menus and prompts But that s the whole idea the Guide mode is designed for absolute newbies to the Nikon D3100 who want to do simple tasks without the need to read even the abbreviated instructions provided in the manual Of course I
93. is the square rubber eyecup that comes installed on the D3100 It slides on and off the viewfinder DK 5 eyepiece cap This small piece can be clipped over the viewfinder window to prevent strong light sources from entering the viewing system when your eye is not pressed up against it potentially affecting exposure measurement That can be a special problem when the camera is mounted on a tripod because additional illu mination from the rear can make its way to the 420 segment CCD that interprets light reaching the focusing screen I pack this widget away to keep from losing it As a practical matter you ll never find it when you really need it and covering the viewfinder with your hand hover near the viewfinder window rather than touch it to avoid shaking a tripod mounted camera works almost as well Figure 1 1 Third party neck straps like this UPstrap model are often preferable to the Nikon sup plied strap 6 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m BS 1 accessory shoe cover This is a sliding plastic piece that fits into the acces sory shoe on top of the camera and protects its contents from damage You can remove it and probably lose it when you attach an optional external electronic flash to the shoe I always without fail tuck it into the same place each time in my case my right front pants pocket and have yet to lose one User manual Quick Guide In a significant departure for Nikon
94. it particularly medical grade other ingredients can leave a residue or the Eclipse solution also sold by Photographic Solutions Eclipse 2 see Figure 10 11 is actually quite a bit purer than even medical grade methanol A couple drops of solu tion should be enough unless you have a spot that s extremely difficult to remove In that case you may need to use extra solution on the swab to help soak the dirt off Once you overcome your nervousness at touching your D3100 s sensor the process is easy You ll wipe continuously with the swab in one direction then flip it over and wipe in the other direction You need to completely wipe the entire surface otherwise you may end up depositing the dust you collect at the far end of your stroke Wipe don t rub Figure 10 9 You can make your own sensor swab from a plastic Figure 10 10 Carefully wrap a Pec Pad knife that s been truncated around the swab Figure 10 11 A special sensorscope viewer can help detect any remaining dust on your sensor Figure 10 12 An illuminated magnifier like this Carson MiniBrite PO 25 is an inexpensive substitute scope that costs less than 10 Chapter 10 m Nikon D3100 Troubleshooting and Prevention 337 338 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Tape Cleaning There are people who absolutely swear by the tape method of sensor cleaning The con cept seems totally wacky and I have never tri
95. it depends on how much contrast youre dealing with If your sub ject is in shadow which can help them from squinting or wearing a ball cap a video light can help make them look a lot better Lighting choices for amateur videographers are a lot better these days than they were a decade or two ago An inexpensive shoe mount video light which will easily fit in a cam era bag can be found for 15 or 20 You can even get a good quality LED video light for less than 100 Work lights sold at many home improvement stores can also serve as video lights since you can set the camera s white balance to correct for any colorcasts Much of the challenge depends upon whether youre just trying to add some fill light on your subject versus trying to boost the light on an entire scene A small video light in the camera s hot shoe mount or on a flash bracket will do just fine for the former It wont handle the latter Creative Lighting While ramping up the light intensity will produce better technical quality in your video it wont necessarily improve the artistic quality of it Whether we re outdoors or indoors we re used to seeing light come from above Videographers need to consider how they position their lights to provide even illumination while up high enough to angle shad ows down low and out of sight of the camera When considering lighting for video there are several factors One is the quality of the light It can either be hard direct li
96. lighting you re trying to create even light ing levels throughout the video space and minimizing any shadows Generally the lights are placed up high and angled downward or possibly pointed straight up to bounce off of a white ceiling Ghoul lighting This is the style of lighting used for old horror movies The idea is to position the light down low pointed upwards It s such an unnatural style of lighting that it makes its targets seem weird and bizarre Outdoor lighting While shooting outdoors may seem easier because the sun pro vides more light it also presents its own problems As a general rule of thumb keep the sun behind you when youre shooting video outdoors except when shooting faces anything from a medium shot and closer since the viewer wont want to see a squinting subject When shooting another human this way put the sun behind them and use a video light to balance light levels between the foreground and back ground If the sun is simply too bright position the subject in the shade and use the video light for your main illumination Using reflectors white board panels or aluminum foil covered cardboard panels are cheap options can also help balance light effectively On camera lighting While not technically a lighting style this method is com monly used A hot shoe mounted light provides direct lighting in the same direc tion the lens is pointing It s commonly used at weddings events and in photo
97. more than 16 lenses with built in vibration reduction VR capabilities I probably shouldn t have mentioned a specific number because I expect another half dozen or so new VR lenses to be introduced rather early in the life of this book 254 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography The VR feature uses lens elements that are shifted internally in response to vertical or horizontal motion of the lens which compensates for any camera shake in those direc tions Vibration reduction is particularly effective when used with telephoto lenses which magnify the effects of camera and photographer motion However VR can be useful for lenses of shorter focal lengths such as Nikon s 16 85mm 18 105mm and 18 55mm VR lenses Other Nikon VR lenses provide stabilization with zooms that are as wide as 24mm Vibration reduction offers two to three shutter speed increments worth of shake reduc tion Nikon claims a four stop gain which I feel may be optimistic This extra mar gin can be invaluable when youre shooting under dim lighting conditions or hand holding a lens for say wildlife photography Perhaps that shot of a foraging deer would require a shutter speed of 1 2 000th second at f 5 6 with your AF S VR Zoom Nikkor 200 400mm f 4G IF ED lens Relax You can shoot at 1 250th second at f 11 and get a photo that is just as sharp as long as the deer doesn t decide to bound off Or perhaps youre shooting indoors and would
98. mounted or taped in front of your flash with ease Figure 8 4 Electronic flash can freeze almost any action 264 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Continuous Lighting Basics While continuous lighting and its effects are generally much easier to visualize and use than electronic flash there are some factors you need to take into account particularly the color temperature of the light Color temperature concerns aren t exclusive to con tinuous light sources of course but the variations tend to be more extreme and less pre dictable than those of electronic flash which output relatively consistent daylight like illumination Color temperature in practical terms is how bluish or how reddish the light appears to be to the digital camera s sensor Indoor illumination is quite warm comparatively and appears reddish to the sensor Daylight in contrast seems much bluer to the sen sor Our eyes our brains actually are quite adaptable to these variations so white objects don t appear to have an orange tinge when viewed indoors nor do they seem excessively blue outdoors in full daylight Yet these color temperature variations are real and the sensor is not fooled To capture the most accurate colors we need to take the color temperature into account in setting the color balance or white balance of the D3100 either automatically using the camera s smarts or manually using our own kn
99. of air are likely to force dust under the sensor filter and possibly damage some internal parts Figure 10 8 A proper brush such as this model with a grounding strap is required for dusting off your sensor Chapter 10 m Nikon D3100 Troubleshooting and Prevention 335 Brush Cleaning If your dust is a little more stubborn and can t be dislodged by air alone you may want to try a brush charged with static electricity which can pick off dust spots by electrical attraction One good but expensive option is the sensor brush sold at www visible dust com A cheaper version can be purchased at www copperhillimages com You need a 16mm version like the one shown in Figure 10 8 which can be stroked across the short dimension of your D3100 s sensor Ordinary artist s brushes are much too coarse and stiff and have fibers that are tangled or can come loose and settle on your sensor A good sensor brush s fibers are resilient and described as thinner than a human hair Moreover the brush has a wooden han dle that reduces the risk of static sparks Check out my Digital SLR Pro Secrets book if you want to make a sensor brush or sensor swabs yourself Brush cleaning is done with a dry brush by gently swiping the surface of the sensor fil ter with the tip The dust particles are attracted to the brush particles and cling to them You should clean the brush with compressed air before and after each use and store it in an
100. of my photos with another camera Before tackling this book it would be helpful for you to understand the following m What a digital SLR is It s a camera that shows an optical not LCD view of the picture that s being taken through the interchangeable lens that actually takes the photo thanks to a mirror that reflects an image to a viewfinder but flips up out of the way to allow the sensor to be exposed Today such cameras also offer an optional Live View feature if you want to preview your images on the LCD especially when prepping to shoot movies How digital photography differs from film The image is stored not on film which I call the first write once optical media but on a memory card as pixels that can be transferred to your computer and then edited corrected and printed with out the need for chemical processing m What the basic tools of correct exposure are Dont worry if you don t understand these IIl explain them later in this book But if you already know something about shutter speed aperture and ISO sensitivity you ll be ahead of the game If not you ll soon learn that shutter speed determines the amount of time the sensor is exposed to incoming light the f stop or aperture is like a valve that governs the quantity of light that can flow through the lens the sensor s sensitivity ISO set ting controls how easily the sensor responds to light All three factors can be var ied individually and proporti
101. on the Nikon D3000 D3100 D40 D40x D5000 or D60 which all lack the camera body motor The D means that it s a D type lens described later in this listing the I indicates that focus is through a motor inside the lens and the S means that a super special Silent Wave motor in the lens provides focusing Don t confuse a Nikon AF S lens with the AF S Single Servo Autofocus mode Nikon is currently upgrading its older AF lenses with AF S versions but it s not safe to assume that all newer Nikkors are AF S or even offer autofocus For example the PC E Nikkor 24mm f 3 5D ED perspective control lens must be focused manually and Nikon offers a surprising collection of other manual focus lenses to meet specialized needs AI AI S All Nikkor lenses produced after 1977 have either automatic aperture indexing AI or automatic indexing shutter AI S features that eliminate the pre vious requirement to manually align the aperture ring on the camera when mount ing a lens Within a few years all Nikkors had this automatic aperture indexing feature except for G type lenses which have no aperture ring at all including Nikon s budget priced Series E lenses so the designation was dropped at the time the first autofocus AF lenses were introduced m E The E designation was used for Nikon s budget priced E Series optics five prime and three zoom manual focus lenses built using aluminum or plastic parts rather than the preferred bras
102. on your television and the white RCA plug to the white audio RCA jack on your TV It s likely that your TV has both white and red coded RCA jacks for stereo sound if your TV doesn t have a monaural setting you can buy a y connector to send audio from the camera to both jacks so sound will come from both speakers The Nikon D3100 s Business End The back panel of the Nikon D3100 see Figure 2 7 bristles with almost a dozen dif ferent controls buttons and knobs That might seem like a lot of controls to learn but youll find that it s a lot easier to press a dedicated button and spin a dial than to jump to a menu every time you want to access one of these features You can see the controls clustered along the top edge of the back panel in Figure 2 8 The key buttons and com ponents and their functions are as follows m Viewfinder eyecup eyepiece You can frame your composition by peering into the viewfinder It s surrounded by a soft rubber eyecup that seals out extraneous light when pressing your eye tightly up to the viewfinder and it also protects your eye glass lenses if worn from scratching It can be removed and replaced by the DK 5 eyepiece cap when you use the camera on a tripod to ensure that light coming from the back of the camera doesn t venture inside and possibly affect the exposure reading Shielding the viewfinder with your hand may be more convenient unless youre using the self timer to get in the photo your
103. other toning effects on the other hand all add a color cast to your monochrome image Use these when you want an old time look or a special effect without bothering to recolor your shots in an image editor You can see toning effects at right in Figure 3 14 Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 87 i 2a Figure 3 14 Left set No filter upper left Yellow filter upper right Green filter lower left and Red filter lower right Right set Sepia upper left Blue upper right Green lower right and Purple lower left Image Quality You can choose the image quality settings used by the D3100 to store its files The quick est way to do that is with the information edit screen You can also use this menu option if you prefer There is no real advantage to using this menu instead of the information edit screen You have two choices to make Level of JPEG compression To reduce the size of your image files and allow more photos to be stored on a given memory card the D3100 uses JPEG compression to squeeze the images down to a smaller size This compacting reduces the image quality a little so youre offered your choice of Fine a 1 4 reduction Normal 1 8 reduction and Basic 1 16 compression You can see examples of the results of compression in Figure 3 15 I ll explain more about JPEG compression later in this section 88 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography ceegr E
104. power is low at 10 33 meters feet for ISO 100 as you might expect for a unit used to photograph subjects that are often inches from the camera It has a fixed coverage angle of 78 degrees horizontal and 60 degrees vertical but the flash head tilts down to 60 degrees and up to 45 degrees with detents every 15 degrees in both directions In this case up and down has a differ ent meaning because the SB R200 can be mounted on the SX 1 Attachment Ring mounted around the lens so the pair of flash units are on the sides and titled toward or away from the optical axis It supports i TTL D TTL TTL for film cameras and Manual modes Flash Techniques This next section will discuss using specific features of the Nikon D3100 s built in flash as well as those of the Nikon dedicated external flash units It s not possible to discuss every feature and setting of the external flash units in this chapter entire books have been written to do that so Pll simply provide an overview here Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 283 Using the Zoom Head External flash zoom heads can adjust themselves automatically to match lens focal lengths in use reported by the D3100 to the flash unit or you can adjust the zoom head position manually With flash units prior to the SB 900 and SB 700 automatic zoom adjustment wasted some of your flash s power because the flash unit assumed that the focal length reported comes from a full frame
105. prefer to shoot at 1 15th second at f 4 Your 16mm 85mm VR lens can grab the shot for you at its wide angle position However consider these facts m VR doesn t freeze subject motion Vibration reduction won t freeze moving sub jects in their tracks because it is effective only at compensating for camera motion It s best used in reduced illumination to steady the up down swaying of telephoto lenses and to improve close up photography If your subject is in motion you ll still need a shutter speed that s fast enough to stop the action m VR adds to shutter lag The process of adjusting the lens elements like autofocus takes time so vibration reduction may contribute to a slight increase in shutter lag If you re shooting sports that delay may be annoying but I still use my VR lenses for sports all the time m Use when appropriate You may find that your results are worse when using VR while panning although newer Nikon VR lenses work fine when the camera is deliberately moved from side to side during exposure Older lenses can confuse the panning motion with camera wobble and provide too much compensation You might want to switch off VR when panning or when your camera is mounted on a tripod Do you need VR at all Remember that an inexpensive monopod might be able to provide the same additional steadiness as a VR lens at a much lower cost If you re out in the field shooting wild animals or flowers and think a tripod isn t p
106. recommend using a card reader attached to your computer to transfer files because that process is generally a lot faster and doesn t drain the D3100 s battery However you can also use a cable for direct transfer an extra cost option because Nikon no longer includes a USB cable in the box which may be your only option when you have the cable and a computer but no card reader perhaps you re using the computer of a friend or colleague or at an Internet caf To transfer images from the camera to a Mac or PC computer using the USB cable 1 Turn off the camera 2 Pry back the cover that protects the D3100 s USB port and plug the USB cable furnished with the camera into the USB port See Figure 1 18 3 Connect the other end of the USB cable to a USB port on your computer 4 Turn on the camera The operating system itself or installed software such as Nikon Transfer or Adobe Photoshop Elements Transfer usually detects the camera and offers to copy or move the pictures Or the camera appears on your desktop as a mass storage device enabling you to drag and drop the files to your computer To transfer images from a Secure Digital card to the computer using a card reader as shown in Figure 1 19 do the following 1 Turn off the camera 2 Slide open the memory card door and remove the SD card Chapter 1 m Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 31 Figure 1 18 Images can be transferred to your Figure 1 19 A card reader
107. review so the folks behind you aren t hit with a blast of light from that luminous 3 inch LCD every time you take a picture This menu operation allows you to choose which mode to use m On At this default setting image review is automatic after every shot is taken m Off Images are displayed only when you press the Playback button 76 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Rotate Tall When you rotate the D3100 to photograph vertical subjects in portrait tall rather than landscape wide orientation you probably don t want to view them tilted onto their sides later on either on the camera LCD or within your image viewing editing application on your computer The D3100 is way ahead of you It has a directional sen sor built in that can detect whether the camera was rotated when the photo was taken and hide this information in the image file itself The orientation data is applied in two different ways It can be used by the D3100 to automatically rotate images when they are displayed on the cameras LCD monitor or you can ignore the data and let the images display in non rotated fashion so you have to rotate the camera to view them in their proper orientation Your image editing appli cation such as Adobe Photoshop Elements can also use the embedded file data to auto matically rotate images on your computer screen But either feature works only if you ve told the D3100 to place orientation information in
108. sensitivity settings EJ Active D Lighting Table 3 1 Values Reset Setting Default Value Picture Controls Varies by Picture Control Focus Point Center Flexible Program Off AE L AF L Hold Off Focus Mode Viewfinder Auto servo AF Single servo AF Live View Movie Flash Modes Front Curtain Sync for Program Aperture priority Shutter priority Manual modes Auto Front Curtain Sync for Auto Portrait Child Close Up Slow Sync for Night Portrait Exposure Compensation Off Flash Compensation Off Figure 3 11 You can choose from the six predefined Picture Controls Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 83 Set Picture Control The pictures you take with your D3100 can be individually fine tuned in an image edi tor of course but you can also choose certain kinds of adjustments that are made to every picture as you shoot using the camera s Picture Controls options While there are only six predefined styles offered Standard Neutral Vivid Monochrome Portrait and Landscape you can edit the settings of any of those styles but not rename them so they better suit your taste In Set Picture Controls available only in P S A and M modes choose from one of the predefined styles and follow these steps 1 Choose Set Picture Control from the Shooting menu The screen shown in Figure 3 11 appears Note that Picture Controls that have been modified from their stan dard settings have an asterisk next to their
109. switch You understand basic pho tography and want to learn more And most of all you want to transfer the skills you already have to the Nikon D3100 as quickly and seamlessly as possible Pro photographers and other advanced shooters I expect my most discerning readers will be those who already have extensive experience with Nikon intermedi ate and pro level cameras I may not be able to teach you folks much about pho tography But even so an amazing number of D3100 cameras have been purchased by those who feel it is a good complement to their favorite advanced dSLR Others like myself own a camera like the Nikon D300s and find that the D3100 fills a specific niche incredibly well and is useful as a backup camera because the D3100 s 10 megapixel images are often just as good as those produced by more advanced models You pros and semi pros despite your depth of knowledge should find this book useful for learning about the features the D3100 has that your previous cam eras lack or implement in a different way Introduction xxi Who Am I After spending years as the world s most successful unknown author I ve become slightly less obscure in the past few years thanks to a horde of camera guidebooks and other photographically oriented tomes You may have seen my photography articles in Popular Photography amp Imaging magazine I ve also written about 2 000 articles for magazines like Petersens PhotoGraphic which is
110. that I use in this book and my previous camera guidebooks I provide you with many different views like the one shown in Figure 2 1 and lots of explanation accompanying each zone of the camera so that by the time you finish this chapter you ll have a basic understand ing of every control and what it does Pm not going to delve into menu functions here youll find a discussion of your setup shooting and playback menu options in Chapter 3 Everything here is devoted to the button pusher and dial twirler in you You ll also find this roadmap chapter a good guide to the rest of the book as well Pll try to provide as much detail here about the use of the main controls as I can but some topics such as autofocus and exposure are too complex to address in depth right away So l Il point you to the relevant chapters that discuss things like setup options exposure use of electronic flash and working with lenses with the occasional cross reference I wish it were possible to explain all there is to know about every feature the first time a feature is introduced but I know you d rather not slog through an impenetrable 93100 Figure 2 1 Chapter 2 m Nikon D3100 Roadmap 37 200 page chapter Instead I m going to provide you with just enough information about each control to get you started and go into more detail after you ve had a chance to absorb the basics Nikon D3100 Front View This is the side of the D3100 seen by y
111. that an exposure compensation change has been entered You can increase or decrease exposure over a range of plus or minus five stops Chapter 4 m Fine Tuning Exposure 165 Manual Exposure Part of being an experienced photographer comes from knowing when to rely on your D3100 s automation with scene modes or P mode when to go semi automatic with S or A and when to set exposure manually using M Some photographers actually prefer to set their exposure manually as the D3100 will be happy to provide an indi cation of when its metering system judges your manual settings provide the proper exposure using the analog exposure scale at the bottom of the viewfinder and on the status LCD Manual exposure can come in handy in some situations You might be taking a silhou ette photo and find that none of the exposure modes or EV correction features give you exactly the effect you want Set the exposure manually to use the exact shutter speed and f stop you need Or you might be working in a studio environment using multi ple flash units The additional flash units are triggered by slave devices gadgets that set off the flash when they sense the light from another flash or perhaps from a radio or infrared remote control Your camera s exposure meter doesn t compensate for the extra illumination so you need to set the aperture manually Although depending on your proclivities you might not need to set exposure manu ally very ofte
112. the Nikon D100 and digital cameras that are compatible with CLS including the D3100 Groups I through VII which support various combina tions of features consist of various film SLRs You can ignore those options unless you re using your external flash with an older film camera The TTL automatic flash modes available for the SB 900 are as follows m AA Auto Aperture flash The SB 900 uses a built in light sensor to measure the amount of flash illumination reflected back from the subject and adjusts the out put to produce an appropriate exposure based on the ISO aperture focal length and flash compensation values set on the D3100 This setting on the flash can be used with the D3100 in Program or Aperture priority modes m A Non TTL auto flash The SB 900 s sensor measures the flash illumination reflected back from the subject and adjusts the output to provide an appropriate exposure This setting on the flash can be used when the D3100 is set to Aperture priority or Manual modes You can use this setting to manually bracket exposures as adjusting the aperture value of the lens will produce more or less exposure 284 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m GN Distance priority manual You enter a distance value and the SB 900 adjusts light output based on distance ISO and aperture to produce the right exposure in either Aperture priority or Manual exposure modes Press the Mode button on the f
113. the current settings for any of these and the other settings visible on the shooting information screen and then press the infor mation edit button use the multi selector directional buttons to navigate to the entry you want to use press OK and make your change in a few seconds Using the equiva lent Shooting menu entries usually takes a little longer This section explains the options of the Shooting menu and how to use them The options you ll find in these green coded menus include m Reset Shooting Options m Color Space m Set Picture Control m Noise Reduction m Image Quality m AF Area Mode m Image Size m AF Assist m White Balance m Metering m ISO Sensitivity m Movie Settings m Active D Lighting m Built in Flash m Auto Distortion Control Reset Shooting Options If you select Yes the Shooting menu settings shown in Table 3 1 will be set to their default values It has no effect on the settings in other menus or any of the other cam era settings You d want to use this Reset option when you ve made a bunch of changes say while playing around with them as you read this chapter and now want to put them back to the factory defaults Your choices are Yes and No 82 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography SHOOTING MENU ae shooting set tings can be changed in this D Reset shooting options men Set Picture Control T Image quality G4 Image size White balance ISO
114. the display has the end points reversed and G M axis at 0 0 You can use the multi selector s up down and right left buttons to move the cursor to any coordinate in the grid thereby biasing the white balance in the direction s you choose The amber blue axis makes the image warmer or colder but not actually yel low or blue Similarly the green magenta axis preserves all the colors in the original image but gives them a tinge biased toward green or magenta Each increment equals about five mired units but you should know that mired values aren t linear five mireds at 2 500K produces a much stronger effect than five mireds at 6 000K If you really want to fine tune your color balance you re better off experimenting and evaluating the results of a particular change Figure 3 18 Specific white balance settings can be fine tuned by changing their bias in the amber blue magenta green directions or along both axes simultaneously Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 93 P White balance Incandescent G hs lt N24 When you ve fine tuned white balance an asterisk appears next to the white balance icon in both the Shooting menu and shooting information screen shown on the LCD as a tip off that this tweaking has taken place Using Preset Manual White Balance If automatic white balance or one of the predefined settings available arent suitable you can set a custom white balance using the Preset Manual menu
115. the image file so it can be retrieved when the image is displayed You must set Auto Image Rotation to On in the Setup menu Pll show you how to do that later in this chapter Once you ve done that the D3100 will embed information about orientation in the image file and both your D3100 and your image editor can rotate the images for you as the files are displayed This menu choice deals only with whether the image should be rotated when displayed on the camera LCD monitor If you de activate this option your image editing software can still read the embedded rotation data and properly display your images When Rotate Tall is turned off the Nikon D3100 does not rotate pictures taken in vertical orientation displaying them as shown in Figure 3 6 The image is large on your LCD screen but you must rotate the camera to view it upright When Rotate Tall is turned on the D3100 rotates pictures taken in vertical orientation on the LCD screen so you don t have to turn the camera to view them comfortably However this orientation also means that the longest dimension of the image is shown using the shortest dimension of the LCD so the picture is reduced in size as you can see in Figure 3 7 So turn this feature On as well as Auto Image Rotation in the Setup menu if you d rather not turn your camera to view vertical shots in their natural orientation and don t mind the smaller image Turn the feature Off if as I do youd rather see a lar
116. the left right buttons to decrease or increase the effects A line will appear under the original setting in the slider whenever you ve made a change from the defaults 3 Standard Quick adjust Sharpening Contrast Saturation Hue Grid KOK 7 Reset Figure 3 12 Sliders can be used to make quick adjust ments to your Picture Control styles Figure 3 13 This grid shows the relationship of the Picture Controls being used Amount of contrast Picture control using Auto contrast or saturation User defined Picture Control Amount of saturation Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 85 6 Instead of making changes with the slider s scale you can move the cursor to the far left and choose A for auto instead when working with the Sharpening Contrast and Saturation sliders The D3100 will adjust these parameters auto matically depending on the type of scene it detects 7 Press the Trash button to reset the values to their defaults 8 Press the Zoom in button to view an adjustment grid discussed next 9 Press OK when youre finished making adjustments Editing the Monochrome style is similar except that the parameters differ slightly Sharpening and Contrast are available but instead of Saturation and Hue you can choose a filter effect Yellow Orange Red Green or none and choose a toning effect black and white plus seven levels of Sepia Cyanotype Red Yellow Green Blue Green
117. the main dial The amount of compensation from 1 0 to 3 0EV is displayed on the shooting information screen m Use the information edit screen You can also choose sync mode and flash com pensation using the information edit screen Press the Info button twice navigate to the function you want to adjust press OK and use the up down buttons to enter the value 280 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Set color temperature The D3100 s Auto color temperature setting will adjust for the built in flash nicely But there might be times when you want to set the color temperature manually For example you might be shooting under incandescent illumination and have put an orange gel over your internal or external flash so both light sources match You d want to set the color temperature manually to incan descent Or you might want to use an odd ball setting as a special effect Use the information edit screen to adjust the color temperature to Flash Incandescent or any of the other choices as described in Chapter 2 Because the built in flash draws its power from the D3100 s battery extensive use will reduce the power available to take pictures For that reason alone use of an external flash unit can be a good idea when you plan to take a lot of flash pictures Nikon SB 900 The Nikon SB 900 see Figure 8 12 is currently the flagship of the Nikon flash line up and has a guide number of 34 111 5 meters fee
118. the major reasons to select Program Aperture priority Shutter priority or Manual exposure instead In P A S and M exposure modes select the metering mode you want to use Matrix Center weighted or Spot by rotating the metering method dial immediately to the right of the viewfinder window Here is what you need to know about each metering method Matrix Metering For its Matrix metering mode the D3100 slices up the frame into 420 different zones arrayed in 10 rows of 42 columns that cover most of the sensor area shown in Figure 4 9 When Matrix metering is active its icon shown as an overlay at the upper left cor ner of the figure appears on the top panel monochrome LCD control panel In all cases the D3100 evaluates the differences between the zones and compares them with a built in database of several hundred thousand images to make an educated guess about what kind of picture youre taking For example if the top sections of a picture are much lighter than the bottom portions the algorithm can assume that the scene is 158 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography a landscape photo with lots of sky An image that includes most of the lighter portions in the center area may be a portrait The Nikon D3100 also uses information other than brightness to make its evaluation m 3D Color Matrix metering II This metering mode is used by default when the D3100 is equipped with a lens that has a type
119. the one shown in Figure 7 14 from third party suppliers att Tamron SP AF qeLecoNi Figure 7 14 Teleconverters multiply the true focal length of your lenses but at a cost of some sharpness and aperture speed Chapter 7 m Working with Lenses 251 The only drawback is that Nikon s own TC II and TC II teleconverters can be used only with a limited number of Nikkor AF S lenses The compatible models include the 200mm f 2G ED IF AF S VR Nikkor 300mm f 2 8G ED IF AF S VR Nikkor 400mm f 2 8D ED IF AF S II Nikkor 80 200mm f 2 8D ED IF AF S 70 200mm f 2 8G ED IF AF S VR Zoom Nikkor 200 400mm f 4G ED IF AF S VR Zoom Nikkor 300mm f 4D ED IF AF S Nikkor 500mm f 4D ED IF AF S II Nikkor and 600mm f 4D ED IF AF S II Nikkor These tend to be pricey or ultra pricey lenses Teleconverters from Sigma Kenko Tamron and others cost less and may be compat ible with a broader range of lenses They work especially well with lenses from the same vendor that produces the teleconverter There are other downsides While extenders retain the closest focusing distance of your original lens autofocus is maintained only if the lens s original maximum aperture is f 4 or larger for the 1 4X extender or f 2 8 or larger for the 2X extender The com ponents reduce the effective aperture of any lens they are used with by one f stop with the 1 4X converter 1 5 f stops with the 1 7X converter and two f stops with the 2X extender So you
120. the scene modes Guide mode if you need help choosing a scene mode or other feature or spin the mode dial to Program P Aperture priority A or Shutter priority S and shoot away The D3100 is truly a smart camera If you prefer you can also fine tune how the camera applies its automatic settings or you can make them yourself manually The amount of control you have over exposure sensitivity ISO settings color balance focus and image parameters like sharpness and contrast make the D3100 a versatile tool for creating images That s why I include an entire chapter on exposure in my books As you learn to use your D3100 creatively youre going to find that the right settings as determined by the camera s exposure meter and intelligence need to be adjusted to account for your creative decisions or special situations For example when you shoot with the main light source behind the subject you end up with backlighting which can result in an overexposed background and or an under exposed subject The Nikon D3100 recognizes backlit situations nicely thanks to an exposure sensor that measures 420 different zones in the frame and can properly base exposure on the main subject producing a decent photo Features like D Lighting dis cussed in Chapter 3 can fine tune exposure to preserve detail in the highlights and shadows 148 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography But what if your goal is to u
121. the three modes are as follows m Matrix metering The standard metering mode the D3100 attempts to intelli gently classify your image and choose the best exposure based on readings from a 420 segment color CCD sensor that interprets light reaching the viewfinder using a database of hundreds of thousands of patterns m Center weighted averaging metering The D3100 meters the entire scene but gives the most emphasis to the central area of the frame measuring about 8mm in diameter m Spot metering Exposure is calculated from a smaller 3 5 mm central spot about 2 5 percent of the image area 104 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Movie Settings The Movie Settings entry has two parts Quality and Audio You have the following choices m Quality Choose from 1920 x 1080 resolution at 24 frames per second 23 976 fps 1280 x 720 resolution at 30 29 97 fps 25 fps or 24 23 976 fps or 640 x 424 resolution at 24 23 976 fps m Audio Use On to record movies with monaural sound If you want silent movies or plan to add your own narration music or soundtrack later or are working in a very noisy environment with lousy ambient sound use the Off setting Built In Flash This setting is used to adjust the features of the Nikon D3100 s built in pop up elec tronic flash or the optional Nikon SB 400 add on flash unit which fits in the acces sory shoe on top of the camera Its settings are in force whe
122. the warning Job nr appears in the viewfinder Noise pixels that are bright in a frame that should be completely black in the dark frame image is subtracted from your original picture and only the noise corrected image is saved to your memory card Because the noise reduction process effectively doubles the time required to take a picture you won t want to use this setting when youre rushed Some noise can be removed later on using tools like Bibble Pro or the noise reduction features built into Nikon Capture NX Figure 3 22 A long exposure with the camera mounted on a tripod produces this traditional waterfall photo 102 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography AF Area Mode This entry is a duplication of the autofocus area mode options in the information edit menu as described in Chapter 1 but with the addition of options for choosing an aut ofocus zone when using Live View too You ll find more about autofocus and focus modes in Chapter 5 When you select this entry you ll be given a choice of Viewfinder and Live View Movie modes To recap the four choices when using the viewfinder to compose your images are as follows Single point You always choose which of the eleven points are used and the Nikon D3100 sticks with that focus bracket no matter what This mode is best for non moving subjects m Dynamic area You can choose which of the eleven focus zones to use but the D3100 will switch to a
123. to fry your camera s circuitry You ll find more information on this and recommendations for a voltage isolator to prevent problems later in this chapter m Wireless link An external Nikon electronic flash can be triggered by another Master flash such as the Nikon SB 900 in Commander mode or by the SU 800 infrared unit More Advanced Lighting Techniques As you advance in your Nikon D3100 photography you ll want to learn more sophis ticated lighting techniques using more than just straight on flash or using just a sin gle flash unit Entire books have been written on lighting techniques check out David Busch s Quick Snap Guide to Lighting Tm going to provide a quick introduction to some of the techniques you should be considering 286 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Diffusing and Softening the Light Direct light can be harsh and glaring especially if you re using the flash built in to your camera or an auxiliary flash mounted in the hot shoe and pointed directly at your sub ject The first thing you should do is stop using direct light unless you re looking for a stark contrasty appearance as a creative effect There are a number of simple things you can do with both continuous and flash illumination m Use window light Light coming in a window can be soft and flattering and a good choice for human subjects Move your subject close enough to the window that its light provides the p
124. two color gamuts define a specific set of colors that can be applied to the images your D3100 captures Youre probably surprised that the Nikon D3100 doesn t automatically capture a the colors we see Unfortunately that s impossible because of the limitations of the sensor and the filters used to capture the fundamental red green and blue colors as well as SHOOTING MENU Figure 3 20 Distortion Control is the first entry on Eri ee re Auto distortion control heen TA BA Z Color space ae Noise reduction AF area mode AF assist Metering Movie settings Figure 3 21 The outer figure shows all the colors we can see the two inner outlines show the bound aries of Adobe RGB black tri angle and sRGB white triangle Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 99 that of the phosphors used to display those colors on your camera and computer mon itors Nor is it possible to printevery color our eyes detect because the inks or pigments used don t absorb and reflect colors perfectly Instead the colors that can be reproduced by a given device are represented as a color space that exists within the full range of colors we can see That full range is represented by the odd shaped splotch of color shown in Figure 3 21 as defined by scientists at an international organization back in 1931 The colors possible with Adobe RGB are rep resented by the larger black triangle in the figure while the sRGB gamut is
125. various menus is easy and follows a consistent set of rules m Press MENU to start Press the MENU button to display the main menu screens m Navigate with the multi selector pad The multi selector pad located to the right of the LCD has indents at the up down left right positions Press these buttons to navigate among the menu selections Press the left button to move highlighting to the left column then press the up down buttons to scroll up or down among the five top level menus Highlighting indicates active choice As each top level menu is highlighted its icon will first change from black and white to yellow amber white and black As you use the multi selector s right button to move into the column containing that menu choices you can then use the up down buttons to scroll among the indi vidual entries See Figure 3 2 If more than one screen full of choices is available a scroll bar appears at the far right of the screen with a position slider showing the relative position of the currently highlighted entry Select a menu item To work with a highlighted menu entry press the OK button in the center of the multi selector on the back of the D3100 or just press the right button on the multi selector Any additional screens of choices will appear like the one you can see in Figure 3 3 You can move among them using the same multi selector movements PLAYBACK MEN gt SAME Py Delete Playback folder T Display
126. ve also been used for photographic illumination The other qualities of this type of lighting such as contrast are dependent on the dis tance of the lamp from the subject type of reflectors used and other factors that PH explain later in this chapter Fluorescent Light Other Light Sources Fluorescent light has some advantages in terms of illumination but some disadvantages from a photographic standpoint This type of lamp generates light through an electro chemical reaction that emits most of its energy as visible light rather than heat which is why the bulbs dont get as hot The type of light produced varies depending on the phosphor coatings and type of gas in the tube So the illumination fluorescent bulbs produce can vary widely in its characteristics That s not great news for photographers Different types of lamps have different color temperatures that can t be precisely measured in degrees Kelvin because the light isn t produced by heating Worse fluorescent lamps have a discontinuous spectrum of light that can have some colors missing entirely A particular type of tube can lack certain shades of red or other colors see Figure 8 6 which is why fluorescent lamps and other alternative technologies such as sodium vapor illumination can produce ghastly look ing human skin tones if the white balance isn t set correctly Their spectra can lack the reddish tones we associate with healthy skin and emphasize the blues a
127. which focus points are selected is your key to success Using the wrong mode for a particular type of photography can lead to a series of pictures that are all sharply focused on the wrong subject When I first started shooting sports with an autofocus SLR back in the film camera days I covered one game alternating between shots of base runners and outfielders with pic tures of a promising young pitcher all from a position next to the third base dugout The base runner and outfielder photos were great because their backgrounds didn t dis tract the autofocus mechanism But all my photos of the pitcher had the focus tightly zeroed in on the fans in the stands behind him Because I was shooting film instead of a digital camera I didn t know about my gaffe until the film was developed A simple change such as locking in focus or focus zone manually or even manually focusing would have done the trick There are two main autofocus options you need to master to make sure you get the best possible automatic focus with your Nikon D3100 Autofocus mode and Autofocus Area Pll explain each of them separately Autofocus Mode This choice determines when your D3100 starts to autofocus and what it does when focus is achieved Automatic focus is not something that happens all the time when your camera is turned on To save battery power your D3100 generally doesn t start to focus the lens until you partially depress the shutter release You can
128. wide angle on a D700 but functions more as a moderate wide angle to normal lens on a D3100 To get the look on both cameras you d need to use a 12 24mm zoom on the D3100 and the 17 35mm zoom on the D700 It s possible to become accustomed to this field of view shake up and indeed some photographers put it to work by mounting their longest telephoto lens on the D3100 and their wide angle lenses on their full frame camera Even if you ve never owned both an FX and DX camera you should be aware of the possible confusion Chapter 7 m Working with Lenses 229 Your First Lens Some Nikon dSLRs are almost always purchased with a lens The entry and mid level Nikon dSLRs including the Nikon D3100 are often bought by those new to digital photography frequently by first time SLR or dSLR owners who find the AF S DX Nikkor 18 105mm f 3 5 5 6G ED VR or AF S DX Zoom Nikkor 18 55mm 3 5 5 6G ED II both with vibration reduction irresistible bargains Other Nikon models including the Nikon D300 D700 and D3 D3x are generally purchased without a lens by veteran Nikon photographers who already have a complement of optics to use with their cameras I bought my D3100 with the 18 55mm VR lens even though I already had a large collection of lenses because the VR was an attractive feature and the lens is perfect to mount on the camera when I loan it to family members who have little photographic experience Depending on which category of ph
129. with 101 Neutral Picture Control 83 Newton Isaac 261 Night Portrait mode 20 22 built in flash in 29 flash sync modes in 277 Guide mode for 33 in Live View 210 Nik Software s U Point technology 301 Nikon Camera Control Pro 7 296 computer shooting from 204 Nikon Capture NX 9 296 auto image rotation with 113 image comments with 112 Image Dust Off option 114 lens distortion correction with 242 Nikon ViewNX with 296 297 noise reduction feature 101 overriding settings with 89 WB white balance adjusting 265 working with 300 302 Nikon D3100 camera back view of 41 45 bottom view of 64 front view of 37 41 Nikon GP 1 geotagging unit 199 201 Nikon SB R200 Speedlight 281 Nikon SB 400 Speedlight 280 281 Nikon SB 700 Speedlight 280 281 Nikon SB 900 Speedlight L firmware and 317 overheating of 284 Sto Fen diffusers with 288 with telephoto lenses 247 TTL through the lens flash modes for 283 284 typical flash sequence 278 279 vignetting avoiding 243 working with 280 281 zoom heads with 283 Nikon SU 800 commander unit 284 285 Nikon Transfer 6 Nikon ViewNX with 296 297 working with 298 300 Nikon ViewNX 6 auto image rotation with 113 geotagging information accessing 199 image comments with 112 working with 296 297 Nikonos cameras 236 Nixon Richard 193 noise dealing with 166 167 high ISO noise 100 101 166 167 long exposure noise 100 101 166 167 pixel density a
130. with flash non flash pictures wont be available for selection After you ve selected the picture to process press OK The image will be displayed on the LCD You can magnify the image with the Zoom in button scroll around the zoomed image with the multi selector buttons and zoom out with the Zoom out button While zoomed you can cancel the zoom by pressing the OK button When you are finished examining the image press OK again The D3100 will look for red eye and if detected create a copy that has been processed to reduce the effect If no red eye is found a copy is not created Figure 3 34 shows an original image left and its processed copy right Trim This option creates copies in specific sizes based on the final size you select chosen from among 3 2 4 3 and 5 4 aspect rations proportions You can use this feature to create smaller versions of a picture for e mailing without the need to first transfer the image to your own computer If youre traveling create your smaller copy here insert the mem ory card in a card reader at an Internet caf your library s public computers or some other computer and e mail the reduced size version Figure 3 34 An image with red eye left can be processed to produce a copy with no red eye effects right Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 131 Just follow these steps 1 Select your photo Choose Trim from the Retouch menu You ll be shown the stan d
131. working with 182 184 AF A automatic AF 26 180 spot metering with 161 working with 186 AF area See also Auto area AF in Live View 206 208 211 selecting 25 26 shooting information display on 57 Shooting menu options 102 working with 188 189 AF assist lamp 37 38 Shooting menu options 102 103 TTL flash cord with 8 AF C continuous AF 26 180 working with 186 AF D lenses 234 AF F full time servo AF in Live View 206 AF I lenses 234 AF lenses 234 AF MF switch 27 on lens 40 61 AF Micro Nikkor 60mm f 2 8D lens 252 AF Micro Nikkor 200mm f 4D IF ED lens 252 AF S single shot AF 25 26 102 180 188 in Live View 206 working with 185 186 AF S lenses 234 AF S DX Micro 85mm f 3 5 ED VR lens 252 AF S DX Nikkor 16 85mm f 3 5 5 6G ED VR lens 158 231 236 AF S DX Nikkor 18 55mm f 3 5 5 6G VR lens 230 231 AF S DX Nikkor 18 105mm 3 5 5 6G ED VR lens 230 231 AF S DX Nikkor 35mm f 1 8G lens 233 AF S DX VR Zoom Nikkor 18 200mm f 3 5 5 6G IF ED lens 232 AF S DX Zoom Nikkor 18 70mm f 3 5 4 5G IF ED lens 231 232 AF S DX Zoom Nikkor 18 135mm f 3 5 5 6G IF ED lens 232 AF S Micro Nikkor 60mm f 2 8G ED lens 252 AF S Nikkor 300mm f 4D IF ED lens 237 AF S VR Zoom Nikkor 70 200mm f 2 8G IF ED lens 255 AF S VR Micro Nikkor 105mm f 2 8G IF ED lens 252 AF S VR II Zoom Nikkor 24 120mm f 3 5 5 6G IF ED lens 232 Al lenses 234 AI S lenses 234 air blowers See blower bulbs air cleaning sensors 333
132. you need to buy with your Nikon D3100 Now you re probably wondering what lenses can be added to your grow ing collection trust me it will grow You need to know which lenses are suitable and most importantly which lenses are fully compatible with your Nikon D3100 With the Nikon D3100 the compatibility issue is a simple one It can use any mod ern era Nikon lens with the AF S designation with full availability of all autofocus auto aperture autoexposure and image stabilization features if present Older lenses with the AF designation won t autofocus on the D3100 but can still be used for automatic Chapter 7 m Working with Lenses 233 exposure You can also use any Nikon AI AI S or AI P lens which are manual focus lenses that were produced starting in 1977 and continue in production effectively through the present day because Nikon continues to offer a limited number of manual focus lenses for those who need them Just remember AF S all features available non AF S including AF no autofocusing possible The Nikon D3100 as well as previous models D5000 D3000 D60 D40 and D40x don t have an autofocusing motor built into the camera body itself The motor present in all other Nikon digital SLRs allows the camera to adjust the lens focus mechanically Without that motor in the body cameras like the D3100 must communicate focus information to the lens so that the lens s own built in AF motor can take care o
133. youre traveling and want to see only the pictures you took in say a particular city on a certain day m Change dates Use the multi selector keys or main dial and subcommand dial to move through the date list If your memory card has pictures taken on a high lighted date they will be arrayed in a scrolling list at the right side of the screen see Figure 2 13 m View a date s images Press the Zoom in button to toggle between the date list to the scrolling thumbnail list of images taken on that date When viewing the thumb nail list you can use the multi selector up down keys to scroll through the avail able images m Preview an image In the thumbnail list when you ve highlighted an image you want to look at press the Zoom in button to see an enlarged view of that image without leaving the calendar view mode The zoomed image replaces the date list m Delete images Pressing the Trash button deletes a highlighted image in the thumb nail list In the date list view pressing the Trash button removes all the images taken on that date use with caution m Exit calendar view In thumbnail view if you highlight an image and press the OK button you ll exit calendar view and the highlighted image will be shown on the LCD in the display mode you ve chosen See Working with Photo Information to learn about the various display modes In date list view pressing the Zoom in button exits calendar view and returns to 72 thumbnails v
134. 0 187 In manual focus mode you can use the rangefinder feature to help you achieve sharp focus when youre shooting in Program Aperture priority or Shutter priority mode You ll find a complete description and illustrations for using the rangefinder in Chapter 3 As I noted in Chapter 3 the rangefinder supplements the focus con firmation indicator at the left edge of the viewfinder by using the analog exposure indicator as a focusing scale In Figure 5 9 you can see that the focus indicator has illuminated all the bars to the right of the zero point That means that the current focus is significantly behind the correct focus for the area in the red highlighted focus point To focus on the left most battery instead you d need to adjust the focus forward To summarize the instructions in Chapter 3 for using the rangefinder Turn the rangefinder On with this option if you want an additional manual focusing aid With a manual focus lens and the rangefinder operating the analog exposure dis play at bottom center in the viewfinder will be replaced by a rangefinder focusing scale Indicators on the scale like those in Figure 3 28 back in Chapter 3 show when the image is in sharp focus as well as when you have focused somewhat in front of or behind the subject 188 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Follow these steps to use the rangefinder 1 Activate Use the Setup menu s Rangefinder entr
135. 00 your folder choice is based on the remaining five characters Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 125 m If there are folders on your memory card named 100NCD3100 and 101NCD3100 you can choose the folder name NCD3100 from the folder screen If you ve spec ified a folder name such as SPAIN the D3100 will create a folder named 100SPAIN and when it fills up with 999 images it will create a new folder num bered 101SPAIN and so forth m The D3100 always uses the highest numbered folder with the specified name suf fix when creating new images For example if you select NCD3100 in the exam ple above all images will be created in folder 101NCD3100 until it fills up and will then be deposited into a new folder 102NCD3100 If you chose SPAIN as your active folder name all images would go into 100SPAIN until it fills and then 101SPAIN is created To change the currently active folder 1 Choose Storage Folder in the Setup menu 2 Scroll down to Select Folder and press the multi selector right button 3 From among the available folders shown scroll to the one that you want to become active for image storage and playback Handy when displaying slide shows 4 Press the OK button to confirm your choice or press the multi selector right but ton to return to the Setup menu 5 You can also choose Delete within the Folders menu to remove all empty folders on your memory card This option is useful when you ve created a bunch of f
136. 00 has only contrast detection it s optimized to allow Face Detection Wide Area and Normal Area autofocus thanks in part to the distance integration information made available by the L firmware I expect some changes in future Nikon cameras to allow distance integration in both Phase Detect and Contrast Detect modes m We are not alone All future cameras after the D3100 will probably include the L firmware The Nikon tech I spoke to was not an official company spokesman and obviously not permitted to pre announce anything But the fact that he was com fortable expressing his personal opinion that L firmware can be expected in future cameras could mean that all future cameras will have it Can non D3100 cameras be upgraded Assuming that the solid state memory used to store firmware has enough space it should be possible to upgrade existing camera models to include the third L type firmware You may not have to send in your camera for the upgrade It should be fairly simple to reprogram the A and B firmware modules to make provisions for using the L firmware including a routine to load the new L firmware into memory the first time it is installed in an empty region of the firmware chip I m assuming that only upper end cameras such as the D300s D3s and D3x will accommodate this because presumably they were designed when the L firmware was already under development and will have the extra firmware space If not you ll have to sen
137. 04 RAW JPEG format 87 90 Fn Function button options 119 Monochrome Picture Style with 85 Nikon ViewNX for viewing 297 RCA plug 41 rear curtain sync See second curtain sync rear lens cap 5 removing 13 Recent Settings menu 145 color coding for 71 Recover My Photos 326 recovery Adobe Camera Raw recovering details with 308 memory cards recovering images on 325 327 red eye reduction in A Aperture priority mode 275 in M Manual mode 277 in P Program mode 275 Retouch menu options 130 131 in S Shutter priority mode 277 in scene modes 277 red eye reduction lamp 37 38 red eye reduction with slow sync in A Aperture priority mode 276 in Night Portrait mode 277 in P Program mode 276 red filters 86 87 133 reflected light 151 reflectors for bouncing light 288 for movies 223 registration card 6 release modes See shooting modes release priority 186 remaining shots Live View information on 210 212 on memory cards 16 17 shooting information display on 58 viewfinder information on 65 66 Rembrandt 257 remote cables 7 8 Index 369 remote control accessory terminal for 40 41 Commander mode flash units 284 285 renaming See naming renaming RescuePRO software SanDisk 326 327 Reset Shooting options Shooting menu 81 82 106 resolution See also JPEG formats movie resolution RAW formats RAW4JPEG format lower resolution working with 89 Retouch menu 127 145 Before and Af
138. 241 FEV flash exposure compensation for built in flash 279 defaults resetting 81 shooting information display on 58 viewfinder information on 65 66 field of view with wide angle lenses 240 file information screen 50 51 file names in Playback folder 73 file numbers default value 106 Setup menu options for 118 119 fill flash 268 Adobe Camera Raw adding 308 for diffusing light 287 i TTL Balanced Fill Flash 274 power saving with 115 Standard i TTL Fill Flash 275 filter thread on lens 60 61 filters for flash units 263 with Monochrome Picture Control 85 86 neutral density ND filters blurring with 101 Retouch menu filter effects options 133 toning compared 86 UV filters working with 246 final setup 12 17 Find Edges command Adobe Photoshop Photoshop Elements 140 Index 359 Finelight Studios 257 firmware card reader updating from 319 L firmware 315 316 modules reasons for 314 317 non D3100 cameras upgrading 316 performing update 320 preparing for upgrade 317 318 Setup menu s version option 126 time for upgrading 314 updating 313 320 USB cable updating with 319 version viewing 317 318 first curtain sync 268 272 in A Aperture priority mode 275 ghost images and 270 271 in M Manual mode 277 in P Program mode 275 problems avoiding 271 272 in S Shutter priority mode 277 fisheye effect with Retouch menu 139 flare with telephoto lenses 247 flash See also built in
139. 293 barrel distortion with wide angle lenses 98 batteries 11 12 charging 12 clock battery 312 door latch for 64 extra batteries 7 11 312 firmware upgrades power for 317 managing 313 for monolights 290 shooting information display on 58 troubleshooting problems with 312 313 unpacking 4 viewfinder information on 64 65 battery chargers 4 12 beep default value 106 Setup menu options 116 shooting information display on 58 Before and After effect Retouch menu 144 145 bellows extension 253 Bibble Professional 101 302 304 305 black and white See also Monochrome Picture Control Adobe Camera Raw converting images with 308 Retouch menu options for 133 blacks with Adobe Camera Raw 308 blower bulbs for sensor cleaning 334 for vestibule cleaning 331 332 blue filter effect 133 blue toning effect 86 87 blurring in A Aperture priority mode 162 bokeh 248 249 circles of confusion and 181 183 with long exposures 101 198 with telephoto lenses 246 354 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography body cap 5 removing 13 bokeh 248 249 bootstrap loaders 314 Bosworth Kris 161 162 bottom view of camera 64 bouncing light 287 288 bowing in effect with wide angle lenses 98 bowing outward lines with wide angle lenses 242 243 bracketing 167 172 and Merge to HDR 167 172 BreezeBrowser Pro 305 306 brightness See also brightness histograms LCD Adobe Camera Raw adjus
140. 334 Alien Bees flash units 291 alignment grid in Live View 212 angles filter angle adjusting 133 with short exposures 193 with telephoto lenses 244 with wide angle lenses 241 aperture See also f stops light and 151 lock on lens 61 62 ring on lens 61 62 shooting information display on 58 taking aperture 63 viewfinder information on 65 Aperture button 59 60 architectural photography center weighted metering for 160 tilt shift capabilities in lenses and 237 aspect ratio for copping images 131 132 aspherical lens elements 242 audio Live View information on 210 211 On Off settings 213 separately recording 224 Shooting menu settings 104 tips for 224 Auto area AF 26 102 189 L firmware for 316 Auto Distortion Control Shooting menu 98 auto image rotation default value 106 Setup menu options 113 auto information display default value 106 Setup menu option 108 109 Auto ISO 95 166 Auto mode 20 21 built in flash in 29 flash sync modes in 277 Guide mode listing 33 Auto No Flash mode 20 21 Guide mode listing 33 auto off timers default value 106 Setup menu options 115 116 auto servo AF See AF A automatic AF Auto WB white balance 91 94 Autofocus Area See AF area Auto area AF automatic diaphragm level on lens 63 AV connector 40 41 back view of Nikon D3100 41 45 backgrounds 293 backlighting 147 center weighted metering for 160 D Lighting for 128 Index 353 barn doors
141. 4 m Fine Tuning Exposure 169 The next steps show you how to combine the separate exposures into one merged high dynamic range image The sample images shown in Figures 4 14 4 15 and 4 16 show the results you can get from a three shot bracketed sequence In this case I merged only two pictures of the three pictures for simplicity because the differences between three or more bracketed exposures even when taken at exposures that are two stops apart can be too subtle to show up well on the printed page My two examples were taken from a longer sequence and actually have a three stop difference 1 If you use an application to transfer the files to your computer make sure it does not make any adjustments to brightness contrast or exposure You want the real raw information for Merge to HDR Pro to work with If you do everything cor rectly you ll end up with at least two photos like the ones shown in Figures 4 14 and 4 15 Figure 4 14 Make one exposure for the shadow areas Figure 4 15 Make a second exposure for the highlights such as the sky 170 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography 2 Load the images into Photoshop using your preferred RAW converter Make sure the 16 bits per channel depth is retained don t reduce them to 8 bit files You can load them ahead of time and save as 16 bit Photoshop PSD files as I did for my example photos 3 Activate Merge to HDR by choosing File gt Automate gt Merge to
142. 55 optic which remains avail able from many stores That s because the vibration reduction anti shake fea ture of this lens partially offsets the relatively slow maximum aperture of the lens at the telephoto position It can be mated with Nikon s AF S DX VR Zoom Nikkor 55 200mm f 4 5 6G IF ED to give you a two lens VR pair that will handle every thing from 18mm to 200mm at a relatively low price Chapter 7 m Working with Lenses 231 m AF S DX Nikkor 16 85mm f 3 5 5 6G ED VR The 16 85mm VR lens is the zoom that would make a lot of sense as a kit lens for the D3100 if price were no object It costs a significant fraction of the price of the D3100 itself If you really want to use just a single lens with your camera this one provides an excellent com bination of focal lengths image quality and features Its zoom range extends from a true wide angle equivalent to a 24mm lens on a full frame camera to useful medium telephoto about 128mm equivalent and so can be used for everything from architecture to portraiture to sports If you think vibration reduction is use ful only with longer telephoto lenses you may be surprised at how much it helps you hand hold your D3100 even at the widest focal lengths The only disadvan tage to this lens is its relatively slow speed f 5 6 when you crank it out to the tele photo end m AF S DX Zoom Nikkor 18 70mm f 3 5 4 5G IF ED If you don t plan on get ting a longer zoom range basic lens
143. 6 das hoe one theirs oe eds oniri eee 222 A di sede eee rtia da bets EE EAEE ETE AEE EEEE 224 x David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Chapter 7 Working with Lenses 225 Sensor Sensibilii s serere ine 4nd Sewn tatae a oe eae eae o E 225 Crop Of NOt saurer die ceea ni T Sa ae aE ee T Ree CAG 227 Your First Lens ws ss 4 eae given ke 8G SA ww ae Se Wale a Seale wa akg ges 229 B y Now Expand Latet ooh on ok hn 44 Whew Wee eae Ce wS 230 What Lenses Can You Users oni dice rbciatdib cee aiaia nra i 232 Ingredients of Nikon s Alphanumeric Soup 00eeee005 234 What Lenses Can Do for Yotw s c oseced chet ius Pau Cbo been cer 236 Zoom Of Prime esse vac bee pete da Re pack Pee RK EERE RR ER REDE 237 Categories Of Lenses 2 ox sds oa ch ook COR CaN RRS OR ROR Lee eee Ra 239 Using Wide Angle and Wide Zoom Lenses 000e ee eeee 240 Avoiding Potential Wide Angle Problems 24 242 Using Telephoto and Tele Zoom Lenses s00cceeceeceees 244 Avoiding Telephoto Lens Problems 0200 eee eee 246 Teleph tosand Bokeb ni ai lt acon see ads vbows cee es rises tai 248 Add ons and Special Features cece ecceecccscessecess 249 Lens Gods dye ook che canker ek CAR Gata eas eee Cee esas aA 249 Telephoto Gonvertets lt 65 45i ee 08s 4 ANG aN cae EIERE EEES 250 Macro Focusing 22s405 tie ve dhede eda vet ened ween eye 251 Vibration Reduction sere sds 2a
144. 8mm area So your 300mm f 4 lens delivers the same field of view as a 450mm optic at the camera s full 12MP resolution When you crop the D700 image to get the same field of view you re using only five megapixels worth of resolution So while both images will be framed the same the cropped sensor version with its higher pixel density will be sharper Dense pixels more noise The other side of the pixel density coin is that the denser packing of pixels to achieve 14 2 megapixels in the D3100 sensor means that each pixel must be smaller and will have less light gathering capabilities Larger pixels 228 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography capture light more efficiently reducing the need to amplify the signal when boost ing ISO sensitivity and therefore producing less noise In an absolute sense this is true and cameras like the D700 and D3 do have sensational high ISO perform ance However the D3100 s sensor is improved over earlier cameras for one thing it is a high sensitivity CMOS sensor rather than a noisier CCD sensor like that found in some earlier Nikon entry level cameras so you ll find it performs very well at higher ISOs Indeed its ISO sensitivity is more or less comparable to that of the Nikon D3x which also relies on high density pixel packing to achieve its 24 5MP resolution You needn t hesitate to use ISO 1600 or even higher with the Nikon D3 100 just don t expect the same resul
145. Camera Raw to create multiple copies of the file at different exposure levels For example youd create one copy that s too dark so the shadows lose detail but the highlights are preserved Create another copy with the shadows intact and allow the highlights to wash out Then you can use Merge to HDR to combine the two and end Figure 4 16 Use the Merge to HDR com mand to com bine the two images Figure 4 17 You ll end up with an exten ded dynamic range photo like this one Chapter 4 m Fine Tuning Exposure 171 172 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography up with a finished image that has the extended dynamic range you re looking for This concludes the image editing portion of the chapter We now return you to our alternate sponsor photography Fixing Exposures with Histograms While you can often recover poorly exposed photos in your image editor your best bet is to arrive at the correct exposure in the camera minimizing the tweaks that you have to make in post processing However you can t always judge exposure just by viewing the image on your D3100 s LCD after the shot is made Instead you can use a his togram which is a chart displayed on the D3100 s LCD that shows the number of tones being captured at each brightness level You can use the information to provide correc tion for the next shot you take You can view a histogram for an image displayed during playback by press
146. D 321 magnifiers for LCD 322 plastic overlays 321 horizontal composition in movies 217 219 hot pixels 328 329 hot shoe See accessory hot shoe HSM hypersonic motor lenses 233 hue and Picture Controls 84 86 i TTL intelligent through the lens 273 Shooting menu options 104 i TTL Balanced Fill Flash 274 IF internal focusing lenses 235 image comments Setup menu options 112 113 362 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography image editors See also Adobe Photoshop Photoshop Elements dust dealing with 330 332 for movies 214 image overlay Retouch menu options 135 136 WB white balance parameter with 137 image quality See also JPEG formats RAW formats RAW JPEG format for continuous shooting 190 of first lens 229 230 Fn Function button options 119 Live View information on 211 with prime lenses 238 shooting information display on 57 Shooting menu options 87 90 with zoom lenses 238 Image Recall 326 image review See reviewing images image size See also movie resolution Fn Function button options 119 Live View information on 211 shooting information display on 57 Shooting menu options 90 iMovie 224 incandescent tungsten light 266 Info button 59 shooting information display activating 55 Information edit button 43 44 information edit display 19 20 activating 56 for built in flash 279 initial setup 9 12 intensity of light 151 interleaving shots on me
147. DK 20C Diopter Adjustment Viewfinder Correction lenses for the viewfinder window ranging from 5 to 3 at a cost of 15 20 each Inserting a Secure Digital Card Youve probably set up your D3100 so you can t take photos without a Secure Digital card inserted There is a Slot empty release lock entry in the Setup menu that enables disables shutter release functions when a memory card is absent learn about that in Chapter 3 So your final step will be to insert a Secure Digital card Slide the cover on the right side of the camera towards the back and then open it You should only remove the memory card when the camera is switched off or at the very least the Figure 1 7 A lens hood protects the lens from extra neous light and accidental bumps Figure 1 8 Viewfinder diopter correc tion from 5 to 3 can be dialed in Figure 1 9 The Secure Digital card is inserted with the label facing the back of the camera Chapter 1 m Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 15 Diopter correction knob yellow green card access light just to the right of the LCD and trash can icon on the back of the camera that indicates the D3100 is writing to the card is not illuminated Insert the memory card with the label facing the back of the camera oriented so the edge with the gold edge connectors goes into the slot first See Figure 1 9 Close the door and if this is your first use of the card format it describ
148. David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography accurate in evaluating scene types At the same time Face Recognition will become much more useful in more advanced cameras as your Nikon does a better job of picking out one two or even more human faces out of a scene and then focusing and exposing for those faces more precisely Better Focus Area Selection Various Nikon cameras have a large number of fea tures that do nothing more than select which area to focus on or to help us select an area We ve got Wide Area Narrow Area Auto Area Dynamic Area 3D non 3D and depending on your camera and how old it is you may have 11 point 21 point 51 point Nearest Subject and other modes Distance integration should help certain present and future Nikon cameras do a better job of selecting focus points whether using normal modes Subject Tracking or Face Selection Pm hop ing that autofocus will be perfected to the point that we have to choose from a cou ple fewer focus options than we have right now Better Live View Look for more distance integration in Live View Currently Live View in the D3100 differs from that offered in cameras like the D300 D3 and D3x These models use both phase detection when calculating focus using the con ventional AF sensor just as the D3100 does when not using Live View and con trast detection when autofocusing using the sensor image as the D3100 does when using Live View While the D31
149. Display Clean Image Sensor HDMI Output resolution Device Control Time Zone and Date Daylight Saving Time Language Auto Image Rotation Auto Off Timers Self Timer Delay Beep Rangefinder File Number Sequence Buttons AE L AF L AE AF Lock AE Lock Off Slot Empty Release Lock Date Imprint Eye Fi Upload 0 Graphic Green background On Startup amp Shutdown Auto On Off Varies by country of purchase On Normal 10 seconds On Off Off Fn Button Quality Release Locked Off Enable Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 107 Format Memory Card I recommend using this menu entry to reformat your memory card after each shoot While you can move files from the memory card to your computer leaving behind a blank card or delete files using the Playback menu s Delete feature both of those options can leave behind stray files such as those that have been marked as Protected Format removes those files completely and beyond retrieval unless you use a special utility pro gram as described in Chapter 10 and establishes a spanking new fresh file system on the card with all the file allocation table FAT pointers which tell the camera and your computer s operating system where all the images reside efficiently pointing where they are supposed to on a blank card To format a memory card choose this entry from the Setup menu highlight Yes on the screen that appears and press OK LCD Brightness Choo
150. Eye Fi cards and 324 Warhol Andy 214 warm filter effect 133 warranty 6 waterfalls blurring 101 waterfalls long exposures for blurring 198 WB white balance 27 Adobe Camera Raw adjusting with 307 308 Auto WB white balance 91 94 calculating 267 encrypting WB information 296 Fn Function button options 120 illumination type setting by 264 Image Overlay tool and 137 library creating 94 Live View information on 211 PRE Preset Manual WB white balance 91 93 94 RAW formats adjusting in 265 shooting information display on 57 Shooting menu options 90 94 wedding photography memory cards for 323 Wein Safe Sync 291 White John 233 white balance WB See WB white balance Index 375 white light 257 wide angle lenses 240 barrel distortion with 98 crop factor and 228 DOF depth of field with 240 242 problems avoiding 242 243 working with 240 243 Wide area AF 102 L firmware for 316 in Live View 208 209 wildlife photography 1 5X teleconverters for 227 telephoto lenses for 244 window light for diffusing light 286 for movies 222 Windsor Duke and Duchess of 193 wipes in movies 219 Y yellow filters 86 87 Z zoom heads on flash 283 Zoom in button 43 44 zoom lenses See also wide angle lenses categories of 239 prime lenses compared 237 239 Zoom out button 43 44 zoom range of first lens 229 zoom ring on lens 61 zoom setting on lens 61 zooming in out
151. G or type D designator in its name such as the AF S DX Nikkor 16 85mm 3 5 5 6G ED VR lens The G after the f 5 6 is the giveaway More on lens nomenclature in Chapter 7 The camera cal culates exposure based on brightness colors of the subject matter that is blue pix els in the upper part of the image are probably sky green pixels in the lower half probably foliage focus point and distance information The D3100 is able to use that additional distance data which can be updated for specific lenses using the L firmware discussed in Chapter 10 to better calculate what kind of scene you have framed For example if you re shooting a portrait with a longer focal length lens focused to about 5 to 12 feet from the camera and the upper half of the scene is very bright the camera assumes you would prefer to meter for the rest of the image and discount the bright area However if the camera has a wide angle lens attached and is focused at infinity the D3100 can assume youre taking a landscape photo and take the bright upper area into account to produce better looking sky and clouds Figure 4 9 Matrix meter ing calculates exposure based on 420 points in the frame Figure 4 10 Center weighted metering calcu lates exposure based on the full frame but gives 75 per cent of the weight to the approximate center area shown the remaining 25 percent of the exposure is determined by the rest of the image area Cha
152. HDR 4 Select the photos to be merged as shown in Figure 4 16 where I have specified the two 16 bit PSD files You ll note a check box that can be used to automatically align the images if they were not taken with the D3100 mounted on a rock steady support 5 Once HDR merge has done its thing you must save in PSD PFM TIFF or EXR formats to retain the 16 bit file s floating point data in case you want to work with the HDR image later Otherwise you can convert to a normal 24 bit file and save in any compatible format een Source Files Choose two or more files from a set of exposures to x merge and create a High Dynamic Range image Use Files x river02 psd tiverO1 psd Attempt to Automatically Align Source Images Ue If you do everything correctly you ll end up with a photo like the one shown in Figure 4 17 which has the properly exposed foreground of the first shot and the well exposed sky of the second image Note that ideally nothing should move between shots In the example pictures the river is moving but the exposures were made so close together that after the merger you can t really tell What if you don t have the opportunity inclination or skills to create several images at different exposures as described If you shoot in RAW format you can still use Merge to HDR working with a single original image file What you do is import the image into Photoshop several times using Adobe
153. IVE Normal Active VR mode switch Figure 2 25 Figure 2 26 Chapter 2 m Nikon D3100 Roadmap 63 The back end of a lens intended for use on a Nikon camera has other components that you seldom see except when you swap lenses shown in Figure 2 26 but still should know about Lens bayonet mount This is the mounting mechanism that attaches to a match ing mount on the camera Although the lens bayonet is usually metal some lenses use a rugged plastic for this key component m Automatic diaphragm lever This lever is moved by a matching lever in the cam era to adjust the f stop from wide open which makes for the brightest view to the taking aperture which is the f stop that will be used to take the picture The actual taking aperture is determined by the camera s metering system or by you when the D3100 is in Manual mode and is communicated to the lens through the elec tronic contacts described next An exception is when the aperture ring on the lens itself is unlocked and used to specify the f stop However the spring loaded phys ical levers are what actually push the aperture to the selected f stop m Electronic contacts These metal contacts pass information to matching contacts in the camera body allowing a firm electrical connection so that exposure distance and other information can be exchanged between the camera and lens Automatic diaphragm lever Electronic Lens contacts bayonet mount
154. K to select the option 3 Use the multi selector up down buttons to choose AF A AF C AF S or M described next 4 Press OK to confirm your choice 5 Press the information edit button to exit or just tap the shutter release button The four focus modes when not using Live View are as follows there are additional aut ofocus modes including Face Priority available when shooting in Live View mode m Auto servo AF AF A This default setting switches between AF C and AF S as described below m Single servo AF AF S This mode sometimes called single autofocus locks in a focus point when the shutter button is pressed down halfway and the focus con firmation light glows at bottom left in the viewfinder The focus will remain locked until you release the button or take the picture This mode is best when your sub ject is relatively motionless m Continuous servo AF AF C This mode sometimes called continuous autofo cus sets focus when you partially depress the shutter button or other autofocus activation button but continues to monitor the frame and refocuses if the cam era or subject is moved This is a useful mode for photographing sports and mov ing subjects m Manual focus M When focus is set to manual you always focus manually using the focus ring on the lens The focus confirmation indicator in the viewfinder pro vides an indicator when correct focus is achieved Chapter 1 m Getting Started with Your Nikon
155. L Fill Flash exposure calculation modes are used I ll explain these modes next m Manual You can set the level of the built in flash from full power to 1 32 power A flash icon blinks in the viewfinder and on the shooting information display when you re using Manual mode and the built in flash has been flipped up Flash Metering Mode You don t select the way your flash meters the exposure directly the two modes i TTL Balanced Fill in Flash and Standard i TTL Fill Flash are determined by the camera metering mode Matrix Center weighted or Spot that you select Indeed the built in flash in the Nikon D3100 as well as external flash units attached to the camera use the same three metering modes that are available for continuous light sources Matrix Center weighted and Spot So you can choose the flash s metering mode based on the same subject factors as those explained in reference to non flash exposure techniques in Chapter 4 for example use Spot metering to measure exposure from an isolated sub ject within the frame Choice of a metering mode determines how the flash reacts to balance the existing light with the light from the electronic unit m i TTL Balanced Fill Flash This flash mode is used automatically when you choose Matrix or Center weighted exposure metering The Nikon D3100 measures the available light and then adjusts the flash output to produce a natural balance between main subject and background This setting i
156. MGte rin gs 4 5 04 airs gE We es Se ee wei eee eee Se 157 Center Weighted Metering 524 ici2c ie ber ona teaene de eas 159 Spot Metering sesse see etere 45 Rew ee E ee ead ees Ba 160 Choosing an Exposure MeMGG tsucac tsvanvadeake bb OVS we 161 Aperture Priority eses eave Bed ea Pee whe bend wa ale ee Darn baw oe ee 161 Shutter Priority sc ow dda 4 bo eek Ak Hew RR PEWS ORE RS EEE RS 163 Progr Mode 2 vw 2 6 eh oes Pow Fels hw oe oe RR ew 164 Manual EXpOSUt 4 066446 08 be ih hea Chi Chee eee ee eens 165 Adjusting Exposure with ISO Settings n sos ese seed ee ee esas 165 Dealmve with INGISE 64 eied ote oes eee tee dew ee Shed ew eas 166 Pracketinp ns gp a s ak aE a AES SAE AERA AR ERECREA IEEE 167 Bracketing and Merge to HDR saguc netciaswen See heewsedudan 167 Fixing Exposures with Histograms 00 ee eee eee eeeee 172 Contents ix Chapter 5 Advanced Shooting Tips for Your Nikon D3100 175 low FOCUS Works 2secds eee sue cee be eres cee ehces chateaus 175 Phase Detection 2 0352 i ovens tina TEn eaa hese bueand aes 176 Contrast Detection sess ss taera ee ui DAE ree ORT EERE EE BENS 178 Locking in Focs aves 5 eid so oe bs SE OK OAR LE VER EAGER SORES 179 Focus Moores sedere seene ec eee sess ere e Ee oae 180 Adding Circles of Confusion onenen eunana unaenea 180 Using Autofocus with the Nikon D3100 0 00 00 182 Your Autofocus Mode Opinions cscy eee iow ee bea ire t ole Ce 185 Autofoc
157. MiniBrite PO 25 illuminated 3X magnifiers as seen in Figure 10 12 Older packaging and ads may call this a 2X magnifier but it s actually a 3X unit It has a built in LED and held a few inches from the lens mount with the lens removed from your camera provides a sharp close up view of the sensor with enough contrast to reveal any dust that remains Glossary It s always handy to have a single resource where you can look up various terms you ll encounter while working with your digital camera Here is the latest update of a glos sary I ve compiled over the years with some new additions specifically for the Nikon D3100 AE L AF L A button on the D3100 that allows locking exposure and or focus point prior to taking a photo ambient lighting Diffuse non directional lighting that doesn t appear to come from a specific source but rather bounces off walls ceilings and other objects in the scene when a picture is taken analog digital converter The EXPEED module in the camera that electronically con verts the analog information captured by the D3100 s sensor into digital bits that can be stored as an image angle of view The area of a scene that a lens can capture determined by the focal length of the lens Lenses with a shorter focal length have a wider angle of view than lenses with a longer focal length anti alias A process that smoothes the look of rough edges in images called jaggies or staircasing by adding p
158. R ORR ese ORE RS 3 Initial Setup aru oeeee eau eke beds bes tad soe k een eens penne ees 9 Mastering the Multi Selector n onnan anann 9 Setting the Clothe lt sed cawae nuce iaeiei aaaea e ea ae 10 Battery Included essnee sius ome Wain rin EE ee AEA 11 Final Steps eri aee aa E hae we E ae A A E EEEE RG 12 Choosing a Release Vite is vas cee EUW eae eee ee Oe eee 17 Using the Information Edit Display 6 5 20 che ad saben es eeern ceases 19 Selecting a Shooting Mode 2 404 d2 440 edd ewe ree wee RE DRT ERE ES 20 Choosing a Scene Mode 3 sic aa Sen seeks F444 eed ene Oe ERE SOR 21 Choosing an Advanced Mode 00 c ccc ccc ee eneceeeecees 22 Choosing a Metering Mod 4404ss edd avaaud peed dws sedeuees 23 Choosing Potts Movesc4i0s saia reetan EEA EE EERE 24 Choosing Autofocus Area Mode nnn nannaa nannaa 25 Choosing Focus Mode 4 46 d 4 46 seb bing Seu C64 2a eane 26 Adjusting White Balance and ISO 1 ccc ccc cece eee ee ee 27 Reviewing the Images You ve Taken 00cccccccecccecees 27 Using the Built in Flash os eaivace eM ge eae 54 ERE eS Reese we oe eK 29 Transferring Photos to Your Computer 44 60 0042 0000400 e00we ea wes 30 Using the Guide Mode 444 4 serre Rie add ee A MRR OE 31 Guiding Pei yg ra teas ere oe Bhs Be ee ee eck ee S 32 vi David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Chapter 2 Nikon D3100 Roadmap 35 Nikon D3100 Front View vn ndxcwrc che ope dered he eaueuadad Res
159. S Ebb eriak e SO ETERER RES OO ERE SS 110 HDMI 6 ona cede ee taeae ed bead Bee eee eee e Er EEEE Ree EA 111 Flicker Red cti n si iene elc devew ad cin eteetuse ues 645 ex 111 Time Home and Dates 2 c0cs e ends heed ceive teeeweteendiass 111 PAU ACE ceee ceka tt AE n nE E a las te auette te 112 Image COMIC ess ek he tee eh EES RAE Re ORE DERE ROL EES 112 Auto Image Rotan ssc eku caer dh ede eedeeend sax ners atiis 113 Dust Off Ref Photo s os 92464 cee V be oe nebo eth ee V ad ean ee Be 114 Auto OF TIMES ser ho wedean se eeaee belie i eetsawe senda s 115 Self Timet Delay cktee cd cea eh wad hae ede eee wee eee ween 116 Beep wiccas eee sasha eawa eau saG bbb eda bbe eda See ke eR 116 Ranse hinder esee Phy le vse wa Phe ON ee ee Oe hn 116 File Number Sequence sac slo unnn beens eee de ees be be ee 118 DUOS os ri ea maid due G4 aw gla wen dawke Rola be daa DAE aG aw aS 119 Slot Empty Release Lock 4 20 i eeaee sped e eee eaece dea a 121 Date lniprititi ss46344 ae 8G eek eee ea a eRe ES 122 Storage Foldet eco tiwree ines bee ewi esd eloawed ees cedeobe 124 GPonsies adinterne hed awene eel badd eee deed Gweneeeees eens 126 Eye Fi Uplodd cw ox 600s eaten phew terouer dower seomeee es 126 Firmware Version ssas j 0 2 ks viedo eae Gas Va ae a oe Sede eles 126 Retouch Menu Options exh ch lt eedend ec vee beewareeenereuhate 127 D Lighting 2 464 cence Fee eee Raed Eaa MER EG ELAS REAR EEE 128 Red Ey COnecuOic i 6 6acc din anda ee Rete A OS
160. S REAR AR EEE 130 USN EEEE ESIA E sr oe ae ues i ae an eo gene a ate ee eo a ae 130 viii David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Monochrom 6 6 vok and cok OF OS REO OEE R DES LOR CRR EOL ER ORY 133 Filter Bie se os ont eee hoe bee ee eho eke er i aa ieee 133 Color Bilances es eu elu ac ee oie es ow eed na ade Seed 133 Sims 4a hea peinar keen Ghee ba een tea ews 134 Image COVElay ave ceer Gin ee dee tta tend Seetee re GaG Uy 135 NEF RAW Processing 0c cece eee eee eee eens 136 Quick Retouch x00 ase Bek ew ed Ge eri oe RA ERE DER ORE REE ER 138 Straighten ccna ede ew dod EGE LRRER ERLE ERE S ER RAE SER RRR Es 138 Distortion Control 4 24 hs lt weeks oes ais ordi se ipiri dirdaia 139 Fisheye cadtov ua wa acwud where ee wha wee wee we hea oes eed 139 Color Outline rr sere Had ead ie Ge DES ee es wee ed 140 Pertsp ctiv COMO ov eda ewe eee eaas derd dier de TEREE wee en 140 Miniat re Effe t sses care vine ORE wo ws Rs OR ows Oe KS Rd aw ees 142 Before and ANGE evee ritea Pose end iet titike dhe p40 eiaeia Ks 144 Edit WiOVIE 6 oa nok ede gamre ok CAG oa ERG OOS aE CRE u a T Eh 145 Using Recent Settings oss cea tek oe hw eed wa ea ee Neh ees 145 Chapter 4 Fine Tuning Exposure 147 Getting a Handle on Exposure 2 2 ee G86 85 6 hew ee teu eee nega bee 148 How the D3100 Calculates Exposure ccc ccc e ween ee eees 153 Choosing a Metering Method c 054 lt dee renee eke ge keae eee des 157 Matrix
161. See also AC power batteries auto off timers and 115 with Live View 205 for studio flash 289 power connectors 7 8 power switch 59 PRE Preset Manual WB white balance 91 93 94 previewing in calendar view 49 with continuous light 259 260 with flash 259 with Live View 204 prime lenses categories of 239 zoom lenses compared 237 239 printers DPOF Digital Print Order Format options or 79 80 product photography backgrounds for 293 Pronea cameras 235 Protect image button 42 43 protecting LCD 320 322 on reviewing images 28 thumbnail images 49 Q quartz halogen quartz iodine light 266 Quick Guide 6 Quick Retouch option Retouch menu 138 quick start instructions 2 3 quiet shutter release mode 17 19 Guide mode selecting with 33 R rangefinder 187 188 default value 106 phase detection and 176 177 Setup menu options 116 118 steps for using 117 118 RAW formats 87 90 See also RAW utilities contrast fixing 174 Fn Function button options 119 Image Overlay option for 135 136 JPEG formats compared 89 90 Monochrome Picture Style with 85 NEF RAW Processing options Retouch menu 136 137 noise reduction with 167 WB white balance adjusting 265 RAW utilities See also Adobe Camera Raw Nikon Capture NX Nikon ViewNX Bibble Professional 302 304 305 BreezeBrowser Pro 305 306 DxO Optics Pro software 303 noise reduction with 167 PhaseOne s Capture One Pro C1 Pro 302 3
162. You 271 So Nikon uses second curtain sync to remedy the situation In that mode the shutter opens as before The shutter remains open for its designated duration and the ghost image forms If your subject moves from the left side of the frame to the right side the ghost will move from left to right too Then about 1 5 milliseconds before the second shutter curtain closes the flash is triggered producing a nice sharp flash image ahead of the ghost image Voila We have monsieur Speed Racer outdriving his own trailing image Avoiding Sync Speed Problems Using a shutter speed faster than 1 200th second can cause problems Triggering the electronic flash only when the shutter is completely open makes a lot of sense if you think about what s going on To obtain shutter speeds faster than 1 200th second the D3100 exposes only part of the sensor at one time by starting the second curtain on its journey before the first curtain has completely opened as shown in Figure 8 9 That effectively provides a briefer exposure as a slit that s narrower than the full height of the sensor passes over the surface of the sensor If the flash were to fire during the time when the first and second curtains partially obscured the sensor only the slit that was actu ally open would be exposed You d end up with only a narrow band representing the portion of the sensor that was exposed when the picture is taken For shutter speeds faster than 1 200th second
163. a AF allows you to zero in ona specific point of focus 1500 F8 200 255 m Subject tracking AF This mode allows the camera to grab a subject focus and then follow the subject as it moves within the frame You can use this mode for sub jects that don t remain stationary such as small children When using Subject track ing AF a white border appears in the center of the frame and turns yellow when focus is locked in as described in the section that follows To activate focus or refo cus press the multi selector up button I ll explain Subject tracking in more detail next See Figure 6 5 m Manual focus In this non automatic focus mode you can select the focus zone to use with the multi selector buttons press the shutter release halfway and then adjust focus manually by rotating the focus ring on the lens When sharp focus is achieved the focus confirmation indicator at the lower left of the viewfinder will turn a steady green Introducing Subject Tracking The useful Subject tracking autofocus feature is one of those features that can be con fusing at first but once you get the hang of it it s remarkably easy to use Face priority in comparison is almost intuitive to learn Here s the quick introduction you need to Subject tracking Figure 6 5 Subject track ing can keep focus as it fol lows your sub ject around in the frame Chapter 6 m Live View and Shooting Movies 209 m Ready aim W
164. a certain date Chapter 2 m Nikon D3100 Roadmap 51 Figure 2 14 Protection Retouch Frame Frames File informa status indicator number shot tion screen Filename A Fuld namne ORDEAL LLAN E 03 15 2011 14 14 11 Dateltime Image Image photo taken resolution quality m Highlights When the Highlights display is active see Figure 2 16 any overex posed areas will be indicated by a flashing black border As I am unable to make the printed page flash you ll have to check out this effect for yourself m Shooting Data 1 This screen tells you everything else you might want to know about a picture you ve taken including metering mode exposure mode exposure compensation lens information and all the details of any built in or external ded icated flash units you might have used I m not providing any labels in Figure 2 17 because the information in the first eight lines in the screen should be obvious as you read about metering exposure modes lens focal lengths and flash modes in this book m Shooting Data 2 This screen shows white balance data and adjustments sharp ness and saturation settings and other parameters see Figure 2 18 52 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 2 15 RGB histogram screen NIKON 3100 Figure 2 16 Highlights display Highlights NIKON 3100 Chapter 2 m Nikon D3100 Roadmap 53 Figure 2 17 Shooting Data screen 1 NIKON D3000 F
165. ack down until you release the shutter button So taking a picture in Quiet shutter release mode results in a single clunk sound as the mirror flips up and the shutter opens closes eventually followed by a second clunk when you release pressure on the shutter button Theoretically that s quieter than the beep clunk clunk heard in Single frame mode Using the Information Edit Display You can use the information edit display to change many of the D3100 s basic settings You shouldn t skip this section because it provides basic information on how to change settings including choosing exposure metering and autofocus modes When you press the information edit button on the back of the camera the bottom button on the left side of the LCD not to be confused with the Information button on the top of the camera the shooting information display shown at left in Figure 1 11 appears You can also show or hide this screen by pressing the Information button on top of the camera The difference between the two is simple the Information button just turns the shooting information screen on or off the information edit button does the same thing but a second press kicks the camera into information edit mode which allows you to change many of the settings The shooting information display is a useful status screen Shown in the figure is the Classic version A Graphic version is also available in Chapter
166. age follow these steps 1 Choose Image Overlay The screen shown in Figure 3 38 will be displayed with the Image 1 box highlighted 2 Press OK and the Nikon D3100 s image selection screen appears Choose the first image for the overlay and press OK 3 Press the multi selector right button to highlight the Image 2 box and press OK to produce the image selection screen Choose the second image for the overlay 4 By highlighting either the Image 1 or Image 2 boxes and pressing the multi selec tor up down buttons you can adjust the gain or how much of the final image will be exposed from the selected picture You can choose from X0 5 half expo sure to X2 0 twice the exposure for each image The default value is 1 0 for each so that each image will contribute equally to the final exposure RETOUCH MENU Image overlay NEF RAW processing Quick retouch Straighten Distortion control Fisheye Color outline 136 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 3 38 rs moge overlay oe RAW images to produce a double Image Image 2 Preview exposure a amp A A Aa Zoom Select 5 Use the multi selector right button to highlight the Preview box and view the com bined picture Press the Zoom in button to enlarge the view 6 When you re ready to store your composite copy press the multi selector down but ton when the Preview box is highli
167. agement tools impressive noise reduc tion capabilities and batch processing features that allow you to apply sets of changes to collections of images All the tools are arranged in dockable expandable collapsible palettes see Figure 9 5 that tell you everything you need to know about an image and provide the capabilities to push every pixel in interesting ways Photographers tend to love Capture NX or hate it and it s easy to separate the fans from the furious Those who are enamored of the program have invested a great deal of time in learning its quirky paradigm and now appreciate just how powerful Capture NX is Figure 9 4 You can tell Nikon Transfer what to do after images are transferred in the Preferences tab Figure 9 5 Capture NX s tools are arranged in dockable palettes Chapter 9 m Useful Software for the Nikon D3100 301 Capture NX 2 0X Ee G amp R Adua Faero Beh yew Window hep a A amp Raaosf veo 4 T otgt atms Y File amp Camera Informadon d s Bl File into t Fia 06C_0004 NEF Dote Created 08 18 2031 2 59 42 PM Date Modfed 08118 2011 2 59 42 PM Fee Size 14 3 MB image Sze L 4498x3072 E okso 0 p venos Agumon aaar Og Y Camera amp Lens Corrections sel B E men File Into 2 Date Shot 09 18 2011 14 59 41 50 Word Time UTCS OST ON J Auto Red Eye Image Quaity Compressed RAW 1298 on Anst Copright intensity Image Comment v a Camera info g
168. aits and white seamless backgrounds for product photography You can usually construct these yourself from cheap materi als and tape them up on the wall behind your subject or mount them on a pole stretched between a pair of light stands Snoots and Barn Doors These fit over the flash unit and direct the light at your subject Snoots are excellent for converting a flash unit into a hair light while barn doors give you enough control over the illumination by opening and closing their flaps that you can use another flash as a background light with the capability of feathering the light exactly where you want it on the background A barn door unit is shown in Figure 8 25 This page intentionally left blank Useful Software for the Nikon D3100 Unless you only take pictures and then immediately print them directly to a PictBridge compatible printer somewhere along the line you re going to need to make use of the broad array of software available for the Nikon D3100 The picture fixing options in the Retouch menu let you make only modest modifications to your carefully crafted photos If your needs involve more than fixing red eye cropping and trimming and maybe adjusting tonal values with D Lighting youre definitely going to want to use a utility or editor of some sort to perfect your images After you ve captured some great images and have them safely stored on your Nikon D3100 s memory card you ll need to transfer them from you
169. al button to increase the effect and the left directional button to decrease it Press OK to make a corrected copy or the Playback button to exit without saving a copy Figure 3 41 shows an example image 140 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Color Outline This option creates a copy of your image in outline form see Figure 3 42 which Nikon says you can use for painting You might like the effect on its own It s a little like the Find Edges command in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements but you can perform this magic in your camera Figure 3 42 The Color Outline retouching fea ture creates an outline image right but it s not in color like the origi nal left Perspective Control This option the first new option on the last screen of the Setup menu see Figure 3 43 lets you adjust the perspective of an image reducing the falling back effect produced when the camera is tilted to take in the top of a tall subject such as a building Use the multi selector buttons to tilt the image in various directions and visually correct the distortion See Figure 3 44 Figure 3 43 The last screen in the Retouch menu Figure 3 44 Perspective Control lets you fix falling back distor tion when pho tographing tall subjects Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 141 RETOUCH MENU Straighten Distortion control Fisheye Color outline Perspective control Min
170. al printing press Noise Reduction Visual noise is that awful graininess caused by long exposures and high ISO settings and which shows up as multicolored specks in images This setting helps reduce noise which is rarely desirable in a digital photograph There are easier ways to add texture to your photos High ISO noise commonly appears when you raise your camera s sensitivity setting above ISO 800 This type of visual noise appears as a result of the amplification needed to increase the sensitivity of the sensor While higher ISOs do pull details out of dark areas they also amplify non signal information randomly creating noise A similar noisy phenomenon occurs during long time exposures which allow more pho tons to reach the sensor increasing your ability to capture a picture under low light con ditions However the longer exposures also increase the likelihood that some pixels will register random phantom photons often because the longer an imager is hot the warmer it gets and that heat can be mistaken for photons While high ISO settings are the usual culprit some noise is created when youre using shutter speeds longer than eight seconds Extended exposure times allow more photons to reach the sensor but increase the likelihood that some photosites will react randomly even though not struck by a particle of light Moreover as the sensor remains switched on for the longer exposure it heats and this heat can be mistake
171. all when the f stop is smaller than f 5 6 As I noted the D3100 is able to perform these comparisons very quickly Improved Cross Type Focus Point One improvement that new Nikon D3100 owners sometimes overlook is the upgrade to a cross type focus point at the center position Why is this important It helps to take a closer look at the phase detection system when presented with a non ideal subject Figure 5 3 shows the same weathered wood pictured earlier except in this case we ve chosen to rotate the camera 90 degrees say because we want a vertically oriented com position In the illustration the image within the focus sensor s area is split in two and displaced slightly side to side but the amount and direction of the misalignment is far from obvious A horizontally oriented focus sensor will be forced to look for less 178 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 5 3 A horizontal focus sensor doesn t handle Figure 5 4 Cross type sensors can evaluate contrast in horizontal lines very well both horizontal and vertical directions as well as diagonally obvious vertical lines to match up Our best case subject has been transformed into a worst case subject for a horizontal focus sensor The value of the cross type focus sensor which can interpret contrast in both horizon tal and vertical directions can be seen in Figure 5 4 The horizontal lines are still giv ing the horizontal portion of the cross
172. amic Range of sensor 149 E e mail Small Picture option for 134 trimming images for 130 132 E series lenses 234 Easy Operation choices in Guide mode 33 34 Eclipse solution Photographic Solutions 336 ED lenses 235 Edgerton Harold 191 193 Edison Thomas 266 editing See also image editors movies Picture Control styles 84 87 18 percent gray cards 153 156 electronic analog exposure display 66 electronic contacts on lens 63 emitted light 151 358 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography equivalent exposures 153 ISO sensitivity adjustments for 165 166 establishing shots in movies 219 221 EV exposure compensation 60 with Active D Lighting 137 changes to EV making 164 defaults resetting 81 electronic analog exposure display 66 Live View adjustments in 212 for movies 213 shooting information display on 57 58 viewfinder information on 65 66 evenness of illumination of continuous light 261 with flash 261 EXIF information GPS data as 199 expanded color space 99 exposure See also bracketing equivalent exposures EV exposure compensation FEV flash exposure compensation ISO sensitivity light long exposures Adobe Camera Raw adjusting with 308 calculation 153 157 with continuous light 259 with flash 259 261 273 controlling 151 153 electronic analog exposure display 66 flash calculation for 259 261 273 histograms for fixing 172 174 Live View adjus
173. amounts of color in an image to produce a desired effect typically a more accurate representation of those colors Color correction can fix faulty color balance in the original image or compensate for the deficiencies of the inks used to reproduce the image compression Reducing the size of a file by encoding using fewer bits of information to represent the original Some compression schemes such as JPEG operate by dis carding some image information while others have options that preserve all the detail in the original discarding only redundant data 342 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Continuous Servo Autofocus An automatic focusing setting AF C in which the cam era constantly refocuses the image as you frame the picture This setting is often the best choice for moving subjects See also Single Servo Autofocus contrast The range between the lightest and darkest tones in an image A high con trast image is one in which the shades fall at the extremes of the range between white and black In a low contrast image the tones are closer together Creative Lighting System CLS Nikon s electronic flash system used to coordinate exposure camera information and timing between a camera s built in flash if present and external flash units which can be linked through direct electrical connections or wirelessly Some external flash units can act as a master to command other external units dedicated
174. and can t afford the 16 85 zoom I highly rec ommend this aging but impressive lens if you can find one in stock Originally introduced as the kit lens for the venerable Nikon D70 the 18 70mm zoom quickly gained a reputation as a very sharp lens at a bargain price It doesn t provide a view Te 18 200mm 1 3 5 6 50 35 24 18 Nikon 3_ Sr TB 10Sent 39560 Figure 7 2 AF S DX Nikkor 18 Figure 7 3 The AF S DX Nikkor Figure 7 4 The AF S DX VR 105mm f 3 5 5 6G ED VR can be 18 55mm 3 5 5 6G VR is a low Zoom Nikkor 18 200mm f 3 5 purchased as the basic kit lens for cost basic lens option for the 5 6G IF ED is a lightweight the D3100 from some retailers Nikon D3100 walking around lens 232 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography that s as long or as wide as the 16 85 but it s a half stop faster at its maximum zoom position You may have to hunt around to find one of these but they are available for 250 300 and well worth it I own one to this day and use it regularly although it spends most of its time installed on my D70 which has been converted to infrared only photography m AF S DX Zoom Nikkor 18 135mm f 3 5 5 6G IF ED This lens has been sold as a kit lens for cameras aimed at intermediate amateur level shooters and some retailers with stock on hand are packaging it with the D3100 body as well While decent it s really best suited for the crowd who buy one do e
175. and converting an image to black and white Split Toning helps you colorize an image with sepia or cyanotype blue shades The Lens Corrections tab has sliders to adjust for chromatic aberrations and vignetting The Camera Calibration tab provides a way for calibrating the color corrections made in the Camera Raw plug in The Presets tab not shown is used to load settings you ve stored for reuse Chapter 9 m Useful Software for the Nikon D3100 309 fIS 6 1 6405 fFIS 6 116405 150400 17 35 17 mm gt 150400 17 35 17 mm A fIS 6 1 6405 150400 17 35 17 mm R ee Figure 9 10 More controls are available within the additional tabbed dialog boxes in Adobe Camera Raw This page intentionally left blank 10 Nikon D3100 Troubleshooting and Prevention You won t expend a lot of effort keeping your Nikon D3100 humming and operating smoothly There s not a lot that can go wrong An electronically controlled camera like the Nikon D3100 has fewer mechanical moving parts to fail so they are less likely to wear out There is no film transport mechanism no wind lever or motor drive and when using lenses with the AF S designation as described in Chapter 7 no compli cated mechanical linkages from camera to lens to adjust the automatic focus Instead tiny reliable motors are built into each lens and you lose the use of only that lens should something fail and one of the few major m
176. and other image defects A gold band around the front of the lens indicates an optic with ED elements You sometimes find LD low dispersion or UD ultra low dispersion designations m FX When Nikon introduced the Nikon D3 as its first full frame camera it coined the term FX representing the 23 9 X 36mm sensor format as a counterpart to DX which was used for its 15 8 X 23 6mm APS C sized sensors Although FX hasn t been officially applied to any Nikon lenses so far expect to see the designa tion used more often to differentiate between lenses that are compatible with any Nikon digital SLR FX and those that operate only on DX format cameras or in DX mode when used on an FX camera like the D700 D3 and D3x G G type lenses have no aperture ring and you can use them at other than the maximum aperture only with electronic cameras like the D3100 that set the aper ture automatically or by using the command dial while the exposure compensa tion aperture button is depressed This includes all Nikon digital dSLRs m IE Nikon s internal focusing lenses change focus by shifting only small internal lens groups with no change required in the lens s physical length unlike conventional double helicoid focusing systems that move all lens groups toward the front or rear during focusing IF lenses are more compact and lighter in weight provide better balance focus more closely and can be focused more quickly m IX These lenses wer
177. antly as you frame and reframe the image and Automatic Autofocus AF A in which the D3100 focuses using AF S mode but switches to AF C mode if the subject starts to move The D3100 can also be set for Manual focus backlighting A lighting effect produced when the main light source is located behind the subject Backlighting can be used to create a silhouette effect or to illuminate translucent objects See also front lighting and side lighting barrel distortion A lens defect that causes straight lines at the top or side edges of an image to bow outward into a barrel shape See also pincushion distortion blooming An image distortion caused when a photosite in an image sensor has absorbed all the photons it can handle so that additional photons reaching that pixel overflow to affect surrounding pixels producing unwanted brightness and overexpo sure around the edges of objects blur To soften an image or part of an image by throwing it out of focus or by allow ing it to become soft due to subject or camera motion Blur can also be applied cre atively in an image editing program bokeh A term derived from the Japanese word for blur which describes the aesthetic qualities of the out of focus parts of an image Some lenses produce good bokeh and others offer bad bokeh Some lenses produce uniformly illuminated out of focus discs Others produce a disc that has a bright edge and a dark center producing a doughnut effect
178. appropriate air tight container between applications to keep it clean and dust free Although these special brushes are expensive one should last you a long time Liquid Cleaning Unfortunately you ll often encounter really stubborn dust spots that can t be removed with a blast of air or flick of a brush These spots may be combined with some grease or a liquid that causes them to stick to the sensor filter s surface In such cases liquid cleaning with a swab may be necessary During my first clumsy attempts to clean my own sensor I accidentally got my blower bulb tip too close to the sensor and some sort of deposit from the tip of the bulb ended up on the sensor I panicked until I discov ered that liquid cleaning did a good job of removing whatever it was that took up resi dence on my sensor 336 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography You can make your own swabs out of pieces of plastic some use fast food restaurant knives with the tip cut at an angle to the proper size covered with a soft cloth or Pec Pad as shown in Figures 10 9 and 10 10 However if you ve got the bucks to spend you cant go wrong with good quality commercial sensor cleaning swabs such as those sold by Photographic Solutions Inc www photosol com swabproduct htm You want a sturdy swab that won t bend or break so you can apply gentle pressure to the swab as you wipe the sensor surface Use the swab with methanol as pure as you can get
179. aration you need to make is to decide whether you d like to upgrade your firmware using a memory card reader or by transferring the software to the D3100 using the UC E4 USB cable In either case you ll need to format a memory card in the D3100 Then perform one of the sets of steps in the sections that follow Figure 10 2 View your cur rent firmware versions before upgrading Chapter 10 m Nikon D3100 Troubleshooting and Prevention 319 Updating from a Card Reader To update from a card reader use a reader connected to your computer with a USB cable Then follow these steps 1 Insert a freshly formatted SD memory card clean of images into the card reader If you have been using Nikon Transfer or the autoplay features of your operating system to transfer images from your memory card to the computer the automated transfer dialog box may appear Close it The memory card will appear on your Macintosh desktop or in the Computer My Computer folders under Windows 7 Windows Vista Windows XP Drag one of the firmware files to the memory card You can install A B or D first if more than one is provided for the most recent upgrade Nikon provided a single file that updated the A and B firmware simultaneously it doesn t matter If your particular upgrade consists of only one of the three files drag that to the mem ory card Remember to copy the firmware to the root top directory of the mem o
180. ard Nikon D3100 image selection screen Scroll among the photos using the multi selector left right buttons and press OK when the image you want to trim is high lighted While selecting you can temporarily enlarge the highlighted image by pressing the Zoom in button Choose your aspect ratio Rotate the command dial to change from 3 2 4 3 5 4 1 1 and 16 9 aspect ratios These proportions happen to correspond to the pro portions of common print sizes plus HDTV including the two most popular sizes 4 x 6 inches 3 2 and 8 x 10 inches 5 4 See Table 3 3 Crop in on your photo Press the Zoom in button to crop your picture The pixel dimensions of the cropped image at the selected proportions will be displayed in the upper left corner see Figure 3 35 as you zoom The current framed size is out lined in yellow within an inset image in the lower right corner Move cropped area within the image Use the multi selector left right and up down buttons to relocate the yellow cropping border within the frame Save the cropped image Press OK to save a copy of the image using the current crop and size or press the Playback button to exit without creating a copy Copies created from JPEG Fine Normal or Standard have the same Image Quality setting as the original copies made from RAW files or any RAW JPEG setting will use JPEG Fine compression 132 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Table 3 3 T
181. arp and clear Although this example is a bit exaggerated so you can see the results on the printed page it s easy to understand that when maximum contrast in a subject is achieved it can be deemed to be in sharp focus Figure 5 5 Focus in Contrast Detection mode evaluates the increase in contrast in the edges of sub jects starting with a blurry image top and producing a sharp con trasty image bottom Locking in Focus The D3100 s autofocus mechanism like all such systems found in SLR cameras eval uates the degree of focus but unlike the human eye it is able to remember the pro gression perfectly so that autofocus can lock in much more quickly and with an image that has sufficient contrast more precisely Unfortunately while the D3100 s focus sys tem finds it easy to measure degrees of apparent focus at each of the focus points in the viewfinder it doesn t really know with any certainty which object should be in sharpest focus Is it the closest object The subject in the center Something lurking behind the closest subject A person standing over at the side of the picture Many of the techniques for using autofocus effectively involve telling the Nikon D3100 exactly what it should be focusing on by choosing a focus zone or by allowing the camera to choose a focus zone for you Pll address that topic shortly As the camera collects focus information from the sensors it then evaluates it to deter m
182. artially transparent pixels along the boundaries of diagonal lines that are merged into a smoother line by our eyes See also jaggies aperture The size of the opening in the iris or diaphragm of a lens relative to the lens s focal length Also called an f stop For example with a lens having a focal length of 100mm an f stop with a diameter of 12 5mm would produce an aperture value of f 8 Aperture priority A camera setting that allows you to specify the lens opening or f stop that you want to use with the camera selecting the required shutter speed automatically based on its light meter reading See also Shutter priority artifact A type of noise in an image or an unintentional image component produced in error by a digital camera during processing usually caused by the JPEG compression process in digital cameras or in some cases by dust settling on the sensor 340 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography aspect ratio The proportions of an image as printed displayed on a monitor or cap tured by a digital camera Autofocus A camera setting that allows the Nikon D3100 to choose the correct focus distance for you based on the contrast of an image the image will be at maximum con trast when in sharp focus The camera can be set for Single Servo Autofocus AF S in which the lens is not focused until the shutter release is partially depressed Continuous Servo Autofocus AF C in which the lens refocuses const
183. ash mode Unfortunately your camera is unable on its own to totally e iminate the red eye effects that occur when an electronic flash or rarely illumination from other sources bounces off the retinas of the eye and into the camera lens Animals seem to suffer from yellow or green glowing pupils instead the effect is equally undesirable The effect is worst under low light con ditions exactly when you might be using a flash as the pupils expand to allow more light to reach the retinas The best you can hope for is to reduce or minimize the red eye effect The best way to truly eliminate red eye is to raise the flash up off the camera so its illu mination approaches the eye from an angle that won t reflect directly back to the retina and into the lens The extra height of the built in flash may not be sufficient however That alone is a good reason for using an external flash If youre working with your D3100 s built in flash your only recourse may be to switch on the red eye reduction flash mode That causes a lamp on the front of the camera to illuminate with a half press of the shutter release button which may result in your subjects pupils contract ing decreasing the amount of the red eye effect You may have to ask your subject to look at the lamp to gain maximum effect If your image still displays red eye effects you can use the Retouch menu to make a copy with red eye reduced further First select a picture that was taken
184. at book because sensor dust and sensor cleaning are two of the most contentious subjects Nikon D3100 owners have to deal with Dust the FAQs Ma am Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about sensor dust issues Q I see tiny specks in my viewfinder Do I have dust on my sensor A If you see sharp well defined specks they are clinging to the underside of your focus screen and not on your sensor They have absolutely no effect on your photographs and are merely annoying or distracting Q I can see dust on my mirror How can I remove it A Like focus screen dust any artifacts that have settled on your mirror won t affect your photos You can often remove dust on the mirror or focus screen with a bulb air blower which will loosen it and whisk it away Stubborn dust on the focus screen can sometimes be gently flicked away with a soft brush designed for cleaning lenses I don t recommend brushing the mirror or touching it in any way The mirror is a special front surface silvered optical device unlike conventional mirrors which are silvered on the back side of a piece of glass or plastic and can be easily scratched If you cant blow mirror dust off it s best to just forget about it You can t see it in the viewfinder anyway Q I see a bright spot in the same place in all of my photos Is that sensor dust A Youve probably got either a hot pixel or one that is permanently stuck due to a defect in
185. ate Counter and take pictures of the construction progress Each photo will show exactly how many days have elapsed since ground was broken or the cornerstone laid or that non bearing wall demolished to begin remodeling m Long term documentation Perhaps youd like to record the appearance of your favorite nature spot at different times of the year Choose the first day of Spring as your start date then shoot pictures at intervals for an entire year activating the Date Counter as needed The results will be interesting and maybe a revelation With the Years Months and Days selected as a display option you can continue your documentation for years m Countdown Something big scheduled for a particular day Choose that date in the future as your counter and any photo you take with imprinting activated will show the days remaining until the big day Storage Folder If you want to store images in a folder other than the one created and selected by the Nikon D3100 you can switch among available folders on your memory card or create your own folder Remember that any folders you create will be deleted when you refor mat your memory card The Nikon D3100 automatically creates a folder on a newly formatted memory card with a name like 100NCD3100 and when it fills with 999 images will automatically create a new folder with a number incremented by one such as 101NCD3100 The numeric portion of the folder name is always created by the D31
186. ate software in the camera turn on the camera 2 Press the MENU button and select Firmware Version in the Setup menu 3 Select Version Up and press the multi selector button to the right 4 When the firmware update screen appears highlight Yes and press OK to begin the update 5 The actual process may take a few minutes from two to five Be sure not to turn off the camera or perform any other operations while it is underway 6 When the update is completed the warning message will no longer be displayed on the screen You can turn off the camera when the warning message disappears 7 Remove the memory card 8 Turn the D3100 back on to load the updated firmware 9 Press the MENU button and select Firmware Version in the Setup menu to view the current firmware number If it matches the update you ve successfully upgraded that portion of the firmware 10 Reformat the memory card 11 If there is an additional part to your firmware upgrade then repeat all the steps for the additional firmware software Protect Your LCD The large 3 inch color LCD on the back of your Nikon D3100 almost seems like a tar get for banging scratching and other abuse The LCD itself is quite rugged and a few errant knocks are unlikely to shatter the protective cover over the LCD and scratches wont easily mar its surface However if you want to be on the safe side there are a num ber of protective products you can purchase to keep your
187. atus Three segments show the approximate battery power remaining m Flash mode The current mode for the D3100 s built in electronic flash unit is shown here m Active D Lighting status Shows whether this feature is active or turned off m Movie resolution Displays the current resolution for video mode m Beep indicator Indicates that a helpful beep will sound during the countdown in Self timer or Delayed Remote Control mode or just once in Quick Response Remote mode The beep also chirps when the D3100 successfully focuses when using Sports scene mode as well as in AF S or AF A Autofocus modes No beep sounds in AF C mode or when the subject is moving while in AF A mode because the D3100 effectively switches to AF C mode at that point m Aperture additional functions The selected f stop appears here along with a lot of other alternate information Shutter speed additional functions Here you ll find the shutter speed ISO set ting color temperature and other useful data Help indicator Press the Help button the third from the top to the left of the LCD to receive more information about a setting m Change settings Press the information edit button while this screen is displayed to access the information edit screen Going Topside The top surface of the Nikon D3100 see Figure 2 23 has its own set of frequently accessed controls m Accessory flash shoe Slide an electronic flash into this mount when you nee
188. avid Busch camera guides show you how when and most importantly why to use all the cool features and functions of your camera to take stunning photographs Read Search j Menus Camera e e COURSE TECHNOLOGY a CENGAGE Learning Professional Technical e Reference Now take the expert advice of bestselling camera guide author David Busch with you wherever you take your iPhone You ll find the same rich infor mation as our camera guides as well as new interactive and multimedia elements in an easy to access searchable portable format for your on the go needs Visit the iTunes store for more information and to purchase Pard Brschs COMPACT FIELD GUIDE FOR THE NIKON FOR THE CANON EOS REBEL T2i 550D ompact Field ide NEW Anyone who is an avid or professional pho tographer will tell you that more often than not they are using their digital SLR camera away from their home or office And while you may feel like you ve got the basics of your camera down wouldn t it be nice to have some sort of a reference with you when you re on the go David Busch s Compact Field Guides are portable spiral bound reference guides that go beyond the standard field guide and can easily slip into your camera bag They feature both the basics lists of controls settings and menu commands and so much more including depth of field tables distance charts and recommended settings for vario
189. be purchased separately Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 281 SPEEDLIGHT SB 700 Figure 8 12 The Nikon SB 900 is currently the Figure 8 13 The Nikon SB 700 is a popular medium flagship of the Nikon electronic flash line up priced electronic flash with most of the features of the SB 900 Nikon SB 400 The entry level SB 400 see Figure 8 14 is a good choice for most Nikon D3100 appli cations It s built specifically for entry level Nikon cameras like the D40 or D3100 and has a limited easy to use feature set It has a limited ISO 100 guide number of 21 68 at the 18mm zoom head position It tilts up for bounce flash to 90 degrees with click detents at the 0 60 75 and 90 degree marks Unless you feel the need for an emer gency flash or fill flash unit that s only slightly more powerful than the D3100 s built in flash for the most flexibility you might want to consider the SB 700 282 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 8 14 The Nikon SB 400 is an entry level flash Figure 8 15 The Nikon SB R200 is a wireless macro best suited for Nikon s entry level dSLRs only flash supplied with the Nikon R1 and R1C1 Wireless Close Up Speedlight systems Nikon SB R200 This is a specialized wireless only flash see Figure 8 15 that s especially useful for close up photography and is often purchased in pairs for use with the Nikon R1 and RIC1 Wireless Close Up Speedlight systems Its output
190. be saving descriptions of most of the controls used with the Nikon D3100 until Chapter 2 which provides a complete roadmap of the camera s buttons and dials and switches However you may need to perform a few tasks during this initial setup process and most of them will require the MENU button and the multi selector pad The MENU button is easy to find it s located to the left of the LCD the second button from the top It requires almost no explanation when you want to access a menu press it To exit most menus press it again The multi selector pad may remind you of the similar control found on many point and shoot cameras and other digital SLRs It consists of a thumbpad sized button with raised arrows at the North South East and West positions plus a button in the cen ter marked OK See Figure 1 3 10 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography The multi selector on the D3100 functions slightly differently than its counterpart on some other cameras For example some point and shoot models assign a function such as white balance or ISO setting to one of the directional buttons usually in conjunc tion with a function key of some sort The use of the multi selector varies even within the Nikon dSLR line up For example many Nikon digital SLRs such as the Nikon D50 D70 D80 have no center button in the multi selector at all Their OK Enter but ton is located elsewhere Other Nikon cameras
191. better sharper pictures than longer periods of continuous shooting Do you really need 10 shots of a pass reception in a football game or six slightly different versions of your local basketball star driving in for a lay up JPEG vs RAW You ll sometimes be told that Nikon s NEF or RAW files are the unprocessed image information your camera produces before it s been modified That s nonsense RAW files are no more unprocessed than camera film is after it s been through the chemicals to produce a negative or transparency Your digital image undergoes a significant amount of processing before it is saved as a RAW file A RAW file is more similar to a film camera s processed negative It contains all the infor mation captured by the sensor but with no sharpening and no application of any spe cial filters or other settings you might have specified when you took the picture Those settings are stored with the RAW file so they can be applied when the image is converted to a form compatible with your favorite image editor However using RAW conversion software such as Adobe Camera Raw or Nikon Capture NX you can override those set tings and apply settings of your own You can select essentially the same changes there that you might have specified in your camera s picture taking options RAW exists because sometimes we want to have access to all the information captured by the camera before the camera s internal logic has process
192. bject some parts of the subject are now closer to the sensor than they were before while other parts are farther away So buildings flagpoles or NBA players appear to be falling backwards as you can see in Figure 7 9 While this kind of apparent distortion it s not caused by a defect in the lens can happen with any lens it s most apparent when a wide angle is used m Steady cam You ll find that you can hand hold a wide angle lens at slower shutter speeds without need for vibration reduction than you can with a telephoto lens The reduced magnification of the wide lens or wide zoom setting doesn t empha size camera shake like a telephoto lens does m Interesting angles Many of the factors already listed combine to produce more interesting angles when shooting with wide angle lenses Raising or lowering a tele photo lens a few feet probably will have little effect on the appearance of the dis tant subjects you re shooting The same change in elevation can produce a dramatic effect for the much closer subjects typically captured with a wide angle lens or wide zoom setting iS UAU I H it ge Hh HH 7 i UTD H DH Ui f f HM Figure 7 9 Tilting the camera back produces this falling back look in architectural photos 242 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography DOF IN DEPTH The DOF advantage of wide angle lenses is diminished when you enlarge your picture believe it or not a wide
193. bject that s 50 feet away look as if it s right next to you but your camera s flash isn t fooled You ll need extra power for distant flash shots and probably more power than your D3100 s built in flash provides The Nikon SB 900 Speedlight for example can automatically zoom its coverage to illuminate the area captured by a 200mm telephoto lens with three light distribution patterns Standard Center weighted and Even Try that with the built in flash Figure 7 12 Pincushion dis tortion in tele photo lenses causes lines to bow inwards from the edges 248 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Telephotos and Bokeh Bokeh describes the aesthetic qualities of the out of focus parts of an image and whether out of focus points of light circles of confusion are rendered as distracting fuzzy discs or smoothly fade into the background see Figure 7 13 Boke is a Japanese word for blur and the h was added to keep English speakers from rendering it monosyl labically to rhyme with broke Although bokeh is visible in blurry portions of any image Figure 7 13 Bokeh is less pleasing when the discs are prominent top and less obtrusive when they blend into the background bottom Chapter 7 m Working with Lenses 249 it s of particular concern with telephoto lenses which thanks to the magic of reduced depth of field produce more obviously out of focus areas Bokeh can vary fro
194. bjects that move rapidly enough wont register at all in a photograph while the subjects that remain stationary are portrayed in the normal way That makes it easy to pro duce people free landscape photos and architectural photos at night or even in full daylight if you use a plain gray neutral density filter or two or three to allow an exposure of at least a few seconds At ISO 100 f 22 and a pair of ND8 neutral density filters which each remove three stops worth of light giving you in effect the equivalent of ISO 1 5 you can use exposures of nearly two seconds overcast days and or even more neutral density filtration would work even better if daylight people vanishing is your goal They ll have to be walking very briskly and across the field of view rather than directly toward the camera for this to work At night it s much easier to achieve this effect with the 20 to 30 second exposures that are pos sible as you can see in Figures 5 13 and 5 14 Create streaks If you aren t shooting for total invisibility long exposures with the camera on a tripod can produce some interesting streaky effects Even a single ND8 filter will let you shoot at f 22 and 1 6th second in daylight Figure 5 15 shows one kind of effect you can get indoors without the need for a special filter Figure 5 13 This alleyway is thronged with people as Figure 5 14 With the camera still on a tripod a 30 you can see in this two second exposure using
195. ble s batch processing capabilities also let you convert large numbers of files using settings you specify without further intervention Its customizable interface lets you organize and edit images quickly and then output them in a variety of formats includ ing 16 bit TIFF and PNG You can even create a web gallery from within Bibble I often find myself disliking the generic filenames applied to digital images by cameras so I really like Bibble s ability to rename batches of files using new names that you specify Bibble is fully color managed which means it can support all the popular color spaces Adobe sRGB and so forth and use custom profiles generated by third party color man agement software There are two editions of Bibble a Pro version and a Lite version Because the Pro version is reasonably priced at 129 I don t really see the need to save 60 with the Lite edition which lacks the top line s options for tethered shooting Figure 9 8 BreezeBrowser Pro offers geo tagging and support for web image sales among its innovative features Chapter 9 m Useful Software for the Nikon D3100 305 embedding IPTC compatible captions in images and can also be used as a Photoshop plug in if you prefer not to work with the application in its standalone mode Bibble Pro incorporates Noise Ninja technology so you can get double duty from this valu able application BreezeBrowser Pro A versatile program you want to consider
196. bly for the rest of its useful life However if you find a particular card going bad more than once you ll almost certainly want to stop using it forever See if you can get it replaced by the manufacturer if you can but in the case of SD card failures the third time is never the charm Figure 10 4 SanDisk supplies RescuePRO recovery soft ware with some of its memory cards Chapter 10 m Nikon D3100 Troubleshooting and Prevention 327 GRescuePRO j Eile Edit View Help 1B Select all fm Raw00001 JPG Rew00002 TIF S Raw00003 JPG Rew00004 TIF Clean Your Sensor Yes the Nikon D3100 has a two pronged sensor dust prevention scheme an innova tive air control system that keeps dust away from the sensor in the first place and a sen sor shaking cleaning mechanism But no dust busting technology is 100 percent effective Indeed there s no avoiding dust No matter how careful you are some of it is going to settle on your camera and on the mounts of your lenses eventually making its way inside your camera to settle in the mirror chamber As you take photos the mirror flipping up and down causes the dust to become airborne and eventually make its way past the shut ter curtain to come to rest on the anti aliasing filter atop your sensor There dust and particles can show up in every single picture you take at a small enough aperture to bring the foreign matter into sharp focus
197. bottom indicator centered when the exposure is correct as metered The indicator may also move to the left or right to indicate over or underexposure respectively The scale is also used to show the amount of exposure compensation dialed in m Flash compensation indicator Appears when flash EV changes have been made m Exposure compensation indicator This is shown when exposure compensation EV changes have been made It s easy to forget you ve dialed in a little more or less exposure and then shoot a whole series of pictures of a different scene that doesn t require such compensation Beware m Flash ready indicator This icon appears when the flash is fully charged Exposures remaining maximum burst available Normally displays the number of exposures remaining on your memory card but while shooting it changes to show a number that indicates the number of frames that can be taken in Continuous shooting mode using the current settings This indicator also shows other information such as exposure flash compensation values and whether the D3100 is connected to a PC through a USB cable A question mark indicates an error condition of some sort such as a full memory card or flash error Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 For an entry level camera the Nikon D3100 has a remarkable number of options and settings you can use to customize the way your camera operates Not only can you change shooting settings used at the time the picture
198. cal of the VR lenses Nikon offers so Pll use it as an example It has the basic controls shown in Figure 7 16 to adjust focus range full or limited to infinity down to 2 5 meters VR On Off and Normal VR Active VR the latter an aggressive mode used in extreme situations such as a moving car Not visible it s over the horizon so to speak is the M A M focus mode switch which allows changing from autofocus with manual override to manual focus EVULL oo 25m ON VR OFF NORMAL ACTIVE This page intentionally left blank Making Light Work for You Successful photographers and artists have an intimate understanding of the importance of light in shaping an image Rembrandt was a master of using light to create moods and reveal the character of his subjects Artist Thomas Kinkade s official tagline is Painter of Light The late Dean Collins co founder of Finelight Studios revolution ized how a whole generation of photographers learned and used lighting It s impossi ble to underestimate how the use of light adds to and how misuse can detract from your photographs All forms of visual art use light to shape the finished product Sculptors don t have con trol over the light used to illuminate their finished work so they must create shapes using planes and curved surfaces so that the form envisioned by the artist comes to life from a variety of viewing and lighting angles Painters in contrast have absolute con
199. camera Because of the 1 5X crop factor the flash coverage when the flash is set to a particular focal length was wider than is required by the D3100 s cropped image The SB 900 on the other hand automatically determines whether your camera is an FX format full frame model or is a DX cropped sensor model like the Nikon D3100 and adjusts coverage angle to suit You can manually adjust the zoom position yourself if you want the flash coverage to correspond to something other than the focal length in use Just press the Zoom but ton on the SB 900 and turn the selector dial clockwise to increase the zoom value or counterclockwise to decrease the zoom value You can also adjust the zoom position by repeatedly pressing the Zoom button Flash Modes The external flash units have various flash modes included which are available or not available with different camera models both film and digital types dating back many years They are categorized by Nikon into nine different groups which may be con fusing to new digital camera owners who probably haven t heard of most of these cam eras While a table showing most of the groups is included in the manuals for the external flash units the table is irrelevant for D3100 users unless you happen to own an older digital or film SLR as well For digital cameras there are only two main groups digital cameras mot compatible with the Nikon Creative Lighting System Nikon D1 series cameras and
200. can select these flash modes m Front curtain sync fill flash In this mode represented by a lightning bolt sym bol the flash fires as soon as the front curtain opens completely The shutter then remains open for the duration of the exposure until the rear curtain closes If the subject is moving and ambient light levels are high enough the movement will cause a secondary ghost exposure that appears to be a stream of light advancing ahead of the flash exposure of the same subject You ll find more on ghost exposures next m Rear curtain sync With this setting the front curtain opens completely and remains open for the duration of the exposure Then the flash is fired and the rear curtain closes If the subject is moving and ambient light levels are high enough the movement will cause a secondary ghost exposure that appears to stream behind the flash exposure In Program and Aperture priority modes the D3100 will combine rear curtain sync with slow shutter speeds just like slow sync discussed below to balance ambient light with flash illumination It s best to use a tripod to avoid blur at these slow shutter speeds Red eye reduction In this mode there is a one second lag after pressing the shut ter release before the picture is actually taken during which the D3100 s red eye reduction lamp lights causing the subject s pupils to contract assuming they are looking at the camera and thus reducing potential re
201. ce Leave it As Shot or change to a value such as Daylight Cloudy Shade Tungsten Fluorescent or Flash If you like you can set a custom white bal ance using the Temperature and Tint sliders m Exposure This slider adjusts the overall brightness and darkness of the image m Recovery Restores detail in the red green and blue color channels m Fill Light Reconstructs detail in shadows m Blacks Increases the number of tones represented as black in the final image emphasizing tones in the shadow areas of the image m Brightness This slider adjusts the brightness and darkness of an image m Contrast Manipulates the contrast of the midtones of your image m Convert to Grayscale Mark this box to convert the image to black and white m Vibrance Prevents over saturation when enriching the colors of an image Saturation Manipulates the richness of all colors equally from zero saturation gray black no color at the 100 setting to double the usual saturation at the 100 setting Additional controls are available on the Tone Curve Detail HSL Grayscale Split Toning Lens Corrections Camera Calibration Presets and Snapshots tabs all but Presets and Shapshots are shown in Figure 9 10 The Tone Curve tab can change the tonal values of your image The Detail tab lets you adjust sharpness luminance smooth ing and apply color noise reduction The HSL Grayscale tab offers controls for adjust ing hue saturation and lightness
202. choice of which is best for a given shooting sit uation will depend on things like your need for lots of or less depth of field a desire to freeze action or allow motion blur or how much noise you find acceptable in an image Each of the D3100 s exposure methods emphasizes one aspect of image capture or another This section introduces you to all four Aperture Priority In A mode don t confuse this with Auto some point and shoot cameras use the letter A to represent automatic mode you specify the lens opening used and the D3100 selects the shutter speed Aperture priority is especially good when you want to use a particular lens opening to achieve a desired effect Perhaps you d like to use the small est f stop possible to maximize depth of field in a close up picture Or you might want to use a large f stop to throw everything except your main subject out of focus as in Figure 4 12 a chilling portrait of a menacing lizard taken by talented Cleveland pho tographer Kris Bosworth Maybe youd just like to lock in a particular f stop because it s the sharpest available aperture with that lens Or you might prefer to use say f 2 8 on a lens with a maximum aperture of f 1 4 because you want the best compromise between speed and sharpness Aperture priority can even be used to specify a range of shutter speeds you want to use under varying lighting conditions which seems almost contradictory But think about it Youre shooting
203. ck in the 70s this shot was described as the big talking face shot and we were actively discouraged from employing it Styles and tastes change over the years and now the big talking face is much more commonly used maybe people are better looking these days and so this view may be appropriate Just remember your camera is capable of shooting in high definition video and you may be playing the video on a high def TV be careful that you use this composition on a face that can stand up to high definition See Figure 6 13 Two shot A two shot shows a pair of subjects in one frame They can be side by side or one in the foreground and one in the background This does not have to be a head to ground composition Subjects can be standing or seated A three shot is the same principle except that three people are in the frame See Figure 6 14 Over the shoulder shot Long a composition of interview programs the over the shoulder shot uses the rear of one person s head and shoulder to serve as a frame for the other person This puts the viewer s perspective as that of the person facing away from the camera See Figure 6 15 Chapter 6 m Live View and Shooting Movies 221 Figure 6 10 An establishing shot from a distance sets Figure 6 11 A medium shot is used to bring the viewer the stage for closer views into a scene without shocking them It can be used to introduce a character and provide context via their surround
204. cketing Bracketing is a method for shooting several consecutive exposures using different set tings as a way of improving the odds that one will be exactly right Before digital cam eras took over the universe it was common to bracket exposures shooting say a series of three photos at 1 125th second but varying the f stop from f 8 to f 11 to f 16 In practice smaller than whole stop increments were used for greater precision and lenses with apertures that were set manually commonly had half stop detents on their aper ture rings or could easily be set to a mid way position between whole f stops It was just as common to keep the same aperture and vary the shutter speed although in the days before electronic shutters film cameras often had only whole increment shutter speeds available Today cameras like the D3100 can bracket exposures much more precisely using in between settings Unfortunately the D3100 doesn t have automatic bracketing like some of its more advanced siblings but you can still bracket manually by adding and or subtracting EV values as described in the Making EV Changes sidebar earlier in the chapter or by shooting in Manual mode Bracketing and Merge to HDR One reason you might want to use manual bracketing is to create high dynamic range HDR photographs which have become all the rage as a way to extend the number of tones that a digital camera like the D3100 can capture While my goal in thi
205. cluding daytime in which case you ll often need the help of neutral density filters to make the long exposure practical long exposures can cause moving objects to vanish entirely because they don t remain stationary long enough to register in a photograph Three Ways to Take Long Exposures There are actually three common types of lengthy exposures timed exposures bulb expo sures and time exposures The Nikon D3100 offers only the first two Because of the length of the exposure all shots with very slow shutter speeds should be taken with a tripod to hold the camera steady m Timed exposures These are long exposures from 1 second to 30 seconds meas ured by the camera itself To take a picture in this range simply use Manual or S modes and use the main command dial to set the shutter speed to the length of time you want choosing from preset speeds of 1 0 1 3 1 6 2 0 2 5 3 0 4 0 5 0 6 0 8 0 10 0 13 0 15 0 20 0 25 0 and 30 0 seconds because the D3100 uses 1 3 stop increments The advantage of timed exposures is that the camera does all the calculating for you There s no need for a stopwatch If you review your image on the LCD and decide to try again with the exposure doubled or halved you can dial in the correct exposure with precision The disadvantage of timed exposures is that you can t take a photo for longer than 30 seconds Bulb exposures This type of exposure is so called because in the olden days the ph
206. collars for attaching the lens itself to a tripod Set the focus mode switch on the lens to AF or M A Autofocus If the lens hood is bayoneted on the lens in the reversed position which makes the lens hood combina tion more compact for transport twist it off and remount with the petals if present facing outward See Figure 1 7 A lens hood protects the front of the lens from acci dental bumps and reduces flare caused by extraneous light arriving at the front of the lens from outside the picture area Figure 1 6 Match the indicator on the lens with the white dot on the camera mount to prop erly align the lens with the bayonet mount 14 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Adjusting Diopter Correction Those of us with less than perfect eyesight can often benefit from a little optical cor rection in the viewfinder Your contact lenses or glasses may provide all the correction you need but if you are a glasses wearer and want to use the D3100 without your glasses you can take advantage of the camera s built in diopter adjustment which can be var ied from 1 7 to 0 5 correction Press the shutter release halfway to illuminate the indi cators in the viewfinder then rotate the diopter adjustment knob next to the viewfinder see Figure 1 8 while looking through the viewfinder until the indicators appear sharp Should the available correction be insufficient Nikon offers nine different
207. concern Indeed subject movement is a more serious problem especially when shooting plant life outdoors on days plagued with even slight breezes Because my outdoor sub jects are likely to move while I am composing my photo I find both VR and aut ofocus not very useful I end up focusing manually most of the time too This lens provides a little extra camera to subject distance so you ll find it very useful but consider the older non G non VR version too if you re in the market and don t mind losing autofocus features m AF Micro Nikkor 200mm f 4D IF ED With a price tag of about 1 300 you d probably want this lens only if you planned a great deal of close up shooting at greater distances It focuses down to 1 6 feet and is manual focus only with the D3100 but provides enough magnification to allow interesting close ups of sub jects that are farther away A specialized tool for specialized shooting m AF S DX Micro 85mm f 3 5 ED VR This lens was designed especially for cropped sensor DX models like the D3100 It autofocuses on the D3100 it has vibration reduction and it s relatively fast at f 3 5 making it an excellent choice for hand held close up photography Figure 7 15 Extension tubes enable any lens to focus more closely to the subject Chapter 7 m Working with Lenses 253 PC Micro Nikkor 85mm f 2 8D Priced about the same as the 200mm Micro Nikkor this is a manual focus lens on any camera it doesn t o
208. converters 251 silhouettes M Manual mode for 165 underexposure for 147 single frame shooting mode 17 18 Guide mode selecting with 33 single servo AF See AF S single shot AF size See also image size of first lens 230 skylight filter effect 133 slave triggers on flash 291 Sleep Warhol 214 Sleeping Faces Guide mode 33 slide shows intervals changing 78 Playback menu s Slide Show options 78 79 slot empty release lock 325 default value 106 Setup menu options 121 325 slow sync mode in A Aperture priority mode 276 in Night Portrait mode 277 in P Program mode 276 Small Picture option Retouch menu 134 snoots 293 sodium vapor light 264 266 267 soft filter effect 133 soft light diffusing softening light 286 288 for movies 222 softboxes 288 291 292 Soften backgrounds in Guide mode 33 software 295 310 See also Adobe Photoshop Photoshop Elements firmware image editors Nikon Transfer RAW utilities for recovering images 326 327 sound See audio spare batteries 7 11 312 speaker 45 speed See also shutter speed sync speed lenses for 237 with prime lenses 239 with zoom lenses 239 speedlights 7 See also specific types multiple light sources with 288 289 TTL flash cords for 8 vignetting avoiding 243 spherical aberration and bokeh 249 Sports mode 20 22 sports photography AF C continuous AF for 186 continuous shooting for 190 191 freezing action in 192 memory cards
209. cool white fluorescents might have a CRI of about 79 to 95 which is perfectly acceptable for most photographic applica tions Warm white fluorescents might have a CRI of 55 White deluxe mercury vapor lights are less suitable with a CRI of 45 while low pressure sodium lamps can vary from CRI 0 18 268 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Electronic Flash Basics Until you delve into the situation deeply enough it might appear that serious photog raphers have a love hate relationship with electronic flash You ll often hear that flash photography is less natural looking and that the built in flash in most cameras should never be used as the primary source of illumination because it provides a harsh garish look Indeed most pro cameras like the Nikon D3 D3x don t have a built in flash at all Available continuous lighting is praised and built in flash photography seems to be roundly denounced In truth however the bias is against bad flash photography Indeed flash has become the studio light source of choice for pro photographers because it s more intense and its intensity can be varied to order by the photographer freezes action frees you from using a tripod unless you want to use one to lock down a composition and has a snappy consistent light quality that matches daylight While color balance changes as the flash duration shortens some Nikon flash units can communicate to the camera t
210. crophone closer to the subject affects your lens choices and lens perspective options it will make the most of your audio source Of course if you re using a very wide angle lens getting too close to your subject can have unflattering results so don t take this advice too far Turn off any sound makers you can Little things like fans and air handling units aren t obvious to the human ear but will be picked up by the microphone Turn off any machinery or devices that you can plus make sure cell phones are set to silent mode Also do what you can to minimize sounds such as wind radio television or people talking in the background m Make sure to record some natural sound If you re shooting video at an event of some kind make sure you get some background sound that you can add to your audio as desired in postproduction m Consider recording audio separately Lip syncing is probably beyond most of the people you re going to be shooting but there s nothing that says you can t record narration separately and add it later It s relatively easy if you learn how to use sim ple software video editing programs like iMovie for the Macintosh or Windows Movie Maker for Windows PCs Any time the speaker is off camera you can work with separately recorded narration rather than recording the speaker on camera This can produce much cleaner sound Working with Lenses There s no disputing the fact that there is a key reason w
211. cter The cursor will move one place to the right to accept the next character m Rotate the command dial buttons to move the cursor within the line of charac ters that have been input Figure 3 26 Enter a com ment on this screen Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 113 Input comment Cursor Input OK m To remove a character you ve already input move the cursor with the command dial to highlight that character and then press the Trash button m When youre finished entering text press the multi selector OK button to con firm your entry and return to the Image Comment screen 5 In the Image Comment screen scroll down to Attach Comment and press the multi selector right button to activate the comment or to disable it 6 When finished scroll up to Done and press OK Auto Image Rotation Turning this setting On tells the Nikon D3100 to include camera orientation infor mation in the image file The orientation can be read by many software applications including Adobe Photoshop Nikon ViewNX and Capture NX as well as the Rotate Tall setting in the Playback menu Turn this feature Off and none of the software appli cations or Playback s Rotate Tall will be able to determine the correct orientation for the image Nikon notes that only the first image s orientation is used when shooting con tinuous bursts subsequent photos will be assigned the same orientation even if you rotate the camera during the sequenc
212. cture and provides the range of tones and colors you need to create the desired image However getting the perfect exposure can be tricky because digital sensors can t cap ture all the tones we are able to see If the range of tones in an image is extensive embrac ing both inky black shadows and bright highlights the sensor may not be able to capture them all Sometimes we must settle for an exposure that renders most of those tones but not all in a way that best suits the photo we want to produce You ll often need to make choices about which details are important and which are not so that you can grab the tones that truly matter in your image That s part of the creativity you bring to bear in realizing your photographic vision For example look at the two typical tourist snapshots presented side by side in Figure 4 1 The camera was mounted on a tripod for both so the only way you can really see that they are two different images is by examining the differences in the way the water flows over the rocks However the pair of pictures does vary in exposure The version on the left was underexposed which helps bring out detail in the ridges and sky in the background but makes the water and foreground look murky and dark The overex posed version on the right offers better exposure for the foreground area but now the ridges and sky are too light Chapter 4 m Fine Tuning Exposure 149 Figure 4 1 At left the image is exposed
213. d 5 6 1 60th second 16 1 1 000th second 4 1 125th second f 11 1 2 000th second 2 8 1 250th second 8 1 4 000th second 2 When the D3100 is set for P mode the metering system selects the correct exposure for you automatically but you can change quickly to an equivalent exposure by hold ing down the shutter release button halfway locking the current exposure and then spinning the command dial until the desired equivalent exposure combination is dis played Rotate the dial to the right to increase the size of the aperture and make the shutter speed faster for less depth of field more action stopping power or to the left to use smaller apertures and slower shutter speeds to increase depth of field while potentially adding some blur from subject or camera motion Nikon calls this ability Flexible Programming and the camera displays a star like symbol adjacent to the P indi cator that let s you know it is in effect In Aperture priority A and Shutter priority S modes you can change to an equiva lent exposure but only by adjusting either the aperture the camera chooses the shut ter speed or shutter speed the camera selects the aperture I ll cover all these exposure modes later in the chapter How the D3100 Calculates Exposure Your Nikon D3100 calculates exposure by measuring the light that passes through the lens and is bounced up by the mirror to a 420 segment RGB sensor located near the focusing sur
214. d If the number of photons reaching a particular photosite doesn t pass a set thresh old no information is recorded Similarly if too much light illuminates a pixel in the sensor then the excess isn t recorded or worse spills over to contaminate adja cent pixels We can modify the number of pixels that contribute to image detail by adjusting the ISO setting At higher ISOs the incoming light is amplified to boost the effective sensitivity of the sensor 152 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography These factors the quantity of light produced by the light source the amount reflected or transmitted towards the camera the light passed by the lens the amount of time the shutter is open and the sensitivity of the sensor all work proportionately and recip rocally to produce an exposure That is if you double the amount of light that s avail able increase the aperture by one stop make the shutter speed twice as long or boost the ISO setting 2X you ll get twice as much exposure Similarly you can increase any of these factors while decreasing one of the others by a similar amount to keep the same exposure F STOPS AND SHUTTER SPEEDS If you re really new to more advanced cameras you might need to know that the lens aperture or f stop is a ratio much like a fraction which is why f 2 is larger than f 4 just as 1 2 is larger than 1 4 However f 2 is actually four times as large as f 4 If you remem be
215. d States Copyright Act without the prior written permission of the publisher For product information and technology assistance contact us at Cengage Learning Customer amp Sales Support 1 800 354 9706 For permission to use material from this text or product submit all requests online at cengage com permissions Further permissions questions can be e mailed to permissionrequest cengage com Nikon is a registered trademark of Nikon Inc in the United States and other countries All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners All images David D Busch unless otherwise noted Library of Congress Control Number 2010941297 ISBN 13 978 1 4354 5940 3 ISBN 10 1 4354 5940 7 elSBN 10 1 4354 5941 5 Course Technology a part of Cengage Learning 20 Channel Center Street Boston MA 02210 USA Cengage Learning is a leading provider of customized learning solutions with office locations around the globe including Singapore the United Kingdom Australia Mexico Brazil and Japan Locate your local office at international cengage com region Cengage Learning products are represented in Canada by Nelson Education Ltd For your lifelong learning solutions visit courseptr com Visit our corporate Web site at cengage com For Cathy Acknowledgments Once again thanks to the folks at Course Technology PTR who recognized that a cam era as popular as the Nikon D3100 deserves in depth full
216. d a more powerful speedlight A dedicated flash unit like the Nikon SB 400 SB 600 now discontinued SB 700 or SB 900 can use the multiple contact points shown to communicate exposure zoom setting white balance information and other data between the flash and the camera There s more on using electronic flash in Chapter 8 Chapter 2 m Nikon D3100 Roadmap 59 Figure 2 23 Niko AF SNIKKOR 18 55mm1 3 5 566 OnlOff Shutter ra Info switch release button Focal Accessory Mode Release Command Exposure plane flash shoe dial mode dial compensation indicator switch Aperture button m Power switch Rotate this switch clockwise to turn on the Nikon D3100 and vir tually all other Nikon dSLRs m Info Information button This button turns the shooting information display on or off Shutter release button Partially depress this button to lock in exposure and focus Press all the way to take the picture Tapping the shutter release when the camera has turned off the autoexposure and autofocus mechanisms reactivates both When a review image is displayed on the back panel color LCD tapping this button removes the image from the display and reactivates the autoexposure and autofo cus mechanisms m Exposure compensation Aperture button Press this button while spinning the command dial to change the aperture in Manual exposure mode there is no need to press the button to change the aperture in Aperture priority mode Hold down
217. d ee steer 81 Set Pi t re Control isis G4 Sh ous SAS Se nereikai RSS RRR ERE 83 Image Qualite rrer eke Bark be eee Ru poke ead CORREO He Ree Hes 87 Image Sizes oe kk oa i daaa Ree RG eS RR EE AGE EERE eRe 90 AVE aes serseri peo wee oe See Ke ea Ree ee OR eae A 90 ISO Sensitivity Settings sses 0k preisi erection ienr i EEE Ei 94 Active Do Lights c6icand on6 6228S ee be ee SES Raed ede ees we 96 Auto Distortion Control ied se sces cece dee eda Ces e ee aees lt 98 Color Spaen oe peu aoe Kd v eR GEER RES ER es Cees CRA ES HE a 98 Contents vii Moise Reduction lt ies ak xeckee seek Sa4E Eee TSE ER RGR OS ankh 100 AFArea Mode eneee eee eGee ween ena E pee eus 102 PGs on ka ea gate et eee aad ee tess eee eee 102 Metering oi ind das a ooo de titere ae Row aeee eee 103 Moyie Settings vo hous bashed ee ees 2 Lae Rew Maeda led 104 B ilt In Flash s 05 casd jetad odokasna dew seed neds ibasee dass 104 Setup Ment OpHons lt eucscarnerxtead ad pREdeeRed PaRne needed s 104 Reser Setup OPtHO S sds ses erriei Pee Kes Cee ea aeRO eee ee EA 106 Fotmat Memory Cad 605400 ede dae ra nsanu he ean eae DR 107 LCD Brightness ess bho ed nerie eee ediene6 sewesvescetiewe 107 Into Display Formatie resisite oka ed kA a oe ee eR 108 Auto Tate Display eccs eee woke Nee ee ewe oe Coe Cee Ne 108 Clean Image Sensor is 4 42008 ke bob ONG 68a eS eho hE ORES EEE SS 109 Mirror POC 1d cous geeeeeevntdae ce exh oan dhe Sea S 110 Video M d lt sas ate Kae RO O
218. d eye effects Don t use with moving subjects or when you can abide the delay 276 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Slow sync This setting allows the D3100 in Program and Aperture priority modes to use shutter speeds as slow as 30 seconds with the flash to help balance a back ground illuminated with ambient light with your main subject which will be lit by the electronic flash You ll want to use a tripod at slower shutter speeds of course As shown in Figure 8 11 its common that the ambient light will be much warmer than the electronic flash s daylight balance so if you want the two sources to match you may want to use a warming filter on the flash That can be done with a gel if youre using an external flash like the SB 900 or by taping an appropriate warm filter over the D3100 s built in flash Thats not a convenient approach and many find the warm cool mismatch not objectionable and don t bother with filtration m Red eye reduction with slow sync This mode combines slow sync with the D3100 s red eye reduction behavior when using Program or Aperture priority modes Figure 8 11 I deliberately used flash and slow sync with a scene otherwise illuminated by tungsten light to create this unconventional mixed lighting image Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 277 In Shutter priority and Manual exposure modes you can select the following three flash synchronization settings m
219. d to disable it The pictures you actually take are displayed on the LCD with the legend Demo superimposed on the screen and they are of course not saved 122 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography SETUP MENU File number sequence Buttons Slot empty release lock Date imprint Storage folder GPS Firmware version Date Imprint You can superimpose the date time or both on your photographs or imprint a date counter that shows the number of days or years and days or months years and days between when the picture was taken and a date in the past or future that you select The good news is that this feature can be useful for certain types of photographs used for documentation While the D3100 s time date stamp may not be admissible in a court of law it makes a convincing or convenient in picture indication of when the shot was made This feature works only with JPEG images you cannot use Date Imprint with pictures taken using the RAW or RAW Fine settings The bad news especially if you use the feature accidentally is that the imprint is a per manent part of the photograph You ll have to polish up your Photoshop skills if you want to remove it or at the very least crop it out of the picture area Date and time are set using the format you specify in the World Time setting of the Setup menu described in the next section Your options are as follows m Off Deactivates the date time
220. d to using full frame film cameras you might find it helpful to use the crop factor multiplier to translate a lens s real focal length into the full frame equiv alent even though as I said nothing is actually being multiplied Throughout most of this book I ve been using actual focal lengths and not equivalents except when refer ring to specific wide angle or telephoto focal length ranges and their fields of view Crop or Not There s a lot of debate over the advantages and disadvantages of using a camera with a cropped sensor versus one with a full frame sensor The arguments go like these m Free 1 5X teleconverter The Nikon D3100 and other cameras with the 1 5X crop factor magically transforms any telephoto lens you have into a longer lens which can be useful for sports wildlife photography and other endeavors that ben efit from more reach Yet your f stop remains the same that is a 300mm f 4 becomes a very fast 450mm f 4 lens Some discount this advantage pointing out that the exact same field of view can be had by taking a full frame image and trim ming it to the 1 5X equivalent While that is strictly true it doesn t take into account a factor called pixel density Nikon manufactures both full frame and cropped sen sor cameras with 12MP of resolution the Nikon D700 and D5000 for example The cropped model packs all those pixels together much more tightly into that 23 6 x 15
221. d your non D3100 camera in to Nikon for the firmware upgrade Chapter 10 m Nikon D3100 Troubleshooting and Prevention 317 Better electronic flash You wanna bet that the SB 900 and later flash units won t work better with improved distance integration information if not with the D3100 with Nikon models set for introduction very soon Don t bet the farm against this idea m Lenses with flashable firmware Once Nikon gets on the firmware kick we may even see lenses with flashable firmware so that as improvements in distance inte gration come along the lens can communicate better data to the camera Significant new lenses on the way This is a no brainer as we re all expecting a variety of new primes and zooms anyway The Nikon 10 20mm DX zoom lens was not too long ago and others are expected But the mere existence of the L firmware strongly confirms that we can expect some new lenses that will take the current version to additional upgrades WARNING Use a fully charged EN EL14 charged battery or a Nikon AC adapter to ensure that you ll have enough power to operate the camera for the entire upgrade Moreover you should not turn off the camera while your old firmware is being overwritten Don t open the Secure Digital card door or do anything else that might disrupt operation of the D3100 while the firmware is being installed Getting Ready The first thing to do is determine whether you need the current firmware update Firs
222. date counter for tracking 124 chromatic aberration See color fringes CIPA Camera amp Imaging Products Association 11 circles of confusion 180 183 spherical aberration and 249 Classic information display 19 20 56 57 Setup menu option 108 Clean Image Sensor Setup menu 327 328 cleaning See also sensor cleaning lenses 331 vestibule 331 332 clock battery 312 setting 10 11 cloning out dust spots 332 Close up mode 20 22 built in flash in 29 flash sync modes in 277 Guide mode for 33 in Live View 210 close ups See also Close up mode with lenses 236 macro lenses for 251 253 in movies 219 220 with telephoto lenses 244 cloth backgrounds 293 Cloudy WB white balance 91 92 CMOS sensor 228 Collins Dean 257 color balance Retouch menu options 133 134 color fringes first lens minimizing 229 230 with telephoto lenses 246 with wide angle lenses 242 Color Matrix II metering 159 L firmware and 315 Color Outline option Retouch menu 140 color rendering index CRI 264 267 Color Sampler Adobe Camera Raw 307 color spaces 98 100 Index 355 color temperature See also WB white balance built in flash setting for 280 of continuous light 264 267 of daylight 264 265 of fluorescent light 266 Shooting menu options 90 94 colors See also black and white color balance Retouch menu options 133 134 menus color coding for 71 combining images See image overlay command dial 42 43 C
223. duce number of thumbnails To decrease the number of thumbnails on the screen press the Zoom in button to change from Calendar view to 72 to nine thumbnails to four thumbnails or from four to single image display Continuing SN a a ii n Figure 2 12 Switch between four thumbnails left nine thumbnails center or 72 thumbnails right by pressing the Zoom out and Zoom in buttons Chapter 2 m Nikon D3100 Roadmap 49 to press the Zoom in button once youve returned to single image display starts the zoom process described in the previous section m Change highlighted thumbnail area Use the multi selector to move the yellow highlight box around among the thumbnails m Protect and delete images When viewing thumbnails or a single page image press the Protect button third button from the top to the left of the LCD to preserve the image against accidental deletion a key icon is overlaid over the full page image or the Trash button twice to erase it m Exit image review Tap the shutter release button or press the Playback button to exit image review You don t have to worry about missing a shot because you were reviewing images a half press of the shutter release automatically brings back the D3100 s exposure meters the autofocus system and cancels image review Working with Calendar View Once in calendar view you can sort through images arranged by the date they were taken This feature is especially useful when
224. e 204 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography There were technical problems as well Real time previews disabled a dSLR s Phase Detect autofocus system which as you learned in Chapter 5 is ordinarily achieved by measuring pairs of images in a rangefinder like way through the optical viewfinder which is blocked when the mirror is flipped up for a live view Extensive previewing had the same effect on the sensor as long exposures the sensor heated up producing excess noise Pointing the camera at a bright light source when using a real time view could damage the sensor The list of potential problems goes on and on Fortunately most of these problems have been entirely or mostly overcome The Nikon D3100 has a versatile 3 inch LCD that can be viewed under a variety of lighting conditions and from wide ranging angles so you don t have to be exactly behind the display to see it clearly in Live View mode It offers a 100 percent view of the sen sor s capture area the optical viewfinder shows just 95 percent of the sensor s field of view It s large enough to allow manual focusing but if you want to use automatic focus with contrast detection the D3100 can do that too You still have to avoid point ing your D3100 at bright light sources especially the sun when using Live View but the real time preview can be used for fairly long periods without frying the sensor Image quality can degrade but the came
225. e photo is actually taken even a non interchangeable super zoom camera with 12X to 20X magnification often won t focus close enough include an aperture suitable for low light photography or take in the really wide view you must have Interchangeable lenses and other accessories available for the Nikon D3100 are another one of the reasons you moved up Because you re an avid photographer already you should pick up the finer points of using the D3100 from this book with no trouble Film SLR veterans new to the digital world You understand photography you know about f stops and shutter speeds and thrive on interchangeable lenses If you have used a newer film SLR it probably has lots of electronic features already including autofocus and sophisticated exposure metering Perhaps you ve even been using a Nikon film SLR and understand many of the available accessories that work with both film and digital cameras All you need is information on using digital specific features working with the D3100 itself and how to match and exceed the capabilities of your film camera with your new Nikon D3100 Experienced dSLR users broadening their experience to include the D3100 Perhaps you started out with the Nikon D70 back in 2004 or a D100 before that It s very likely that some of you used the 6 megapixel Nikon D40 before the bug to advance to more megapixels bit you You may have used a digital SLR from Nikon or another vendor and are making the
226. e which is something I have been known to do myself when shooting sports like basketball 114 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Dust Off Ref Photo This menu choice the first in the third screen of the Setup menu see Figure 3 27 lets you take a picture of any dust or other particles that may be adhering to your sensor The D3100 will then append information about the location of this dust to your pho tos so that the Image Dust Off option in Capture NX can be used to mask the dust in the NEF image To use this feature select Dust Off Ref Photo choose either Start or Clean Sensor Then Start and then press OK If directed to do so the camera will first perform a self clean ing operation by applying ultrasonic vibration to the low pass filter that resides on top of the sensor Then a screen will appear asking you to take a photo of a bright feature less white object 10 cm from the lens Nikon recommends using a lens with a focal length of at least 50mm Point the D3100 at a solid white card and press the shutter release An image with the extension ndf will be created and can be used by Nikon Capture NX as a reference photo if the dust off picture is placed in the same folder as an image to be processed for dust removal SETUP MENU Dust Off ref photo gt Auto off timers Self timer delay S E Beep Rangefinder File number sequence Buttons Figure 3 27 The third scre
227. e Tuning Exposure 157 MODES MODES AND MORE MODES Call them modes or methods the Nikon D3100 seems to have a lot of different sets of options that are described using similar terms Here s how to sort them out m Metering method These modes determine the parts of the image within the 420 sensor array that are examined in order to calculate exposure The D3100 may look at many different points within the image segregating them by zone Matrix meter ing examine the same number of points but give greater weight to those located in the middle of the frame Center weighted metering or evaluate only a limited number of points in a limited area Spot metering m Exposure method These modes determine which settings are used to expose the image The D3100 may adjust the shutter speed the aperture or both depending on the method you choose Choosing a Metering Method The D3100 has three different schemes for evaluating the light received by its exposure sensors Matrix with several variations depending on what lens you have attached Center weighted and Spot metering Matrix metering is always used when you select one of the scene modes you can t change to Center weighted or Spot metering when using Auto Auto No Flash Portrait Landscape Child Sports Close up or Night Portrait modes Exposure will generally be calculated well in one of these scene modes but the ability to choose an alternate metering method is one of
228. e chosen a AF lock only Focus is locked in while the AE L AF L button is held down but exposure will continue to vary as you compose the photo and press the shutter release button Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 121 m AE lock Hold Exposure is locked when the AE L AF L button is pressed and remains locked until the button is pressed again or the exposure meter off delay expires Use this option when you want to lock exposure at some point but don t want to keep your thumb on the AE L AF L button m AF AF ON The AE L AF L button is used to initiate autofocus A half press of the shutter release button does not activate or change focus This setting is useful when you want to frame your photo press the shutter release halfway to lock in exposure but don t want the D3100 to autofocus until you tell it to I use this for sports photography when I am waiting for some action to move into the frame before starting autofocus For example I might press the AE L AF L button just before a racehorse crosses the finish line AE Lock When you turn this option On the exposure locks when the shutter release button is pressed halfway When Off the default a shutter release half press does not lock expo sure the camera will continue to adjust exposure until you press the shutter release all the way to take the picture or take your finger off the button Set this option to Off when you are shooting under lighting conditions that
229. e four modes described in more detail in Chapter 5 are as follows Single point You always choose which of the eleven points are used and the Nikon D3100 sticks with that focus bracket no matter what This mode is best for non moving subjects m Dynamic area You can choose which of the eleven focus zones to use but the D3 100 will switch to another focus mode when using AF C or AF A mode described next and the subject moves This mode is great for sports or active children 26 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Auto area This default mode chooses the focus point for you and can use distance information when working with a lens that has a G or D suffix in its name See Chapter 7 for more on the difference between G D lenses and other kinds of lenses m 3D tracking 11 points You can select the focus zone but when not using AF S mode the camera refocuses on the subject if you reframe the image Choosing Focus Mode When you are using Program Aperture priority Shutter priority or Manual exposure mode you can select the autofocus mode when the D3100 measures and locks in focus prior to pressing the shutter release down all the way and taking the picture The focus mode is chosen using the information edit screen 1 Press the information edit button twice and navigate to the focus mode selection it s sixth from the top of the right hand column using the multi selector buttons 2 Press O
230. e next sections You can read more about the Scene modes in Chapter 1 Lens Components The lens shown at left in Figure 2 24 is a typical lens that might be mounted on the Nikon D3100 It is in fact the 18 55mm VR kit lens often sold with the camera body Unfortunately this particular lens doesn t include all the common features found on the various Nikon lenses available for your camera so I am including a second lens shown at right in the figure that does have more features and components It s not a typical lens that a D3100 user might work with however This 17 35mm zoom is a pricey pro lens that costs about twice as much as the entire D3100 camera Nevertheless it makes a good example Components found on this pair of lenses include m Filter thread Most lenses have a thread on the front for attaching filters and other add ons Some like the 18 55 VR kit lens also use this thread for attaching a lens hood you screw on the filter first and then attach the hood to the screw thread on the front of the filter Some lenses such as the AF S Nikkor 14 24mm f 2 8G ED lens have no front filter thread either because their front elements are too curved to allow mounting a filter and or because the front element is so large that huge fil ters would be prohibitively expensive Some of these front filter hostile lenses allow using smaller filters that drop into a slot at the back of the lens Figure 2 24 Chapter 2 m
231. e pictures in lower light levels with faster shutter speeds Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 95 say to freeze action or with smaller lens openings to produce a larger range in which objects are in sharp focus I ll explain all these factors in more detail in Chapter 4 This menu entry allows you to set an ISO sensitivity value from ISO 100 at the low end through ISO 3200 plus H1 and H2 which are the equivalent of ISO 6400 and ISO 12 800 You can also choose Auto which allows the Nikon D3100 to change the ISO setting as you shoot if the setting you have made isn t high enough to produce the best combination of shutter speed and lens opening for a sharp picture The Auto fea ture can be used when you re working in Auto Scene Program Shutter priority Aperture priority or Manual exposure modes it does not work with any of the scene modes This feature can be used both with available light shots and those using elec tronic flash When Auto is active if the ISO rating that you ve chosen doesn t provide enough sen sitivity to take an optimal picture that is one that is well exposed but also has a shut ter speed that s fast enough to stop action and an aperture that produces an acceptable range of sharpness the camera can increase the ISO automatically This capability can be a convenience and at times a life saver but is also fraught with pitfalls For example it is possible that the D3100 could if not giv
232. e power of various flash units rather than actually calculating what exposure to use You don t need to be a math genius to see that an electronic flash with a GN in feet of say 111 5 at ISO 100 like the 274 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography SB 900 would be a ot more powerful than your built in flash At ISO 100 you could use f 5 6 to shoot as far as 20 feet Flash Control The Nikon D3100 s built in flash has two modes TTL in two variations and Manual It does not have a repeating flash option nor can it be used to trigger other Nikon flashes in Commander mode unlike its siblings the Nikon D90 and above You can choose between TTL and Manual modes using the Built In Flash entry in the Shooting menu as first described in Chapter 3 Note that the label on this menu listing changes to Optional Flash when an external flash is mounted on the D3100 and powered up You can then make the same flash mode changes for the SB 400 as you can for the built in flash Other Nikon external flash units such as the Nikon SB 900 have additional expo sure modes which Pll discuss later in this chapter Your Flash Control options are as follows m TTL When the built in flash is triggered the D3100 first fires a preflash and meas ures the light reflected back and through the lens to calculate the proper exposure when the full flash is emitted a fraction of a second later Either i TTL Balanced Fill Flash or Standard i TT
233. e produced for Nikon s long discontinued Pronea 6i and S APS film cameras While the Pronea could use many standard Nikon lenses IX lenses cannot be mounted on any Nikon digital SLR m Micro Nikon uses the term micro to designate its close up lenses Most other ven dors use macro instead m PC Perspective Control A PC lens is capable of shifting the lens from side to side and up down to provide a more realistic perspective when photographing architecture and other subjects that otherwise require tilting the camera so that the sensor plane is not parallel to the subject Older Nikkor PC lenses offered shifting only but more modern models such as the PC E Nikkor 24mm f 3 5D ED lens introduced early in 2008 allow both shifting and tilting 236 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m UV This term is applied to special and expensive lenses designed to pass ultravi olet light m UW Lenses with this designation are designed for underwater photography with Nikonos camera bodies and cannot be used with Nikon digital SLRs m VR Nikon has an expanding line of vibration reduction VR lenses including sev eral very affordable models and the AF S DX Nikkor 16 85mm 3 5 5 6G ED VR lens which shifts lens elements internally to counteract camera shake The VR fea ture allows using a shutter speed up to four stops slower than would be possible without vibration reduction What Lenses Can Do for You No one ca
234. e selected frame Cancel 216 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Saving a Frame You can store any frame from one of your movies as a JPEG still using the resolution of the video format Just follow these steps 1 Pause your movie at the frame you want to save Press the AE L AF L button to access the Edit Movie screen 2 Choose Save Selected Frame and press OK 3 Choose Proceed to confirm 4 Your frame will be stored on the memory card and will be marked with a scissors icon Tips for Shooting Better Movies Producing high quality movies can be a real challenge for amateur photographers After all by comparison we re used to watching the best productions that television video and motion pictures can offer Whether it s fair or not our efforts are compared to what we re used to seeing produced by experts While this chapter can t make you into a pro videographer it can help you improve your efforts There are a number of different things to consider when planning a video shoot and when possible a shooting script and storyboard can help you produce a higher quality video Make a Shooting Script A shooting script is nothing more than a coordinated plan that covers both audio and video and provides order and structure for your video A detailed script will cover what types of shots you re going after what dialogue you re going to use audio effects tran sitions and graphics When you fir
235. e sizes 132 date imprint 122 movies 214 216 Retouch menu options 130 132 cross fades in movies 219 cross screen filter effect 133 cross type focus point 177 178 curvilinear lenses 242 cyanotype images creating 133 D Lighting See also Active D Lighting Retouch menu options 128 129 D series lenses 234 Da Products 321 Dali Salvador 193 dark corners with wide angle lenses 243 dark flash photos with telephoto lenses 247 dark frame subtraction 167 date counter working with 123 124 date imprints default value 106 Setup menu options 122 124 dates and times See also clock calendar view reviewing images in 49 50 date counter working with 123 124 default value 106 movies time dimension in 219 prints specifying dates on 80 Setup menu options 111 David Busch s Digital SLR Pro Secrets 328 335 David Busch s Quick Snap Guide to Lighting 285 dawn color temperature at 265 daylight 265 color temperature of 264 265 Daylight Savings Time default value 106 setting 11 Setup menu options 111 DC lenses 234 defaults resetting 81 82 106 degrees Kelvin 264 of fluorescent light 266 Delete button 45 deleting calendar view images in 49 in Guide mode 34 Playback menu options 72 73 on reviewing images 29 46 thumbnail images 49 Delkin flip up hoods for LCD 321 Design Rule for Camera File systems DCF specification 74 diffusers 288 Digital Image Recovery 326 Digital Photogra
236. e using a 2GB card or by 12 5 percent if youre working with a 1GB SD card You can use the Shooting menu s Image Quality option to change the file formats in column 1 and to change the image sizes in columns 2 3 and 4 or change either value using the information edit display described next Chapter 1 m Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 17 HOW MANY SHOTS The D3100 provides a fairly accurate estimate of the number of shots remaining on the LCD as well as at the lower right edge of the viewfinder display when the display is active Tap the shutter release button to activate it It is only an estimate because the actual number will vary depending on the capacity of your memory card the file format s youve selected more on those later and the con tent of the image itself Some photos may contain large areas that can be more efficiently squeezed down to a smaller size For example a 4GB card can hold about 460 shots in the format known as JPEG Fine at the D3100 s maximum resolution Large format 914 shots using the Normal JPEG set ting or 1700 shots with Basic JPEG setting When numbers exceed 1 000 the D3100 displays a figure and decimal point followed by a K superscript so that 1 900 shots or thereabouts is represented by 1 9 on the LCD and viewfinder Table 1 1 Typical Shots with an 8GB Memory Card Medium JPEG Fine 1 630 JPEG Normal 3 000 JPEG Basic 6 000 RAW N A RAW JPEG Basic N A Choos
237. e variety of shooting environments But this camera s superior level of performance is not limited to stills The D3100 camera is unusually capable in the movie making arena as well So even though you may have bought your camera primarily for shooting stationary scenes you acquired a device that is equipped with a cutting edge set of features for recording high quality video clips This camera can record high definition HD video with monaural sound Whether youre looking to record informal clips of the family on vacation the latest viral video for YouTube or a set of scenes that will be painstakingly crafted into a cinematic masterpiece using editing software the D3100 will perform admirably Working with Live View Live View is one of those features that experienced SLR users especially those dating from the film era sometimes think they don t need until they try it While dSLR vet erans didn t really miss what we ve come to know as Live View it was at least in part because until the last several years they didn t have it and couldn t miss what they never had After all why would you eschew a big bright magnified through the lens optical view that showed depth of field fairly well and which was easily visible under virtually all ambient light conditions LCD displays after all were small tended to wash out in bright light and didn t really provide you with an accurate view of what your picture was going to look lik
238. econd part of this book The Nikon D3100 is not only easy to use it s easy to learn to use As I ve done with my guidebooks for previous Nikon cameras I m going to divide my introduction to the Nikon D3100 into three parts The first part will cover what you absolutely need to know just to get started using the camera you ll find that in this chap ter The second part offers a more comprehensive look at what you should know about 2 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography the camera and its controls to use its features effectively that ll be found in Chapter 2 Finally you ll learn how to make key settings using the menu system so you ll be able to fine tune and tweak the D3100 to operate exactly the way you want in Chapter 3 While you probably should master everything in the first two chapters right away you can take more time to learn about the settings described in Chapter 3 because you wont need to use all those options right away I ve included everything about menus and set tings in that chapter so you ll find what you need when you need it all in one place Some of you may have owned a Nikon digital SLR before Perhaps you owned a Nikon D40 D70 or D80 enjoyed using it and wanted more megapixels and some of the added features the D3100 offers such as full HD movie making automatic sensor cleaning and the handy shake resistant vibration reduction lens packaged in the D3100 kit A few of you ma
239. ect focal length and sharpness for sports photography but the maximum aper ture won t cut it for night baseball or football games or even any sports shooting in daylight if the weather is cloudy or you need to use some ungodly fast shutter speed such as 1 4 000th second You might be happier to gain a full f stop with an AF S Nikkor 300mm f 4D IF ED for a little more than 1 000 mated to a 1 4x teleconverter giving you a 420mm 5 6 lens Or maybe you just need the speed and can benefit from an f 1 8 or f 1 4 prime lens They re all available in Nikon mounts there s even an 85mm f 1 4 and 50mm f 1 4 for the real speed demons With any of these lenses you can continue photographing under the dimmest of lighting conditions without the need for a tripod or flash Special features Accessory lenses give you special features such as tilt shift capa bilities to correct for perspective distortion in architectural shots You ll also find macro lenses including the new AF S Micro Nikkor 60mm f 2 8G ED Fisheye lenses like the AF DX Fisheye Nikkor 10 5mm f 2 8G ED and all other VR vibra tion reduction lenses also count as special feature optics Zoom or Prime Zoom lenses have changed the way serious photographers take pictures One of the rea sons that I own 12 SLR film bodies dating back to the pre zoom days is that in ancient times it was common to mount a different fixed focal length prime lens on various cam eras and take pict
240. ector s up down buttons to view them all Select one by highlighting it and pressing the right multi selector button and you ll see a screen of instruction and the choice of starting shooting or view ing additional settings you might want to change m Advanced operation This choice has five options Soften backgrounds Bring more into focus Freeze Motion People Freeze Motion vehicles and Show Water Flowing Selecting any of them sets up the camera for that type of picture and pro vides you with a screen of information explaining how to take the picture m Timers amp remote control This option allows you to select from Single frame Continuous shooting Self timer or Quiet shutter Figure 1 21 Easy Operation corresponds to the scene modes located memos Easy Operation Advanced operation Use a timer quiet shutter Back 509 34 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Easy operation Nomi erie Distant subjects Sleeping faces eae 509 View Delete Options This screen has five options you can select to activate functions when not in Guide mode These include View single photos View multiple photos Choose a Date select images to view from a calendar of dates View a slide show and Delete photos Set Up Options This screen has 18 options that correspond to the choices available in the Shooting and Setup menus that I ll describe in detail in Chapter 3 The choice
241. ed it and converted the image to a standard file format RAW doesn t save as much space as JPEG What it does do is preserve all the information captured by your camera after it s been converted from analog to digital form So why don t we always use RAW Some photographers avoid using Nikons RAW NEF files on the misguided conviction that they don t want to spend time in an image edi tor But if your basic settings are okay such work is optional and needs to be applied only when a particular image needs to be fine tuned 90 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Although some photographers do save only in RAW format its common to use RAW JPEG Basic or if you re confident about your settings just shoot JPEG and eschew RAW altogether In some situations working with a RAW file can slow you down a little RAW images take longer to store on the memory card and must be con verted from RAW to a format your image editor can handle whether you elect to go with the default settings in force when the picture was taken or make minor adjust ments to the settings you specified in the camera As a result those who depend on speedy access to images or who shoot large numbers of photos at once may prefer JPEG over RAW These photographers include wedding and sports shooters who may take hundreds to more than a thousand pictures within a few hours JPEG was invented as a more compact file format that can store most o
242. ed it personally so I can t say with certainty that it either does or does not work In the interest of completeness I m including it here I can t give you a recommendation so if you have problems please don t blame me The Nikon D3100 is still too new to have generated any reports of users acciden tally damaging the anti dust coating on the sensor filter using this method Tape cleaning works by applying a layer of Scotch Brand Magic Tape to the sensor This is a minimally sticky tape that some of the tape cleaning proponents claim contains no adhesive I did check this out with 3M and can say that Magic Tape certainly does con tain an adhesive The question is whether the adhesive comes off when you peel back the tape taking any dust spots on your sensor with it The folks who love this method claim there is no residue There have been reports from those who don t like the method that residue is left behind This is all anecdotal evidence so you re pretty much on your own in making the decision whether to try out the tape cleaning method Checking Your Work If you want a close up look at your sensor to make sure the dust has been removed you can pay 50 100 for a special sensor microscope with an illuminator like the one shown in Figure 10 11 I use such a device when I m close to home but it s too bulky and too expensive to tuck a sensorscope into every camera bag I own Instead I have four or five plain old Carson
243. ed next When you want to remove the memory card later press the card inwards and it will pop right out 16 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Formatting a Memory Card There are three ways to create a blank Secure Digital card for your D3100 and two of them are at least partially wrong Here are your options both correct and incorrect Transfer move files to your computer When you transfer rather than copy all the image files to your computer from the Secure Digital card either using a direct cable transfer or with a card reader as described later in this chapter the old image files are erased from the card leaving the card blank Theoretically Unfortunately this method does not remove files that you ve labeled as Protected by pressing the Protect button to the right of the viewfinder window it s marked with a key icon while viewing the image on the LCD nor does it identify and lock out parts of your SD card that have become corrupted or unusable since the last time you for matted the card Therefore I recommend always formatting the card rather than simply moving the image files each time you want to make a blank card The only exception is when you want to leave the protected unerased images on the card for awhile longer say to share with friends family and colleagues Don t Format in your computer With the SD card inserted in a card reader or card slot in your computer you ca
244. ee tad piena prd revne mra iks 282 Using the Zoom Head sec caek ds Paw ae a40 4 Fan Pek eee ea vA 283 Hash Modes isca ccd2s0adee sacacsadthedanteonseueanceaes 283 Working with Wireless Commander Mode 2000000 00s 284 Connecting External Flash 3 144 aa0ag aged rE a OR RRO Ree 285 More Advanced Lighting Techniques lt 400d 20s4 see anes Ceweeey 285 Diffusing and Softening the Light 5 lt i5 see ees 6eo45 eee oR ROSS 286 Using Multiple Light Sources 2 ods nue dnd Sexe ean ccd ie dhdenes 288 Other Lighting Accessories i oos44 nade ae eee ane Pach one ee gt 291 Chapter 9 Useful Software for the Nikon D3100 295 Nikon s Applications and Utilities e lt 2 22063 00240200 baetawn 296 Nikon View X erretenean enta met EEEE ENE E EEEE E 296 Nikon Transfel 2 9 se he0ep 298 oa eee kerar ened os ted es 298 Nikon Capture NX 2 tanese baa eG ue ened oe e eea EEk 300 Other SoftWal seese serite tee be trimisa ede y Eiee eee e E k 302 DxO Optics Pro isei ce eawese ses vee deat ee ee Eti aietara 303 Phase One Capture One Pro C1 Pro os cas ewen Gu aaw ewe eae we 304 Dibble Prowse ca neracie eats asngese ccsee onde asek een 304 BreezeBrowser Pro 2 ews en bavewa ke ceed oie Dea ke ag DOWER EES 305 Photoshop Photoshop Elements 0cceeeceeccees 306 Chapter 10 Nikon D3100 Troubleshooting and Prevention 311 Battery Powered lt 4 3205 eu een ene ex UE du tnea Etut Ee ERE CHERRY 312 Update Your Firtniware 4
245. een respectively Reviewing the Images You ve Taken Here you ll discover how to review the images you ve taken in a basic way I ll provide more detailed options for image review in Chapter 2 The Nikon D3100 has a broad range of playback and image review options and PH cover them in more detail in Chapter 3 For now you ll want to learn just the basics Here is all you really need to know at this time as shown in Figure 1 16 m Display an image Press the Playback button marked with a white right pointing triangle at the upper left corner of the back of the camera to display the most recent image on the LCD 28 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Protect Previous Next Figure 1 16 image photo Review your images Play back images Previous Next photo Edit current image in Una Retouch menu 100D310 DSC_7210 JPG FINE 02 12 201 12 04 09 Move zoomed area Information Zoom Thumbnail Change type Erase in Zoom out of information images displayed Scroll among images Spin the command dial left or right to review additional images You can also use the multi selector left right buttons Press right to advance to the next image or left to go back to a previous image m Change image information display Press the multi selector button up or down to change among overlays of basic image information or detailed shooting information m Magnify reduce image on screen Press the Zoom button r
246. el prevents your flash from triggering their remotes and vice versa Each remote flash unit can also be set to one of three groups A B or C so you can set the exposure compensation and exposure mode of each group separately For exam ple one or more flashes in one group can be reduced in output compared to the flashes in the other group to produce a particular lighting ratio of effect You ll find instruc tions for setting exposure mode channel and compensation next for the built in flash Connecting External Flash You have three basic choices for linking an external flash unit to your Nikon D3100 They are as follows m Mount on the accessory shoe Sliding a compatible flash unit into the Nikon D3100 s accessory shoe provides a direct connection With a Nikon dedicated flash all functions of the flash are supported m Connect to the accessory shoe with a cable or adapter The Nikon SC 28 and SC 29 TTL coiled remote cords have an accessory shoe on one end of a nine foot cable to accept a flash and a foot that slides into the camera accessory shoe on the other end providing a link that is the same as when the flash is mounted directly on the camera The SC 29 version also includes a focus assist lamp like that on the camera and SB 900 You can also use an adapter in the accessory shoe that accepts a standard flash cable In all cases you should make sure that the external flash does nt use a triggering voltage high enough
247. eld of view by dividing the focal length of the lens by 667 Thus a 100mm lens mounted on a D3100 has the same field of view as a 150mm lens on the Nikon D700 We humans tend to perform multipli cation operations in our heads more easily than division so such field of view compar isons are usually calculated using the reciprocal of 667 1 5 so we can multiply instead 100 667 150 100 x 1 5 150 Figure 7 1 Nikon offers digital SLRs with full frame LX crops as well as 1 5X crops Chapter 7 m Working with Lenses 227 This translation is generally useful only if youre accustomed to using full frame cam eras usually of the film variety and want to know how a familiar lens will perform on a digital camera I strongly prefer crop factor over lens multiplier because nothing is being multiplied a 100mm lens doesn t become a 150mm lens the depth of field and lens aperture remain the same I ll explain more about these later in this chapter Only the field of view is cropped But crop factor isn t much better as it implies that the 24 x 36mm frame is full and anything else is less I get e mails all the time from pho tographers who point out that they own full frame cameras with 36mm x 48mm sen sors like the Mamiya 645ZD or Hasselblad H3D 39 medium format digitals By their reckoning the half size sensors found in cameras like the Nikon D700 and D3 D3x are cropped If you re accustome
248. elected Dealing with Noise Visual image noise is that random grainy effect that some like to use as a special effect but which most of the time is objectionable because it robs your image of detail even as it adds that interesting texture Noise is caused by two different phenomena high ISO settings and long exposures High ISO noise commonly appears when you raise your camera s sensitivity setting above ISO 400 With the Nikon D3100 noise may become visible at ISO 800 and is often fairly noticeable at ISO 1600 Nikon tips you off that ISO 6400 and ISO 12 800 may be a tool used in special circumstances only by labeling them Hi 1 0 and ISO 2 0 you can expect noise and an increase in contrast in any pictures taken at these lofty rat ings High ISO noise appears as a result of the amplification needed to increase the sen sitivity of the sensor While higher ISOs do pull details out of dark areas they also amplify non signal information randomly creating noise You ll find a High ISO NR choice in the Shooting menu where you can specify On or Off Because noise reduc tion tends to soften the grainy look while robbing an image of detail you may want to disable the feature if you re willing to accept a little noise in exchange for more details A similar noisy phenomenon occurs during long time exposures which allow more pho tons to reach the sensor increasing your ability to capture a picture under low light con ditions Howe
249. em so arguably you might be boosting the odds of losing some pictures If all your images are important the fact that you ve lost 100 rather than 200 pictures isn t very comforting Also consider that the eggs basket scenario assumes that the cards that are lost or dam aged are always full It s actually likely that your 16GB card might suffer a mishap when it s less than half full indeed it s more likely that a large card won t be completely filled before it s offloaded to a computer so you really might not lose any more shots with a single 16GB card than with multiple 4GB or 8GB cards If you shoot photojournalist type pictures you probably change memory cards when they re less than completely full in order to avoid the need to do so at a crucial moment When I shoot sports my cards rarely reach 80 to 90 percent of capacity before I change them Using multiple smaller cards means you have to change them that more often which can be a real pain when you re taking a lot of photos As an example if you use 1GB memory cards with a Nikon D3100 and shoot RAW JPEG Fine you may get only a few dozen pictures on the card That s not even twice the capacity of a 36 expo sure roll of film remember those In my book I prefer keeping all my eggs in one bas ket and then making very sure that nothing happens to that basket The other reason comes into play when every single picture is precious to you and the loss of any of them
250. en of the Setup menu Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 115 Auto Off Timers Use this setting to determine how long the D3100 s LCD and viewfinder displays and exposure meters continue to function after the last operation such as autofocusing focus point selection and so forth was performed You can choose a short timer to save power or a longer value to keep the camera alive for a longer period of time When the Nikon EH5a EH 5 AC adapter is connected to the D3100 the exposure meters will remain on indefinitely and when the D3100 is connected to a computer or PictBridge compatible printer the LCD and viewfinder displays do not turn off automatically Sports shooters and some others prefer longer delays because they are able to keep their camera always at the ready with no delay to interfere with taking an action shot that unexpectedly presents itself Extra battery consumption is just part of the price paid For example when I am shooting football a meter off delay of 16 seconds is plenty because the players lining up for the snap is my signal to get ready to shoot But for bas ketball or soccer I typically set a longer limit because action is virtually continuous SAVING POWER WITH THE NIKON D3100 There are several settings techniques you can use to stretch the longevity of your D3100 s battery To get the most from each charge consider these steps m Image Review Turn off automatic image review after
251. en some guidance choose an ISO setting far higher than what you intended producing pictures that might be unacceptably grainy for a given purpose In such cases you might have preferred to keep your original ISO setting and optimize exposure through some other means such as supplementary flash or using a tripod with a longer shutter speed Fortunately the D3100 does not easily lead you astray Automatic ISO shifts are possi ble only if you ve activated that feature in this menu and when implemented by the camera you re given fair warning by an ISO Auto indicator on the shooting informa tion screen and in the viewfinder Better yet you can lay down some rules that the D3100 will use before it meddles with the ISO setting you originally specified The lower half of the ISO sensitivity settings screen has three choices One of them On Off is self explanatory you can enable or disable the ISO Auto feature by choos ing the appropriate option The other two available only when Auto is turned on are Max Sensitivity and Min Shutter Speed These lead you to separate screens you can use to lay down the ground rules Here s a quick explanation of how your options operate m Off Set ISO Sensitivity Auto Control to Off and the ISO setting will not budge from whatever value you have specified Use this setting when you don t want any ISO surprises or when ISO increases are not needed to counter slow shutter speeds For example if the D3100
252. en youve finished marking images to delete press OK A final screen will appear asking you to confirm the removal of the image s Choose Yes to delete the image s or No to cancel deletion and then press OK If you selected Yes then you ll return to the Playback menu if you chose No you ll be taken back to the selection screen to mark unmark images 5 To back out of the selection screen press the MENU button Using the Delete menu option to remove images will have no effect on images that have been marked as protected with the Protect key Keep in mind that deleting images through the Delete process is slower than just wip ing out the whole card with the Format command so using Format is generally much faster than choosing Delete All and also is a safer way of returning your memory card to a fresh blank state Playback Folder Images created by your Nikon D3100 are deposited into folders on your memory card These folders have names like 100D3100 or 101D3100 but you can change those default names to something else using the Folders option in the Setup menu described later in this chapter With a freshly formatted memory card formatting is covered under the Setup menu the D3100 starts with a default name 100D3100 When that folder fills with the max imum of 999 images the camera automatically creates a new folder numbered one higher such as 101D3100 If you use the same memory card in another camera that camera will als
253. ene mode Auto Flash Off Portrait Landscape Child Sports Chapter 1 m Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 21 D3100 also has a new Guide mode with three simplified menus Shoot View Delete and Setup that provides fast access only to the most frequently used settings I ll explain Guide mode later in this chapter after you ve had an introduction to the three types of options that are available in its menus Choosing a Scene Mode The eight scene modes can be selected by rotating the mode dial on the top right of the Nikon D3100 to the appropriate icon shown in Figure 1 12 m Auto In this mode the D3100 makes all the exposure decisions for you and will pop up the internal flash if necessary under low light conditions The camera auto matically focuses on the subject closest to the camera unless you ve set the lens to manual focus and the autofocus assist illuminator lamp on the front of the cam era will light up to help the camera focus in low light conditions m Auto Flash Off Identical to Auto mode except that the flash will not pop up under any circumstances Youd want to use this in a museum during religious cer emonies concerts or any environment where flash is forbidden or distracting Portrait Use this mode when youre taking a portrait of a subject standing rela tively close to the camera and want to de emphasize the background maximize sharpness and produce flattering skin tones The built i
254. ength lens is what you should rely on Figure 7 8 shows an image taken with a Nikon 85mm f 1 4 lens Figure 7 8 An 85mm f 1 4 lens was perfect for this hand held photo at a concert featur ing British Invasion singer Peter Asher Chapter 7 m Working with Lenses 239 m Speed Using prime lenses takes time and slows you down It takes a few seconds to remove your current lens and mount a new one and the more often you need to do that the more time is wasted If you choose not to swap lenses when using a fixed focal length lens you ll still have to move closer or farther away from your subject to get the field of view you want A zoom lens allows you to change mag nifications and focal lengths with the twist of a ring and generally saves a great deal of time Categories of Lenses Lenses can be categorized by their intended purpose general photography macro pho tography and so forth or by their focal length The range of available focal lengths is usually divided into three main groups wide angle normal and telephoto Prime lenses fall neatly into one of these classifications Zooms can overlap designations with a sig nificant number falling into the catch all wide to telephoto zoom range This section provides more information about focal length ranges and how they are used 240 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography When the 1 5X crop factor mentioned at the beginning of this chapter i
255. ens from your camera and then avoid stirring up dust before making the exchange m Work fast Minimize the time your camera is lens less and exposed to dust That means having your replacement lens ready and dusted off and a place to set down the old lens as soon as it is removed so you can quickly attach the new lens m Let gravity help you Face the camera downward when the lens is detached so any dust in the mirror box will tend to fall away from the sensor Turn your back to any breezes indoor forced air vents fans or other sources of dust to minimize infiltration m Protect the lens you just removed Once you ve attached the new lens quickly put the end cap on the one you just removed to reduce the dust that might fall on it m Clean out the vestibule From time to time remove the lens while in a relatively dust free environment and use a blower bulb like the one shown in Figure 10 7 not compressed air or a vacuum hose to clean out the mirror box area A blower bulb is generally safer than a can of compressed air or a strong positive negative airflow which can tend to drive dust further into nooks and crannies m Be prepared If youre embarking on an important shooting session it s a good idea to clean your sensor now rather than come home with hundreds or thousands of images with dust spots caused by flecks that were sitting on your sensor before you 332 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography eve
256. epeatedly to zoom in on the image displayed the Zoom out button reduces the image A thumbnail rep resentation of the whole image appears in the lower right corner with a yellow rec tangle showing the relative level of zoom At intermediate zoom positions the yellow rectangle can be moved around within the frame using the multi selector m Protect images Press the Protect button to mark an image and shield it from acci dental erasure but not from reformatting of the memory card Figure 1 17 The pop up electronic flash can be used as the main light source or for supplemental illumination Chapter 1 m Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 29 m Delete current image Press the trash button twice to remove the photo currently being displayed m Exit playback Press the Playback button again or just tap the shutter release but ton to exit playback view You ll find information on viewing thumbnail indexes of images automated playback and other options in Chapter 3 Using the Built in Flash This section provides a quick introduction to your camera s built in flash You ll find more information on flash photography in Chapter 8 Working with the D3100 s built in flash as well as external flash units like the Nikon SB 400 deserves a chapter of its own and I m providing one see Chapter 8 But the built in flash is easy enough to work with that you can begin using it right away either to provide the main ligh
257. er 3 However if you think you can handle this step without instruc tion press the MENU button to the left of the LCD and then use the multi selector to scroll down to the Setup menu it s marked with a wrench icon press the multi selec tor button to the right and then press the down button to scroll down to the Time Zone and Date entry and press the right button again The options will appear on the screen that appears next Keep in mind that you ll need to reset your camera s internal clock from time to time as it is not 100 percent accurate Of course your camera will not explode if the internal clock is inaccurate but your images will have the wrong time stamped on them You may also need to reset your camera s internal clock if you travel and you want the time stamp on your pictures to reflect the time where the images were shot and not the time back home Battery Included Your Nikon D3100 is a sophisticated hunk of machinery and electronics but it needs a charged battery to function so rejuvenating the EN EL14 lithium ion battery pack furnished with the camera should be your first step A fully charged power source should be good for a minimum of 500 shots based on standard tests defined by the Camera amp Imaging Products Association CIPA document DC 002 In the real world of course the life of the battery will depend on how often you review the shots you ve taken on the LCD screen how many pictures you take with the bu
258. er Mode The D3100 s built in flash cannot be set to Commander mode and used to control other compatible flash units However if you mount one of several compatible external ded icated flash units such as the Nikon SB 900 it can serve as a flash Commander to communicate with and trigger other flash units Nikon offers a unit called the SU 800 which is a commander unit that has no built in visible flash and which controls other units using infrared signals The SU 800 has several advantages It s useful for cameras like the D3100 which lacks a Commander mode and several pro cameras like the D3x D3 and D2xs which have no built in flash to function in Commander mode The real advantage the SU 800 has is its reach Because it uses IR illumination rather than visible light to com municate with remote flashes the infrared burst can be much stronger doubling its effective control range to 66 feet Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 285 Once you have set the SB 900 or other flash as the Master Commander you can spec ify a shooting mode either Manual with a power output setting you determine from 1 1 to 1 128 or for TTL automatic exposure When using TTL you can dial in from 1 0 to 3 0 flash exposure compensation for the master flash You can also specify a channel 1 2 3 or 4 that all flashes will use to communicate among themselves If other Nikon photographers are present choosing a different chann
259. ering options 103 Language options 112 Movie settings 104 LCD Brightness options 107 108 Noise Reduction option 100 101 Mirror Lockup options 110 Reset Shooting options 81 82 106 Rangefinder options 116 118 Set Picture Control options 83 87 Self Timer Delay options 116 WB white balance options 90 94 Slot Empty Release Lock options 121 shooting modes 17 19 325 changing 19 20 Storage Folder options 124 125 Live View information on 210 211 Time Zone and Date options 111 selecting 20 21 Video Mode options 110 shooting information display on 57 Shade WB white balance 91 92 shooting scripts 216 shadows See also Active D Lighting shooting w o memory cards See slot vignetting with wide angle lenses 242 empty release lock 372 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography short exposures 191 194 short telephoto lenses 240 shots remaining See remaining shots Show Water Flowing Guide mode 33 shutter See also shutter speed sync speed light passing through 151 Shutter button 37 Shutter release button 59 equivalent exposures changing to 153 shutter speed See also ISO sensitivity sync speed equivalent exposures 153 f stops compared 152 Live View information on 211 212 shooting information display on 58 short exposures and 191 194 vibration reduction and 254 viewfinder information on 65 Shutterfly Eye Fi cards and 324 Sigma lenses 233 macro lenses 253 macro zoom lenses 236 tele
260. es by pressing the Zoom in information edit button Remember you can press the button a second time to access the information edit screen As I mentioned the Nikon D3100 offers two different formats for display of this infor mation on the LCD See Chapter 3 for an explanation of how to change among these formats There is a Graphics mode which uses a pleasant but non intuitive display mixing text graphical elements and icons I prefer the Classic format which offers the most information in the most legible format Included is a thicket of information m Exposure mode This indicator tells you whether the D3100 is set for one of the scene modes or for Program Aperture priority Shutter priority or Manual expo sure modes An asterisk appears next to the P when you have used Flexible Program mode which allows you to depart from the camera s programmed exposure setting to set a different combination of shutter speed aperture that produces the same exposure You ll find more about this feature in Chapter 4 m Image size Shows whether the D3100 is shooting Large Medium or Small sizes m Image quality Shows current image quality including JPEG RAW and RAW JPEG Fine m White balance setting One of the white balance settings will appear here depend ing on the selection you ve made m Shooting mode Indicates whether the D3100 is set for Single frame Continuous or one of the Self timer Remote modes m Focus mode Shows AF
261. ewiddeddesidds penderie nied 253 Chapter 8 Making Light Work for You 257 Continuous Illumination versus Electronic Flash 006 258 Continuous Lighting Basics n annasan eee eee ee SES 264 Daylight ci ckcessareigdesiadeu nenten nian ETETE i 265 Incandescent Tungsten Light lt lt 4 cs 0050 850 e erees eed ee cae ex 266 Fluorescent Light Other Light Sources 520 4020s400 d0008 266 Adjusting White Balance n 0 cece cece cece cee eeeees 267 Electronic Flash Basits ox oct oa 4s eae Fak HoR RR PER a CORDES ERK Me 268 How Electronic Flash Works nnn dawew X44 1 S RMON HS oa ew 268 Determining Exposure 0 eee eee eee tenes 273 Guide Numbers sere rrena tetat debe eae ose eda we cee de 273 Fl sh Control ececeecccciere terere cunei isee ie tE nke ea 274 Flash Metering Mode 204 55 5b00 208 aes chow s Sete es Re owe ee 274 Choosing a Flash Sync Mode 5 02 6 0 eeneaexad dew sadewand oe 275 A Typical Electronic Flash Sequence n co00 s05 08 0408 beeen a8 278 Contents xi Working with Nikon Flash Units 40 440 004 see de4 eee eee e ens os 219 Nikon D3100 Built in Flash ic 2a ne iaw eee ei wed cease ees ee es 279 Nikon SD 00 vce tparedve ds HOI as eed het on sd endeke pers 280 Nikon SB 700 rrenean a take eA SS 280 Nikon SD 10042 s05504e a edaw ees Aaa aber ban cae eee es 281 Nikon SB R200 cdi axduaied oda d bone entinen krak ORE EDS EE 282 Flash VeCHmMGucs n lt e cence beers t
262. example can be oriented so the neutral density portion is concentrated at the top of the lens s view with the less dense or clear portion at the bottom thus reducing the amount of light from a very bright sky while not interfering with the exposure of the landscape in the foreground Graduated filters can also be split into several color sections to provide a color gradient between portions of the image gray card A piece of cardboard or other material with a standardized 18 percent reflectance Gray cards can be used as a reference for determining correct exposure or for setting white balance group A way of bundling more than one wireless flash unit into a single cluster that all share the same flash output setting as controlled by the master flash unit Guide mode An option on the D3100 that simplifies choosing scene and exposure set tings for various types of photography through multiple levels of choices and helpful descriptions high contrast A wide range of density in a print negative or other image highlights The brightest parts of an image containing detail histogram A kind of chart showing the relationship of tones in an image using a series of 256 vertical bars one for each brightness level A histogram chart such as the one the Nikon D3100 can display during picture review typically looks like a curve with one or more slopes and peaks depending on how many highlight midtone and shadow tones are present in the image
263. f a film or sensor to light measured using the ISO setting Setup menu The D3100 s list of settings and options that deal with overall changes to the camera s operation such as Date Time LCD brightness sensor cleaning self timer delay and so forth shadow The darkest part of an image represented on a digital image by pixels with low numeric values Glossary 349 sharpening Increasing the apparent sharpness of an image by boosting the contrast between adjacent pixels that form an edge Shooting menu The D3100 s list of settings and options that deal with how the cam era behaves as you take pictures such as image size and quality white balance autofo cus settings ISO sensitivity or movie shooting options shutter In a conventional film camera the shutter is a mechanism consisting of blades a curtain a plate or some other movable cover that controls the time during which light reaches the film Digital cameras can use both a mechanical shutter and an electronic shutter for higher effective speeds Shutter priority An exposure mode in which you set the shutter speed and the cam era determines the appropriate f stop See also Aperture priority side lighting Applying illumination from the left or right sides of the camera See also backlighting and front lighting Single Servo Autofocus An automatic focusing setting AF S in which the camera focuses once when the shutter release is pressed down halfway See also Cont
264. f depth of field The larger the DOF the easier it is for the autofocus system s locked in focus point to be appropriate even though strictly speaking there is only one actual plane of sharp focus With less depth of field the accuracy of the focus point becomes more critical because even a small error will result in an out of focus shot m What subject is in focus The portion of your subject that is zeroed in for autofo cus is determined by the autofocus zone that is active and which is chosen either by you or by the Nikon D3100 as described next For example when shooting portraits it s actually okay for part of the subject or even part of the subject s face to be slightly out of focus as long as the eyes or even just the nearest eye appear sharp m When focus is applied For static shots of objects that arent moving when focus is applied doesn t matter much But when youre shooting sports or birds in flight see Figure 5 8 or children the subject may move within the viewfinder as you re framing the image Whether that movement is across the frame or headed right towards you timing the instant when autofocus is applied can be important Figure 5 8 When capturing moving subjects such as birds in flight timing the instant when autofocus is applied can be important Chapter 5 m Advanced Shooting Tips for Your Nikon D3100 185 Your Autofocus Mode Options Choosing the right autofocus mode and the way in
265. f discharge just sitting idle in the camera or in the original packaging Lithium ion power packs of this type typically lose a small amount of their charge every day even when the camera isn t turned on Li ion cells lose their power through a chemical reaction that continues when the camera is switched off It s very likely that the battery purchased with your camera is at least par tially pooped out so you ll want to revive it before going out for some serious shooting Charging the Battery When the battery is inserted into the MH 24 charger properly it s impossible to insert it incorrectly as you can see in Figure 1 4 the contacts on the battery line up and mate with matching contacts inside the charger When properly connected an orange charge light begins flashing and remains flashing until the status lamp glows steadily indicat ing that charging is finished When the battery is charged slide the latch on the bot tom of the camera and ease the battery in as shown in Figure 1 5 Final Steps Your Nikon D3100 is almost ready to fire up and shoot You ll need to select and mount a lens adjust the viewfinder for your vision and insert a Secure Digital card Each of these steps is easy and if you ve used any Nikon before you already know exactly what to do I m going to provide a little extra detail for those of you who are new to the Nikon or SLR worlds Chapter 1 m Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 13 Mounting the
266. f the autofocus process Because virtually all newer Nikon brand lenses are of the AF S type this means your D3100 will have problems only with older Nikon optics That s not true with third party non Nikon lenses While your D3100 will accept vir tually all modern lenses produced by Tokina Tamron Sigma and other vendors they will autofocus only with those lenses that contain an internal focusing motor similar to Nikon s AF S offerings Vendors have different designators to indicate these lenses such as HSM for hypersonic motor You ll have to check with the manufacturer of non Nikon lenses to see if they are compatible with the D3100 particularly since some ven dors have been gradually introducing revamped versions of their existing lenses with the addition of an internal motor There s some good news for those using one of Nikon s focus motorless entry level mod els These cameras unlike Nikon models that have the camera body focus motor can safely use lenses offered prior to 1977 although I expect that while numerous most of these aren t used much by those who have modern digital cameras Thats because cam eras other than Nikon s entry level quartet have a pin on the lens mount that can be damaged by an older unmodified lens John White at www aiconversions com will do the work for about 35 to allow these older lenses to be safely used on any Nikon dig ital camera If you own or may someday purchase one of those other
267. f the informa tion in a digital image but in a much smaller size JPEG predates most digital SLRs and was initially used to squeeze down files for transmission over slow dial up connections JPEG provides smaller files by compressing the information in a way that loses some image data JPEG remains a viable alternative because it offers several different quality levels At the highest quality Fine level you might not be able to tell the difference between the original RAW file and the JPEG version If you dont mind losing some quality you can use more aggressive Normal compression with JPEG to cut the size again Image Size The next menu command in the Shooting menu lets you select the resolution or num ber of pixels captured as you shoot with your Nikon D3100 Your choices range from Large L 4608 x 3072 14 2 megapixels Medium M 3456 x 2304 8 megapixels and Small S 2304 x 1536 pixels 3 5 megapixels There are no additional options available from the Image Size menu screen Keep in mind that if you choose NEF RAW or NEF RAW JPEG Fine only the Large image size can be selected The other size options are grayed out and unavailable White Balance The Shooting menu s White Balance settings are considerably more flexible than those available from the information edit screen so you may want to use this menu entry instead The information edit screen lets you choose one of six predefined settings plus Auto and PRE which is
268. face based on the assumption that each area being measured reflects about the same amount of light as a neutral gray card with 18 percent reflectance That assumption is necessary because different subjects reflect different amounts of light In a photo containing a white cat and a dark gray cat the white cat might reflect five times as much light as the gray cat An exposure based on the white cat will cause the gray cat 154 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography to appear to be black while an exposure based only on the gray cat will make the white cat s fur appear to be washed out Light measuring devices handle this by assuming that the areas measured average a standard value of 18 percent gray a figure that s been used as a rough standard most vendors don t calibrate their metering for exactly 18 percent gray the actual figure may be closer to 13 or 14 percent for many years Of course if you use such a gray card strictly speaking you need to use about one half stop more exposure than metered because the D3100 is calibrated for a lighter tone rather than the 18 percent gray you just measured If you re using a human palm instead add one full stop more exposure To meter properly you ll want to choose both the metering method how light is evalu ated and exposure method how the appropriate shutter speeds and apertures are cho sen See Figure 4 4 I ll describe both in the following sections Bu
269. ffer autofocus fea tures that has both tilt and shift capabilities so you can adjust the perspective of the subject as you shoot The tilt feature lets you tilt the plane of focus provid ing the illusion of greater depth of field while the shift capabilities make it possi ble to shoot down on a subject from an angle and still maintain its correct proportions If you need one of these for perspective control you already know it if you re still wondering how youd use one you probably have no need for these specialized capabilities However I have recently watched some very creative fash ion and wedding photographers use this lens for portraits applying the tilting fea tures to throw parts of the image wildly out of focus to concentrate interest on faces and so forth None of these are likely pursuits of the average Nikon D3100 pho tographer but I couldn t resist mentioning this interesting lens Youll also find macro lenses macro zooms and other close focusing lenses available from Sigma Tamron and Tokina If you want to focus closer with a macro lens or any other lens you can add an accessory called an extension tube like the one shown in Figure 7 15 or a bellows extension These add ons move the lens farther from the focal plane allowing it to focus more closely Nikon also sells add on close up lenses which look like filters and allow lenses to focus more closely Vibration Reduction Nikon has a burgeoning line of
270. flash external flash FEV flash exposure compensation flash modes speedlights studio flash sync speed basics of 268 277 Commander mode flash units 284 285 continuous light compared 258 263 cost of 262 dark flash photos with telephoto lenses 247 evenness of illumination with 261 explanation of 268 269 exposure calculation with 259 261 273 flexibility of 263 freezing action with 262 263 ghost images 270 271 guide numbers GN 273 274 i TTL Balanced Fill Flash 275 360 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography metering modes for 274 275 multiple light sources 288 291 power saving by turning off 115 previewing with 259 with short exposures 191 192 Standard i TTL Fill Flash 275 typical flash sequence 278 279 flash cords 8 Flash mode button 38 39 flash modes defaults resetting 81 for external flash units 283 284 shooting information display on 58 Flash Off mode in Night Portrait mode 277 in Scene modes 277 Flash pop up button 38 39 Flash WB white balance 91 92 flat faces with telephoto lenses 246 flat lighting for movies 223 flexibility of continuous light 262 263 of flash 263 Flexible Program 164 defaults resetting 81 Flicker Reduction options Setup menu 111 Flickr Eye Fi cards and 324 geotagging information with 199 flip up hoods for LCD 321 fluorescent light 266 267 color temperature of 264 266 WB white balance 91 92 Fn Function butto
271. flash meter Moreover you don t have to connect them to the accessory shoe on top of the camera Instead you can remove them from the camera and plug in an adaptor like the Nikon AS 15 onto the accessory shoe to provide a PC X connector for use with an old style camera sync cord Figure 8 20 All in one monolights contain flash power supply and a modeling light in one compact pack age umbrella not included Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 291 You should be aware that older electronic flash units sometimes use a triggering volt age that is too much for your D3100 to handle You can actually damage the camera s electronics if the voltage is too high You won t need to worry about this if you pur chase brand new units from Alien Bees Adorama or other vendors But if you must connect an external flash with an unknown triggering voltage I recommend using a Wein Safe Sync see Figure 8 21 which isolates the flash s voltage from the camera trig gering circuit Finally some flash units have an optical slave trigger built in or can be fitted with one so that they fire automatically when another flash including your camera s built in unit fires Or you can use radio control devices like the ones shown in Figure 8 22 Figure 8 21 A voltage isolator can prevent frying Figure 8 22 A radio control device frees you from a sync your D3100 s flash circuits if you use an older cord tether between your flash and ca
272. focus exposure locking options Nikon gives you the AE L AF L button located on the back of the camera to the right of the viewfinder window and a variety of behavior combinations for it This CSM setting allows you to define whether the Nikon D3100 locks exposure focus or both when the button is pressed so the AE L AF L button can be used for these functions in addition to or instead of a half press of the shutter release It can also be set so that autofocus starts only when the button is pressed in that case a half press of the shutter release initiates autoexposure but the AE L AF L button must be pressed to start the autofocusing process These options can be a little confusing so I ll offer some clarification m AE AF lock Lock both focus and exposure while the AE L AF L button is pressed and held down even if the shutter release button has not been pressed This is the default value and is useful when you want to activate and lock in exposure and focus independently of the shutter release button Perhaps your main subject is off center place that subject in the middle of the frame lock in exposure and focus and then reframe the picture while holding the AE L AF L button m AE lock only Lock only the exposure while the AE L AF L button is pressed The exposure is fixed when you press and hold the button but autofocus continues to operate say when you press the shutter release halfway using the AF A AF S or AF C mode you v
273. following functions m Pause Press the multi selector down button to pause the clip during playback Press the multi selector center button to resume playback m Rewind Advance Press the left right multi selector buttons to rewind or advance respectively Press once for 2X speed twice for 8X speed or three times for 16X speed Hold down the left right buttons to move to the end or beginning of the clip m Single Frame Rewind Advance Press the multi selector down key to pause the clip then use the left right buttons to rewind or advance one frame at a time m Change volume Press the Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons to increase decrease volume m Trim movie Press the AE L AF L button while the movie is paused m Exit Playback Press the multi selector up button to exit playback m View menus Press the MENU button to interrupt playback to access menus Editing Your Movies In camera editing is limited to trimming the beginning or end from a clip and the clip must be at least two seconds long For more advanced editing you ll need an applica tion capable of editing AVI movie clips Google AVI Editor to locate any of the hun dreds of free video editors available or use a commercial product like Corel Video Studio Adobe Premiere Elements or Pinnacle Studio These will let you combine sev eral clips into one movie add titles special effects and transitions between scenes Figure 6 7 Choose editing options from this menu
274. for the background highlights los ing shadow detail At right the exposure captures detail in the shadows but the back ground high lights are washed out With digital camera sensors it s tricky to capture detail in both highlights and shadows in a single image because the number of tones the dynamic range of the sensor is lim ited The solution in this particular case was to combine the two photos using Photoshop For the image on the left the camera calculated exposure based mostly on the subject matter in the background The camera s sensor simply can t capture detail in both dark areas and bright areas in a single shot The solution in this particular case was to resort to a technique called High Dynamic Range HDR photography in which the two exposures from Figure 4 1 were com bined in an image editor such as Photoshop or a specialized HDR tool like Photomatix about 100 from www hdrsoft com The resulting shot is shown in Figure 4 2 I ll explain more about HDR photography later in this chapter For now though I m going to concentrate on showing you how to get the best exposures possible without resort ing to such tools using only the features of your Nikon D3100 To understand exposure you need to understand the six aspects of light that combine to produce an image Start with a light source the sun an interior lamp or the glow from a campfire and trace its path to your camera through t
275. g 210 212 L firmware for 316 metering mode selecting 205 quick start instructions 3 scene selection in 210 steps for shooting in 212 213 Subject tracking in 181 208 209 364 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Live View switch 44 45 205 Long exp NR option Shooting menu 167 long exposure noise 100 101 166 167 long exposures 195 198 bulb exposures 195 noise from 100 101 166 167 time exposures 195 196 timed exposures 195 long term documentation date counter for tracking 124 low diffraction glass and color fringing 242 LV switch 3 M M Manual mode built in flash in 29 30 flash sync modes in 277 ISO sensitivity adjustments in 165 working with 165 macro lenses 251 253 Magic Tape for sensor cleaning 338 magnifiers for eyepiece 8 for LCD 322 Manual exposure mode 20 manual flash 274 with Nikon SB 900 speedlights 284 manual focus MF See MF manual focus matrix metering 23 24 103 with Active D Lighting 97 Color Matrix metering II 159 3D Color Matrix metering II 158 working with 157 159 maximum aperture of first lens 229 MF manual focus and 186 with prime lenses 238 with zoom lenses 238 maximum burst viewfinder information on 65 66 MediaRecover 326 medium shots in movies 219 220 memory cards 3 7 See also Eye Fi cards slot empty release lock transferring images to computer access lamp 44 45 card safes protecting 324 door for
276. ge has more detail in those areas but if contrast is too low the image may appear to be flat and dull m Saturation The richness of the colors is determined by the saturation setting For example a deep red rose is fully saturated while one that appears more pinkish is still technically red but the color is less saturated and more muted m Hue Think of hue as rotating all the colors in an image around a color wheel Positive hue adjustments bias reds toward the orange end of the spectrum greens more towards the blue and blues become purplish Going the other way around the wheel reds become more purple blues more green and greens become more yellow FILTERS VS TONING Although some of the color choices seem to overlap you ll get very different looks when choosing between Filter Effects and Toning Filter Effects add no color to the mono chrome image Instead they reproduce the look of black and white film that has been shot through a color filter That is Yellow will make the sky darker and the clouds will stand out more while Orange makes the sky even darker and sunsets more full of detail The Red filter produces the darkest sky of all and darkens green objects such as leaves Human skin may appear lighter than normal The Green filter has the opposite effect on leaves making them appear lighter in tone Figure 3 14 shows the same scene shot with no filter then Yellow Green and Red filters The Sepia Blue Green and
277. ger image and are willing to rotate the camera to do so Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 77 Figure 3 6 With Rotate Tall turned off vertical images appear large on the LCD but you must turn the camerato EA view them upright 102D3100 DSC 7111 JPG FINE 04 12 2011 10 18 11 L 4608x3072 Figure 3 7 With Rotate Tall turned on vertical images are shown ina smaller size but oriented for viewing without turn ing the camera pe Al Ali lAl ERME RE RE CIE mn an uy nnl onl a mn B a i EB ES BE ER GU BMO H l Li i 102D3100 DSC 7111 JPG FINE 04 12 2011 10 14 11 4608x3072 78 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Slide Show The D3100 s Slide Show feature is a convenient way to review images in the current playback folder one after another without the need to manually switch between them To activate just choose Start from this entry in the Playback menu If you like you can choose Frame Interval before commencing the show in order to select an interval of either 2 3 5 or 10 seconds between slides A third choice Transition Effects allows you to specify what happens when the camera switches from one image to the next You can select Zoom fade Cube or None During playback you can press the OK button to pause the slide show in case you want to examine an image more closely When the show is paused a menu pops up as shown in Figure 3 8 with ch
278. ght Portrait Choose this mode when you want to illuminate a subject in the foreground with flash it will pop up automatically if needed but still allow the background to be exposed properly by the available light The camera focuses on the closest main subject Be prepared to use a tripod or a vibration resistant lens like the 18 55 VR kit lens to reduce the effects of camera shake You ll find more about VR and camera shake in Chapter 7 hoosing an Advanced Mode youre very new to digital photography you might want to set the camera to P Program mode and start snapping away That mode will make all the appropriate set tings for you for many shooting situations If you have more photographic experience you might want to opt for one of the semi automatic modes or even Manual mode These advanced modes all let you apply a little more creativity to your camera s settings Figure 1 13 shows the position of the modes described next m M Manual Select when you want full control over the shutter speed and lens opening either for creative effects or because you are using a studio flash or other flash unit not compatible with the D3100 s automatic flash metering m A Aperture priority Choose when you want to use a particular lens opening especially to control sharpness or how much of your image is in focus Specify the f stop you want and the D3100 will select the appropriate shutter speed for you m S Shutter priority T
279. ght or soft diffused Hard light is good for show ing detail but can also be very harsh and unforgiving Softening the light but dif fusing it somehow can reduce the intensity of the light but make for a kinder gentler light as well While mixing light sources isn t always a good idea one approach is to combine win dow light with supplemental lighting Position your subject with the window to one side and bring in either a supplemental light or a reflector to the other side for reason ably even lighting Chapter 6 m Live View and Shooting Movies 223 Lighting Styles Some lighting styles are more heavily used than others Some forms are used for special effects while others are designed to be invisible At its most basic lighting just illumi nates the scene but when used properly it can also create drama Let s look at some types of lighting styles Three point lighting This is a basic lighting setup for one person A main light illuminates the strong side of a person s face while a fill light lights up the other side A third light is then positioned above and behind the subject to light the back of the head and shoulders Flat lighting Use this type of lighting to provide illumination and nothing more It calls for a variety of lights and diffusers set to raise the light level in a space enough for good video reproduction but not to create a particular mood or emphasize a particular scene or individual With flat
280. ght that is reflected from our subjects towards the camera lens transmit ted say from translucent objects that are lit from behind or emitted by a candle or television screen When more or less light reaches the lens from the subject we need to adjust the exposure This part of the equation is under our control to the extent we can increase the amount of light falling on or passing through the sub ject by adding extra light sources or using reflectors or by pumping up the light that s emitted by increasing the brightness of the glowing object m Light passed by the lens Not all the illumination that reaches the front of the lens makes it all the way through Filters can remove some of the light before it enters the lens Inside the lens barrel is a variable sized diaphragm called an aperture that dilates and contracts producing a variable sized aperture to control the amount of light that passes through the lens You or the D3100 s autoexposure system can control exposure by varying the size of the aperture The relative size of the aper ture is called the f stop Light passing through the shutter Once light passes through the lens the amount of time the sensor receives it is determined by the D3100 s shutter which can remain open for as long as 30 seconds or even longer if you use the Bulb setting or as briefly as 1 4 000th second m Light captured by the sensor Not all the light falling onto the sensor is capture
281. ghted to select Save and press OK The com bined image is stored on the memory card NEF RAW Processing Use this tool to create a JPEG version of any image saved in either straight RAW with no JPEG version or RAW Fine with a Fine JPEG version You can select from among several parameters to process your new JPEG copy right in the camera 1 Choose a RAW image Select NEF RAW Processing from the Retouch menu You ll be shown the standard Nikon D3100 image selection screen Use the left right buttons to navigate among the RAW images displayed Press OK to select the highlighted image 2 In the NEF RAW processing screen shown in Figure 3 39 you can use the multi selector up down keys to select from five different attributes of the RAW image information to apply to your JPEG copy Choose Image Quality Fine Normal or Basic Image Size Large Medium or Small White Balance Exposure Compensation and Set Picture Control parameters Figure 3 39 Adjust five parameters and then save your JPEG copy from a RAW original file Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 137 NEF RAW processing Image quality The White Balance parameter cannot be selected for images created with the Image Overlay tool and the Preset manual white balance setting can be fine tuned only with images that were originally shot using the Preset white balance setting Exposure compensation cannot be adjusted for images taken using Active D L
282. ghting is exactly what you might think uninterrupted illumination that is available all the time during a shooting session Daylight moonlight and the artifi cial lighting encountered both indoors and outdoors count as continuous light sources although all of them can be interrupted by passing clouds solar eclipses a blown fuse or simply by switching off a lamp Indoor continuous illumination includes both the lights that are there already such as incandescent lamps or overhead fluorescent lights indoors and fixtures you supply yourself including photoflood lamps or reflec tors used to bounce existing light onto your subject The surge of light we call electronic flash is produced by a burst of photons generated by an electrical charge that is accumulated in a component called a capacitor and then directed through a glass tube containing xenon gas which absorbs the energy and emits the brief flash Electronic flash is notable because it can be much more intense than con tinuous lighting lasts only a brief moment and can be much more portable than sup plementary incandescent sources It s a light source you can carry with you and use anywhere Indeed your D3100 has a flip up electronic flash unit built in as shown in Figure 8 1 But you can also use an external flash either mounted on the D3100 s accessory shoe Figure 8 1 One form of light that s always available is the flip up flash on your D3100 Chapter 8 m
283. gy more in depth coverage of settings and whole chapters on the most com mon types of photography While not specific to the D3100 this book can show you how to get more from its capabilities Digital SLR Pro Secrets This is my more advanced guide to dSLR photography with greater depth and detail about the topics youre most interested in If you ve already mastered the basics in Mastering Digital SLR Photography this book will take you to the next level Family Resemblance If you ve owned previous models in the Nikon digital camera line and copies of my books for those cameras you re bound to notice a certain family resemblance Nikon has been very crafty in introducing upgraded cameras that share the best features of the models they replace while adding new capabilities and options You benefit in two ways If you used a Nikon D40 D40x D60 or D3000 prior to switching to the latest D3100 model you ll find that the parts that haven t changed have a certain familiarity for you making it easy to make the transition to the newest model There are lots of features and menu choices of the D3100 that are exactly the same as those in the most recent models or even big siblings like the D7000 and D300s This family resemblance will help level the learning curve for you xviii David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Similarly when writing books for each new model I try to retain the easy to under stand explana
284. h be controlled separately You can add steps of your own cancel adjustments individually and store steps in the Edit List as Settings that can be applied to individual images or batches There are also Color Aberration Controls D Lighting Image Dust Off Vignette Control Fisheye to Rectilinear Image Transformation de fishing and a Distortion Control to reduce pincushion and barrel distortion 302 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography amp Y Color Control Point o Dx Sie a Brightness Contrast Saturation Control Point used Other Software Other useful software for your Nikon D3100 falls into several categories You might want to fine tune your images retouch them change color balance composite several images together and perform other tasks we know as image editing with a program like Adobe Photoshop Photoshop Elements or Corel Photo Paint You might want to play with the settings in RAW files too as you import them into an image editor There are specialized tools expressly for tweaking RAW files ranging from Adobe Camera Raw to PhaseOne s Capture One Pro C1 Pro A third type of manipulation is the specialized task of noise reduction which can be performed within Photoshop Adobe Camera Raw or tools like Bibble Professional There are also spe cialized tools just for noise reduction such as Noise Ninja also included with Bibble and Neat Image Some programs like the inc
285. harp again To a lesser extent the viewer also affects the apparent size of these circles of confusion Some people see details better at a given distance and may perceive smaller circles of confusion than someone standing next to them For the most part however such dif ferences are small Truly blurry images will look blurry to just about everyone under the same conditions Technically there is just one plane within your picture area parallel to the back of the camera or sensor in the case of a digital camera that is in sharp focus That s the plane in which the points of the image are rendered as precise points At every other plane in front of or behind the focus plane the points show up as discs that range from slightly blurry to extremely blurry until as you can see in Figure 5 7 the out of focus areas become blurry and less distracting In practice the discs in many of these planes will still be so small that we see them as points and that s where we get depth of field Depth of field is just the range of planes that include discs that we perceive as points rather than blurred splotches The size of this range increases as the aperture is reduced in size and is allocated roughly one third in front of the plane of sharpest focus and two thirds behind it The range of sharp focus is always greater behind your subject than in front of it Using Autofocus with the Nikon D3100 Autofocus can sometimes be frustrating for the ne
286. hat shows a group of thumbnails along with an enlarged version of a selected image and Full Screen mode which allows you to examine an image in maximum detail If you like to shoot RAW JPEG Basic you can review image pairs as if they were a sin gle image rather than view the RAW and JPEG versions separately and work with whichever version you need The active focus area can be displayed in the image and there are histogram highlight and shadow displays to help you evaluate an image Should you want to organize your images there are 10 labels available to classify images by criteria such as images printed images copied or images sent as e mail and you can mark your best shots for easier retrieval with a rating system of one to five stars View NX also allows you to edit embedded XMP IPTC Information in fields such as Creator Origin Image Title and suitable keywords The utility can be downloaded from the support download pages of the Nikon website at www nikonusa com D ViewNX G Photosthirambbl inl File Edit Image View Window Help cu i C oa Gi Nikon Transtar Fooss Poir Retate SOOW Openwih Captura NX Pret Emai SlideShow Convert Files al s fr IPG 031010556 P0650600000 GAARAN bat Selected 0990106 JPG 6 56 ME Fikesng OF 139 images dissiloyed 298 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Nikon Transfer It seems like everyone offers some
287. he exact white balance provided for that shot And even pros will cede that the built in flash of the Nikon D3100 has some important uses as an adjunct to existing light par ticularly to illuminate dark shadows using a technique called fill flash But electronic flash isn t as inherently easy to use as continuous lighting As I noted ear lier electronic flash units are more expensive don t show you exactly what the lighting effect will be unless you use a second source called a modeling light for a preview and the exposure of electronic flash units is more difficult to calculate accurately How Electronic Flash Works The bursts of light we call electronic flash are produced by a flash of photons generated by an electrical charge that is accumulated in a component called a capacitor and then directed through a glass tube containing xenon gas which absorbs the energy and emits the brief flash For the pop up flash built into the D3100 the full burst of light lasts about 1 1 000th second and provides enough illumination to shoot a subject 10 feet away at f 4 using the ISO 100 setting In a more typical situation you d use ISO 200 5 6 to f 8 and photograph something 8 to 10 feet away As you can see the built in flash is somewhat limited in range you ll see why external flash units are often a good idea later in this chapter An electronic flash whether built in or connected to the D3100 through a cable plugged into a hot shoe ada
288. he Date Counter screen one option lets you enter up to three different dates for your countdown countup When you activate the Date Counter you can choose from the three dates or a new date you enter to replace one of the three and use that for your date counting imprint D gt Date imprint Date counter Done I Choose date iy Display options a EJ 2011 06 03 TE 001 00 00 2011 06 03 124 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Display options Also in the Date Counter screen you can select Display Options which allows you to specify Number of Days Years and Days or Years Months and Days for the Date Counter readout imprinted on your images m Done When youve finished entering date and display options choose Done to return to the Setup menu You must do this If you press the MENU button or tap the shutter release button at this point your changes will not be confirmed Here are some applications for the Date Counter m Tracking a newborn Enter the child s birthday as one of your three dates Select Number of Days as your display option for a newborn Then as often as you like activate the Date Counter and take a picture or two The number of days since the baby s birth will be displayed right on the picture Remember to turn the feature off when shooting other pictures of the child or of other subjects Document construction Enter the start date of the project activate the D
289. he box without replacing all the pieces and parts afterwards Someone might actually have helpfully checked out your camera on your behalf and then mispacked the box It s better to know now that some thing is missing so you can seek redress immediately rather than discover two months from now that the eyepiece cap you thought youd never use but now must have was never in the box I once purchased a brand new Nikon dSLR kit that was supposed to include a second focusing screen it wasn t in the box but because I discovered the defi ciency right away the dealer ordered a replacement for me post haste At a minimum the box should hold the following m Nikon D3100 digital camera lens It almost goes without saying that you should check out the camera and its kit lens immediately making sure the color LCD on the back isn t scratched or cracked the Secure Digital and battery doors open prop erly and when a charged battery is inserted and lens mounted the camera powers up and reports for duty Out of the box defects like these are rare but they can hap pen It s probably more common that your dealer played with the camera or per haps it was a customer return That s why it s best to buy your D3100 from a retailer you trust to supply a factory fresh camera m Rechargeable Li ion battery EN EL14 You ll need to charge this 7 4V 1030 mAh milliampere hour battery before using it PI offer instructions later in this chapter
290. he lens The Nikon D3100 can focus your pictures for you or allow you to manually focus the image using the focus ring on the lens I ll help you locate this ring in Chapter 2 Switching between automatic and manual focus is easy You can move the AF MF aut ofocus manual focus or M A M manual fine tune autofocus manual switch on the lens mounted on your camera When using autofocus you have additional choices The D3100 has eleven autofocus zones that can be used to zero in on a particular subject area in your image See Figure 1 15 In addition you can select when the D3100 applies its focusing information to your image prior to exposure Figure 1 15 The D3100 can select which of eleven focus zones to use or allow you to make the choice depending on the autofocus area mode you specify Chapter 1 m Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 25 Choosing Autofocus Area Mode You can set the AF area mode using the information edit screen 1 Press the information edit button twice and navigate to the AF area mode selection it s sixth from the top of the right hand column using the multi selector buttons 2 Press OK to select the option 3 Use the multi selector up down buttons to choose Single point AF Dynamic area AF Auto area AF or 3D tracking 11 points described below 4 Press OK to confirm your choice 5 Press the information edit button to exit or just tap the shutter release button Th
291. he lens and finally to the sensor that captures the illumination 150 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 4 2 Combining the two exposures produces the best compro mise image Chapter 4 m Fine Tuning Exposure 151 Here s a brief review of the things within our control that affect exposure Light at its source Our eyes and our cameras are most sensitive to visible light That light has several important aspects that are relevant to photography such as color and harshness which is determined primarily by the apparent size of the light source as it illuminates a subject But in terms of exposure the important attrib ute of a light source is its intensity We may have direct control over intensity as might be the case with an interior light Or we might have only indirect control over intensity as with sunlight which can be made to appear dimmer by intro ducing translucent light absorbing or reflective materials in its path m Light s duration We tend to think of most light sources as continuous But as you ll learn in Chapter 8 the duration of light can change quickly enough to mod ify the exposure as when the main illumination in a photograph comes from an intermittent source such as an electronic flash m Light reflected transmitted or emitted Once light is produced by its source either continuously or in a brief burst we are able to see and photograph objects by the li
292. he number of prints reaches zero The printer icon will vanish Finish selecting and marking images When you ve finished marking images to print press OK Specify date or shooting information on the print A final screen will appear in which you can request a data imprint shutter speed and aperture or imprint date the date the photos were taken Use the up down buttons to select one or both of these options if desired and press the left right buttons to mark or unmark the check boxes When a box is marked the imprint information for that option will be included on al prints in the print order Exit the Print Set screens Scroll up to Done when finished and press OK or the right cursor button Figure 3 9 Select images for printing Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 81 Shooting Menu Options This concise menu has fifteen settings and only three of them Reset Shooting Options Color Space and AF Assist aren t duplicated on the information edit screen These are likely to be the most frequently accessed settings changes you make with changes made to one or more of them during a particular session fairly common You might make such adjustments as you begin a shooting session or when you move from one type of subject to another Nikon makes accessing these changes easiest through the information edit screen and I recommend that method for making changes to the 12 entries duplicated there You can readily see
293. hen youve activated Subject tracking a white border appears in the center of the frame Use that border to aim the camera until the subject you want to focus on and track is located within the border m Focus When you ve pinpointed your subject press the OK button to activate the D3100 s contrast detection autofocus feature The focus frame will turn yellow and the camera will emit a beep unless you ve disabled the beep in the Setup menu when locked in m Reframe as desired Once the focus frame has turned yellow it seemingly takes on a life of its own and will follow your subject around on the LCD as you reframe your image See Figure 6 5 In other words the subject being tracked doesn t have to be in the center of the frame for the actual photo Best of all if your subject moves the D3100 will follow it and keep focus as required m Tracking continues The only glitches that may pop up might occur if your sub ject is small and difficult to track or is too close in tonal value to its background or if the subject approaches the camera or recedes sufficiently to change its relative size on the LCD significantly m Grab a new subject If you want to refocus or grab a new subject press the OK button again i 200 185 210 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography AUTOMATIC SCENE SELECTION If you have set the mode dial to Auto or Auto Flash Off when you switch to Live View and yo
294. here the photographer was when a picture was taken with the actual pho tograph itself This is done using a GPS global positioning system device that calculates the latitude and longitude and optionally the altitude compass bearing and other location information Geotagging can be done automatically through a device built into the camera or your smartphone or other gadget or manually by attaching geographic information to the photo after it s already been taken Automatic geotagging like that available with the D3100 and the Nikon GP 1 is the most convenient GPS operates on a simple principle using the network of GPS satel lites to determine the position of the photographer Some mobile phones also use the location of the cell phone network towers to help collect location data The GPS data is automatically stored in the photo s EXIF information when the photo is taken A con nected GPS will generally remain switched on continuously requiring power and will then have location information available immediately when the camera is switched on Of course you can still add geotags to your D3100 images even if you don t spring for the GP 1 You can take the picture normally without GPS data and then special soft ware can match up the time stamps on the images with timestamps recorded by some other vendor s external GPS device and then add the coordinates to the EXIF infor mation for that photo Obviously your camera s date t
295. hey ll appear out of focus because they aren t actually on the sensor surface but rather a fraction of a millimeter above it on the filter that covers the sensor The smaller the f stop used the more in focus the dust becomes At large apertures it may not be visible at all Q I never see any dust on my sensor What s all the fuss about A Those who never have dust problems with their Nikon D3100 fall into one of four categories those for whom the camera s automatic dust removal features are work ing well those who seldom change their lenses and have clean working habits that minimize the amount of dust that invades their cameras in the first place those who simply don t notice the dust often because they don t shoot many macro photos or other pictures using the small f stops that makes dust evident in their images and those who are very very lucky 330 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Identifying and Dealing with Dust Sensor dust is less of a problem than it might be because it shows up only under certain circumstances Indeed you might have dust on your sensor right now and not be aware of it The dust doesn t actually settle on the sensor itself but rather on a protective fil ter a very tiny distance above the sensor subjecting it to the phenomenon of depth of focus Depth of focus is the distance the focal plane can be moved and still render an object in sharp focus At f 2 8 to f 5 6 o
296. hile pointing out differences among them Nikon may introduce additional flash units during the life of this book but the current batch and the Nikon Creative Lighting System ushered in with them were significant steps forward Nikon D3100 Built in Flash In automatic mode the built in flash has a guide number of 12 39 meters feet at ISO 100 and must be activated by manually flipping it up when not using one of the scene modes that feature automatic pop up This flash is powerful enough to provide primary direct flash illumination when required but can t be angled up for diffuse bounce flash off the ceiling It s useful for balanced fill flash You can use Manual flash mode and the Built in Flash settings in the Shooting menu to dial down the intensity of the built in flash to 1 32 power Changing settings is easy m Elevate the built in flash Press the Flash button on the front left side of the viewfinder housing to pop up the flash m Choose sync mode If you want to change the flash sync mode after the flash is elevated hold down the Flash button and rotate the main dial The sync mode you ve selected will appear on the shooting information screen m Apply flash exposure compensation If your pictures in a session are consistently overexposed or underexposed you can dial in flash compensation by holding down the compensation button just southeast of the shutter release and the Flash but ton at the same time and rotating
297. his mode is useful when you want to use a particular shut ter speed to stop action or produce creative blur effects Choose your preferred shut ter speed and the D3100 will select the appropriate f stop for you Figure 1 13 Rotate the mode dial to select an advanced mode Manual Aperture priority Shutter priority Program Chapter 1 m Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 23 m P Program This mode allows the D3100 to select the basic exposure settings but you can still override the camera s choices to fine tune your image while main taining metered exposure Choosing a Metering Mode This section shows you how to choose the area the D3100 will use to measure exposure giving emphasis to the center of the frame evaluating many different areas of the frame or measuring light from a small spot in the center of the frame The metering mode you select determines how the D3100 calculates exposure You might want to select a particular metering mode for your first shots although the default Matrix metering is probably the best choice as you get to know your camera It is used automatically in any of the D3100 s scene modes I ll explain when and how to use each of the three metering modes later To change metering modes use the information edit screen You can also specify metering mode using the Shooting menu as PI describe in Chapter 3 1 Press the information edit button twice and navigate to
298. hoose a location for the photos that will be transferred Nikon Transfer can create a new folder for each trans fer based on a naming convention you set up click the Edit button next to the box at top center in the figure or copy to a folder named after the current folder in the D3100 s memory card You can keep the current filename as the files are transferred or assign a new name with a prefix you designate such as Spainl1_ The program will add a number from 001 to 999 to the filename prefix you specify One neat feature is the ability to name a Backup Destination location so that all trans ferred pictures can also be copied to a second folder which can be located on a differ ent hard disk drive or other media You can embed information such as copyright data star ratings and labels in the images as they are transferred When the file transfer is complete Nikon Transfer can launch an application of your choice set with a few clicks in the Preferences tab see Figure 9 4 300 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography O Nikon Transtar A File Edit View Window Help Options Source D3100 Primary Destination C My Pictures Nikon Transter E Source Embedded Info Primary Destination Backup Destination Preferences eo Mitaunch automatically when device is Msynchronize camera date and time to MTrensternew photos only attached Computer when camera is connected Clbelete ori iginal fi
299. hrome See black and white Monochrome Picture Control Monochrome Picture Control 83 editing 85 filters with 85 86 monolights 259 290 motor drive See continuous shooting mounting lenses 13 14 Movie button 44 45 205 Index 365 movie resolution Live View information on 211 212 selecting 213 shooting information display on 58 Shooting menu options 104 MovieMaker 224 movies See also audio movie resolution reviewing images composition in 217 219 defaults resetting 81 editing 214 216 Retouch menu options 145 establishing shots in 219 221 Flicker Reduction options Setup menu 111 frame in movie saving 216 in camera editing 215 216 lighting for 222 223 with Live View 204 saving 215 216 Shooting menu settings 104 shooting movies 213 216 short clips shooting 214 tips for shooting 216 221 Video Mode options Setup menu 110 viewing movies 214 Moving subjects Guide mode 33 Multi CAM 1000 autofocus module 176 multi selector 9 10 44 45 menus navigating 70 multiple light sources See external flash My Picturetown Eye Fi cards and 324 Mylar reflectors 288 naming renaming files in Playback folder 73 folders 125 Narrow Area AK L firmware for 316 natural sound in movies 224 366 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography navigating with multi selector 10 Neat Image 302 neck straps 4 5 NEF formats See RAW formats neutral density ND filters blurring
300. ht or glow from distant illumination sources to see by and if you use a long exposure there is enough light to take a picture too Figure 5 16 A long expo sure allows cap turing several bursts of fire works in one image Chapter 5 m Advanced Shooting Tips for Your Nikon D3100 199 Geotagging with the Nikon GP 1 The Nikon D3100 gained a lot of credibility as a tool for serious photographers despite its entry level status when it debuted with the same GPS port found on its more expen sive siblings The port accepts the reasonably priced about 225 Nikon GP 1 Global Positioning System device The unit makes it easy to tag your images with the same kind of longitude latitude altitude and time stamp information that is supplied by the GPS unit you use in your car Don t have a GPS Photographers who get lost in the boonies as easily as I do must have one of these The geotagging information is stored in the metadata space within your image files and can be accessed by Nikon View NX or by online photo services such as mypicturetown com and Flickr Having this information available makes it easier to track where your pictures are taken That can be essential as I learned from a trip out West where I found the red rocks canyons and arroyos of Nevada Utah Arizona and Colorado all pretty much look alike to my untrained eye For photographers geotagging is most important as a way to associate the geographi cal location w
301. hutter speeds or resort to an electronic flash internal or external which as you ll learn in Chapter 8 provides the effect of a high shutter speed because of its short duration Of course you ll need a lot of light High shutter speeds cut very fine slices of time and sharply reduce the amount of illumination that reaches your sensor To use 1 4 000th second at an aperture of f 6 3 youd need an ISO setting of 800 even in full daylight To use an f stop smaller than f 6 3 or an ISO setting lower than 1600 youd need more light than full daylight provides That s why electronic flash units work so well for high speed photography when used as the sole illumination they provide both the effect of a brief shutter speed and the high levels of illumination needed High shutter speeds with electronic flash comes with a penalty you have to use a shut ter speed slower than 1 200th second Perhaps you want to stop some action in day light with a brief shutter speed and use electronic flash only as supplemental illumination to fill in the shadows Unfortunately under most conditions you can t use flash with your D3100 at any shutter speed faster than 1 200th second That s the fastest speed at which the camera s focal plane shutter is fully open at shorter speeds the slit described in more detail in Chapter 8 comes into play so that the flash will expose only the small portion of the sensor exposed by the slit during its duration
302. hy many digital SLR buyers choose Nikon cameras Nikon lenses Some favor Nikon cameras because of the broad selection of quality lenses Others already possess a large collection of Nikon optics per haps dating from the owner s photography during the film era and the ability to use those lenses on the latest digital cameras is a big plus A few may be attracted to the Nikon brand because there are many inexpensive lenses including a few in the 100 200 price range that make it possible to assemble a basic kit for cameras like the D3100 without spending a lot of cash It s true that there is a mind bending assortment of high quality lenses available to enhance the capabilities of Nikon cameras You can use thousands of current and older lenses introduced by Nikon and third party vendors since 1959 although lenses made before 1977 may need an inexpensive modification for use with cameras other than the Nikon D5000 D3100 D3000 D60 D40 and D40x More on this later These lenses can give you a wider view bring distant subjects closer let you focus closer shoot under lower light conditions or provide a more detailed sharper image for critical work Other than the sensor itself the lens you choose for your dSLR is the most important component in determining image quality and perspective of your images This chapter explains how to select the best lenses for the kinds of photography you want to do Sensor Sensibilities From ti
303. iature effect Edit movie Perspective control 142 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Miniature Effect This is a clever effect and it s hampered by a misleading name and the fact that its prop erties are hard to visualize which is not a great attribute for a visual effect This tool doesnt create a miniature picture as you might expect What it does is mimic tilt shift lens effects that angle the lens off the axis of the sensor plane to drastically change the plane of focus producing the sort of look you get when viewing some photographs of a diorama or miniature scene Confused yet Perhaps the best way to understand this capability is to actually modify a picture using it Just follow these steps 1 Take your best shot Capture an image of a distant landscape or other scene prefer ably from a slightly elevated viewpoint 2 Access Miniature Effect When viewing the image during playback press the multi selector center button to access the Retouch menu and select Miniature Effect A screen like the one shown in Figure 3 45 appears 3 Adjust selected area A wide yellow box or a tall yellow box if the image is rotated to vertical perspective on playback highlights a small section of the image No Miniature Effect gt Cancel Q Confirm 0k Save Figure 3 45 Choose the area for sharp focus by mov ing the yellow box within the frame Chapter 3 m Sett
304. ibed in the next section 6 Exit Zoom To exit Zoom in Zoom out display keep pressing the Zoom out but ton until the full screen full image information display appears again Viewing Thumbnails The Nikon D3100 provides other options for reviewing images in addition to zoom ing in and out You can switch between single image view and either four nine or 72 reduced size thumbnail images on a single LCD screen Pages of thumbnail images offer a quick way to scroll through a large number of pic tures quickly to find the one you want to examine in more detail The D3100 lets you switch quickly from single to four to nine to 72 image views with a scroll bar dis played at the right side of the screen to show you the relative position of the displayed thumbnails within the full collection of images in the active folder on your memory card Figure 2 12 offers a comparison between the three levels of thumbnail views The Zoom in and Zoom out Thumbnail buttons are used m Add thumbnails To increase the number of thumbnails on the screen press the Zoom out button The D3100 will switch from single image to four thumbnails to nine thumbnails to 72 thumbnails and then to Calendar view discussed next Additional presses in Calendar view toggle back and forth between highlighting cal endar dates or showing pictures taken on that date see Working with Calendar View next The display doesn t cycle back to single image again m Re
305. ican and Petersens PhotoGraphic and his articles have appeared in Popular Photography amp Imaging The Rangefinder The Professional Photographer and hundreds of other publications He s also reviewed dozens of digital cameras for CNet and Computer Shopper His advice has been featured on National Public Radio s AX Tech Considered When About com named its top five books on Beginning Digital Photography debut ing at the 1 and 2 slots were Busch s Digital Photography All In One Desk Reference for Dummies and Mastering Digital Photography During the past year he s had as many as five of his books listed in the Top 20 of Amazon com s Digital Photography Bestseller list simultaneously Busch s 100 plus other books published since 1983 include best sellers like David Busch s Quick Snap Guide to Using Digital SLR Lenses Busch earned top category honors in the Computer Press Awards the first two years they were given for Sorry About The Explosion and Secrets of MacWrite MacPaint and MacDraw and he later served as Master of Ceremonies for the awards Visit his website at http www dslrguides com blog Prela esrar edanen wir cds a a wus ERE ae Ea a anesh altars a E a Ook cae ae xiii Introduction 0 cee ccc ee eee ee eee eee nee ees XV Chapter 1 Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 1 ia Mariy es oreet Se Sociedad oP ee bee es Wate Ne ode a wae eee 2 First Things Pirsteg cx 4 eed ha thse had none eed ieta RE H
306. iew You can also exit cal endar view by tapping the shutter release to turn off the LCD to ready the camera for shooting or by pressing the MENU button 50 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Working with Photo Information When reviewing an image on the screen your D3100 can supplement the image itself with a variety of shooting data ranging from basic information presented at the bot tom of the LCD display to three text overlays that detail virtually every shooting option youve selected This section will show you the type of information available Most of the data is self explanatory so the labels in the accompanying figures should tell you most of what you need to know To change to any of these views while an image is on the screen in Playback mode press the multi selector up down buttons m File information screen The basic full image review display is officially called the file information screen and looks like Figure 2 14 m RGB histogram This shows the image accompanied by a brightness histogram as well as red green and blue histograms which you can see in Figure 2 15 The his togram is a kind of chart that represents an image s exposure and how the darkest areas brightest areas and middle tones have been captured Histograms are easy to work with and I ll show you how in Chapter 4 Figure 2 13 Calendar view allows you to browse through all images on your memory card taken on
307. ighting and both white balance and optimize image settings cannot be applied to pictures taken using any of the scene modes 3 Press the Zoom in button to magnify the image temporarily while the button is held down 4 Press the Playback button if you change your mind to exit from the processing screen 5 When all parameters are set highlight EXE for Execute and press OK The D3100 will create a JPEG file with the settings you ve specified and show an Image Saved message on the LCD when finished 138 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Quick Retouch This option brightens the shadows of pictures that have already been taken Once you ve selected your photo for processing use the multi selector up down keys in the screen that pops up see Figure 3 40 The amount of correction that you select High Normal or Low will be applied to the version of the image shown at right The left hand ver sion of the image shows the uncorrected version While working on your image you can press the Zoom in image to temporarily magnify the original photo Quick Retouch brightens shadows enhances contrast and adds color richness satura tion to the image Press OK to create a copy on your memory card with the retouch ing applied 3 Figure 3 40 Quick Retouch Quick retouch o m Lighting enhanced contrast and added satura tion to an image gt Cancel amp Zoom TIRE Straighten Use this to c
308. igital SLR Photography m Playback folder Image review generally shows you the images in the currently selected folder on your memory card A given card can contain several folders a new one is created anytime you exceed 999 images in the current folder You can use the Playback folder menu option in the Playback menu as I ll explain in Chapter 3 to select a specific folder or direct the D3100 to display images from all the folders on the memory card m View thumbnail images To change the view from a single image to four nine or 72 thumbnails or calendar view follow the instructions in the Viewing Thumbnails section that follows m Zoom in and out To zoom in or out press the Zoom button following the instructions in the Zooming the Nikon D3100 Playback Display in the next sec tion It also shows you how to move the zoomed area around using the multi selec tor pad m Move back and forth To advance to the next image rotate the command dial to the right or press the right edge of the multi selector pad to go back to a previous shot rotate the command dial to the left or press the left edge of the multi selec tor When you reach the beginning end of the photos in your folder the display wraps around to the end beginning of the available shots See different types of data To change the type of information about the displayed image that is shown press the up and down portions of the multi selector pad To lear
309. igure 2 18 Shooting Data screen 2 NIKON 3100 54 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 2 19 Shooting Data screen 3 NIKON D3100 Figure 2 20 N KON 31 010 Overview data screen ai J A 1 1000 F28 3400 70mm s 5 0 0 AdobeRGB SD 101D3100 DSC_4111 JPG _ FINE 03 15 2011 11 14 11 L 4608x3072 Figure 2 21 GPS data screen Chapter 2 m Nikon D3100 Roadmap 55 m Shooting Data 3 This screen shows noise reduction information Active D Lighting retouching effects that have been applied and your user comments as shown in Figure 2 19 m Overview data This screen adds more data including metering mode shutter speed f stop and ISO setting and looks like Figure 2 20 m GPS data This screen appears only if you have used a GPS device such as the Nikon GP 1 to capture and record global positioning system information in the image file Figure 2 21 NIKON 3100 Shooting Information Display Information Edit Screen The back panel color LCD can be used to provide a wealth of information the shoot ing information display and access to a number of settings the information edit screen The information edit screen can help you avoid some trips to Menuland by making some basic adjustments available using the color LCD s speedy settings view To activate deactivate the shooting information display press the Info button on top of the camera which just turn
310. ill show you how to diagnose problems fix some common ills and importantly learn how to avoid them in the future Battery Powered One of the chief liabilities of modern electronic cameras is that they are modern elec tronic cameras Your D3100 is fully dependent on two different batteries Without them the camera can t be used Photographers from both the film and digital eras have grown used to this limitation and I ve grown to live with the need for batteries even though I shot for years using all mechanical Nikon cameras that had no batteries or even a built in light meter The need for electrical power is the price we pay for modern conven iences like autofocus autoexposure LCD image display backlit menus and of course digital images One of the batteries you rely on is the EN EL14 battery installed in the grip It s rechargeable can last for as long as 1 000 shots and is user replaceable if you have a spare The second power cell in your camera is a so called clock battery which is also rechargeable but is tucked away within the innards of the camera and can t be replaced by the user The clock battery retains the settings of the camera when it s powered down and even when the main battery is removed for charging If you remove the EN EL14 for long periods the clock battery may discharge but it will be quickly rejuvenated when you replace the main battery It s recharged by juice supplied by the EN EL14
311. ilt in flash and many other factors You ll want to keep track of how many pictures you are able to take in your own typical circumstances and use that figure as a guideline instead A BATTERY AND A SPARE I always recommend purchasing Nikon brand batteries for about 40 over less expen sive third party packs even though the 30 substitute batteries may offer more capacity at a lower price some top the 1030 mAh offered by the Nikon battery My reasoning is that it doesn t make sense to save 10 on a component for a sophisticated camera espe cially since batteries have been known to fail in potentially harmful ways You need only look as far as Nikon s own recall of its earlier EN EL3 batteries which forced the com pany to ship out thousands of free replacement cells You re unlikely to get the same sup port from a third party battery supplier that sells under a half dozen or more different brand names and may not even have an easy way to get the word out that a recall has been issued If your pictures are important to you always have at least one spare battery available and make sure it is an authentic Nikon product 12 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 1 4 When the charger is plugged in the Figure 1 5 Insert the battery in the camera it only fits flashing status light will illuminate while the battery is one way being charged All rechargeable batteries undergo some degree of sel
312. images can be zoomed in up to 13X See Figure 2 11 Inset shows zoomed area highlighted in yellow A navigation window appears in the lower right corner of the LCD showing the entire image Keep pressing to con tinue zooming in The yellow box in the navigation window shows the zoomed area within the full image The entire navigation window vanishes from the screen after a few seconds leaving you with a full screen view of the zoomed portion of the image Faces marked in navigation window If a face is detected in the scene a white box appears around it within the navigation box and icons show up at lower left as seen in Figure 2 11 to remind you that if you press the information edit button and left right multi selector buttons you can switch among the detected faces Up to 35 different faces may be detected and marked Move zoomed view around within full image Use the multi selector buttons to move the zoomed area around within the image The navigation window will reap pear for reference when zooming or scrolling around within the display Use the command dial to move to the same zoomed area of the next previous image 48 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography 5 Zoom out Use the Zoom out Thumbnail button to zoom back out of the image If you continue pressing the Zoom out button from the full screen view you ll be shown four nine and 72 thumbnails plus a Calendar view These are all descr
313. images even if they were created by a non Nikon camera if those images conform to a specification called the Design Rule for Camera File systems DCF Display Mode You ll recall from Chapter 2 that a great deal of information available on multiple screens can be displayed when reviewing images This menu item helps you reduce increase the clutter by specifying which information and screens will be avail able To activate or deactivate an info option scroll to that option and press the right multi selector button to add a check mark to the box next to that item Press the right button to unmark an item that has previously been checked Important when you re finished you must scroll up to Done and press OK or the right multi selector button to confirm your choices Exiting the Display mode menu any other way will cause any changes you may have made to be ignored Your info options include m Highlights When enabled overexposed highlight areas in your image will blink with a black border during picture review That s your cue to consider using expo sure compensation to reduce exposure unless a minus EV setting will cause loss of shadow detail that you want to preserve You can read more about correcting expo sure in Chapter 4 RGB histogram Displays both luminance brightness and RGB histograms on a screen that can be displayed using the up down multi selector buttons as described in Chapter 2 See Figure 3 5 When unmarked this h
314. ime settings must be synchro nized with that of the GPS for this to work This method is time consuming because the GPS data is added to the photograph through post processing You can also add location information to your photographs manually This is often done with online sharing services such as Flickr which allow you to associate your uploaded photographs with a map city street address or postal code When properly geotagged and uploaded to sites like Flickr users can browse through your photos using a map finding pictures you ve taken in a given area or even searching through photos taken at the same location by other users 200 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography The GP 1 see Figure 5 17 slips onto the accessory shoe on top of the Nikon D3100 It connects to the GPS port on the camera using the Nikon GP1 CA90 cable which plugs into the connector marked CAMERA on the GP 1 If you want to use the unit with one of the other supported cameras you ll need to buy the GP1 CA10 cable as well it attaches to the 10 pin port on the front of the D200 D300 D700 D3 D3s D3x The device also has a port labeled with a remote control icon so you can plug in the Nikon MC DC2 remote cable release which would otherwise attach to the GPS port when youre not using the geotagging unit A third connector connects the GP 1 to your computer using a USB cable Once attached the device is very easy to use You need to activa
315. imming See cropping tripods for bracketing 168 Live View shooting in 205 with self timer 18 socket for 64 TTL through the lens for built in flash 274 Nikon SB 900 flash modes 283 284 Shooting menu options 104 TTL flash cords 8 tungsten light 266 two shots in movies 219 220 U U Point technology Nik Software 301 ultrawide angle lenses 240 umbrellas as reflectors 288 underexposure with Active D Lighting 97 backlighting and 147 example of 148 150 histogram of 173 for silhouette effect 148 unpacking box 3 6 unreal images with short exposures 193 upgrading firmware 313 320 UPstrap 4 5 USB cables 7 firmware updates from 319 geotagging units attaching 200 with Nikon Transfer 298 transferring images to computer 30 31 USB port 40 41 USB thumb drives reference manual on 6 user manuals 6 UV filters working with 246 UV lenses 236 UW lenses 236 V values reset 81 82 106 vestibule cleaning 331 332 vibrance with Adobe Camera Raw 308 vibration reduction 2 62 in camera or lens 255 on lens 62 253 255 On Off switch 40 62 power saving by canceling 115 video See movies video cables 7 video lights for movies 222 video port 41 viewfinder See also eyecup defaults resetting 81 dust on 328 shooting status information in 64 66 vignetting with wide angle lenses 243 visible light 151 Vivid Picture Control 83 VR lenses 236 W Walmart Digital Photo Center
316. in the figure the sensor is fully exposed When first curtain sync is used the flash is triggered at the instant that the sensor is completely exposed The shutter then remains open for an additional length of time from 30 seconds to 1 200th second and the second curtain begins to move down ward covering the sensor once more When second curtain sync is activated the flash is triggered after the main exposure is over just before the second curtain begins to move downward Figure 8 7 A focal plane shutter has two curtains the lower or front curtain and an upper second curtain 270 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Ghost Images The difference between triggering the flash when the shutter just opens or just when it begins to close might not seem like much But whether you use first curtain sync the default setting or second curtain sync an optional setting can make a significant dif ference to your photograph ifthe ambient light in your scene also contributes to the image At faster shutter speeds particularly 1 200th second there isn t much time for the ambi ent light to register unless it is very bright It s likely that the electronic flash will pro vide almost all the illumination so first curtain sync or second curtain sync isn t very important However at slower shutter speeds or with very bright ambient light levels there is a significant difference particularly if you
317. in your hands It might make a good gift for a spouse or friend who may be using your D3100 but who lacks even basic knowledge about digital photography digital SLR photography and Nikon photogra phy It serves as an introduction that summarizes the basic features of digital SLR cam eras in general not just the D3100 and what settings to use and when such as continuous autofocus single autofocus aperture shutter priority EV settings and so forth The guide also includes recipes for shooting the most common kinds of pictures with step by step instructions for capturing effective sports photos portraits landscapes and other types of images David Busch s Quick Snap Guide to Using Digital SLR Lenses A bit overwhelmed by the features and controls of digital SLR lenses and not quite sure when to use each type This book explains lenses their use and lens technology in easy to access two and four page spreads each devoted to a different topic such as depth of field lens aberrations or using zoom lenses If you have a friend or significant other who is less versed in photography but who wants to borrow and use your Nikon D3100 from time to time this book can save you a ton of explanation David Busch s Mastering Digital SLR Photography Third Edition This book completely revamped with six brand new chapters for this latest edition is an introduction to digital SLR photography with nuts and bolts explanations of the technolo
318. ine whether the desired sharp focus has been achieved The calculations may include whether the subject is moving and whether the camera needs to predict where the 180 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography subject will be when the shutter release button is fully depressed and the picture is taken The speed with which the camera is able to evaluate focus and then move the lens ele ments into the proper position to achieve the sharpest focus determines how fast the autofocus mechanism is Although your D3100 will almost always focus more quickly than a human there are types of shooting situations where that s not fast enough For example if you re having problems shooting sports because the D3100 s autofocus sys tem manically follows each moving subject a better choice might be to switch Autofocus modes or shift into Manual and prefocus on a spot where you anticipate the action will be such as a goal line or soccer net At night football games for example when I am shooting with a telephoto lens almost wide open I sometimes focus manually on one of the referees who happens to be standing where I expect the action to be taking place say a halfback run or a pass reception Focus Modes When you re using the optical viewfinder and therefore phase detection autofocus the D3100 has three AF modes AF S also known as Single Autofocus or Single servo autofocus AF C Continuous Autofocus or Continuous servo
319. ing calculates expo sure based on a center spot that s only 3 5 percent of the image area Chapter 4 m Fine Tuning Exposure 161 This mode confines the reading to a limited area in the center of the viewfinder mak ing up only 3 5 percent of the image as shown in Figure 4 11 The circle is centered on the current focus point unless you re using Auto area autofocus In that case the cen ter focus zone is used However the metering circle is larger than the focus zone so don t fall into the trap of believing that exposure is being measured only within the brackets that appear when the center focus point is active This is the only metering method you can use to tell the D3100 exactly where to measure exposure You ll find Spot metering useful when you want to base exposure on a small area in the frame If that area is in the center of the frame so much the better If not you ll have to make your meter reading for an off center subject and then lock exposure by press ing the shutter release halfway or by pressing the AE lock button This mode is best for subjects where the background is significantly brighter or darker Choosing an Exposure Method The Nikon D3100 s scene modes choose an exposure method for you But there are three semi automated methods plus manual that you can use to choose the appropri ate shutter speed and aperture You can choose among them by rotating the mode dial until the one you want is selected Your
320. ing Up Your Nikon D3100 143 we re not going to create a panorama from that slice this Nikon super tricky fea ture has fooled you yet again Use the up down buttons or left right buttons if the image is displayed vertically to move the yellow box which represents the area of your image that will be rendered in fairly sharp focus The rest of the image will be blurred 4 Preview area to be in sharp focus Press the Zoom in button to preview the area that will be rendered in sharp focus Nikon labels this control Confirm but that s just to mislead you It s actually just a preview that lets you confirm that this is the area you want to emphasize 5 Apply the effect Press the OK button to apply the effect or the Playback button to cancel Your finished image will be rendered in a weird altered focus way as shown at bottom in Figure 3 46 Figure 3 46 The diorama miniature effect has been applied to this photo 144 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Before and After Use this option to compare a retouched photo side by side with the original from which it was derived This option is shown on the pop up menu that appears when you are viewing an image or copy full screen and press the OK button To use Before and After comparisons 1 Press the Playback button and review images in full frame mode until you encounter a source image or retouched copy you want to compare The retouched copy wi
321. ing a Release Mode This section shows you how to choose from single frame continuous mode self timer mode and remote control modes This shooting mode determines when and how often the D3100 makes an exposure If youre coming to the dSLR world from a point and shoot camera you might have used a model that labels these options as drive modes dating back to the film era when cameras could be set for single shot or motor drive continuous shooting modes Your D3100 has four release shooting drive modes Single frame Continuous Burst Self timer and Quiet shutter release Set any of these by rotating the lever located to the right of the large mode dial on top of the camera See Figure 1 10 18 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 1 10 Select a release mode with this lever m Single frame In this mode a picture is taken each time the shutter release is pressed down all the way m Continuous The camera records images at roughly a 3 frames per second rate as long as the shutter button is held down or until an area of memory in the camera called a buffer fills and the D3100 stops shooting until enough pictures are writ ten to the memory card to allow more to be captured Continuous shooting is use ful for grabbing action shots of sports or for capturing fleeting expressions especially of children m Self timer In this mode press the shutter release down all the way
322. ing the amount of light entering the camera without affecting the colors noise In an image pixels with randomly distributed color values Noise in digital pho tographs tends to be the product of low light conditions and long exposures particu larly when you ve set your camera to a higher ISO rating than normal noise reduction A technology used to cut down on the amount of random informa tion in a digital picture usually caused by long exposures or increased ISO sensitivity ratings normal lens A lens that makes the image in a photograph appear in a perspective that is like that of the original scene typically with a field of view of roughly 45 degrees overexposure A condition in which too much light reaches the film or sensor pro ducing a dense negative or a very bright light print slide or digital image pincushion distortion A type of lens distortion in which lines at the top and side edges of an image are bent inward producing an effect that looks like a pincushion See also barrel distortion Playback menu The D3100 s list of settings and options that deal with reviewing and printing images that you ve shot polarizing filter A filter that forces light which normally vibrates in all directions to vibrate only in a single plane reducing or removing the specular reflections from the surface of objects and darkening blue skies RAW An image file format such as the NEF format in the Nikon D3100 which includes all the
323. ing the multi selector up down buttons to switch to either of the two histogram overlays described in Chapter 3 The RGB Histogram is shown in Figure 4 18 The histogram at top in white is called a brightness or uminance histogram It is a chart that includes a representation of up to 256 vertical lines on a horizontal axis that show the number of pixels in the image at each brightness level from 0 black on the NIKON D3100 Figure 4 18 A histogram shows the rela tionship of tones in an image Chapter 4 m Fine Tuning Exposure 173 left side to 255 white on the right The LCD doesn t have enough pixels to show each and every one of the 256 lines but instead provides a representation of the shape of the curve formed The more pixels at a given level the taller the bar at that position If no bar appears at a particular position on the scale from left to right there are no pix els at that particular brightness level The three charts underneath it in red green and blue show the same tonal relationships in the red green and blue channels of your image respectively As you can see a typical histogram produces a mountain like shape with most of the pixels bunched in the middle tones with fewer pixels at the dark and light ends of the scale Ideally though there will be at least some pixels at either extreme so that your image has both a true black and a true white representing some details Learn to spot hist
324. ings Figure 6 12 A close up generally shows the full face Figure 6 13 An extreme close up is a very tight shot with a little head room at the top and down to the that cuts off everything above the top of the head and shoulders at the bottom of the frame below the chin or even closer Be careful using this shot since many of us look better from a distance Figure 6 14 A two shot features two people in the Figure 6 15 An over the shoulder shot is a popular frame This version can be framed at various distances shot for interview programs It helps make the viewers such as medium or close up feel like they re the one asking the questions 222 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Lighting for Video Much like in still photography how you handle light pretty much can make or break your videography Lighting for video though can be more complicated than lighting for still photography since both subject and camera movement are often part of the process Lighting for video presents several concerns First off you want enough illumination to create a useable video Beyond that you want to use light to help tell your story or increase drama Let s take a better look at both Illumination You can significantly improve the quality of your video by increasing the light falling in the scene This is true indoors or out by the way While it may seem like sunlight is more than enough
325. inuous Servo Autofocus slave unit An accessory flash unit that supplements the main flash usually triggered electronically when the slave senses the light output by the main unit or through radio waves slow sync An electronic flash synchronizing method that uses a slow shutter speed so that ambient light is recorded by the camera in addition to the electronic flash illumi nation This allows the background to receive more exposure for a more realistic effect specular highlight Bright spots in an image caused by reflection of light sources Spot meter An exposure system that concentrates on a small area in the image See also Center weighted meter time exposure A picture taken by leaving the shutter open for a long period usually more than one second The camera is generally locked down with a tripod to prevent blur during the long exposure The D3100 can automatically shoot time exposures up to 30 seconds as well as much longer exposures with the camera set to Bulb and the shutter opened closed manually through the lens TTL A system of providing viewing and exposure calculation through the actual lens taking the picture tungsten light Light from ordinary room lamps and ceiling fixtures as opposed to flu orescent illumination 350 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography underexposure A condition in which too little light reaches the film or sensor pro ducing a thin negative a dark slide a muddy loo
326. ion The images should be as identical as possible except for exposure So it s a good idea to mount the D3100 on a tripod use a remote release like the MC DC2 remote cord and take all the exposures in one burst Just follow these steps 1 Mount the D3100 on a tripod as you ll find it easier to merge your shots if the camera remains absolutely stationary 2 Use the information edit screen to choose RAW exposure format You ll need RAW files to give you the 16 bit high dynamic range images that the Merge to HDR fea ture processes best 3 Set the D3100 to A Aperture priority This forces the D3100 to bracket the expo sures by changing the shutter speed You don t want the bracketed exposures to have different aperture settings because the depth of field will change perhaps enough to disturb a smooth merger of the final shots 4 Manually focus or autofocus the D3100 5 Press the shutter release button to take the first exposure 6 Hold down the Aperture EV button and increase the exposure by a value of one EV Take a second shot being careful not to shake the camera while changing the settings or tripping the shutter Using the self timer or the remote release may help 7 Repeat Step 6 for a third shot this time decreasing the exposure by two EV giving you a net reduction of one stop from the original exposure 8 Copy your images to your computer and continue with the Merge to HDR steps listed next Chapter
327. iple cameras shooting from different angles and positions But many professional productions are shot with just one camera and careful planning and you can do just fine with your camera Within those compositional restraints you still have a great deal of flexibility It only takes a second or two for an establishing shot to impart the necessary information For example many of the scenes for a video documenting a model being photographed in a Rock and Roll music setting might be close ups and talking heads but an establish ing shot showing the studio where the video was captured helps set the scene Provide variety too Change camera angles and perspectives often and never leave a static scene on the screen for a long period of time You can record a static scene for a rea sonably long period and then edit in other shots that cut away and back to the longer scene with close ups that show each person talking When editing keep transitions basic I can t stress this one enough Watch a television program or movie The action jumps from one scene or person to the next Fancy transitions that involve exotic wipes dissolves or cross fades take too long for the aver age viewer and make your video ponderous 220 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Here s a look at the different types of commonly used compositional tools Establishing shot Much like it sounds this type of composition as shown in
328. is BreezeBrowser Pro Windows only from Breeze Systems www breezesys com which performs several useful functions in addi tion to RAW file conversion and image browsing It can produce contact sheets and proof images generate nifty web pages with only a little input on your part and impor tantly in this GPS crazy age link geo tagged images with Google Earth and online maps Now that the Nikon D3100 provides the compact Nikon GP 1 geo tagging unit which clips onto the camera s accessory shoe software like BreezeBrowser provides an actual real world application for this kind of data The Windows only program is shown in Figure 9 8 A real bargain at 69 95 BreezeBrowser Pro offers all the basic conversion sharpening resizing and adjustments for your RAW images You can create captioned web pages from within the program and if you want to sell your pictures it will protect them File Edit View Tools Help ea DiTegged FuliDetaiis Summary 2010 02 12 20 11 40 85mm 85mm in 35mm film 1 100 sec 1 5 6 Mode Manual Metering Multi segment ISO 3200 White balance Auto Flash Off File size 178KB Image size 1200 x 1413 Color space AdobeRGB Saturation Normal Sharpness Normal Contrast Normal Color profile Adobe RGB 1998 306 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography with watermarking and provide a system for online ordering of images prints Batch rename features le
329. istogram screen is disabled and only the Overview Data screen with the Brightness histogram is displayed m Data Activates the pages of shooting data shown in Chapter 2 Figure 3 5 Use the Display mode menu entry to acti vate various data displays like the RGB display shown here Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 75 NIKON 3100 Image Review There are certain shooting situations in which it s useful to have the picture you ve just shot pop up on the LCD automatically for review Perhaps youre fine tuning exposure or autofocus and want to be able to see whether your most recent image is acceptable Or maybe you re the nervous type and just want confirmation that you actually took a picture Instant review has saved my bacon a few times for example when I was shoot ing with studio flash in Manual mode and didn t notice that the shutter speed had been set to a non syncing 1 320th second by mistake A lot of the time however it s a better idea to not automatically review your shots in order to conserve battery power the LCD is one of the major juice drains in the camera or to speed up or simplify operations For example if you ve just fired off a burst of eight shots at 3 fps during a football game do you really need to have each and every frame display as the D3100 clears its buffer and stores the photos on your memory card Or when youre shooting at an acoustic concert wouldnt it be smart to disable image
330. it to perform automatic cleaning without specific instructions from you Chose Clean At and select from m ON Clean at startup This allows you to start off a particular shooting session with a clean sensor m OFF Clean at shutdown This removes any dust that may have accumulated since the camera has been turned on say from dust infiltration while changing lenses Note that this choice does not turn off automatic cleaning it simply moves the operation to the camera power down sequence m ON OFF Clean at both startup and shutdown Use this setting if youre paranoid about dust and don t mind the extra battery power consumed each time the cam era is turned on or off If you only turn off the D3100 when youre finished shoot ing the power penalty is not large but if you re the sort who turns off the camera every time you pause in shooting the extra power consumed by the dust removal may exceed any savings you get from leaving the camera off m Cleaning Off No automatic dust removal will be performed Use this to preserve battery power or if you prefer to use automatic dust removal only when you explic itly want to apply it 110 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Mirror Lockup You can also clean the sensor manually Use this menu entry to raise the mirror and open the shutter so you ll have access to the sensor for cleaning with a blower brush or swab as described in Chapter 10 You don t want power t
331. ith one extended rotation of the command dial For example the Fine Normal and Basic Large settings are shown first fol lowed by Fine Normal Basic Medium and Fine Normal Basic Small I never use this function key definition it s easier just to use the information edit menu and I rarely change image size anyway m ISO Sensitivity Use this option if you want to adjust ISO settings using the Fn key The information edit screen appears and you can rotate the command dial to choose an ISO sensitivity 120 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m White Balance When the Fn button is pressed you can rotate the command dial to select one of the white balance settings when using Program Shutter priority Aperture priority or Manual exposure modes m Active D Lighting This allows you to choose the Active D Lighting mode using the Fn button and rotating the command dial AE L AF L Button When the Nikon D3100 is set to its default values a half press of the shutter release locks in the current autofocus setting in AF S mode or in AF A mode if your subject is not moving The camera will refocus if the subject moves and the D3100 is set for AF C or AF A mode That half press also activates the exposure meter but ordinar ily the exposure changes as the lighting conditions in the frame change However sometimes you want to lock in focus and or exposure and then reframe your photo For that and for other
332. ization ISO A governing body that pro vides standards used to represent film speed or the equivalent sensitivity of a digital camera s sensor Digital camera sensitivity is expressed in ISO settings interpolation A technique digital cameras scanners and image editors use to create new pixels required whenever you resize or change the resolution of an image based on the values of surrounding pixels Devices such as scanners and digital cameras can also use interpolation to create pixels in addition to those actually captured thereby increas ing the apparent resolution or color information in an image ISO See International Organization for Standardization ISO i TTL Nikon intelligent through the lens flash metering system which uses preflashes to calculate exposure and to communicate between flash units using the camera s 420 segment RGB sensor viewfinder exposure meter jaggies Staircasing effect of lines that are not perfectly horizontal or vertical caused by pixels that are too large to represent the line accurately See also anti alias 346 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography JPEG A file lossy format short for Joint Photographic Experts Group that supports 24 bit color and reduces file sizes by selectively discarding image data Digital cameras generally use JPEG compression to pack more images onto memory cards You can select how much compression is used and therefore how much informa
333. job beautifully Umbrellas have the advantage of being compact and foldable while providing a soft even kind of light They re rel atively cheap too with a good 40 inch umbrella available for as little as 20 Use diffusers Nikon supplies a Sto Fen style diffuser dome with the SB 900 flash You can purchase a similar diffuser for the SB 700 from Nikon Sto Fen and some other vendors that offer clip on diffusers The two examples shown in Figures 8 18 and 8 19 fit over your electronic flash head and provide a soft flattering light These add ons are more portable than umbrellas and other reflectors yet provide a nice diffuse lighting effect Figure 8 18 This diffuser dome is provided by Nikon Figure 8 19 Softboxes use Velcro strips to attach them with the SB 900 and softens the light of an external to just about any shoe mount flash unit flash unit Using Multiple Light Sources Once you gain control over the qualities and effects you get with a single light source you ll want to graduate to using multiple light sources Using several lights allows you to shape and mold the illumination of your subjects to provide a variety of effects from backlighting to side lighting to more formal portrait lighting You can start simply with several incandescent light sources bounced off umbrellas or reflectors that you con struct Or you can use more flexible multiple electronic flash setups Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 289
334. journalism since it s easy and portable LED video lights are all the rage these days and a wide variety of these lights are available at various price points At the low end these lights tend to be small and produce minimal light but useful for fill work More expensive versions offer greater light output and come with built in barn doors panels that help you control and shape the light and diffusers and filters 224 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Audio When it comes to making a successful video audio quality is one of those things that separates the professionals from the amateurs We re used to watching top quality pro ductions on television and in the movies yet the average person has no idea how much effort goes in to producing what seems to be natural sound Much of the sound you hear in such productions is actually recorded on carefully controlled sound stages and sweetened with a variety of sound effects and other recordings of natural sound Tips for Better Audio Since recording high quality audio is such a challenge it s a good idea to do everything possible to maximize recording quality Here are some ideas for improving the quality of the audio your camera records m Get the camera and its microphone close to the speaker The farther the micro phone is from the audio source the less effective it will be in picking up that sound While having to position the camera and mi
335. journey The answer is simple your lens flips the image upside down and forms it on the sensor in a reversed position You never notice that because the camera is smart enough to show you the pixels that make up your photo in their proper orientation during picture review But this image flip is why if your sensor gets dirty and you detect a spot of dust in the upper half of a test photo if cleaning manually you need to look for the speck in the bottom half of the sensor I generally end up with sync speed problems only when shooting in the studio using studio flash units rather than my D3100 s built in flash or a Nikon dedicated speed light That s because if you re using either type of smart flash the camera knows that a strobe is attached and remedies any unintentional goof in shutter speed settings If you happen to set the D3100 s shutter to a faster speed in S or M mode the camera will automatically adjust the shutter speed down to 1 200th second In A P or any of the scene modes where the D3100 selects the shutter speed it will never choose a shutter speed higher than 1 200th second when using flash In P mode shutter speed is auto matically set between 1 60th to 1 200th second when using flash But when using a non dedicated flash such as a studio unit plugged into the D3100 s hot shoe connec tor the camera has no way of knowing that a flash is connected so shutter speeds faster than 1 200th second can be set inad
336. king images for their personal or business website and feel that the Nikon D3100 will give them more control and capabilities m Small business owners with more advanced graphics capabilities who want to use the Nikon D3100 to document or promote their business m Corporate workers who may or may not have photographic skills in their job descriptions but who work regularly with graphics and need to learn how to use digital images taken with a Nikon D3100 for reports presentations or other applications m Professional webmasters with strong skills in programming including Java JavaScript HTML Perl etc but little background in photography but who real ize that the D3100 can be used for sophisticated photography m Graphic artists and others who already may be adept in image editing with Photoshop or another program and who may already be using a film SLR Nikon or otherwise but who need to learn more about digital photography and the spe cial capabilities of the D3100 dSLR Introduction xix Addressing your needs from a skills level can be a little trickier because the D3100 is such a great camera that a full spectrum of photographers will be buying it from absolute beginners who have never owned a digital camera before up to the occasional professional with years of shooting experience who will be using the Nikon D3100 as a backup body I have to admit I tend to carry my D3100 with me everywhere even if I intend to take most
337. king print or a dark digital image unsharp masking The process for increasing the contrast between adjacent pixels in an image increasing sharpness especially around edges vignetting Dark corners of an image often produced by using a lens hood that is too small for the field of view a lens that does not completely fill the image frame or gen erated artificially using image editing techniques white balance The adjustment of a digital camera to the color temperature of the light source Interior illumination is relatively red outdoor light is relatively blue Digital cameras like the Nikon D3100 set correct white balance automatically or let you do it through menus Image editors can often do some color correction of images that were exposed using the wrong white balance setting especially when working with RAW files that contain the information originally captured by the camera before white balance was applied zoom head The capability of an electronic flash to change the area of its coverage to more closely match the focal length of a prime or zoom lens A A Non TTL auto flash 283 A Aperture priority mode 20 22 built in flash in 29 30 equivalent exposures changing to 153 flash sync modes in 275 276 working with 161 162 AA Auto Aperture flash 283 AC adapters 7 8 firmware upgrades power for 317 port for 38 39 AC power for monolights 290 for studio flash 289 accessory hot shoe 58 59 cover 6 externa
338. l SLR Photography Figure 8 2 You always know how the lighting will look when using continuous illumination Figure 8 3 A light source that is twice as far away provides only one quarter as much illumination Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 261 Evenness of illumination Pro con continuous lighting Of continuous light sources daylight in particular provides illumination that tends to fill an image completely lighting up the foreground background and your subject almost equally Shadows do come into play of course so you might need to use reflectors or fill in light sources to even out the illumination further but barring objects that block large sections of your image from daylight the light is spread fairly evenly Indoors however continuous lighting is commonly less evenly distributed The average living room for example has hot spots and dark corners But on the plus side you can see this uneven illumination and compensate with additional lamps Evenness of illumination Con electronic flash Electronic flash units like con tinuous light sources such as lamps that don t have the advantage of being located 93 million miles from the subject suffer from the effects of their proximity The inverse square law first applied to both gravity and light by Sir Isaac Newton dic tates that as a light source s distance increases from the subject the amount of light reaching the subject falls off proporti
339. l flash connecting 286 studio flash connecting 259 accessory lenses 237 accessory terminal 40 41 acrylic shields for LCD 321 action stopping See freezing action Active D Lighting EV exposure compensation with 137 Fn Function button options 120 Live View information on 211 shooting information display on 58 Shooting menu options 96 97 actuations 119 Adobe Acrobat Reader 6 Adobe Camera Raw 302 Merge to HDR with 168 overriding settings with 89 WB white balance adjusting 265 working with 306 309 Adobe Photoshop Photoshop Elements 302 See also Adobe Camera Raw auto image rotation with 113 dust dealing with 330 332 Dust amp Scratches filter 332 Find Edges command 140 HDR High Dynamic Range with 149 150 Lens Correction filter 246 lens distortion correction with 242 Merge to HDR 167 172 noise reduction with 167 pincushion distortion correcting 246 WB white balance adjusting 265 working with 306 309 Adobe Premiere Elements 214 Adobe RGB 98 100 AE L AF L lock 42 43 defaults resetting 81 106 Setup menu options for 120 121 viewfinder information 65 AF autofocus application of 184 circles of confusion 180 183 contrast detection 178 179 explanation of 175 184 in first lens 230 lenses with 117 352 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Live View information on 210 211 locking in 179 180 phase detection 176 178 selecting AF modes 24
340. l manual focusing aid With a manual focus lens and the Rangefinder operating the analog expo sure display at bottom right in the viewfinder will be replaced by a rangefinder focus ing scale Indicators on the scale like those in Figure 3 28 show when the image is in sharp focus as well as when you have focused somewhat in front of or behind the sub ject Follow these steps to use the Rangefinder 1 Press the multi selector buttons to choose a focus point that coincides with the sub ject youd like to be in focus 118 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 3 28 Upper left Correct focus upper right focus is grossly incor rect center left focus slightly in front of the subject center right focus slightly behind the subject bottom left focus significantly in front of the subject bottom right focus significantly behind the subject 2 Rotate the focusing ring watching the rangefinder scale at the bottom of the viewfinder If the current sharp focus plane is in front of the point of desired focus the rangefinder scale will point towards the left side of the viewfinder The greater the difference the more bars either three or six bars shown in the rangefinder 3 When the current focus plane is behind desired point of focus the rangefinder indi cator will point to the right 4 When the subject you ve selected with the focus zone bracket is in sharp focus only two bars will appear
341. lable You might not be lucky enough to locate a computer with a Secure Digital reader m Software CD ROM Here you ll find the Nikon Software Suite which includes various drivers required by some operating systems Nikon Transfer to move your files from camera or memory card to your computer Nikon ViewNX a useful image management program as well as various third party utilities some of which you may already have installed on your computer PI cover all the Nikon software offerings later in this book m Warranty and registration card Don t lose these You can register your Nikon D3100 by mail or online in the USA the URL is www nikonusa com register and may need the information in this paperwork plus the purchase receipt invoice from your retailer should you require Nikon service support Don t bother rooting around in the box for anything beyond what I ve listed previously There are a few things Nikon classifies as optional accessories even though you and I might consider some of them essential Here s a list of what you don get in the box but Chapter 1 m Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 7 might want to think about as an impending purchase I ll list them roughly in the order of importance Secure Digital card First time digital camera buyers are sometimes shocked that their new tool doesn t come with a memory card Why should it The manufacturer doesn t have the slightest idea of how much storage you re
342. lance infor mation from a picture youve already taken using the Use Photo option as described next 1 Choose Preset Manual from the White Balance menu 2 Select Use Photo 3 The most recently shot picture will appear with a menu offering to use This Image or Select Image 4 Press OK to use the displayed image or choose Select Image to specify another pic ture on your memory card 5 If you want to select a different image you can choose which folder on your mem ory card then navigate through the selected images using the standard D3100 image selection screen shown several times previously in this chapter See Figure 3 4 for a refresher 6 When the photo youd like to use is highlighted press OK to select it 7 Youll be returned to the Shooting menu where you can press the MENU button to exit or just tap the shutter release A WHITE BALANCE LIBRARY Consider dedicating a low capacity memory card to stow a selection of images taken under a variety of lighting conditions If you want to recycle one of the color tempera tures you ve stored insert the card and select it with the Use Photo option ISO Sensitivity Settings ISO governs how sensitive your Nikon D3100 is to light Low ISO settings such as ISO 100 or ISO 200 mean that the camera must have more light available to take a picture or that you must use wider lens openings or slower shutter speeds Faster ISO settings on the other hand let you tak
343. lash head back down Hold down this but ton while spinning the command dial to choose a flash mode I ll explain how to use the various flash modes red eye reduction front rear curtain sync and slow sync in Chapter 9 along with some tips for adjusting flash exposure Pop up flash The flash elevates from the top of the camera see Figure 2 4 theo retically reducing the chances of red eye reflections because the higher light source is less likely to reflect back from your subjects eyes into the camera lens In practice the red eye effect is still possible and likely and can be further minimized with the D3100 s red eye reduction lamp which flashes before the exposure causing the sub jects pupils to contract and the after shot red eye elimination offered in the Retouch menu Your image editor may also have anti red eye tools Of course the best strategy is to use an external speedlight that mounts on the accessory shoe on top of the camera and thus is even higher or a flash that is off camera entirely Microphone Records sound when shooting movies Chapter 2 m Nikon D3100 Roadmap 39 Figure 2 3 Flash mode Flash compensation button Function Lens release Microphone button button Figure 2 4 Pop up electronic flash 40 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography The main feature on the side of the Nikon D3100 is a rubber cover see Figure 2 5 that protects the four connector por
344. lash until the GN indicator appears then press the SEL button to highlight the distance display using the plus and minus buttons to enter the distance value you want from 1 to 65 6 feet or 0 3 to 20 meters The SB 800 will indicate a recom mended aperture which you then set on the lens mounted on the D3100 m M Manual flash The flash fires at a fixed output level Press the MODE button until M appears on the SB 900 s LCD panel Press the SEL button and the plus or minus buttons to increase or decrease the output value of the flash Use the table in the flash manual to determine a suggested aperture setting for a given distance Then set that aperture on the D3100 in either Aperture priority or Manual expo sure modes m RPT Repeating flash The flash fires repeatedly to produce a multiple flash strob ing effect To use this mode set the D3100 s exposure mode to Manual Then set up the number of repeating flashes per frame frequency and flash output level on the SB 900 BURN OUT When using repeating flash with the SB 900 or any large number of consecutive flashes in any mode more than about 15 shots at full power allow the flash to cool off Nikon recommends a 10 minute time out to avoid overheating the flash The SB 900 will sig nal you with a warning chime that rings twice when it s time for a cooling off period The flash will actually disable itself if necessary to prevent damage Working with Wireless Command
345. lass shields for LCD 321 glasses See eyeglasses glossary 339 350 Goddard Jean Luc 219 Google AVI Editor 214 GPS global positioning system accessory terminal for 40 41 Eye Fi Explore cards and 324 geotagging 199 201 reviewing images with GPS data 55 Setup menu options 126 Graphic information display 19 20 56 57 Setup menu option 108 GraphicConverter for Macintosh 119 gray cards 153 156 green filters 86 87 133 green toning effect 86 87 Guide mode 31 34 Advanced operations 33 deleting options 34 Easy Operation choices 33 34 setup options 34 shoot options 33 34 viewing options 34 guide numbers GN 273 274 with Nikon SB 900 speedlights 284 H halogen gas 266 Halsman Philippe 192 193 hand grip 37 38 Hand tool Adobe Camera Raw 307 Index 361 hazy contrast with telephoto lenses 246 HDMI format Setup menu 111 HDMI port 40 41 HDR High Dynamic Range 149 150 Merge to HDR 167 172 Help button 43 44 Help indicator shooting information display on 58 high ISO noise 100 101 166 167 Shooting menu 166 high speed photography 191 194 highlights See also Active D Lighting Display mode options Playback menu 74 Highlights display 174 reviewing images with 51 52 histograms See also brightness histograms RGB histograms Display mode options Playback menu 74 75 exposure fixing 172 174 Highlights display 174 reviewing images with 50 52 172 Hoodman flip up hoods for LC
346. layback menu 76 77 LD UD lenses 235 leaping photos 192 193 LED video lights 222 223 Lee lighting gels 263 lens bayonet 13 mount 63 lens hoods 13 14 249 250 AF assist lamp blocking 103 bayonet 61 lens multiplier factor 225 228 Lens release button 38 39 lenses AF autofocus features 117 alphabetical list of terms 234 236 back end of 63 capabilities of 236 237 categories of 239 240 cleaning 331 compatibility of 232 233 components of 60 63 converting older lenses 233 crop factor and 225 228 first lens 229 230 Index 363 L firmware and 317 light passed by 151 macro lenses 251 253 mounting 13 14 older lenses compatibility with 233 vibration reduction VR in 62 253 255 Li ion batteries See batteries light See also continuous light flash ISO sensitivity soft light colors of 257 duration of 151 emitted light 151 lens light passed by 151 for movies 222 223 multiple light sources 288 291 reflected light 151 sensor light captured by 151 for short exposures 192 shutter light passing through 151 source light 151 transmitted light 151 light stands 292 light streaks with long exposures 196 197 light trails with long exposures 198 lighting gels 263 liquid cleaning sensors 333 335 337 Live View 203 213 applications with 204 205 defaults resetting 81 Flicker Reduction options Setup menu 111 focus area in 206 208 focus modes selecting 206 information viewin
347. le see saw rocking effect when you support them with one hand halfway down the lens bar rel Telephotos also magnify any camera shake It s no wonder that vibration reduc tion is popular in longer lenses Interesting angles require creativity Telephoto lenses require more imagination in selecting interesting angles because the angle you do get on your subjects is so narrow Moving from side to side or a bit higher or lower can make a dramatic dif ference in a wide angle shot but raising or lowering a telephoto lens a few feet prob ably will have little effect on the appearance of the distant subjects youre shooting Figure 7 11 A wide f stop helped isolate the statue while allowing the background to go out of focus Chapter 7 Working with Lenses 245 246 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Avoiding Telephoto Lens Problems Many of the problems that telephoto lenses pose are really just challenges and are not that difficult to overcome Here is a list of the seven most common picture maladies and suggested solutions Symptom flat faces in portraits Head and shoulders portraits of humans tend to be more flattering when a focal length of 50mm to 85mm is used Longer focal lengths compress the distance between features like noses and ears making the face look wider and flat A wide angle might make noses look huge and ears tiny when you fill the frame with a face So stick with 50mm
348. lect generic times such as Short Norm and Long as the auto off delay or specify custom times for playback menus image review and exposure meters Your delay options are as follows m Short LCD Playback Menus 8 seconds LCD Review 4 seconds Exposure Meters 4 seconds m Norm LCD Playback Menus 12 seconds LCD Review 4 seconds Exposure Meters 8 seconds m Long LCD Playback Menus 20 seconds LCD Review 20 seconds Exposure Meters 60 seconds m Custom Playback Menus Choose 8 12 20 60 seconds or 10 minutes m Custom Image Review Choose 4 8 20 60 seconds or 10 minutes m Custom Live View Choose 30 seconds 1 3 or 5 minutes m Custom Auto Meter Off Choose 4 8 20 60 seconds or 30 minutes Self Timer Delay This setting lets you choose the length of the self timer shutter release delay The default value is 10 seconds You can also choose 2 seconds If I have the camera mounted on a tripod or other support and am too lazy to reach for my MC DC2 remote cord I can set a two second delay that is sufficient to let the camera stop vibrating after I ve pressed the shutter release Beep The Nikon D3100 s internal beeper provides a usually superfluous chirp to signify various functions such as the countdown of your camera self timer or autofocus con firmation in AF S mode or AF A mode with a static subject You can and probably should switch it off if you want to avoid the beep because it s annoyi
349. lenses as wide as 17mm If you use a wider lens you can expect darkening or vignetting in the corners of the frame At wider focal lengths the lens hood of some lenses my 18mm 70mm lens is a prime offender can cast a semi circular shadow in the lower portion of the frame when using the built in flash Sometimes removing the lens hood or zoom ing in a bit can eliminate the shadow Mounting an external flash unit such as the mighty Nikon SB 900 can solve both problems as this high end flash unit it costs almost half as much as the D3100 camera has zoomable coverage up to as wide as the field of view of a 14mm lens when used with the included adapter Its higher vantage point eliminates the problem of lens hood shadow too 244 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Using Telephoto and Tele Zoom Lenses Telephoto lenses also can have a dramatic effect on your photography and Nikon is especially strong in the long lens arena with lots of choices in many focal lengths and zoom ranges You should be able to find an affordable telephoto or tele zoom to enhance your photography in several different ways Here are the most important things you need to know In the next section IIl concentrate on telephoto considerations that can be problematic and how to avoid those problems m Selective focus Long lenses have reduced depth of field within the frame allow ing you to use selective focus to isolate your subject You
350. les after transfer A supported cameras only MDisconnect sutometically efter transfer p y M Open destination folder with other Shut down computer automatically after application after transfer transfer epee X Capture NX oad Quit Nikon Transfer automatically after transter Thumbnails 5 of 5 photo s selected Group Folder Select z i Folder 10003100 6 Photos DSC_0001 NEF DSC_0002 NEF DSC_0003 NEF DSC_0004 NEF DSC_0005 NEF OE Aa ae a a TransferQueue 5 photo s in the queue Source Destination 1 OSC_0001 NEF 18 7 MB To be transferred 03100 C Nikon Transfer 2 OSC_0002 NEF 18 3 MB To be transferred 03100 C Nikon Transfer 3 OSC_0003 NEF 18 1 MB To be transferred D3100 C4 Nikon Transfer Process Start Transfer Nikon Capture NX 2 Capture NX 2 is a pretty hefty chunk of software for the typical entry level Nikon D3100 owner to tackle and somewhat expensive at about 150 but if youre ambi tious and willing to plant your pitons for a steep climb up the learning curve the pro gram is indeed a powerful image editing utility It s designed specifically to process Nikon s NEF format RAW files although this new edition has added the ability to manipulate JPEG and TIFF images as well It includes an image browser with label ing sorting and editing that can be used to make many adjustments directly through the thumbnails It also has advanced color man
351. light The solution of course is to measure exposure from the object with the middle tones that most closely correspond to the 18 percent gray standard Do that and you wind up with a picture that more closely resembles the original tonality of the yellow orange and purple fruit which looks in black and white like Figure 4 8 In the real world you could calculate exposure the hard way and arrive at accurate set tings by pointing your D3100 at an evenly lit object such as an actual gray card or the palm of your hand the backside of the hand is too variable You ll need to increase the 156 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 4 6 Exposing for the light Figure 4 7 Exposing for the dark Figure 4 8 Exposing for the colored banana at left renders the plum right causes the two fruit at middle toned orange produces an other two fruit excessively dark left to become too light image in which the tones of all three subjects appear accurately exposure by one stop in the latter case because the human palm of any ethnic group reflects about twice as much light as a gray card As you ll see however it s more prac tical though to use your D3100 s system to meter the actual scene In most cases your camera s light meter will do a good job of calculating the right expo sure especially if you use the exposure tips in the next section But if you want to dou ble check or feel tha
352. light captured by 151 Index 371 sensorscope viewers 336 338 sharpness sepia f stops and range of 184 images creating 133 lenses for 237 toning effect 86 87 Picture Controls and 84 86 setup shiny objects softboxes for final setup 12 17 photographing 291 Guide mode options 34 Shooting Data screens reviewing images initial setup 9 12 with 51 53 55 Setup menu 104 126 shooting information display 19 20 Auto Image Rotation options 113 55 58 See also Classic Auto Info Display options 108 109 information display Graphic Auto Off Timers option 115 116 information display default value 106 Beep options 116 power saving by turning off 115 Buttons options 119 121 Clean Image Sensor options 109 ap menu ophons 108 327 328 Shooting menu 81 104 Active D Lighting options 96 97 color coding for 71 AF Area mode options 102 Date Imprint options 122 124 Dust Off Ref Photo options 114 AF assist options 102 103 Eye Fi Upload options 126 Auto Distortion Control 98 File Number Sequence options Built In Flash options 104 118 119 color coding for 71 Firmware Version option 126 Color Space option 98 100 Flicker Reduction options 111 High ISO NR option 166 Format Memory Card option 16 107 Image Quality options 87 90 GPS options 126 Image Size options 90 HDMI options 111 ISO sensitivity options 94 96 Image Comment options 112 113 Long exp NR option 167 Info Display Format 108 Met
353. light reaching the sensor to provide the right expo sure Or if you select f 8 in a dimly lit room you might find yourself shooting with a very slow shutter speed that can cause blurring from subject movement or camera shake Aperture priority is best used by those with a bit of experience in choosing settings Many seasoned photographers leave their D3100 set on A all the time Chapter 4 m Fine Tuning Exposure 163 Shutter Priority Shutter priority S is the inverse of Aperture priority you choose the shutter speed youd like to use and the camera s metering system selects the appropriate f stop Perhaps youre shooting action photos and you want to use the absolute fastest shutter speed available with your camera in other cases you might want to use a slow shutter speed to add some blur to a sports photo that would be mundane if the action were completely frozen Or you might want to give a feeling of motion as with another Kris Bosworth image of an antique auto cruising down the parkway at dozens of miles per hour See Figure 4 13 Shutter priority mode gives you some control over how much action freez ing capability your digital camera brings to bear in a particular situation You ll also encounter the same problem as with Aperture priority when you select a shut ter speed that s too long or too short for correct exposure under some conditions I ve shot outdoor soccer games on sunny Fall evenings and used Shutter priority mode to
354. ll for dust that s not cling ing stubbornly to your sensor m Brushing A soft very fine brush is passed across the surface of the sensor s filter dislodging mildly persistent dust particles and sweeping them off the imager m Liquid cleaning A soft swab dipped in a cleaning solution such as ethanol is used to wipe the sensor filter removing more obstinate particles m Tape cleaning There are some who get good results by applying a special form of tape to the surface of their sensor When the tape is peeled off all the dust goes with it Supposedly I d be remiss if I didn t point out right now that this form of clean ing is somewhat controversial the other three methods are much more widely accepted 334 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Placing the Mirror Shutter in the Locked and Fully Upright Position for Landing Make sure you re using a fully charged battery or a Nikon AC adapter Fortunately the Nikon D3100 is smart enough that it won t let you try to clean the sensor manually unless the battery has a sufficient charge 1 Remove the lens from the camera and then turn on the camera 2 You ll find the Mirror Lock up menu choice in the Setup menu Select it 3 Choose Start The mirror will flip up when you press the shutter release button and the shutter will open 4 Remove the lens from the camera 5 Use one of the methods described below to remove dust and grime from your sen sor
355. ll have the retouching icon displayed in the upper left corner Press OK 2 The Retouch menu with Trim Monochrome Filter Effects Small Picture and Before and After appears These are the only options that can be applied to an image that has already been retouched Scroll down to Before and After and press OK 3 The original and retouched image will appear next to each other with the re touching options youve used shown as a label above the images as you can see in Figure 3 47 4 Highlight the original or the copy with the multi selector left right buttons and press the Zoom in button to magnify the image to examine it more closely Before and after D Lighting Mr A I DSC_0435 JPG CSC_0436 JPG Move a Zoom EXIT Figure 3 47 You can easily compare an original image and the retouched version side by side Figure 3 48 The most recent menu items you ve accessed appear in the Recent Settings menu Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 145 5 If you have created more than one copy of an original image select the retouched version shown and press the multi selector up down buttons to view the other retouched copies The up down buttons will also let you view the other image used to create an Image Overlay copy 6 When done comparing press the Playback button to exit Edit Movie You can edit movies as you view them pausing using the down directional button and clipping off portio
356. lly is Some vendors recommend only dust off cleaning through the use of reasonably gentle blasts of air while condemning more serious scrubbing with swabs and cleaning fluids However these cleaning kits for the exact types of cleaning they recommended against are for sale in Japan only where apparently your average pho tographer is more dexterous than those of us in the rest of the world These kits are sim ilar to those used by official repair staff to clean your sensor if you decide to send your camera in for a dust up As I noted sensors can be affected by dust particles that are much smaller than you might be able to spot visually on the surface of your lens The filters that cover sensors tend to be fairly hard compared to optical glass Cleaning the sensor in your Nikon D3100 within the tight confines of the mirror box can call for a steady hand and care ful touch If your sensor s filter becomes scratched through inept cleaning you can t sim ply remove it yourself and replace it with a new one There are four basic kinds of cleaning processes that can be used to remove dusty and sticky stuff that settles on your dSLR s sensor All of these must be performed with the shutter locked open I ll describe these methods and provide instructions for locking the shutter later in this section m Air cleaning This process involves squirting blasts of air from a blower bulb inside your camera with the shutter locked open This works we
357. m lens to lens or even within a given lens depending on the f stop in use Bokeh becomes objectionable when the circles of confusion are evenly illumi nated making them stand out as distinct discs or worse when these circles are darker in the center producing an ugly doughnut effect A lens defect called spherical aber ration may produce out of focus discs that are brighter on the edges and darker in the center because the lens doesn t focus light passing through the edges of the lens exactly as it does light going through the center Mirror or catadioptric lenses also produce this effect Other kinds of spherical aberration generate circles of confusion that are brightest in the center and fade out at the edges producing a smooth blending effect as you can see at bottom in Figure 7 13 Ironically when no spherical aberration is present at all the discs are a uniform shade which while better than the doughnut effect is not as pleas ing as the bright center dark edge rendition The shape of the disc also comes into play with round smooth circles considered the best and nonagonal or some other polygon determined by the shape of the lens diaphragm considered less desirable If you plan to use selective focus a lot you should investigate the bokeh characteristics of a particular lens before you buy Nikon user groups and forums will usually be full of comments and questions about bokeh so the research is fairly easy Add
358. mation display press a second time to produce the information edit screen used to make many camera settings such as metering mode white balance or ISO Press this button to activate the shooting information display Press again to remove the information display or simply tap the shutter release button The display will also clear after the period you ve set for LCD display the default value is 20 seconds The information display can be set to alternate between modes that are best viewed under bright daylight as well as in dimmer illumination More controls reside on the right side of the back panel as shown in Figure 2 10 The key controls and their functions are as follows m Live View switch This is a momentary contact switch that activates Live View Rotate it clockwise and the D3100 s mirror will flip up and the live preview will be seen on the LCD When you release the switch it returns to its original posi tion Repeat to turn Live View off m Movie button Press this button to activate deactivate movie shooting You ll find more about capturing video in Chapter 6 m Multi selector This joypad like button can be shifted up down and side to side to provide several functions including AF point selection scrolling around a magni fied image or trimming a photo Within menus pressing the up down buttons moves the on screen cursor up or down pressing towards the right selects the high lighted item and displays its options
359. may change suddenly use On when you want the exposure to remain constant even if the lighting changes You might do this while recording a series of scenes illuminated by the setting sun and want the scene to gradually get darker as the sun sinks behind the horizon With the default Off setting the D3100 would constantly compensate for the waning light rendering each shot similar in appearance Slot Empty Release Lock This entry is the first new entry on the last page of the Setup menu see the third entry from the top in Figure 3 29 It gives you the ability to snap off pictures without a memory card installed or alternatively to lock the camera shutter release if no card is present It is sometimes informally called Play mode because you can experiment with your camera s features or even hand your D3100 to a friend to let them fool around without any danger of pictures actually being taken Back in our film days wed sometimes finish a roll rewind the film back into its cas sette surreptitiously and then hand the camera to a child to take a few pictures with out actually wasting any film It s hard to waste digital film but shoot without card mode is still appreciated by some especially camera vendors who want to be able to demo a camera at a store or trade show but don t want to have to equip each and every demonstrator model with a memory card Choose Enable Release to activate play mode or Release Locke
360. me to time you ve heard the term crop factor and youve probably also heard the term ens multiplier factor Both are misleading and inaccurate terms used to describe the same phenomenon the fact that cameras like the D3100 and most other 226 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography affordable digital SLRs provide a field of view that s smaller and narrower than that produced by certain other usually much more expensive cameras when fitted with exactly the same lens Figure 7 1 quite clearly shows the phenomenon at work The outer rectangle marked 1X shows the field of view you might expect with a 28mm lens mounted on one of Nikon s full frame non cropped cameras like the Nikon D700 D3 or D3x The area marked 1 5X shows the field of view youd get with that 28mm lens installed on a D3100 It s easy to see from the illustration that the 1X rendition provides a wider more expansive view while the inner field of view is in comparison cropped The cropping effect is produced because the sensors of DX cameras like the Nikon D3100 are smaller than the sensors of the D700 D3 or D3x The full frame camera has a sensor that s the size of the standard 35mm film frame 24mm X 36mm Your D3100 s sensor does not measure 24mm X 36mm instead it specs out at 23 6 X 15 8 mm or about 66 7 percent of the area of a full frame sensor as shown by the red boxes in the figure You can calculate the relative fi
361. menu listing which you must scroll to view the menu entry that provides the information You can learn how to update firmware in Chapter 10 Figure 3 31 The Retouch menu allows simple in cam era editing Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 127 Retouch Menu Options The Retouch menu has seven entries on its first screen see Figure 3 31 This menu allows you to create a new copy of an existing image with trimmed or retouched char acteristics You can apply D Lighting remove red eye create a monochrome image apply filter effects rebalance color overlay one image on another and compare two images side by side Just select a picture during Playback mode and then scroll down to one of the retouching options You can also go directly to the Retouch menu select a retouching feature and then choose a picture from the standard D3100 picture selec tion screen shown multiple times in this chapter The Retouch menu is most useful when you want to create a modified copy of an image on the spot for immediate printing or e mailing without first importing into your com puter for more extensive editing You can also use it to create a JPEG version of an image in the camera when you are shooting RAW only photos While you can retouch images that have already been processed by the Retouch menu you can apply up to 10 different effects in total but only once per effect except for Image Overlay You may notice some quality loss with re
362. mera electronic flash Other Lighting Accessories Once you start working with light you ll find there are plenty of useful accessories that can help you Here are some of the most popular that you might want to consider Softboxes Softboxes are large square or rectangular devices that may resemble a square umbrella with a front cover and produce a similar lighting effect They can extend from a few feet square to massive boxes that stand five or six feet tall virtually a wall of light With a flash unit or two inside a softbox you have a very large semi directional light source that s very diffuse and very flattering for portraiture and other people photography Softboxes are also handy for photographing shiny objects They not only provide a soft light but if the box itself happens to reflect in the subject say youre photographing a chromium toaster the box will provide an interesting highlight that s indistinct and not distracting 292 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography You can buy softboxes like the one shown in Figure 8 23 or make your own Some lengths of friction fit plastic pipe and a lot of muslin cut and sewed just so may be all that you need Light Stands Both electronic flash and incandescent lamps can benefit from light stands These are lightweight tripod like devices but without a swiveling or tilting head that can be set on the floor tabletops or other elevated surfaces and po
363. might want to use a particular option or feature The Nikon D3100 s menu lineup is quite sound and easy to learn If you re switching from a previous Nikon dSLR you really need this chapter As always in making its menu improvements Nikon continues to confound long time users by changing the names of many menu items shuffling their order and hiding old favorite options in places you might never think to look Entries for redefining Fn button options the AE L AF L control and AE lock are now tucked away under a heading called Buttons for example Nikon must certainly love menu layouts because it uses so many different versions of them in its various digital SLR cameras with little con sistency beyond family resemblance among them If you re lucky enough to be able to work with more than one Nikon camera you also gain the opportunity to learn several different menu systems in the bargain It s fortu nate that so many menu options are duplicated in the information edit screen because you can make many settings there and avoid the Lewis Carroll like trip through Menuland entirely The MENU button and basic operation of the D3100 s menus are simple Press the MENU button located second from the top at the left side of the LCD The menus consist of a series of five separate screens with rows of entries as shown in Figure 3 1 Note that when the D3100 is set to the green Auto icon on the mode dial some menu choices are not a
364. mode G4 Image review Rotate tall Slide show EJ Print set DPOF Figure 3 2 When working within a menu the selected menu entry is highlighted Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 71 Figure 3 3 Submenus let D you choose gt actual menu options 38 Selected gt Select date ALL All m Choose your menu option You can confirm a selection by pressing the OK but ton or frequently by pressing the right button on the multi selector once again Some functions require scrolling to a Done menu choice or include an instruction to Set a choice using some other button m Leaving the menu system Pressing the multi selector left button usually backs you out of the current screen and pressing the MENU button again usually does the same thing You can exit the menu system at any time by tapping the shutter release button If you havent confirmed your choice for a particular option no changes will be made m Quick return The Nikon D3100 remembers the top level menu and specific menu entry you were using but not any submenus the last time the menu system was accessed even if you have subsequently turned the camera off so pressing the MENU button brings you back to where you left off The top level menus are color coded and a bar in that color is displayed underneath the menu title when one of those menus is highlighted The colors are Playback menu blue Shooting menu green Setup menu
365. modes m On The D3100 will display the shooting information screen if the shutter release button is pressed halfway and released As always the information display goes away when you press the shutter release halfway and hold it If you ve set Image Review to Off in the Playback menu the shooting information screen also appears as soon as the photograph is taken If Image Review is set to On the shooting information screen appears only when the shutter release is pressed halfway and released or if the Info button is pressed but not immediately after the picture is taken Instead the picture you just took is shown m Off The shooting information screen is not displayed when you press the shutter release button halfway and release it You can activate the display by pressing the Info button Clean Image Sensor This entry gives you some control over the Nikon D3100 s automatic sensor cleaning feature which removes dust through a vibration cycle that shakes the sensor until dust presumably falls off and is captured by a sticky surface at the bottom of the sensor area If you happen to take a picture and notice an artifact in an area that contains little detail such as the sky or a blank wall you can access this menu choice place the camera with its base downward choose Clean Now and press OK A message Image Sensor Cleaning appears and the dust you noticed has probably been shaken off You can also tell the D3100 when youd like
366. more external flash units if you want to trigger multiple add on flash units If you do much flash photography at all consider an add on speedlight as an impor tant accessory MC DC2 remote cord Unlike previous entry level Nikon cameras the D3100 does not have an infrared sensor that can be used with the inexpensive Wireless Remote Control ML L3 Instead you ll need this wired remote cable to take a pic ture without the need to touch the camera itself In a pinch you can use the D3100 s self timer to minimize vibration when triggering the camera But when you want to take a photo at the exact moment you desire and not when the self timer happens to trip or need to eliminate all possibility of human induced cam era shake you need this remote cord See Figure 1 2 AC Adapter EH 5a Power Connector EP 5 These two optional devices are used together to power the Nikon D3100 independently of the batteries There are sev eral typical situations where this capability can come in handy when you re clean ing the sensor manually and want to totally eliminate the possibility that a lack of 8 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography juice will cause the fragile shutter and mirror to spring to life during the process when indoors shooting tabletop photos portraits class pictures and so forth for hours on end when using your D3100 for remote shooting as well as time lapse photography for extensive review of image
367. mory cards 323 Internet See also Eye Fi cards Small Picture option for sending over 134 inverse square law 261 invisible people with long exposures 196 inward bending effect See pincushion distortion iodine gas light 266 ISO sensitivity adjusting 27 165 166 Auto ISO 95 166 Fn Function button options 119 high ISO noise 100 101 166 167 light and 151 Live View information on 211 212 shooting information display on 57 Shooting menu options 94 96 viewfinder information on 65 66 IX lenses 235 J JPEG formats 87 90 296 See also Nikon Capture NX for continuous shooting 190 191 date imprints with 122 Exif information in 119 Fn Function button options 119 Monochrome Picture Style with 85 NEF RAW Processing options Retouch menu 136 137 RAW formats compared 89 90 K Kelvin scale See degrees Kelvin Kenko teleconverters 251 Kinkade Thomas 257 L L firmware 315 316 Landscape mode 20 21 Guide mode for 33 in Live View 210 landscape orientation options 76 77 Landscape Picture Control 83 language default value 106 Setup menu options 112 LCD 43 See also Live View reviewing images shooting information display brightness default value 106 power saving by turning down 115 Setup menu options 107 108 flip up hoods for 321 322 glass acrylic shields for 321 in Guide mode 32 33 magnifiers for 322 plastic overlays for 321 protecting 320 322 Rotate Tall option P
368. n 38 39 Setup menu options for 119 120 foamboard reflectors 288 focal lengths categories of lenses and 239 240 with prime lenses 238 vibration reduction and 254 with zoom lenses 238 focal plane indicator 59 60 focus See also AF autofocus focus modes focus points MF manual focus circles of confusion 180 183 explanation of 175 184 L firmware for 316 selecting focus modes 24 27 focus confirmation indicator 65 focus limit switch on lens 62 focus modes 180 defaults resetting 81 in Live View 206 shooting information display on 57 focus points defaults resetting 81 Live View information on 211 viewfinder information on 64 65 focus priority 186 focus ring on lens 61 focus scale on lens 61 foggy contrast with telephoto lenses 246 folders See also Playback folder creating folders 125 current folder changing 125 storage folder options Setup menu 124 125 foregrounds with telephoto lenses 244 with wide angle lenses 240 Free Motion People Guide mode 33 Free Motion Vehicles Guide mode 33 freezing action with continuous light 262 with flash 262 263 with short exposures 191 194 vibration reduction and 254 front curtain sync See first curtain sync front filter threads 60 front view of camera 37 41 FX lenses 235 G G series lenses 235 GE color rendering index CRI 264 267 geotagging 199 201 Gepe card safes 324 ghost images 270 271 ghoul lighting for movies 223 g
369. n you should still make sure you understand how it works Fortunately the D3100 makes setting exposure manually very easy Just rotate the mode dial to change to Manual mode and then turn the command dial to set the shutter speed and hold down the Aperture EV button just southeast of the shutter release button while rotating the command dial to adjust the aperture Press the shutter release halfway or press the AE lock button and the exposure scale in the viewfinder shows you how far your chosen setting diverges from the metered exposure Adjusting Exposure with ISO Settings Another way of adjusting exposures is by changing the ISO sensitivity setting Sometimes photographers forget about this option because the common practice is to set the ISO once for a particular shooting session say at ISO 200 for bright sunlight outdoors or ISO 800 when shooting indoors and then forget about ISO The reason for that is that ISOs higher than ISO 200 or 400 are seen as bad or necessary evils However changing the ISO is a valid way of adjusting exposure settings particularly with the Nikon D3100 which produces good results at ISO settings that create grainy unusable pictures with some other camera models Indeed I find myself using ISO adjustment as a convenient alternate way of adding or subtracting exposure when shooting in Manual mode and as a quick way of choosing equivalent exposures when in Program or Shutter priority or Apert
370. n afford to buy even a percentage of the lenses available The sanest approach to expanding your lens collection is to consider what each of your options can do for you and then choose the type of lens and specific model that will really boost your creative opportunities So in the sections that follow I m going to provide a general guide to the sort of capabilities you can gain for your D3100 by adding a lens to your repertoire m Wider perspective Your 18 105mm 3 5 5 6 18 55mm f 3 5 5 6 or 16 85mm f 4 5 6 lens has served you well for moderate wide angle shots Now you find your back is up against a wall and you can t take a step backwards to take in more sub ject matter Perhaps you re standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon and you want to take in as much of the breathtaking view as you can You might find yourself just behind the baseline at a high school basketball game and want an interesting shot with a little perspective distortion tossed in the mix Bring objects closer A long lens brings distant subjects closer to you offers bet ter control over depth of field and avoids the perspective distortion that wide angle lenses provide They compress the apparent distance between objects in your frame Don t forget that the Nikon D3100 s crop factor narrows the field of view of all these lenses so your 70 300mm lens looks more like a 105mm 450mm zoom through the viewfinder The image shown in Figure 7 5 was taken using a wide
371. n erase them and shoot more The increased capacity of digital film cards gives you a prodigious number of frames to work with At a basketball game I covered earlier this year I took more than 1 000 images in a couple hours Yet even shooting JPEG Fine I could fit nearly 500 images on a single memory card Given an average burst of about six frames per sequence nobody really takes 15 20 shots or more at one stretch in a basketball game I was able to capture almost 100 different sequences before I needed to swap cards Figure 5 11 shows the kind of results you can expect To use the D3100 s Continuous shooting mode use the Release mode lever to the right of the mode dial to set the camera for continuous shooting When you partially depress the shutter button the viewfinder will display at the right side a number representing the maximum number of shots you can take at the current quality settings As a prac tical matter the buffer in the Nikon D3100 will generally allow you to take up to a dozen JPEG shots in a single burst but only a few RAW photos It can also not be used when using the built in flash To get the maximum number of shots reduce the image quality setting by switching to JPEG only from RAW Fine to a lower JPEG quality setting or by reducing the D3100 s resolution from L to M or S The reason the size of your bursts is limited is that continuous images are first shuttled into the D3100 s internal memory buffer then
372. n flash will pop up if needed m Landscape Select this mode when you want extra sharpness and rich colors of dis tant scenes The built in flash and AF assist illuminator are disabled Auto Night Portrait Close up 22 C If David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Child Use this mode to accentuate the vivid colors often found in children s cloth ing and to render skin tones with a soft natural looking texture The D3100 focuses on the closest subject to the camera The built in flash will pop up if needed m Sports Use this mode to freeze fast moving subjects The D3100 selects a fast shut ter speed to stop action and focuses continuously on the center focus point while you have the shutter release button pressed halfway However you can select one of the other two focus points to the left or right of the center by pressing the multi selector left right buttons The built in electronic flash and focus assist illuminator lamp are disabled Close up This mode is helpful when you are shooting close up pictures of a sub ject from about one foot away or less such as flowers bugs and small items The D3100 focuses on the closest subject in the center of the frame but you can use the multi selector right and left buttons to focus on a different point Use a tripod in this mode as exposures may be long enough to cause blurring from camera move ment The built in flash will pop up if needed m Ni
373. n started Before I left on my most recent trip to Spain I put both cameras I was taking through a rigid cleaning regimen figuring they could remain dust free for a measly 10 days I even left my bulky blower bulb at home and took along a new smaller version for emergencies m Clone out existing spots in your image editor Photoshop and other editors have a clone tool or healing brush you can use to copy pixels from surrounding areas over the dust spot or dead pixel This process can be tedious especially if you have lots of dust spots and or lots of images to be corrected The advantage is that this sort of manual fix it probably will do the least damage to the rest of your photo Only the damaged pixels will be affected m Use filtration in your image editor A semi smart filter like Photoshop s Dust amp Scratches filter can remove dust and other artifacts by selectively blurring areas that the plug in decides represent dust spots This method can work well if you have many dust spots because you won t need to patch them manually However any automated method like this has the possibility of blurring areas of your image that you didn t intend to soften Sensor Cleaning Those new to the concept of sensor dust actually hesitate before deciding to clean their camera themselves Isn t it a better idea to pack up your D3100 and send it to a Nikon service center so their crack technical staff can do the job for you Or at the very least
374. n use Windows or Mac OS to reformat the memory card Don t The operating system won t necessarily arrange the structure of the card the way the D3100 likes to see it in computer terms an incorrect file system may be installed The only way to ensure that the card has been properly formatted for your camera is to perform the format in the camera itself The only exception to this rule is when you have a seriously corrupted memory card that your camera refuses to format Sometimes it is possible to revive such a corrupted card by allowing the operating system to reformat it first then trying again in the camera Setup menu format To use the recommended methods to format a memory card press the MENU button use the up down buttons of the multi selector that thumb pad sized control to the right of the LCD to choose the Setup menu which is represented by that wrench icon navigate to the Format memory card entry with the right button of the multi selector and select Yes from the screen that appears Press OK in the center of the multi selector pad to begin the format process Table 1 1 shows the typical number of shots you can expect using an 8GB SD memory card which I expect will be a popular size card among D3100 users as prices continue to plummet during the life of this book All figures are by actual count with my own 8GB SD card Take those numbers and cut them in half if you re using a 4GB SD card multiply by 25 percent if you r
375. n what data is available read the Working with Photo Information section later in this chapter Retouch image Press the OK button while a single image is displayed on the screen to jump to the Retouch menu to modify that photograph TIl explain the work ings of the Retouch menu in Chapter 3 m Remove images To delete an image that s currently on the screen press the Trash button once and then press it again to confirm the deletion To select and delete a group of images use the Delete option in the Playback menu to specify particular photos to remove as described in more detail in Chapter 3 m Cancel playback To cancel image review press the Playback button again or sim ply tap the shutter release button Zooming the Nikon D3100 Playback Display Here s how to zoom in and out on your images during picture review 1 Zoom in When an image is displayed use the Playback button to start press the Zoom in button to fill the screen with a slightly magnified version of the image You can keep pressing the Zoom in button to magnify a portion of the image up Figure 2 11 The D3100 incorporates a small thumb nail image with a yellow box showing the current zoom area and one or more white boxes to mark any faces detected in the scene Chapter 2 m Nikon D3100 Roadmap 47 to 25X if you used the Large resolution setting when shooting the photo An image at Medium resolution can be magnified up to 19X while Small
376. n you are using Program Shutter priority Aperture priority or Manual exposure modes but not when using any of the scene modes You can read more about using the D3100 s flash capabilities in Chapter 8 You have two options with this setting m TTL When selected the built in flash or SB 400 operate in iT TL intelligent through the lens exposure mode to automatically choose an exposure based on measuring the light from a preflash fired an instant before the picture is taken as it reflects back to the camera Use this setting under most circumstances As you ll learn in Chapter 8 the D3100 can even balance the flash output with the daylight or other illumination to allow the flash to fill in dark shadows or provide supple mentary light Manual In this mode the flash always fires using a preselected output level which ranges from full power to 1 32 power Use this mode when you want a certain expo sure for every shot say to deliberately under or overexpose an image for a special effect Setup Menu Options The orange coded Setup menu see Figure 3 23 for its first page has a long list of 26 entries In this menu you can make additional adjustments on how your camera behaves before or during your shooting session as differentiated from the Shooting menu which adjusts how the pictures are actually taken Figure 3 23 The first page of the Setup menu has seven entries Your choices include m Reset Setup Opti
377. name 2 Scroll down to the Picture Control youd like to use 3 Press OK to activate the highlighted style Although you can usually select a menu item by pressing the multi selector right button in this case that button activates editing instead 4 Press the MENU button or tap the shutter release to exit the menu system S Set Picture Control D EY Standard KANL Neutral KAVI Vivid IMC Monochrome C4 KAPT Portrait c ILS Landscape amp Grid Adjust 84 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Editing a Picture Control Style You can change the parameters of any of Nikon s predefined Picture Controls You are given the choice of using the quick adjust fine tune facility to modify a Picture Control with a few sliders or to view the relationship of your Picture Controls on a grid To make quick adjustments to any Picture Control except the Monochrome style follow these steps 1 Choose Set Picture Control from the Shooting menu 2 Scroll down to the Picture Control youd like to edit 3 Press the multi selector right button to produce the adjustment screen shown in Figure 3 12 4 Use the Quick Adjust slider to exaggerate the attributes of the Standard Vivid Portrait or Landscape styles Quick Adjustments are not available with other pre defined styles 5 Scroll down to the Sharpening Contrast Saturation and Hue sliders with the multi selector up down buttons then use
378. nd 227 228 Shooting menu s noise reduction options 100 101 Noise Ninja 167 Normal area AF 102 in Live View 208 210 normal lenses 240 foregrounds with 240 NTSC video mode 110 0 OK button 10 44 45 on camera lighting for movies 223 On Off switch 37 38 for vibration reduction 40 1 5X teleconverters 227 OnTrack 326 Op Tech neck straps 5 Opanda iExif for Windows 119 Optics Pro DxO 303 orientation options Playback menu 76 77 outdoor lighting for movies 223 outward bowing lines with wide angle lenses 242 243 over the shoulder shots in movies 219 220 overexposure backlighting and 147 example of 148 150 histogram of 173 overheating of flash units 284 overlaying images See image overlay P P Program mode 20 23 built in flash in 29 30 flash sync modes in 275 276 working with 164 PAL video mode 110 Party mode flash sync modes in 277 PC E Nikkor 24mm f 3 5D ED lens 235 PC Perspective Control lenses 235 PC Micro Nikkor 85mm f 2 8D lens 253 PDF file for reference manual 6 Pec Pad cleaning swabs 336 Pelican card safes 324 perspectives See also distortion converging lines with wide angle lenses 242 crop factor and 228 with lenses 236 Retouch menu s Perspective Control option 140 141 with short exposures 193 194 with wide angle lenses 241 Pet mode flash sync modes in 277 phase detection 176 178 cross type focus point and 177 178 Index 367 PhaseOne
379. nd greens pop ular in horror movies There s good news however There are special fluorescent and LED lamps compatible with the Spiderlite lighting fixtures sold through dealers affiliated with the F J Westcott Company www fjwestcott com designed especially for photography with the color balance and other properties required They can be used for direct light placed in soft boxes described later and used in other ways Figure 8 6 The uncor rected fluores cent lighting in the gym added a distinct greenish cast to this image when exposed with a daylight white balance setting Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 267 Adjusting White Balance I showed you how to adjust white balance in Chapter 3 using the D3100 s built in pre sets and white balance shift capabilities In most cases however the D3100 will do a good job of calculating white balance for you so Auto can be used as your choice most of the time Use the preset values or set a custom white balance that matches the current shooting conditions when you need to The only really problematic light sources are likely to be fluorescents Vendors such as GE and Sylvania may actually provide a figure known as the color rendering index or CRI which is a measure of how accurately a particular light source represents standard colors using a scale of 0 some sodium vapor lamps to 100 daylight and most incan descent lamps Daylight fluorescents and deluxe
380. nd includes information such as the date and time a photo was taken the camera settings resolution amount of compression and other data Exif See exchangeable image file format Exif Glossary 343 exposure The amount of light allowed to reach the film or sensor determined by the intensity of the light the amount admitted by the iris of the lens the length of time determined by the shutter speed and the sensitivity of the sensor or film to light exposure compensation Exposure compensation which uses exposure value EV settings is a way of adding or decreasing exposure without the need to reference f stops or shutter speeds For example if you tell your camera to add 1EYV it will pro vide twice as much exposure either by using a larger f stop slower shutter speed or both The D3100 offers both conventional exposure compensation and flash exposure compensation fill lighting In photography lighting used to illuminate shadows Reflectors or addi tional incandescent lighting or electronic flash can be used to brighten shadows One common technique outdoors is to use the camera s flash as a fill in sunlit situations filter In photography a device that fits over the lens changing the light in some way In image editing a feature that changes the pixels in an image to produce blurring sharpening and other special effects Photoshop includes several interesting filter effects including Lens Blur and Photo Filters flash
381. nd shutter speed This is called Flexible Program by Nikon Rotate the command dial counterclockwise to reduce the size of the aperture going from say f 4 to f 5 6 so that the D3100 will automatically use a slower shutter speed going from say 1 250th second to 1 125th second Rotate the command dial clockwise to use a larger f stop while automatically producing a shorter shutter speed that provides the same equivalent exposure as metered in P mode An asterisk appears next to the P in the LCD and viewfinder so you ll know you ve overridden the D3100 s default program setting Your adjustment remains in force until you rotate the command dial until the asterisk disappears or you switch to a different exposure mode or turn the D3100 off MAKING EV CHANGES Sometimes you ll want more or less exposure than indicated by the D3100 s metering sys tem Perhaps you want to underexpose to create a silhouette effect or overexpose to pro duce a high key look It s easy to use the D3100 s exposure compensation system to override the exposure recommendations Press the EV button on the top of the camera just southeast of the shutter release Then rotate the command dial counterclockwise to add exposure and clockwise to subtract exposure The EV change youve made remains for the exposures that follow until you manually zero out the EV setting The EV plus minus icon appears in the viewfinder and monochrome status panel to warn you
382. nderexpose the subject to produce a silhouette effect Or perhaps you might want to flip up the D3100 s built in flash unit to fill in inky shadows The more you know about how to use your D3100 the more you ll run into situations where you want to creatively tweak the exposure to provide a different look than youd get with a straight shot This chapter shows you the fundamentals of exposure so youll be better equipped to override the Nikon D3100 s default settings when you want to or need to After all correct exposure is one of the foundations of good photography along with accurate focus and sharpness appropriate color balance freedom from unwanted noise and exces sive contrast as well as pleasing composition In the next few pages I m going to give you a grounding in one of those foundations and explain the basics of exposure either as an introduction or as a refresher course depending on your current level of expert ise When you finish this chapter youll understand most of what you need to know to take well exposed photographs creatively in a broad range of situations Getting a Handle on Exposure Exposure determines the look feel and tone of an image in more ways than one Incorrect exposure can impair even the best composed image by cloaking important tones in darkness or by washing them out so they become featureless to the eye On the other hand correct exposure brings out the detail in the areas you want to pi
383. ne shutters which consists of a traveling set of curtains including a front curtain which opens to reveal the film or 344 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography sensor and a rear curtain which follows at a distance determined by shutter speed to conceal the film or sensor at the conclusion of the exposure For a flash picture to be taken the entire sensor must be exposed at one time to the brief flash exposure so the image is exposed after the front curtain has reached the other side of the focal plane but before the rear curtain begins to move Front curtain sync causes the flash to fire at the beginning of this period when the shutter is completely open in the instant that the first curtain of the focal plane shutter finishes its movement across the film or sen sor plane With slow shutter speeds this feature can create a blur effect from the ambi ent light showing as patterns that follow a moving subject with the subject shown sharply frozen at the beginning of the blur trail See also rear curtain sync front lighting Illumination that comes from the direction of the camera See also back lighting and side lighting f stop The relative size of the lens aperture which helps determine both exposure and depth of field The larger the f stop number the smaller the f stop itself graduated filter A lens attachment with variable density or color from one edge to another A graduated neutral density filter for
384. ng impolite or distracting at a concert or museum or undesired for any other reason It s one of the few ways to make the D3100 a bit quieter I ve actually had new dSLR owners ask me how to turn off the shutter sound the camera makes such an option was available in the point and shoot camera they d used previously Your choices are On and Off When the beeper is active a musical note icon is shown in the shooting information display Rangefinder The rangefinder is a clever feature when activated that supplements the green focus confirmation indicator at the left edge of the viewfinder by transforming the analog Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 117 exposure indicator as an in focus out of focus scale to show that correct focus has been achieved when focusing manually Some lenses don t offer autofocus features with the Nikon D3100 because they lack the internal autofocus motor the D3100 requires They are able to autofocus on other Nikon cameras except for the D3100 D60 and D40 D40x because those cameras include an autofocus motor in the body Many manual focus lenses that never had aut ofocus features can also be used with the D3100 in manual focus mode You ll find more information about this limitation in Chapter 7 but all you need to know is that Nikon lenses with the AF S designation in the lens name will autofocus on the D3100 while those with the AF Al or AI S designation will not Specification
385. ng a Picture Control You ll find full explanations of these features in Chapter 3 The shooting information on the LCD displays status information about most of the shooting settings Some of the items on the status LCD also appear in the viewfinder such as the shutter speed and aperture and the exposure level This display remains active for about eight seconds then shuts off if no operations are performed with the camera or if the eye sensor detects that you re looking through the viewfinder The display also turns off when you press the shutter release halfway You can re activate the display by pressing the Zoom in Info Zoom out or Fn buttons except when the behavior of the latter button has been set to white balance compensation The display also appears when the exposure compensation aperture button is pressed in P S or A SiShutter priority auto aw A an FINE ao 2000 FS oan AF C _ ie ea p a le m 133 ADL OFF 4 40 0 40 0 40 0 40 0 mm 2 Set A Back lt 3 Move oK OK Figure 2 22 The shooting information display left shows basic information on the color LCD Information edit right can be accessed by a second press of the information edit button Chapter 2 m Nikon D3100 Roadmap 57 exposure modes or when the Flash button is pressed in any exposure mode other than Auto Flash Off In other words the shooting information display appears whenever youre likely to need it and can be summoned at other tim
386. ng the power of an elec tronic flash in a way that can be used to determine the right f stop to use at a particu lar shooting distance and ISO setting In fact before automatic flash units became prevalent the GN was actually used to do just that A GN is usually given as a pair of numbers for both feet and meters that represent the range at ISO 100 For example the Nikon D3100 s built in flash has a GN in i TTL mode of 12 39 meters feet at ISO 100 In Manual mode the true guide number is a fraction higher 13 43 meters feet To calculate the right exposure at that ISO setting youd divide the guide number by the distance to arrive at the appropriate f stop Using the D3100 s built in flash as an example at ISO 100 with its GN of 43 in Manual mode if you wanted to shoot a subject at a distance of 10 feet youd use 4 3 43 divided by 10 or in practice f 4 0 At 5 feet an f stop of f 8 would be used Some quick mental calculations with the GN will give you any particular electronic flash s range You can easily see that the built in flash would begin to peter out at about 13 feet if you stuck to the lowest ISO of 100 because youd need an aperture of f 2 8 Of course in the real world youd probably bump the sensitivity up to a setting of ISO 800 so you could use a more practical f 8 at 13 feet and the flash would be effective all the way out to 20 feet or more at wider f stops Today guide numbers are most useful for comparing th
387. niature Effect m Image Overlay m Edit Movie m NEF RAW processing D Lighting This option brightens the shadows of pictures that have already been taken as shown in Figure 3 32 It is a useful tool for backlit photographs or any image with deep shad ows with important detail Once you ve selected your photo for modification you ll be shown side by side images with the unaltered version on the left and your adjusted ver sion on the right Press the multi selector s up down buttons to choose from High Normal or Low corrections Press the Zoom in button to magnify the image When youre happy with the corrected image on the right compared to the original on the left press OK to save the copy to your memory card see Figure 3 33 Figure 3 32 No D Lighting upper left low upper right normal lower left and high lower right Figure 3 33 Use the D Lighting feature to brighten dark shadows while producing min imal changes in the highlights Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 gt Cancel Zoom 0k Save 129 130 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Red Eye Correction This Retouch menu tool can be used to remove the residual red eye look that remains after applying the Nikon D3100 s other remedies such as the red eye reduction lamp You can use the red eye tools found in most image editors as well Your Nikon D3100 has a fairly effective red eye reduction fl
388. nly recorded as if it were a barrage of photons While noise reduction does minimize the grainy effect it can do so at the cost of some sharpness This menu setting can be used to activate or deactivate the D3100 s noise canceling operation m Off This default setting disables noise reduction Use it when you want the max imum amount of detail present in your photograph even though higher noise lev els will result This setting also eliminates the delay caused by the noise reduction process that occurs after the picture is taken this delay is roughly the same amount Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 101 of time that was required for the exposure If you plan to use only lower ISO set tings thereby reducing the noise caused by high ISO values the noise levels pro duced by longer exposures may be acceptable For example you might be shooting a waterfall at ISO 100 with the camera mounted on a tripod using a neutral den sity filter and a long exposure to cause the water to blur Try exposures of 2 to 16 seconds depending on the intensity of the light and how much blur you want See Figure 3 22 To maximize detail in the non moving portions of your photos for the exposures that are eight seconds or longer you can switch off long exposure noise reduction m On When exposures are eight seconds or longer the Nikon D3100 takes a second blank exposure to compare that to the first image While the second image is taken
389. nother focus mode when using AF C or AF A mode and the subject moves This mode is great for sports or active children m Auto area This default mode chooses the focus point for you and can use distance information when working with a lens that has a G or D suffix in its name See Chapter 7 for more on the difference between G D lenses and other kinds of lenses m 3D tracking 11 points You can select the focus zone but when not using AF S mode the camera refocuses on the subject if you reframe the image If you re using Live View to shoot stills or are shooting movies you can specify four dif ferent AF area selection modes m Face priority AF The D3100 detects faces and automatically chooses those faces to focus on m Wide area AF When shooting non portrait subjects such as landscapes you can select the focus zone using the multi selector m Normal area AF Most useful when the camera is mounted on a tripod you can select any area on the Live View frame to focus on m Subject tracking AF Autofocus will lock onto a subject and keep focus on that subject even if it moves throughout the frame TIl explain the mysteries of autofocus in detail in Chapter 7 AF Assist Use this setting to control whether the AF assist lamp built into the Nikon D3100 or the more powerful AF assist lamp built into Nikon electronic flash units like the Nikon SB 700 and SB 900 and the Nikon SC 29 coiled remote flash cord for firing the flash
390. now defunct through no fault of my own plus The Rangefinder Professional Photographer and dozens of other photographic publica tions But first and foremost I m a photojournalist and made my living in the field until I began devoting most of my time to writing books Although I love writing I m happiest when I m out taking pictures which is why I took off 11 days just before I began writing this book to travel to Barcelona Spain and then when the book was fin ished immediately embark for Old San Juan in Puerto Rico Last year my travels also took me to exotic locations that included Florida San Diego and Ireland You ll find photos of some of these visual treasures within the pages of this book Like all my digital photography books this one was written by a Nikon devotee with an incurable photography bug My first Nikon SLR was a venerable Nikon F back in the 1960s and I ve owned most of the newer digital models since then Over the years I ve worked as a sports photographer for an Ohio newspaper and for an upstate New York college I ve operated my own commercial studio and photo lab cranking out product shots on demand and then printing a few hundred glossy 8 x 10s on a tight deadline for a press kit I ve served as a photo posing instructor for a modeling agency People have actually paid me to shoot their weddings and immor talize them with portraits I even prepared press kits and articles on photography as a
391. ns from the beginning and or end of the movie to create an edited version Movie editing can be done from this menu entry or accessed by pausing and pressing the AE L AF L button to display a retouching menu Pll describe editing movies using this capability in detail in Chapter 6 Using Recent Settings The last menu in the D3100 s main menu screen is Recent Settings see Figure 3 48 which simply shows an ever changing roster of the 20 menu items you used most recently Press the up down buttons to highlight an entry and the right button to select it To remove an entry from the Recent Settings listing highlight it and press the Trash button RECENT SETTINGS Active D Lighting Noise reduction Display mode Format memory card Mirror lock up gt T Clean image sensor EJ ISO sensitivity settings This page intentionally left blank Fine Tuning Exposure Correct exposure is one of the foundations of good photography along with accurate focus and sharpness appropriate color balance freedom from unwanted noise and exces sive contrast as well as pleasing composition The Nikon D3100 gives you a great deal of control over all of these although composition is entirely up to you there are no automated shortcuts for arranging the components of your image in a compelling way All the other parameters however are basic functions of the camera You can let your D3100 set them for you automatically Just choose one of
392. o create its own folder say 1O2NCD40 for a Nikon D40 Thus you can end up with several folders on the same memory card at least one for each camera the card is used in until you eventually reformat the card and folder creation starts anew Later in this chapter in the section on the Setup menu I ll show you how to create fold ers with names you select yourself using the Storage Folder option 74 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography This menu item allows you to choose which folders are accessed when displaying images using the D3100 s Playback facility Your choices are as follows m Current The D3100 will display only images in the current Active Folder as spec ified in the Setup menu described later in this chapter For example if you have been shooting heavily at an event and have already accumulated more than 999 shots and the D3100 has created a new folder for the overflow youd use this set ting to view only the most recent photos which reside in that new current folder You can change the current folder to any other specific folder on your memory card using the Active Folder option in the Setup menu described later in this chapter m All All folders containing images that the D3100 can read will be accessed regard less of which camera created them You might want to use this setting if you swap memory cards among several cameras and want to be able to review all the photos You will be able to view
393. o fail while you re poking around inside the camera so this option is available only when sufficient battery power at least 60 percent is available Using a fully charged battery or connecting the D3100 to an EH 5 EH5a AC adapter is an even better idea Video Mode This setting is the first option on the second page of the Setup menu see Figure 3 25 It controls the output of the Nikon D3100 when directed to a conventional video sys tem through the video cable when you re displaying images on a monitor or connected to a VCR through the external device s yellow video input jack You can select either NTSC used in the United States Canada Mexico many Central South American and Caribbean countries much of Asia and other countries or PAL which is used in the UK much of Europe Africa India China and parts of the Middle East SETUP MENU Video mode Time zone and date Language Image comment Ca HDMI ad Flicker reduction 2 Auto image rotation Figure 3 25 The second page of the Setup menu has seven more entries Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 111 HDMI Use this setting to control the HDMI format used to play back camera images and movies on a High Definition Television HDTV using a special cable not supplied by Nikon Note that this setting controls only the output from your D3100 to the HDTV It has no effect on the resolution of your images or your movie clips Your choices
394. odes choose the metering method you want from Matrix Center weighted or Spot metering using the information edit screen 3 Activate flash Press the flash pop up button to flip up the built in flash or mount or connect with a cable an external flash and turn it on A ready light appears in the viewfinder or on the back of the flash when the unit is ready to take a picture 4 Check exposure Select a shutter speed when using Manual Program or Shutter priority modes select an aperture when using Aperture priority and Manual expo sure modes The D3100 will set both shutter speed and aperture if you re using a scene mode 5 Take photo Press the shutter release down all the way 6 D3100 receives distance data A D or G series lens now supplies focus distance to the D3100 7 Preflash emitted The internal flash if used or external flash sends out one pre flash burst used to determine exposure 8 Exposure calculated The preflash bounces back and is measured by the 420 pixel RGB sensor in the viewfinder It measures brightness and contrast of the image to calculate exposure If you re using Matrix metering the D3100 evaluates the scene to determine whether the subject may be backlit for fill flash or a subject that requires extra ambient light exposure to balance the scene with the flash exposure or classifies the scene in some other way The camera to subject information as well as the degree of sharp focus of the subjec
395. og box looks like this when process ing a single image 4 Chapter 9 m Useful Software for the Nikon D3100 307 If you like use one of the tools found in the toolbar at the top left of the dialog box From left to right they are as follows m Zoom Operates just like the Zoom tool in Photoshop m Hand Use like the Hand tool in Photoshop m White Balance Click an area in the image that should be neutral gray or white to set the white balance quickly m Color Sampler Use to determine the RGB values of areas you click with this eyedropper m Crop Pre crops the image so that only the portion you specify is imported into Photoshop This option saves time when you want to work on a section of a large image and you don t need the entire file m Straighten Drag in the preview image to define what should be a horizontal or vertical line and ACR will realign the image to straighten it m Retouch Use to heal or clone areas you define m Red Eye Removal Quickly zap red pupils in your human subjects m ACR Preferences Produces a dialog box of Adobe Camera Raw preferences m Rotate Counterclockwise Rotates counterclockwise in 90 degree increments with a click m Rotate Clockwise Rotates clockwise in 90 degree increments with a click Using the Basic tab you can have ACR show you red and blue highlights in the preview that indicate shadow areas that are clipped too dark to show detail and light areas that are blown out
396. ograms that represent over and underexposure and add or subtract exposure using an EV modification to compensate For example Figure 4 19 shows the histogram for an image that is badly underexposed You can guess from the shape of the histogram that many of the dark tones to the left of the graph have been clipped off There s plenty of room on the right side for addi tional pixels to reside without having them become overexposed Or a histogram might look like Figure 4 20 which is overexposed In either case you can increase or decrease the exposure either by changing the f stop or shutter speed in Manual mode or by adding or subtracting an EV value in A or S modes to produce the corrected histogram shown in Figure 4 21 in which the tones hug the right side of the histogram to pro duce as many highlight details as possible See Making EV Changes above for infor mation on dialing in exposure compensation Nae z 5 ap Figure 4 19 This histogram Figure 4 20 This histogram Figure 4 21 This histogram reveals shows an underexposed image reveals that the image is that the image is correctly exposed overexposed 174 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography The histogram can also be used to aid in fixing the contrast of an image although gaug ing incorrect contrast is more difficult For example if the histogram shows all the tones bunched up in one place in the image the photo will be low in
397. oices to restart the show by pressing the OK button again change the interval between frames or to exit the show entirely As the images are displayed press the up down multi selector buttons to change the amount of information presented on the screen with each image For example you might want to review a set of images and the settings used to shoot them At any time during the show press the up down buttons until the informational screen you want is overlaid on the images As the slide show progresses you can press the left right multi selector buttons to move back to a previous frame or jump ahead to the next one The slide show will then gt Restart 2s Frame interval Transition effects m Exit 102D3100 DSC_5116 JPG 04 16 2011 09 14 11 Figure 3 8 Press the OK button to pause the slide show change the interval between slides or to exit the presentation Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 79 proceed as before Press the MENU button to exit the slide show and return to the menu or the Playback button to exit the menu system totally As always while review ing images you can tap the MENU button to exit the show and return to the menus or tap the shutter release button if you want to remove everything from the screen and return to shooting mode At the end of the slide show as when you ve paused it you ll be offered the choice of restarting the sequence changing the frame interval or exiting the slide
398. old ers and decided not to use them Why create your own folders Perhaps you re traveling and have a high capacity mem ory card and want to store the images for each day or for each city that you visit in a separate folder Maybe youd like to separate those wedding photos you snapped at the ceremony from those taken at the reception To create your own folder or to rename an existing folder 1 Choose Storage Folder in the Setup menu 2 Scroll down to New and press the multi selector right button You can also select Rename to apply a new name to an existing folder you ll be asked to choose a folder before proceeding 3 Use the text entry screen shown earlier to enter a name for your folder Follow the instructions I outlined under Image Comment to enter text The Folder text screen has only uppercase characters and the numbers 0 9 and just five letters can be entered 4 Press the Zoom in button when finished to create and activate the new or renamed folder and return to the Setup menu 126 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography GPS This menu entry has options for using the Nikon GP 1 Global Positioning System GPS device described in Chapter 5 It has two options none of which turn GPS fea tures on or off despite the misleading Enable and Disable nomenclature what you re enabling and disabling is the automatic exposure meter turn off Auto meter off Enable Reduces battery drain by activating
399. olutions of 640 x 480 320 x 240 or 160 x 120 All three of these optional small sizes may be useful for e mailing website display or use in pre sentations on television screens To create a Small Picture copy Choose Small Picture from the Retouch menu 2 Select Choose Size and specify your preference from among the three available sizes 640 x 480 320 x 240 or 160 x 120 Press OK 3 Next choose Select Picture and choose your image using the standard Nikon D3100 image selection screen 4 Press the up down button to mark a highlighted image for reduction 5 You can select more than one picture marking each with the up down button Use the button to unmark any photos if you change your mind 6 Press OK You ll see a message Create Small Picture 2 Images Or whatever num ber of images you have marked 7 Press OK to create the small pictures Figure 3 36 Press the multi selector buttons to bias the color in the direction you prefer Figure 3 37 The next page of the Retouch menu Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 135 Image Overlay The Image Overlay tool the first entry in the next page of the Setup menu options see Figure 3 37 allows you to combine two RAW photos only NEF files can be used in a composite image that Nikon claims is better than a double exposure created in an image editing application because the overlays are made using RAW data To produce this composite im
400. om nikonphoto 20 Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 The Nikon D3100 is considerably more camera than any pocket sized point and shoot model but Nikon has retained the turn it on and shoot ease of operation so you can with about 60 seconds worth of instruction go out and begin taking great pictures Try it Insert a memory card and mount the lens if you bought the D3100 at a store they probably did that for you Charge the battery and insert it into the camera Remove the lens cap turn the camera on the button s concentric with the shutter release button and then set the big ol dial on top to the green AUTO icon Point the D3100 at something interesting and press the shutter release Presto A pretty good picture will pop up on the color LCD on the back of the camera Wasn t that easy But if you purchased this book youre probably not going to be satisfied with pretty good photos You want to shoot incredible images The D3100 can do that too All you need is this book and some practice The first step is to familiarize yourself with your camera The first three chapters of this book will take care of that Then as you gain experience and skills you ll want to learn more about how to improve your exposures fine tune the color or use the essential tools of photography such as electronic flash and available light You ll want to learn how to choose and use lenses too All that infor mation can be found in the s
401. ommander mode flash units 284 285 comment options Setup menu 112 113 compatibility of lenses 232 233 compression See also JPEG formats with telephoto lenses 244 computers See also transferring images to computer backing up shots on 323 324 formatting memory cards in 16 Live View shooting from computer with 204 contact lenses diopter correction for 14 contents of box 3 6 continuous light basics of 264 267 color temperature of 264 267 evenness of illumination with 261 exposure calculation with 259 flash compared 258 263 flexibility of 262 263 freezing action with 262 previewing with 259 260 continuous servo AF See AF C continuous AF continuous shooting 17 18 Guide mode selecting with 33 with Live View 204 working with 190 191 356 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography contrast Adobe Camera Raw adjusting with 308 cross type focus point and 178 histograms for fixing 174 incandescent tungsten light and 266 Picture Controls and 84 86 telephoto lenses low contrast with 246 247 contrast detection 178 179 with Subject tracking 209 converging lines with wide angle lenses 242 Corel Photo Paint 302 Corel Video Studio 214 cost of continuous light 262 of first lens 229 of flash 262 counting down dates 124 crop factor 225 228 categories of lenses and 240 with lenses 236 mixed camera bodies and 228 cropping Adobe Camera Raw adjusting with 307 availabl
402. omparable DxO Optics Pro perform mag ical transformations that you can t achieve any other way Each of these utilities and applications deserves a chapter of its own so I m simply going to enumerate some of the most popular applications and utilities and tell you a little about what they do Figure 9 6 Control Points are used to make common adjustments Figure 9 7 DxO Optics Pro fixes lens flaws and functions as a high tech RAW converter and noise reduction utility too Chapter 9 m Useful Software for the Nikon D3100 303 DxO Optics Pro DxO Labs www DxO com offers an incredibly useful program called Optics Pro for both Windows and Mac OS 170 300 that is unique in the range of functions it provides Ostensibly an image quality enhancement utility that cures some of the ails that plague even the best lenses the latest v6 x x release also features single shot HDR processing an improved RAW conversion engine that uses a new demosaicing algo rithm to translate your NEF files into images with more detail less noise and fewer artifacts These features meld well with the program s original mission fixing the opti cal geometry of images using settings custom tailored for each individual lens m not kidding when you assemble the program you specify each and every camera body you want to use with Optics Pro and designate exactly which lenses are included in your repertoire Once an image has
403. onately to produce a picture that is properly exposed neither too light nor too dark It s tough to provide something for everybody but I am going to try to address the needs of each of the following groups and skill levels Digital photography newbies If you ve used only point and shoot digital cam eras or have worked only with non SLR film cameras you re to be congratulated for selecting one of the very best entry level digital SLRs available as your first dSLR camera This book can help you understand the controls and features of your D3100 and lead you down the path to better photography with your camera PH provide all the information you need but if you want to do some additional read ing for extra credit you can also try one of the other books I mentioned earlier They complement this book well XX David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Advanced point and shooters moving on up There are some quite sophisticated pocket sized digital cameras available including those with many user definable options and settings so it s possible you are already a knowledgeable photographer even though you re new to the world of the digital SLR You ve recognized the lim itations of the point and shoot camera even the best of them have more noise at higher sensitivity ISO settings than a camera like the Nikon D3100 the speedi est still have an unacceptable delay between the time you press the shutter and th
404. onately to the square of the distance In plain English that means that a flash or lamp that s six feet away from a subject provides only one quarter as much illumination as a source that s 12 feet away rather than half as much See Figure 8 3 This translates into relatively shallow depth of light 262 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Action stopping Con continuous lighting Action stopping with continuous light sources is completely dependent on the shutter speed you ve dialed in on the camera And the speeds available are dependent on the amount of light available and your ISO sensitivity setting Outdoors in daylight there will probably be enough sunlight to let you shoot at 1 2 000th second and f 6 3 with a non grainy sensitivity setting of ISO 400 That s a fairly useful combination of settings if youre not using a super telephoto with a small maximum aperture But inside the reduced illumination quickly has you pushing your D3100 to its limits For example if youre shooting indoor sports there probably won t be enough available light to allow you to use a 1 2 000th second shutter speed although I routinely shoot indoor basketball with my D3100 at ISO 1600 and 1 500th second at f 4 In many indoor sports situations you may find yourself limited to 1 500th second or slower Action stopping Pro electronic flash When it comes to the ability to freeze moving objects in their tracks
405. only the second exposure rendered the passersby almost invisible available illumination Figure 5 15 This Korean dancer pro duced a swirl of color as she spun during the 1 4th sec ond exposure Chapter 5 m Advanced Shooting Tips for Your Nikon D3100 197 198 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Produce light trails At night car headlights and taillights and other moving sources of illumination can generate interesting light trails If the lights arent mov ing you can make them move by zooming or jiggling the camera during a long exposure Your camera doesn t even need to be mounted on a tripod hand holding the D3100 for longer exposures adds movement and patterns to your trails If youre shooting fireworks a longer exposure may allow you to combine several bursts into one picture see Figure 5 16 Blur waterfalls etc You ll find that waterfalls and other sources of moving liquid produce a special type of long exposure blur because the water merges into a fan tasy like veil that looks different at different exposure times and with different waterfalls Cascades with turbulent flow produce a rougher look at a given longer exposure than falls that flow smoothly Although blurred waterfalls have become almost a clich there are still plenty of variations for a creative photographer to explore Show total darkness in new ways Even on the darkest moonless nights there is enough starlig
406. ons m Format Memory Card m LCD Brightness m Info Display Format m Auto Info Display m Clean Image Sensor m Mirror Lockup m Video Mode a HDMI m Flicker Reduction m Time Zone and Date m Language m Image Comment m Auto Image Rotation Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 105 m Dust Off Ref Photo m Auto Off Timers m Self Timer Delay m Beep m Rangefinder m File Number Sequence m Buttons m Slot Empty Release Lock m Date Imprint m Storage Folder m GPS m Eye Fi Upload m Firmware Version SETUP MENU Reset setup options Format memory card LCD brightness Info display format Auto info display Clean image sensor Mirror lock up 106 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Reset Setup Options If you select Yes the Setup menu settings shown in Table 3 2 will be set to their default values It has no effect on the settings in other menus or any of the other camera set tings Note that there is also a Reset option in the Shooting menu to return your shoot ing settings to their defaults Youd want to use this Reset option when youve made a bunch of changes say while playing around with them as you read this chapter and now want to put them back to the factory defaults Your choices are Yes and No Note that Video Mode Time Zone and Date Language and Storage Folder are not reset Table 3 2 Values Reset Setting Default Value LCD Brightness Info Display Format Auto Info
407. ons and Special Features Once you ve purchased your telephoto lens you ll want to think about some appropri ate accessories for it There are some handy add ons available that can be valuable Here are a couple of them to think about Lens Hoods Lens hoods are an important accessory for all lenses but they re especially valuable with telephotos As I mentioned earlier lens hoods do a good job of preserving image con trast by keeping bright light sources outside the field of view from striking the lens and potentially bouncing around inside that long tube to generate flare that when coupled with atmospheric haze can rob your image of detail and snap In addition lens hoods serve as valuable protection for that large vulnerable front lens element It s easy to for get that you ve got that long tube sticking out in front of your camera and accidentally whack the front of your lens into something It s cheaper to replace a lens hood than it is to have a lens repaired so you might find that a good hood is valuable protection for your prized optics 250 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography When choosing a lens hood it s important to have the right hood for the lens usually the one offered for that lens by Nikon or the third party manufacturer You want a hood that blocks precisely the right amount of light neither too much light nor too little A hood with a front diameter that is too small can show up
408. ood reason why the firmware was previously divided in twain Each of the two modules was in charge of particular parts of the camera s operating system So when a bug was found or a new feature added it was possible in many cases to offer only an upgrade for either Firmware A or Firmware B depending on which module was affected Although mistakes in upgrading firmware are rare you cut the opportunities for user errors in half when only one of the modules needs to be replaced But there s a more important reason for having at east two firmware modules If your camera had just one and you had the misfortune to munge that firmware during an ill fated upgrade it s very likely your camera would be magically transformed into a digi tal doorstop Part of the firmware is needed simply to install or re install firmware in the first place With all Nikon cameras Firmware A and Firmware B each has the capa bility of locating and installing replacement firmware So if A is ruined you can use the routines in B to re install a new copy of A And vice versa We can all agree that this is a wise move on Nikon s part So what s Firmware L currently found so far only in the Nikon D90 D5000 D7000 and D3100 used for Some have speculated that the L firmware was a Language database so that support for the camera could be expanded to include other languages without the need to mess with the A and B entries I suspected that the L repre
409. oom in out Check your view by pressing the Zoom in button located at the lower left corner next to the color LCD second button from the bottom A naviga tion box appears in the lower right of the LCD with a yellow box representing the portion of the image zoomed Use the multi selector keys to change the zoomed area within the full frame Press the Zoom out button to zoom out again Shoot Press the shutter release all the way down to take a still picture or press the red movie button to start motion picture filming Stop filming by pressing the movie button again First Things First This section helps get you oriented with all the things that come in the box with your Nikon D3100 including what they do I ll also describe some optional equipment you might want to have If you want to get started immediately skim through this section and jump ahead to Initial Setup later in the chapter The Nikon D3100 comes in an impressive gold box filled with stuff booklets a CD and lots of paperwork The most important components are the camera and lens unlike some other Nikon models the D3100 is most often sold in a kit with a lens battery battery charger and if you re the nervous type the neck strap You ll also need a Secure Digital memory card as one is not included If you purchased your D3100 from a cam era shop as I did the store personnel probably attached the neck strap for you ran through some basic opera
410. option You can apply the white balance from a scene either by shooting a new picture on the spot and using the resulting white balance Measure or using an image you have already shot Use Photo To perform direct measurement from your current scene using a reference object preferably a neutral gray or white object follow these steps 1 Place the neutral reference under the lighting you want to measure 2 Choose Preset Manual from the White Balance screen in the Shooting menu you may need to scroll down to see it 3 Select Measure from the screen that appears by scrolling to it and pressing the multi selector right button or pressing OK 4 A warning message appears Overwrite existing preset data Choose Yes 94 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography 5 An instructional message appears for a few seconds telling you to take a photo of a white or gray object that fills the viewfinder under the lighting that will be used for shooting Do that 6 After you ve taken the photo if the D3100 was able to capture the white balance data a message Data Acquired appears on the shooting information screen and the PRE white balance setting is shown If the D3100 was not able to capture white balance data a pop up message appears and you should try again The preset value you ve captured will remain in the D3100 s memory until you replace that white balance with a new captured value You can also use the white ba
411. or those situations in which you absolutely do not want it to pop up and fire In Night Portrait mode only slow synchronization flash and flash off modes are available m Auto Slow sync This setting allows the D3100 to select shutter speeds as slow as 30 seconds with the flash to help balance a background illuminated with ambient light with your main subject which will be lit by the electronic flash Best for shoot ing pictures at night when the subjects in the foreground are important and you want to avoid a pitch black background I recommend using a tripod in this mode m Auto Red eye reduction with slow sync Another mode that calls for a tripod this sync setting mode combines slow sync with the D3100 s red eye reduction pre flash This is the one to use when your subjects are people who will be facing the camera m Flash off Disables the flash in museums concerts religious ceremonies and other situations in which you absolutely do not want it to pop up and fire 278 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography A Typical Electronic Flash Sequence Here s what happens when you take a photo using electronic flash either the unit built into the Nikon D3100 or an external flash like the Nikon SB 900 1 Sync mode Choose the flash sync mode by holding down the Flash button and rotating the command dial to choose the sync mode as described above 2 Metering method When working in P S A or M exposure m
412. ormatted m Reset The D3100 starts over with 0001 even if a folder containing images exists on the card In that case a new folder will be created At this setting new or refor matted memory cards will always have 0001 as the first file number HOW MANY SHOTS REALLY The file numbers produced by the D3100 don t provide information about the actual number of times the camera s shutter has been tripped called actuations For that data you ll need a third party software solution such as the free Opanda iExif www opanda com for Windows or the non free 34 95 GraphicConverter for Macintosh www lemkesoft com These utilities can be used to extract the true number of actuations from the Exif information embedded in a JPEG file Buttons You can define the action that the Fn button AE L AF L and AE Lock buttons per form when pressed alone Each of the buttons have their own set of actions that you can define for them Fn Button There are four different actions you can define for the Fn button m Image Size Qual With this setting when the Fn button is pressed the informa tion edit screen pops up and you can rotate the command dial to view and select image quality RAW JPEG Fine JPEG Norm JPEG Basic or RAW Fine and image size for JPEG images When specifying JPEG quality and size the infor mation edit display cycles among the three quality settings then moves to the next lower size allowing you to set both w
413. oshop Elements that can manipulate the unprocessed images captured by digital cameras such as the Nikon D3100 s NEF files The latest versions of this module can also work with JPEG and TIFF images camera shake Movement of the camera aggravated by slower shutter speeds which produces a blurred image Center weighted meter A light measuring device that emphasizes the area in the mid dle of the frame when calculating the correct exposure for an image See also Spot meter channel In an electronic flash a channel is a protocol used to communicate between a master flash unit and the remote units slaved to that main flash The ability to change channels allows several master flash units to operate in the same environment without interfering with each other chromatic aberration An image defect often seen as green or purple fringing around the edges of an object caused by a lens failing to focus all colors of a light source at the same point See also fringing circle of confusion A term applied to the fuzzy discs produced when a point of light is out of focus The circle of confusion is not a fixed size The viewing distance and amount of enlargement of the image determine whether we see a particular spot on the image as a point or as a disc See also bokeh close up lens A lens add on that allows you to take pictures at a distance that is less than the closest focusing distance of the lens alone color correction Changing the relative
414. otographer squeezed and held an air bulb attached to a tube that provided the force necessary to keep the shutter open Traditionally a bulb exposure is one that lasts as long as the shutter release button is pressed when you release the button the exposure ends To make a bulb exposure with the D3100 set the camera on Manual mode set the f stop and then use the main command dial to select the shutter speed immediately after 30 seconds Bulb Then press the shutter to start the exposure and release it again to close the shutter m Time exposures This is a setting found on some cameras to produce longer expo sures With cameras that implement this option the shutter opens when you press the shutter release button and remains open until you press the button again With the Nikon D3100 you can t get this exact effect the best you can do is use a Bulb exposure 196 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Working with Long Exposures Because the D3100 produces such good images at longer exposures and there are so many creative things you can do with long exposure techniques you ll want to do some experimenting Get yourself a tripod or another firm support and take some test shots with long exposure noise reduction both enabled and disabled to see whether you pre fer low noise or high detail and get started Here are some things to try m Make people invisible One very cool thing about long exposures is that o
415. otographer you fall into you ll need to make a decision about what kit lens to buy or decide what other kind of lenses you need to fill out your complement of Nikon optics This section will cover first lens con cerns while later in the chapter we ll look at add on lens considerations When deciding on a first lens there are several factors you ll want to consider m Cost You might have stretched your budget a bit to purchase your Nikon D3100 so the 18 55mm VR kit lens helps you keep the cost of your first lens fairly low In addition there are excellent moderately priced lenses available that will add from 100 to 300 to the price of your camera if purchased at the same time Zoom range If you have only one lens you ll want a fairly long zoom range to pro vide as much flexibility as possible Fortunately several popular basic lenses for the D3100 have 3X to 5 8X zoom ranges I ll list some of them next extending from moderate wide angle normal out to medium telephoto Either is fine for everyday shooting portraits and some types of sports m Adequate maximum aperture You ll want an f stop of at least f 3 5 to f 4 for shooting under fairly low light conditions The thing to watch for is the maximum aperture when the lens is zoomed to its telephoto end You may end up with no better than an f 5 6 maximum aperture That s not great but you can often live with it particularly with a lens having vibration reduction VR
416. otography Focusing was problematic because our eyes and brains have poor memory for correct focus which is why your eye doctor must shift back and forth between sets of lenses 176 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography and ask Does that look sharper or was it sharper before in determining your cor rect prescription Similarly manual focusing involves jogging the focus ring back and forth as you go from almost in focus to sharp focus to almost focused again The lit tle clockwise and counterclockwise arcs decrease in size until you ve zeroed in on the point of correct focus What you re looking for is the image with the most contrast between the edges of elements in the image The camera also looks for these contrast differences among pixels to determine relative sharpness There are two primary ways that sharp focus is determined phase detection and contrast detection As you ll see these can be applied in several different ways with options changing dramatically when you switch from composing through the optical viewfinder and when youre using Live View to shoot stills or movies First let s get the primary focus methods out of the way I ll cover the focus variations available in Live View Movie modes in Chapter 6 Phase Detection This mode is used by the autofocus system when you re looking through the optical viewfinder The autofocus sampling area is divided into two halves by a lens in the sen
417. ou just rotate the mode dial to the green Auto setting and jump to the section titled Reviewing the Pictures You ve Taken If you d rather choose one of the scene modes tailored to specific types of shooting situations or try out the camera s semi automatic modes continue reading this section The Nikon D3100 has two types of shooting modes advanced modes exposure modes and a second set which Nikon labels scene modes The advanced modes include Programmed auto or Program mode Aperture priority auto Shutter priority auto and Manual exposure mode These are the modes you ll use most often after you ve learned all your D3100 s features because they allow you to specify how the camera chooses its settings when making an exposure for greater creative control The scene modes take full control of the camera make all the decisions for you and don allow you to override the D3100 s settings They are most useful while youre learn ing to use the camera because you can select an appropriate mode Auto Auto No Flash Portrait Landscape Child Sports Close up or Night Portrait and fire away Youll end up with decent photos using appropriate settings but your opportunities to use a little creativity say to overexpose an image to create a silhouette or to deliber ately use a slow shutter speed to add a little blur to an action shot are minimal The Figure 1 12 Rotate the mode dial to select an auto mated sc
418. ou can choose your local time zone I sometimes forget to change the time zone when I travel espe cially when going to Europe so my pictures are all time stamped incorrectly I like to use the time stamp to recall exactly when a photo was taken so keeping this set ting correct is important m Date Use this setting to enter the exact year month day hour minute and second m Date format Choose from Year month day Y M D Month day year M D Y or Day month year D M Y formats m Daylight saving time Use this to turn daylight saving time On or Off Because the date on which DST takes effect has been changed from time to time if you turn this feature on you may need to monitor your camera to make sure DST has been implemented correctly 112 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Language Choose from 20 languages for menu display choosing from Czech Danish German English Spanish French Indonesian Italian Dutch Norwegian Polish Portuguese Russian Finnish Swedish Turkish Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese Japanese or Korean Image Comment The Image Comment is your opportunity to add a copyright notice personal infor mation about yourself including contact info or even a description of where the image was taken e g Seville Photos 2011 although text entry with the Nikon D3100 is a bit too clumsy for doing a lot of individual annotation of your photos But you still might
419. ou ve specified the focus bracket you want using the multi selector s buttons the D3100 will use that area exclusively in Single servo autofocus mode AF S described next If youve chosen Continuous autofocus mode AF C or Automatic autofocus mode AF A if the subject begins moving after autofocus is activated the D3100 will focus based on information from one of the other focus zones Well suited for sports photography this mode is applied automatically with the Sports scene setting and can be used with other types of moving subjects such as active children Auto area This default mode chooses the focus point for you and can use distance information when working with a G or D lens that supplies that data to the cam era See Chapter 7 for more on the difference between G D lenses and other kinds of lenses 3D tracking 11 points In this mode you select the focus point using the multi selector but if you subsequently reframe the picture slightly the D3100 uses dis tance information when in AF C Continuous Autofocus or AF A Automatic Autofocus modes to refocus on the original subject if necessary When using AF S Single Autofocus this mode functions the same as Single point focus area mode This mode is useful if you need to reframe a relatively static subject from time to time If your subject leaves the frame entirely you ll need to release the shutter but ton and refocus 190 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digi
420. our gateway to pixel proficiency is dragged down by the slim little pamphlets included in the box as a manual Nikon doesn t even include a full printed manual for this camera it s available only as a PDF file on a CD ROM tucked away in the box You know everything you need to know is in there somewhere but you dont know where to start and you probably don t like the idea of having to read your manual on a computer screen In addition the PDF camera manual doesn t offer much informa tion on photography or digital photography Nor are you interested in spending hours or days studying a comprehensive book on digital SLR photography that doesn t nec essarily apply directly to your D3100 What you need is a guide that explains the purpose and function of the D3100 s basic controls how you should use them and why Ideally there should be information about file formats resolution aperture priority exposure and special autofocus modes but youd prefer to read about those topics only after you ve had the chance to go out and take a few hundred great pictures with your new camera Why isn t there a book that summarizes the most important information in its first two or three chapters with lots of illustrations showing what your results will look like when you use this setting or that If you can t decide on what basic settings to use with your camera because you can t fig ure out how changing ISO or white balance or focus default
421. our victims as you snap away For the photog rapher though the front is the surface your fingers curl around as you hold the cam era and there are really only a few buttons to press all within easy reach of the fingers of your left and right hands There are additional controls on the lens itself You ll need to look at several different views to see everything Figure 2 2 shows a front view of the Nikon D3100 from a 45 degree angle The main components you need to know about are as follows m Shutter button Angled on top of the handgrip is the shutter release button which has multiple functions Press this button down halfway to lock exposure and focus Press it down all the way to actually take a photo or sequence of photos if you re using the Continuous shooting mode Tapping the shutter button when the D3100 s exposure meters have turned themselves off reactivates them and a tap can be used to remove the display of a menu or image from the rear color LCD Figure 2 2 Shutter On Off switch release Memory AC Hand Autofocus assist lamp card access power grip Self timer lamp door port Red eye reduction lamp 38 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m On Off switch Turns the D3100 on or off m Red eye reduction self timer autofocus assist lamp This LED provides a blip of light shortly before a flash exposure to cause the subjects pupils to close down reduc ing the effect of red eye reflec
422. oving parts in the camera itself is a light weight mirror its small size is one of the advantages of the D3100 s 1 5X crop factor that flips up and down with each shot Of course the camera also has a moving shutter that can fail but the shutter is built rugged enough that even though Nikon doesn t provide an official toughness rating many users of previous Nikon entry level cameras have reported 100 000 trouble free shutter cycles or more Unless you re shooting sports in Continuous mode day in and day out the shutter on your D3100 is likely to last as long as you expect to use the camera The only other things on the camera that move are switches dials buttons the flip up electronic flash and the door that slides open to allow you to remove and insert the 312 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Secure Digital card Unless you re extraordinarily clumsy or unlucky and manage to give your built in flash a good whack while it is in use there s not a lot that can go wrong mechanically with your Nikon D3100 There are numerous electrical and electronic connections in the camera many con nected to those mechanical switches and dials and components like the color LCD that can potentially fail or suffer damage You must contend with dust lodging itself on your sensor and from time to time perhaps with the need to periodically update your camera s internal software called firmware This chapter w
423. owledge and experience When using the Nikon D3100 you don t need to think in terms of actual color tem perature although you can measure existing color temperature using the Preset feature described later because the camera won t let you set white balance using color temper ature values which are measured in degrees Kelvin But it is useful to know that warmer more reddish color temperatures measured in degrees Kelvin are the ower numbers while cooler bluer color temperatures are higher numbers It might not make sense to say that 3 400K is warmer than 6 000K but that s the way it is If it helps think of a glowing red ember contrasted with a white hot welder s torch rather than fire and ice You can set white balance by type of illumination and then fine tune it in the D3100 using the Shooting menu s White Balance option as described in Chapter 3 In most cases however the Nikon D3100 will do an acceptable job of calculating white balance for you so Auto can be used as your choice most of the time Use the preset values or set a custom white balance that matches the current shooting conditions when you need to The only really problematic light sources are likely to be fluorescents Vendors such as GE and Sylvania may actually provide a figure known as the color rendering index or CRI which is a measure of how accurately a particular light source represents stan dard colors using a scale of 0 some sodium vapor lamps
424. peated applications RETOUCH MENU D Lighting Red eye correction Trim Monochrome Filter effects Color balance Small picture 128 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography To create a retouched copy of an image 1 While browsing among images in Playback mode press OK when an image you want to retouch is displayed on the screen The Retouch menu will pop up and you can select a retouching option 2 From the Retouch menu select the option you want and press the multi selector right button The Nikon D3100 s standard image selection screen appears Scroll among the images as usual with the left right multi selector buttons press the Zoom in button to examine a highlighted image more closely and press OK to choose that image 3 Work with the options available from that particular Retouch menu feature and press OK to create the modified copy or Playback to cancel your changes 4 The retouched image will bear a filename that reveals its origin For example if you make a Small Picture version of an image named DSC_0112 jpg the reduced size copy will be named SSC_0113 jpg Copies incorporating other retouching features would be named CSC_0113 jpg instead The Retouch menu options are as follows m D Lighting m Quick Retouch m Red Eye Correction m Straighten m Trim m Distortion Control m Monochrome m Fisheye m Filter Effects m Color Outline m Color Balance m Perspective control m Small Picture m Mi
425. phy Review forums 313 314 Diopter Adjustment Viewfinder Correction lenses 14 diopter correction 14 knob 42 Direct Sunlight WB white balance 91 92 Display mode options Playback menu 74 75 dissolves in movies 219 Distant Subjects Guide mode 33 distortion See also pincushion distortion Auto Distortion Control Shooting menu 98 barrel distortion with wide angle lenses 98 bowing outward lines with wide angle lenses 242 243 converging lines with wide angle lenses 242 falling back effect 140 141 241 first lens minimizing 229 230 with lenses 236 Retouch menu s distortion control options 139 tilt shift capabilities in lenses and 237 document construction date counter for tracking 124 DOF depth of field AF autofocus and 182 bokeh and 249 circles of confusion and 180 183 crop factor and 227 dust and 330 f stops and 184 with lenses 236 with telephoto lenses 244 245 with wide angle lenses 240 242 Index 357 doughnut effect 249 DPOF Digital Print Order Format options Playback menu 79 80 drive modes See shooting modes duration of light 151 dusk color temperature at 265 dust See also sensor cleaning avoiding 331 332 Dust Off Ref Photo options Setup menu 114 FAQs about 328 329 identifying and dealing with 330 Dust Off Ref Photo options Setup menu 114 DX lenses 235 DxO Optics Pro 302 303 dynamic area AF 25 102 189 L firmware for 316 dynamic range See also HDR High Dyn
426. pressing left cancels and returns to the previ ous menu m OK button Use this button to confirm a selection When working with menus press the MENU button instead to back out without making a selection m Memory card access lamp When lit or blinking this lamp indicates that the mem ory card is being accessed Chapter 2 m Nikon D3100 Roadmap 45 Figure 2 10 Live View switch Movie button Multi selector OK button Memory card access lamp Speak Delete button speaker m Delete button Press to erase the image shown on the LCD A display will pop up on the LCD asking you to press the Trash button once more to delete the photo or press the Playback button to cancel m Speaker Monaural sound is emitted here when you play back movies Playing Back Images Reviewing images is a joy on the Nikon D3100 s big 3 inch LCD Here are the basics involved in reviewing images on the LCD screen or on a television screen you have connected with a cable You ll find more details about some of these functions later in this chapter or for more complex capabilities in the chapters that I point you to This section just lists the must know information m Start review To begin review press the Playback button at the upper left corner of the back of the D3100 The most recently viewed image or movie will appear on the LCD Movies are marked with an icon that has film sprocket holes 46 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to D
427. pter is triggered at the instant of exposure during a period when the sensor is fully exposed by the shutter As I mentioned earlier in this book the D3100 has a vertically traveling shutter that consists of two curtains The first curtain opens and moves to the opposite side of the frame at which point the shutter is completely Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 269 open The flash can be triggered at this point so called first curtain sync making the flash exposure Then after a delay that can vary from 30 seconds to 1 200th second with the D3100 other cameras may sync at a faster or slower speed a second curtain begins moving across the sensor plane covering up the sensor again If the flash is trig gered just before the second curtain starts to close then rear curtain sync also called sec ond curtain sync is used In both cases though a shutter speed of 1 200th second is the maximum that can be used to take a photo Figure 8 7 illustrates how this works with a fanciful illustration of a generic shutter your D3100 s shutter does mot look like this and some vertically traveling shutters move bottom to top rather than the top to bottom motion shown Both curtains are tightly closed at upper left At upper right the first curtain begins to move downward start ing to expose a narrow slit that reveals the sensor behind the shutter At lower left the first curtain moves downward farther until as you can see at lower right
428. pter 4 m Fine Tuning Exposure 159 m Color Matrix metering II If you have a non G or non D lens equipped with a CPU chip these are generally older lenses although chips can be added to optics which lack them the distance range is not used Instead only focus brightness and color information is taken into account to calculate an appropriate exposure Matrix metering is best for most general subjects because it is able to intelligently ana lyze a scene and make an excellent guess of what kind of subject you re shooting a great deal of the time The camera can tell the difference between low contrast and high con trast subjects by looking at the range of differences in brightness across the scene Because the D3100 has a fairly good idea about what kind of subject matter you are shooting it can underexpose slightly when appropriate to preserve highlight detail when image contrast is high It s often possible to pull detail out of shadows that are too dark using an image editor but once highlights are blown out to white pixels they are gone forever Center Weighted Metering In this mode the exposure meter emphasizes a zone about 8mm in diameter in the cen ter of the frame to calculate exposure as shown in Figure 4 10 About 75 percent of the exposure is based on that central area and the remaining exposure is based on the rest of the frame The theory here is that for most pictures the main subject will be located 160 David
429. quire or whether you want a slow inexpensive card or one that s faster more expensive so why should they pack one in the box and charge you for it Video cable EG D2 Use this cable to connect your D3100 to a standard defini tion analog television through the set s yellow RCA video jack when you want to view the camera s output on a larger screen USB cable UC E4 You can use this cable to transfer photos from the camera to your computer I don t recommend that because direct transfer uses a lot of battery power to upload and download settings between the camera and your computer highly recommended and to operate your camera remotely using Nikon Camera Control Pro software not included in the box This cable is a standard one that works with the majority of digital cameras Nikon and otherwise so if you have a spare one you can use it with your D3100 because Nikon doesn t give you one Extra EN EL14 battery Even though you might get 500 to more than 1 000 shots from a single battery it s easy to exceed that figure in a few hours of shooting sports at 3 fps Batteries can unexpectedly fail too or simply lose their charge from sit ting around unused for a week or two Buy an extra I own four in total keep it charged and free your mind from worry Add on speedlight Your built in flash can function as the main illumination for your photo or be softened and used to fill in shadows But you ll have to own one or
430. r 200mm f 2 8 lens becomes a 280mm f 4 or 400mm f 5 6 lens Although Nikon converters are precision optical devices they do cost you a little sharp ness but that improves when you reduce the aperture by a stop or two Each of the con verters is compatible only with a particular set of lenses greater so you ll want to check Nikon s compatibility chart to see if the component can be used with the lens you want to attach to it If your lenses are compatible and you re shooting under bright lighting conditions the Nikon extenders make handy accessories I recommend the 1 4X version because it robs you of very little sharpness and only one f stop The 1 7X version also works well but Ive found the 2X teleconverter to exact too much of a sharpness and speed penalty to be of much use Macro Focusing Some telephotos and telephoto zooms available for the Nikon D3100 have particularly close focusing capabilities making them macro lenses Of course the object is not nec essarily to get close get too close and you ll find it difficult to light your subject What youre really looking for in a macro lens is to magnify the apparent size of the subject in the final image Camera to subject distance is most important when you want to back up farther from your subject say to avoid spooking skittish insects or small animals In that case you ll want a macro lens with a longer focal length to allow that distance while retaining the desired magnification
431. r Eggs in One Basket The debate about whether it s better to use one large memory card or several smaller ones has been going on since even before there were memory cards I can remember when computer users wondered whether it was smarter to install a pair of 200MB not gigabyte hard drives in their computer or if they should go for one of those new fan gled 500MB models By the same token a few years ago the user groups were full of proponents who insisted that you ought to use 128MB memory cards rather than the huge 512MB versions Today most of the arguments involve 8GB cards versus 16GB cards and I expect that as prices for 32GB SD cards continue to drop they ll find their way into the debate as well Why all the fuss Are 16GB memory cards more likely to fail than 8GB cards Are you risking all your photos if you trust your images to a larger card Isn t it better to use sev eral smaller cards so that if one fails you lose only half as many photos Or isn t it wiser to put all your photos onto one larger card because the more cards you use the better your odds of misplacing or damaging one and losing at least some pictures Chapter 10 m Nikon D3100 Troubleshooting and Prevention 323 In the end the eggs in one basket argument boils down to statistics and how you hap pen to use your D3100 The rationales can go both ways If you have multiple smaller cards you do increase your chances of something happening to one of th
432. r camera and Secure Digital card to your computer where they can be organized fine tuned in an image editor and prepared for web display printing or some other final destination Fortunately there are lots of software utilities and applications to help you do all these things This chapter will introduce you to a few of them Please note that this is nota how to do it software chapter I m going to use every available page in this book to offer advice on how to get the most from your D3100 There s no space to explain how to use all the features of Nikon Capture NX nor how to tweak RAW file settings in Adobe Camera Raw Entire books have been written about both products This chap ter is intended solely to help you get your bearings among the large number of utilities and applications available to help you better understand what each does and how you might want to use them At the very end of the chapter however I m going to make an exception and provide some simple instructions for using Adobe Camera Raw to help those who have been using Nikon s software exclusively get a feel for what you can do with the Adobe product 296 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography The basic functions found in most of the programs discussed in this chapter include image transfer and management camera control and image editing You ll find that many of the programs overlap several of these capabilities so it s not alwa
433. r even smaller sensor dust particularly if small is likely to be outside the range of depth of focus and blur into an unnoticeable dot However if you re shooting at f 16 to f 22 or smaller those dust motes suddenly pop into focus Forget about trying to spot them by peering directly at your sensor with the shutter open and the lens removed The period at the end of this sentence about 33mm in diameter could block a group of pixels measuring 40 x 40 pixels 160 pixels in all Dust spots that are even smaller than that can easily show up in your images if you re shooting large empty areas that are light colored Dust motes are most likely to show up in the sky as in Figure 10 6 or in white backgrounds of your seamless product shots and are less likely to be a problem in images that contain lots of dark areas and detail To see if you have dust on your sensor take a few test shots of a plain blank surface such as a piece of paper or a cloudless sky at small f stops such as f 22 and a few wide open Open Photoshop or another image editor copy several shots into a single docu ment in separate layers then flip back and forth between layers to see if any spots you see are present in all layers You may have to boost contrast and sharpness to make the dust easier to spot Figure 10 6 Only the dust spots in the sky are apparent in this shot Chapter 10 m Nikon D3100 Troubleshooting and Prevention 331 Avoiding Dust Of course
434. r subject is moving or the camera isn t steady In any of those situations the ambient light will register as a second image accompa nying the flash exposure and if there is movement camera or subject that additional image will not be in the same place as the flash exposure It will show as a ghost image and if the movement is significant enough as a blurred ghost image trailing in front of or behind your subject in the direction of the movement As I noted when you re using first curtain sync the flash s main burst goes off the instant the shutter opens fully a preflash used to measure exposure in auto flash modes fires before the shutter opens This produces an image of the subject on the sensor Then the shutter remains open for an additional period 30 seconds to 1 200th second as I said If your subject is moving say towards the right side of the frame the ghost image produced by the ambient light will produce a blur on the right side of the original sub ject image making it look as if your sharp flash produced image is chasing the ghost For those of us who grew up with lightning fast superheroes who always left a ghost trail behind them that looks unnatural see Figure 8 8 Figure 8 8 First curtain sync produces an image that trails in front of the flash exposure top while second curtain sync creates a more natural look ing trail behind the flash image Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for
435. r your high school geometry you ll know that to double the area of a circle you multi ply its diameter by the square root of two 1 4 Lenses are usually marked with intermediate f stops that represent a size that s twice as much half as much as the previous aperture So a lens might be marked f 2 2 8 4 5 6 8 f 11 16 22 with each larger number representing an aperture that admits half as much light as the one before as shown in Figure 4 3 Shutter speeds are actual fractions of a second but the numerator is omitted so that 60 125 250 500 1 000 and so forth represent 1 60th 1 125th 1 250th 1 500th and 1 1 000th second To avoid confusion Nikon uses quotation marks to signify longer expo sures 2 2 5 4 and so forth represent 2 0 2 5 and 4 0 second exposures respectively Figure 4 3 Top row left to right f 2 2 8 4 bottom row 5 6 f 8 f11 Chapter 4 m Fine Tuning Exposure 153 Most commonly exposure settings are made using the aperture and shutter speed fol lowed by adjusting the ISO sensitivity if it s not possible to get the preferred exposure that is the one that uses the best f stop or shutter speed for the depth of field or action stopping we want Table 4 1 shows equivalent exposure settings using various shutter speeds and f stops Table 4 1 Equivalent Exposures Shutter speed f stop Shutter speed f stop 1 30th second 22 1 500th secon
436. ra issues a warning when the sensor starts to overheat Fun with Live View You may not have considered everything you can do with Live View But once you ve played with it you ll discover dozens of applications for this capability as well as a few things that you can t do Here s a list of Live View considerations Shoot stills and movies You can take still pictures or movies using Live View and alternate between the two m Preview your images on a TV Connect your Nikon D3100 to a television using an optional video cable and you can preview your image on a large standard defi nition television or HDTV screen m Preview remotely Extend the cable between the camera and TV screen and you can preview your images some distance away from the camera Shoot from your computer While at this writing Nikon s optional Camera Control Pro software needed to control your camera from your computer isn t com patible with the D3100 in the future I expect an update will make it possible to preview images and take pictures remotely without physically touching the Nikon D3100 One was reportedly in the works as this book was being written but I haven t tested it personally m Continuous shooting You can shoot bursts of images using Live View but all shots will use the focus and exposure setting established for the first picture in the series Figure 6 1 Rotate and release the Live View switch Chapter 6 m Live View and
437. ractical try a monopod first Figure 7 16 On the Nikon 70 200mm VR zoom youll find top to bottom the focus limit switch VR on off switch and Normal Active VR adjustment Chapter 7 m Working with Lenses 255 VIBRATION REDUCTION IN THE CAMERA OR IN THE LENS The adoption of image stabilization anti shake technology into the camera bodies of models from Sony Olympus Pentax and Samsung has revived an old debate about whether VR belongs in the camera or in the lens Perhaps it s my Nikon bias showing but I am quite happy not to have vibration reduction available in the body itself Here are some reasons m Should in camera VR fail you have to send the whole camera in for repair and cam era repairs are generally more expensive than lens repairs I like being able to simply switch to another lens if I have a VR problem m VR in the camera doesn t steady your view in the viewfinder whereas a VR lens shows you a steadied image as you shoot m Youre stuck with the VR system built in to your camera If an improved system is incorporated into a lens and the improvements are important to you just trade in your old lens for the new one m When building VR in the camera a compromise system that works with all lenses must be designed VR in the lens however can be custom tailored to each specific lens s needs The AF S VR Zoom Nikkor 70 200mm f 2 8G IF ED though atypical for the aver age D3100 owner is typi
438. rder turns green see Figure 6 2 If the camera is unable to focus the border blinks red Focus may also be lost if the subject turns away from the camera and is no longer detectable by Face Priority m Wide area AF This is the mode to use for non portrait subjects such as landscapes as you can select the focus zone to be used manually It s good for shooting hand held because the subjects may change as you reframe the image with a hand held camera and the wide area zones are forgiving of these changes The focus zone will be outlined in red You can move the focus zone around the screen with the multi selector buttons When sharp focus is achieved the focus zone box will turn green See Figure 6 3 m Normal area AF This mode uses smaller focus zones and so is best suited for tri pod mounted images where the camera is held fairly steady As with Wide area AF the focus zone will be outlined in red You can move the focus zone around the screen with the multi selector buttons When sharp focus is achieved the focus zone box will turn green See Figure 6 4 Figure 6 2 Face priority AF attempts to focus on the face that s closest to the camera Figure 6 3 Wide area AF is best for land scapes and other subjects with large elements Chapter 6 m Live View and Shooting Movies 207 iin ee DD Bway 1 200 255 208 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 6 4 Normal are
439. re is nothing better However I have a couple problems with these devices First with the cover closed you can t peek down after taking a shot to see what your image looks like during picture review You must open the cap each time you want to look at the LCD Moreover with the hood unfolded it s difficult to look through the viewfinder Don t count on being able to use the viewfinder and the LCD at the same time with one of these hoods in place m Magnifiers If you look hard enough you should be able to find an LCD magni fier that fits over the monitor panel and provides a 2X magnification These often strap on clumsily and serve better as a way to get an enlarged view of the LCD than as protection Hoodman Photodon www photodon com and other suppliers offer these specialized devices Troubleshooting Memory Cards Sometimes good memory cards go bad Sometimes good photographers can treat their memory cards badly It s possible that a memory card that works fine in one camera wont be recognized when inserted into another In the worst case you can have a card full of important photos and find that the card seems to be corrupted and you can t access any of them Don t panic If these scenarios sound horrific to you there are lots of things you can do to prevent them from happening and a variety of remedies avail able if they do occur You ll want to take some time before disaster strikes to con sider your options All You
440. reate a corrected copy of a crooked image rotated by up to five degrees in increments of one quarter of a degree Use the right directional button to rotate clock wise and the left directional button to rotate counterclockwise Press OK to make a corrected copy or the Playback button to exit without saving a copy Figure 3 41 You can apply a fisheye effect to an image Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 139 Distortion Control This option produces a copy with reduced barrel distortion a bowing out effect or pin cushion distortion an inward bending effect both most noticeable at the edges of a photo You can select Auto to let the D3100 make this correction or use Manual to make the fix yourself visually Use the right directional button to reduce barrel distor tion and the left directional button to reduce pincushion distortion In both cases some of the edges of the photo will be cropped out of your image Press OK to make a cor rected copy or the Playback button to exit without saving a copy Note that Auto can not be used with images exposed using the Auto Distortion Control feature described earlier in this chapter Auto works only with type G and type D lenses see Chapter 7 for a description of what these lenses are and does not work well with certain lenses such as fisheye lenses and perspective control lenses Fisheye This feature emulates the extreme curving effect of a fisheye lens Use the right direc tion
441. removes the corrupted data and restores your card to health Sometimes I ve had success refor matting a card in my computer using a memory card reader this is normally a no no because your operating system doesn t understand the needs of your D3100 and then reformatting again in the camera If your Secure Digital card is not behaving properly and you do want to recover your images things get a little more complicated If your pictures are very valuable either to you or to others for example a wedding you can always turn to professional data 326 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography recovery firms Be prepared to pay hundreds of dollars to get your pictures back but these pros often do an amazing job You wouldn t want them working on your memory card on behalf of the police if you d tried to erase some incriminating pictures There are many firms of this type and I ve never used them myself so I cant offer a recom mendation Use a Google search to turn up a ton of them THE ULTIMATE IRONY I recently purchased an 8GB Kingston memory card that was furnished with some nifty OnTrack data recovery software The first thing I did was format the card to make sure it was OK Then I hunted around for the free software only to discover it was preloaded onto the memory card I was supposed to copy the software to my computer before using the memory card for the first time Fortunately I had the OnTrack sof
442. represented by the smaller white triangle Regardless of which triangle or color space is used by the D3100 you end up with 16 8 million different colors that can be used in your photograph No one image will contain all 16 8 million But as you can see from the figure the colors available will be different Adobe RGB is what is often called an expanded color space because it can reproduce a range of colors that is spread over a wider range of the visual spectrum Adobe RGB is useful for commercial and professional printing You don t need this range of colors if your images will be displayed primarily on your computer screen or output by your per sonal printer 100 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography The other color space sRGB is recommended for images that will be output locally on the user s own printer as this color space matches that of the typical inkjet printer fairly closely While both Adobe RGB and sRGB can reproduce the exact same 16 8 million absolute colors Adobe RGB spreads those colors over a larger portion of the visible spec trum as you can see in the figure Think of a box of crayons the jumbo 16 8 million crayon variety Some of the basic crayons from the original sRGB set have been removed and replaced with new hues not contained in the original box Your new box contains colors that can t be reproduced by your computer monitor but which work just fine with a commerci
443. rim Sizes Aspect Ratio _Sizes Available 3 2 3840 x 2560 3200 x 2128 2560 x 1704 1920 x 1280 1280 x 856 960 x 640 640 x 424 4 3 3840 x 2880 3200 x 2400 2560 x 1920 1920 x 1440 1280 x 960 960 x 720 640 x 480 5 4 3600 x 2880 2992 x 2400 2400 x 1920 1808 x 1440 1200 x 960 896 x 720 608 x 480 1 1 2880 x 2880 2400 x 2400 1920 x 1920 1440 x 1440 960 x 960 720 x 720 480 x 480 3840 x 2160 3200 x 1800 2560 x 1440 1920 x 1080 1280 x 720 960 x 536 640 x 360 3840 x 2560 22S Aspect een ture of the Retouch menu allows in cam era cropping H Save Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 133 Monochrome This Retouch choice allows you to produce a copy of the selected photo as a black and white image sepia toned image or cyanotype blue and white You can fine tune the color saturation of the previewed Sepia or Cyanotype version by pressing the multi selec tor up button to increase color richness and the down button to decrease saturation When satisfied press OK to create the monochrome duplicate Filter Effects Add effects somewhat similar to photographic filters with this tool You can choose from among six different choices m Skylight This option makes the image slightly less blue m Warm Use this filter to add a rich warm cast to the duplicate m Red Green Blue intensifiers These three options make the red green and blue hues brighter respectively Use them to brighten a rose
444. rimary source of illumination You might want to turn off other lights in the room particularly to avoid mixing daylight and incandescent light see Figure 8 16 Figure 8 16 Light from the window located off to the upper left makes the perfect diffuse illumination for informal soft focus por traits like this one Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 287 m Use fill light Your D3100 s built in flash makes a perfect fill in light for the shad ows brightening inky depths with a kicker of illumination see Figure 8 17 Bounce the light External electronic flash units mounted on the D3100 usually have a swivel that allows them to be pointed up at a ceiling for a bounce light effect You can also bounce the light off a wall You ll want the ceiling or wall to be white or have a neutral gray color to avoid a color cast Figure 8 17 Fill flash illu minated the shadows for this candid portrait 288 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Use reflectors Another way to bounce the light is to use reflectors or umbrellas that you can position yourself to provide a greater degree of control over the quan tity and direction of the bounced light Good reflectors can be pieces of foamboard Mylar or a reflective disk held in place by a clamp and stand Although some expen sive umbrellas and reflectors are available spending a lot isn t necessary A simple piece of white foamboard does the
445. ry Even a quick start like this one may be too much for those eager to begin using their cameras Fortunately Nikon has taken care of the most enthusiastic of the enthusiasts among you with a great new feature called the Guide mode which can lead you through basic picture taking and reviewing steps and simple camera set up procedures with lit tle help from me If you want to try it out immediately and then come back to read this chapter you have three choices m Skim my two minute introduction then jump in The very last section of this chapter has a short discussion explaining the Guide mode Flip to it glance through the intro then grab your camera Chapter 1 m Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 3 m Jump off the side of the boat now Rotate the mode dial located on the top right surface of the camera southwest of the shutter release button to the GUIDE posi tion and then figure out what to do from the menus and prompts on the screen Take some photos then come back to learn more about what you just did m Go Live If youre coming from a point and shoot camera and are used to com posing and shooting your images using the LCD rather than a dSLR s cool through the lens optical viewfinder you can jump into Live View by reading the sidebar that s next LIVE VIEW CRASH COURSE 1 Rotate LV switch Activate Live View by rotating the switch You can exit Live View at any time by rotating the LV switch again Z
446. ry card The D3100 will be unable to find it if you place it in a folder Updating with a USB Connection You can also copy the firmware to the D3100 s memory card using a USB connection Just follow these steps 1 With the camera turned off insert the clean newly formatted memory card Then turn the camera back on Turn off the D3100 and connect it to your computer using the optional UC E4 USB cable or another similar cable Nikon does not supply one with the D3100 Turn the camera back on If you have been using Nikon Transfer or the autoplay features of your operating system to transfer images from your memory card to the computer the automated transfer dialog box may appear Close it The camera will appear on the Macintosh desktop or in the Computer My Computer folders under Windows 7 Windows Vista Windows XP Drag one of the firmware files to the memory card It doesn t matter whether you install A B or L first If your particular upgrade consists of only one bin file drag that to the memory card Remember to copy the firmware to the root top directory of the memory card The D3100 will be unable to find it if you place it in a folder Disconnect the camera from the computer 320 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Starting the Update To perform the actual update follow these steps 1 With the memory card containing the firmware upd
447. s 233 macro lenses 253 teleconverters 251 tape cleaning sensors 333 338 teleconverters 250 251 compatible lenses 251 1 5X teleconverters 227 telephoto lenses 240 See also pincushion distortion bokeh with 248 249 lens hoods for 250 mounting 13 1 5X teleconverters for 227 problems avoiding 246 247 working with 244 249 television See also reviewing images HDMI options Setup menu 111 Small Picture option for display on 134 video port for 41 text entering 112 113 third party batteries 11 third party lenses 233 three point lighting for movies 223 three shots in movies 219 220 3D Color Matrix metering II 158 374 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography 3D tracking AF 26 102 189 L firmware for 316 thumb drives reference manual on 6 Thumbnail button 43 44 thumbnails decreasing number of 48 49 reviewing images as 46 48 49 TIFF formats 296 See also Nikon Capture NX tilt shift capabilities in lenses 237 time exposures 195 196 Time Zone and Date entry 11 time zones default value 106 Setup menu options 111 timed exposures 195 times See dates and times Tokina lenses 233 Tokino lenses macro lenses 253 tone compensation 86 toning effect filter effects compared 86 transferring images to computer 30 31 See also Nikon Transfer with card readers 30 31 formatting memory card by 16 with USB cable 30 31 transitions in movies 219 transmitted light 151 tr
448. s default mode with confidence If you want to choose a focus point yourself you must do two things When the focus point is unlocked you can use the multi selector pad to shift the active point to any of the 11 focus points seen in the viewfinder The available points are shown in Figure 5 10 The currently active focus point is highlighted in red The second thing to do is to switch Focus Area mode in the Shooting menu from Auto area which always chooses the focus point automatically to Single point Dynamic area or 3D tracking 11 Points These modes change the D3100 s behavior as follows m Single point You choose which of the 11 points are used and the Nikon D3100 sticks with that focus bracket no matter what This mode is best for stationary sub jects and is used automatically in Close up scene mode In this mode you always select the focus point manually using the multi selector button The D3100 eval uates focus based solely on the point you select making this a good choice for sub jects that don t move much Figure 5 10 There are 11 possible focus points shown in the viewfinder Chapter 5 m Advanced Shooting Tips for Your NikonD3100 189 Dynamic area You can select the focus point but the D3100 can use other focus points as well You d want to use this mode when photographing subjects that are moving unpredictably but want the flexibility of being able to choose one of the 11 focus zones yourself Once y
449. s in which case you lose the resolution advantage of the HD aspect ratio m Seamless or seamed transitions Unless youre telling a picture story with a photo essay still pictures often stand alone But with movies each of your compositions must relate to the shot that preceded it and the one that follows It can be jarring to jump from a long shot to a tight close up unless the director you is very cre ative Another common error is the jump cut in which successive shots vary only slightly in camera angle making it appear that the main subject has jumped from one place to another Although everyone from French New Wave director Jean Luc Goddard to Guy Ritchie Madonna s ex have used jump cuts effectively in their films The rule of thumb is to vary the camera angle by at least 30 degrees between shots to make it appear to be seamless Unless you prefer that your images flaunt convention and appear to be seamy m The time dimension Unlike still photography with motion pictures there s a lot more emphasis on using a series of images to build on each other to tell a story Static shots where the camera is mounted on a tripod and everything is shot from the same distance are a recipe for dull videos Watch a television program sometime and notice how often camera shots change distances and directions Viewers are used to this variety and have come to expect it Professional video productions are often done with mult
450. s Capture One Pro C1 Pro 302 304 Photo Rescue 2 326 Photodon magnifiers for LCD 322 Photographic Solutions Eclipse solution 336 swabs for sensor cleaning 336 Photomatix 149 PictBridge compatible printers options for 79 80 Picture Controls defaults resetting 81 editing styles 84 87 Shooting menu options 83 87 pincushion distortion Auto Distortion Control and 98 with telephoto lenses 246 247 Pinnacle Studio 214 pixel density 227 228 pixel mapping 329 pixels See also histograms image size Active D Lighting and 97 hot pixels 328 329 noise and 101 166 167 plastic overlays for LCD 321 Playback button 43 Playback folder 46 all folders accessing 74 current folder accessing 74 Playback menu options 73 74 Playback menu 72 81 See also reviewing images color coding for 71 Delete options 72 73 Display mode options 74 75 Image review options 75 Playback folder options 73 74 Print Set DPOF options 79 80 Rotate Tall options 76 77 Slide Show options 78 79 368 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography playing back images See reviewing images pop up flash See built in flash Portrait mode 20 21 built in flash in 29 flash sync modes in 277 Guide mode for 33 in Live View 210 portrait orientation options 76 77 Portrait Picture Control 83 portraits backgrounds for 293 center weighted metering for 160 flat faces with telephoto lenses 246 softboxes for 291 power
451. s available include Image Quality Image Size Playback Folder Print Set DPOF Format Memory Card LCD Brightness Info Background Color Auto Info Display Video Mode Time Zone and Date Language Auto Off Timers Beep Date Imprint Slot Empty Release Lock Movie Settings HDMI Flicker Reduction I m not going to duplicate the explanations of these functions in this quick start chapter You can explore them in Guide mode if you like or read how and why you might want to change these options in Chapter 3 Figure 1 22 Choose any of these available easy operations and you ll be shown a screen with instruc tions on how to take the picture Nikon D3100 Roadmap With the D3100 Nikon has continued its emphasis on creating a super compact entry level digital SLR that retains the convenience and easy access to essential controls Most of the Nikon D3100 s key functions and settings that are changed frequently can be accessed directly using the array of dials buttons and knobs that populate the camera s surface or through the information edit screen on the LCD With so many quick access controls available you ll find that the bulk of your shooting won t be slowed down by a visit to the vast thicket of text options called Menuland However if you want to operate your D3100 efficiently you ll need to learn the loca tion function and application of all these controls You may have seen advice from well meaning digital SLR ve
452. s book is to show you how to take great photos i the camera rather than how to fix your errors in Photoshop the Merge to HDR Pro high dynamic range feature in Adobe s flagship 168 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography image editor is too cool to ignore The ability to have a bracketed set of exposures that are identical except for exposure is key to getting good results with this Photoshop fea ture which allows you to produce images with a full rich dynamic range that includes a level of detail in the highlights and shadows that is almost impossible to achieve with digital cameras In contrasty lighting situations even the Nikon D3100 has a tendency to blow out highlights when you expose solely for the shadows or midtones Suppose you wanted to photograph a dimly lit room that had a bright window show ing an outdoors scene Proper exposure for the room might be on the order of 1 60th second at f 2 8 at ISO 200 while the outdoors scene probably would require f 11 at 1 400th second That s almost a 7 EV step difference approximately 7 f stops and well beyond the dynamic range of any digital camera including the Nikon D3100 When you re using Merge to HDR Pro youd take two to three pictures one for the shadows one for the highlights and perhaps one for the midtones Then you d use the Merge to HDR Pro command to combine all of the images into one HDR image that integrates the well exposed sections of each vers
453. s figured in any lens with an equivalent focal length of 10mm to 16mm is said to be an wltrawide angle lens from about 16mm to 30mm is said to be a wide angle lens Normal lenses have a focal length roughly equivalent to the diagonal of the film or sensor in millimeters and so fall into the range of about 30mm to 40mm on a D3100 Short telephoto lenses start at about 40mm to 70mm with anything from 70mm to 250mm qualifying as a conventional telephoto For the Nikon D3100 anything from about 300mm to 400mm or longer can be considered a super telephoto Using Wide Angle and Wide Zoom Lenses To use wide angle prime lenses and wide zooms you need to understand how they affect your photography Here s a quick summary of the things you need to know More depth of field Practically speaking wide angle lenses offer more depth of field at a particular subject distance and aperture But see the sidebar below for an important note You ll find that helpful when you want to maximize sharpness of a large zone but not very useful when youd rather isolate your subject using selec tive focus telephoto lenses are better for that Stepping back Wide angle lenses have the effect of making it seem that you are standing farther from your subject than you really are They re helpful when you don t want to back up or can t because there are impediments in your way m Wider field of view While making your subject seem farther away
454. s for lenses from other vendors will indicate whether the lens includes an autofocus motor or not When a non autofocus lens is mounted on the Nikon D3100 and the camera has been set for any exposure mode except for Manual M that is any of the scene modes plus Program Aperture priority or Shutter priority manual focus mode is automatically activated You can manually focus by turning the focus ring on the lens set the lens to manual focus if it is an AF type lens and watching the sharpness of the image on the focusing screen The focus confirmation indicator at the lower left corner of the viewfinder will illuminate when correct focus is achieved if your lens has a maximum aperture of f 5 6 or larger that is a larger number such as 5 6 4 5 4 and so forth Note that this feature is not available when shooting in Manual exposure mode however The D3100 shows whether exposure is under over or correct instead Use the focus con firmation lamp to monitor manual focus in this mode The readout in the viewfinder is not analog that is continuous Only the six indica tors shown in Figure 3 28 are displayed Two centered rectangles indicate that correct focus has been achieved when all 12 are shown it means that correct focus cannot be indicated Three and six rectangles show that slight or major focus corrections are needed respectively Turn the Rangefinder On with this setting option if you want an additiona
455. s for the first week or two that you own it it should work forever There s really not a lot that can wear out The typical Secure Digital card is rated for a Mean Time Between Failures of 1 000 000 hours of use That s constant use 24 7 for more than 100 years According to the man ufacturers they are good for 10 000 insertions in your camera and should be able to retain their data and that s without an external power source for something on the order of 11 years Of course with the millions of SD cards in use there are bound to be a few lemons here or there Given the reliability of solid state memory compared to magnetic memory though it s more likely that your Secure Digital problems will stem from something that you do SD cards are small and easy to misplace if youre not careful For that reason it s a good idea to keep them in their original cases or a card safe offered by Gepe www gepecard safe com Pelican www pelican com and others Always placing your memory card in a case can provide protection from the second most common mishap that befalls Secure Digital cards the common household laundry If you slip a memory card in a pocket rather than a case or your camera bag often enough sooner or later it s going to end up in the washing machine and probably the clothes dryer too There are plenty of reports of relieved digital camera owners who ve laundered their memory cards and found they still worked fine b
456. s in Chapter 9 m Camera Control Pro 2 software This is the utility you ll use to operate your cam era remotely from your computer Nikon charges extra for this software too but you ll find it invaluable if you re hiding near a tethered tripod mounted camera while shooting say close ups of hummingbirds There are lots of applications for remote shooting and you ll need Camera Control Pro to operate your camera Initial Setup This section helps you familiarize yourself with the important controls most used to make adjustments the multi selector and the command dial You ll also find information on charging the battery setting the clock mounting a lens and making diopter vision adjustments If youre comfortable with all these things skim through and skip ahead to Choosing a Release Mode in the next section Once youve unpacked and inspected your camera the initial setup of your Nikon D3100 is fast and easy Basically you just need to charge the battery attach a lens and insert a Secure Digital card I ll address each of these steps separately but if you already are confident you can manage these setup tasks without further instructions feel free to skip this section entirely I realize that some readers are ambitious if inexperienced and should at the minimum skim the contents of the next section because I m going to list a few options that you might not be aware of Mastering the Multi Selector Pll
457. s on your television or for file transfer to your computer These all use prodigious amounts of power which can be pro vided by this AC adapter Beware of power outages and blackouts when cleaning your sensor however DR 6 right angle viewer Used with the Nikon Eyepiece Adapter DK 22 it fas tens in place of the standard square rubber eyecup and provides a 90 degree view for framing and composing your image at right angles to the original viewfinder It s useful for low level or high level shooting Or maybe shooting around corners m DG 2 magnifier Eyepiece Adapter DK 22 These replace the eyepiece to provide magnification of the center of the frame to ease focusing particularly for close up photography m SC 28 TTL flash cord Allows using Nikon speedlights off camera while retain ing all the automated features m SC 29 TTL flash cord Similar to the SC 28 this unit has its own AF assist lamp which can provide extra illumination for the D3100 s autofocus system in dim light which not coincidentally is when you ll probably be using an electronic flash Figure 1 2 The Nikon MC DC2 remote cord lets you trigger your camera remotely Chapter 1 m Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 9 m Nikon Capture NX software Nikons NEF RAW conversion and image tweaking software is an extra cost option that most D3100 owners won t need until they progress into extensive image editing Ill describe this utility s function
458. s parts of that era so they were considered less rugged All are effectively AI S lenses They do have good image quality which makes them a bargain for those who treat their lenses gently and don t need the latest autofocus features They were available in 28mm f 2 8 35mm f 2 5 50mm f 1 8 100mm f 2 8 and 135mm f 2 8 focal lengths plus 36 72mm f 3 5 75mm 150mm 3 5 and 70 210mm f 4 zooms All these would be considered fairly fast today D Appended to the maximum f stop of the lens as in f 2 8D a D Series lens is able to send focus distance data to the camera which uses the information for flash exposure calculation and 3D Color Matrix II metering m DC The DC stands for defocus control which allows managing the out of focus parts of an image to produce better looking portraits and close ups Chapter 7 m Working with Lenses 235 m DX The DX lenses are designed for use with digital cameras using the APS C sized sensor having the 1 5X crop factor The image circle they produce isn t large enough to fill up a full 35mm frame at all focal lengths but they can be used on Nikon s full frame models using the automatic manual DX crop mode ED or LD UD The ED extra low dispersion designation indicates that some lens elements are made of a special hard and scratch resistant glass that minimizes the divergence of the different colors of light as they pass through thus reducing chromatic aberration color fringing
459. s the display on or off or press the information edit but ton on the back of the camera near the bottom left corner of the color LCD That 56 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography button also allows you to change some of the settings When the screen is visible you ll see settings like those shown at left in Figure 2 22 Two versions are available the Classic version which has a clean text based format and the Graphic version which includes a smattering of graphics particularly in scene modes when a repre sentation of the mode dial appears briefly as you change modes Use the Auto infor mation display from the Setup menu to specify which of these two versions to use You can choose the display type for Auto scene modes and advanced modes separately while choosing a blue black or orange color scheme Light on dark is usually easier to read in dim lighting conditions while the reverse scheme is better under bright lighting When the shooting information display is shown press the information edit button a second time to activate the information edit menu at the bottom of the screen shown at right in Figure 2 22 Use the multi selector left right buttons to highlight one of the adjustments then press the OK button to produce a screen of options for that setting You ll find the information edit screen can be much faster to use for setting ISO Noise Reduction adjusting Active D Lighting or accessi
460. s useful for most photographic situations Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 275 m Standard i TTL Fill Flash This mode is activated when you use Spot metering or choose the standard mode with an external flash unit s controls The flash output adjusted only for the main subject of your photograph and the brightness of the background is not factored in Use this mode when you want to emphasize the main subject at the expense of proper exposure for the background Choosing a Flash Sync Mode The Nikon D3100 has five flash sync modes that determine when and how the flash is fired as I ll explain shortly They are selected from the information edit screen or by holding down the Flash button on the front of the camera lens housing while rotating the command dial In both cases the mode chosen appears in the information edit screen as the selection is made Not all sync modes are available with all exposure modes Depending on whether you re using scene modes or Program Aperture priority Shutter priority or Manual exposure modes one or more of the following sync modes may not be available I m going to list the sync options available for each exposure mode separately although that produces a little duplication among the options that are available with several exposure modes However this approach should reduce the confusion over which sync method is avail able with which exposure mode In Program and Aperture priority modes you
461. s will affect your pictures you need this guide I won t talk down to you either this book isn t padded with dozens of pages of checklists telling you how to take a travel picture a sports photo or how to take a snapshot of your kids in overly simplistic terms There are no special sections devoted to real world recipes here All of us do 100 percent of our shooting in the real world So I give you all the information you need to cook up great photos on your own This page intentionally left blank Introduction What part of entry level doesn t Nikon understand This new affordable beginner model is packed with advanced features like Live View and full HD 1920 x 1080 movie making and includes a nifty Guide mode to lead the most neo of neophytes through the out of box basics It s stuffed all those features into a compact body that elevates entry level to a new high with the Nikon D3100 But despite its growing feature list the D3100 retains the ease of use that smoothes the transition for those new to digital photography For those just dipping their toes into the digital pond the experience is warm and inviting The Nikon D3100 isn t a snap shot camera it s a point and shoot if you want to use it in that mode for the think ing photographer But once you ve confirmed that you made a wise purchase decision the question comes up how do I use this thing All those cool features can be mind numbing to learn
462. se the directional buttons to select Press OK to confirm Your choices are as follows m 1920 x 1080 at 24 fps m 1280 x 720 at 30 fps for NTSC devices m 1280 x 720 at 30 fps for PAL devices m 1280 x 720 at 24 fps Normal movie frame rate m 640 x 424 at 24 fps Useful for video clips displayed on web pages m Audio On Off The Movie Settings entry in the Shooting menu is the place to turn sound recording on or off 214 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography NOT MUCH OF A LIMITATION Unless you are shooting an entire performance from a fixed position such as a stage play the ten minute limitation on HDTV movie duration won t put much of a crimp in your style Good motion picture practice calls for each production to consist of a series of rela tively short clips with 10 to 20 seconds a good average You can assemble and edit your D3100 movies into one long finished production using one of the many movie editing software packages available Andy Warhol might have been successful with his 1963 five hour epic Sleep but the rest of us will do better with short sequences of the type pro duced by the Nikon D3100 Viewing Your Movies Once you ve finished recording your movies they are available for review Film clips show up during picture review the same as still photos but they are differentiated by a movie camera overlay Press the OK button to start playback During playback you can perform the
463. se this menu option to adjust the intensity of the display using the LCD Brightness option A grayscale strip appears on the LCD as shown in Figure 3 24 Use the multi selector up down keys to adjust the brightness to a comfortable viewing level over a range of 3 to 3 Under the lighting conditions that exist when you make this adjust ment you should be able to see all 10 swatches from black to white If the two end Figure 3 24 f Adjust the LC D b h LCD bright r in A gt ness so that all the grayscale strips are visible 108 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography swatches blend together the brightness has been set too low If the two whitest swatches on the right end of the strip blend together the brightness is too high Brighter settings use more battery power but can allow you to view an image on the LCD outdoors in bright sunlight When you have the brightness you want press OK to lock it in and return to the menu Info Display Format You can choose the format the Nikon D3100 uses for its shooting information screen Three formats are available as follows m Classic This is a mostly text based format with a few icons You ll find this format the fastest to use once you ve grown accustomed to the D3100 and its features as all the information is clustered in a no nonsense way that is easy to read m Graphic This format mixes text and graphics and includes a facsimile of the mode dial tha
464. see when you choose Print Set DPOF asks if youd like to Select Set pictures for printing or Deselect All images that have already been marked Choose Select Set to choose photos and specify how many prints of each youd like Choose Deselect All to cancel any existing print order and start over If you want to select photos for printing follow these steps when the screen shown in Figure 3 9 appears 1 View images on your card Use the multi selector left right up down keys to scroll among the available images 2 Evaluate specific photos When you highlight an image you might want to print press the Zoom button to temporarily enlarge that image so you can evaluate it fur ther When you release the button the selection screen returns 80 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Print set DPOF Select set 7a EON Zoom 0KJOK Mark images for printing and specify number of copies To mark a highlighted image for printing hold down the Zoom out Thumbnail button and press the multi selector up down buttons to choose the number of prints you want up to 99 per image The up button increases the number of prints the down button decreases the amount A printer icon and the number specified will appear overlaid on that image s thumbnail Unmark images if you change your mind To unmark an image for printing high light and hold the Zoom out Thumbnail button while pressing the down button until t
465. self 42 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography m Diopter adjustment knob Rotate this slider to adjust the diopter correction for your eyesight as described in Chapter 1 m Protect image AE L AF L lock This triple duty button can be used to protect an image from accidental erasure When reviewing a picture on the LCD press once to protect the image a second time to unprotect it A key symbol appears when the Figure 2 7 4 DSC_4111 JPG 41 14 11 Nikon Figure 2 8 Viewfinder Viewfinder Diopter Protect image Command eyecup eyepiece adjustment autoexposure lock dial knob autofocus lock Figure 2 9 Chapter 2 m Nikon D3100 Roadmap 43 image is displayed to show that it is protected This feature safeguards an image from erasure when deleting or transferring pictures only when you format a card protected images are removed along with all the others When shooting pictures the button locks the exposure or focus that the camera sets when you partially depress the shutter button The exposure lock indication AE L icon appears in the viewfinder If you want to recalculate exposure or autofocus with the shutter button still partially depressed press the button again The exposure autofocus will be unlocked when you release the shutter button or take the picture To retain the exposure autofocus lock for subsequent photos keep the button pressed while shooting Command dial The command
466. sensor fits but the vertical bar can easily split and align the subject to achieve optimum focus Cross type sensors can handle hori zontal and vertical lines with equal aplomb and if you think about it lines at any diag onal angle as well In lower light levels with subjects that were moving or with subjects that have no pattern and less contrast to begin with the cross type sensor not only works faster but can focus subjects that a horizontal or vertical only sensor can t handle at all So you can see that having a center cross type focus sensor that is extra sensitive with faster lenses is a definite advantage Contrast Detection This is a slower mode suitable for static subjects and used by the D3100 in Live View mode Your eye also uses contrast detection when you focus manually Contrast detection is a bit easier to understand and is illustrated by Figure 5 5 At top in the figure the transitions between the edges found in the image are soft and blurred because of the low contrast between them Although the illustration uses the same vertical lines used with the phase detection example the orientation of the features doesn t matter The focus system looks only for contrast between edges and those edges can run in any direction Chapter 5 m Advanced Shooting Tips for Your Nikon D3100 179 At the bottom of Figure 5 5 the image has been brought into sharp focus and the edges have much more contrast the transitions are sh
467. sented a lens database perhaps to allow the EXPEED processor to compensate for vignetting or aberrations The L firmware is so mysterious that the first few Nikon representatives I asked didn t know exactly what it was for either but I managed to track down a techie who filled me in while providing some additional insight into the workings of all three firmware modules He confirmed that the Nikon D90 was the first Nikon camera to include this third firmware module and that it was indeed a lens database that could be updated from time to time with information about new lenses as they were introduced The func tion he said was to allow more sophisticated distance integration of information pro vided by Nikon D and G lenses It s not too difficult to read between the lines and see what this minor but significant breakthrough means for we Nikon shooters Here s what we can look forward to m Better metering The L firmware will provide improved and more accurate meter ing with Color Matrix II for the Nikon models that are upgraded to include this new third firmware module This is only the most obvious benefit m New features With better information about the distance from the camera to the subject based on improved lens databases new features like Scene Selection and Face Recognition and in the Nikon D3100 subject focus tracking will be more accurate and available in any shooting mode Look for your Nikon to be dead on 316
468. shouldn t you let the friendly folks at your local camera store do it Of course if you choose to let someone else clean your sensor they will be using meth ods that are more or less identical to the techniques you would use yourself None of these techniques are difficult and the only difference between their cleaning and your cleaning is that they might have done it dozens or hundreds of times If you re careful you can do just as good a job Figure 10 7 Use a robust air bulb for clean ing your sensor Chapter 10 m Nikon D3100 Troubleshooting and Prevention 333 Of course vendors like Nikon wont tell you this but it s not because they don t trust you It s not that difficult for a real goofball to mess up his camera by hurrying or tak ing a shortcut Perhaps the person uses the bulb method of holding the shutter open and a finger slips allowing the shutter curtain to close on top of a sensor cleaning brush Or someone tries to clean the sensor using masking tape and ends up with goo all over its surface If Nikon recommended any method that s mildly risky someone would do it wrong and then the company would face lawsuits from those whod contend they did it exactly in the way the vendor suggested so the ruined camera is not their fault You can see that vendors like Nikon tend to be conservative in their recommendations and in doing so make it seem as if sensor cleaning is more daunting and dangerous than it rea
469. show feature completely Print Set DPOF You can print directly from your camera to a printer compatible with a specification called PictBridge most recent printers are and have a connector for that mode You can also move your memory card and give it to your retailer for printing in their lab or in store printing machine or insert the card into a standalone picture kiosk and make prints yourself In all these cases you can easily specify exactly which photos you want printed and how many copies you d like of each picture This menu item does all the work for you The Nikon D3100 supports the DPOF Digital Print Order Format that is now almost universally used by digital cameras to specify which images on your memory card should be printed and the number of prints desired of each image This information is recorded on the memory card and can be interpreted by a compatible printer when the camera is linked to the printer using the USB cable or when the memory card is inserted into a card reader slot on the printer itself Photo labs and standalone kiosks are also equipped to read this data and make prints when you supply your memory card to them When you choose this menu item you re presented with a set of screens that looks very much like the Delete photos screens described earlier I used the same set of example pictures for the illustration only youre selecting pictures for printing rather than delet ing them The first screen you
470. sitioned as needed Light stands should be strong enough to support an external lighting unit up to and including a rel atively heavy flash with a softbox or umbrella reflectors You want the supports to be capable of raising the lights high enough to be effective Look for light stands capable of extending six to seven feet high The nine foot units usually have larger steadier bases and extend high enough that you can use them as background supports You ll be using these stands for a lifetime so invest in good ones I bought the light stand shown in Figure 8 24 when I was in college and I have been using it for decades Figure 8 23 Softboxes provide an even diffuse Figure 8 24 Light stands can hold lights umbrellas light source backdrops and other equipment Figure 8 25 Snoots and barn doors allow you to modulate the light from a flash or lamp and they are especially use ful for hair lights and background lights Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 293 Backgrounds Backgrounds can be backdrops of cloth sheets of muslin you ve painted yourself using a sponge dipped in paint rolls of seamless paper or any other suitable surface your mind can dream up Backgrounds provide a complementary and non distracting area behind subjects especially portraits and can be lit separately to provide contrast and separa tion that outlines the subject or which helps set a mood I like to use plain colored backgrounds for portr
471. sories 290 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography A more practical choice these days is monolights see Figure 8 20 which are all in one studio lights that sell for about 200 400 They have the flash tube modeling light and power supply built into a single unit that can be mounted on a light stand Monolights are available in AC only and battery pack versions although an external battery eliminates some of the advantages of having a flash with everything in one unit They are very portable because all you need is a case for the monolight itself plus the stands and other accessories you want to carry along Because these units are so popu lar with photographers who are not full time professionals the lower cost monolights are often designed more for lighter duty than professional studio flash That doesn t mean they arent rugged you ll just need to handle them with a little more care and perhaps not expect them to be used eight hours a day for weeks on end In most other respects however monolights are the equal of traditional studio flash units in terms of fast recycling built in modeling lamps adjustable power and so forth Connecting Multiple Non Dedicated Units to Your Nikon D3100 Non dedicated electronic flash units can t use the automated i TTL features of your Nikon D3100 you ll need to calculate exposure manually through test shots evaluated on your cameras LCD or by using an electronic
472. sort of image transfer system that automatically rec ognizes when a memory card is inserted in a reader or a digital camera like the Nikon D3100 is attached to a computer using a USB cable The most popular operating sys tems from Mac OS X to Windows XP and Vista have their own built in transfer pro grams and Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 0 includes one in its suite of utilities Nikon Transfer is particularly well suited for D3100 owners because it integrates eas ily with other Nikon software products including ViewNX and Nikon Capture NX You can download photos to your computer and then continue to work on them in the Nikon application or third party utility of your choice When a memory card is inserted into a card reader or when the D3100 is connected to your computer through the USB cable Nikon Transfer recognizes the device searches it for thumbnails and provides a display like the one shown in Figure 9 2 You can pre view the images and mark the ones you want to transfer with checks to create a Transfer Queue Nikon Transfer Wows File Edit View Window Help Options Source 03100 Primary Destination C My Pictures Nikon Transfer E Source Embedded Info Primary Destination Backup Destination Preferences z Search For ba o Thumbnails 5 of 5 photo s selected Group Folder x Select Ez e Hae it Folder 10003100 5 Photos DSC_0001 NEF 5 WA Eee g
473. st battery power because the autofocus system operates as long as the shutter release button is partially depressed AF A This setting is actually a combination of the first two When selected the camera focuses using AF S AF and locks in the focus setting But if the subject begins moving it will switch automatically to AF C and change the focus to keep the subject sharp AF A is a good choice when you re shooting a mixture of action pictures and less dynamic shots and want to use AF S when possible The camera will default to that mode yet switch automatically to AF C when it would be useful for subjects that might begin moving unexpectedly However as with AF S the shutter can be released only when the sub ject at the selected focus point is in focus Manual Focus In this mode or when you ve set the lens autofocus switch to Manual or when you re using a non AF S lens which lacks an internal autofocus motor the D3100 always focuses manually using the rotating focus ring on the lens barrel However if you are using a lens with a maximum aperture of at least f 5 6 the focus confirmation light in the viewfinder will glow a steady green when the image is correctly manually focused Figure 5 9 The manual focus scale in the viewfinder shows that the current focus is significantly behind the sub ject at the selected focus point high lighted in red Focus more closely Chapter 5 m Advanced Shooting Tips for Your Nikon D310
474. st begin shooting movies your shooting scripts will be very simple As you gain experience you ll learn how to tell stories with video and will map out your script in more detail before you even begin to capture the first sequence A shooting script will also help you if you need to shoot out of sequence For example you may have several scenes that take place on different days at the same location It probably will make sense to shoot all those scenes at one time rather than in the movie s chronological order You can check the shooting script to see what types of video and audio you need for the separate scenes as well as what dialogue your actors need to deliver even if as is the case for most informal videos the lines are ad libbed as you shoot Chapter 6 m Live View and Shooting Movies 217 Use Storyboards A storyboard is a series of panels providing visuals of what each scene should look like While the ones produced by Hollywood are generally of very high quality there s noth ing that says drawing skills are important for this step Stick figures work just fine if that s the best you can do The storyboard just helps you visualize locations placement of actors actresses props and furniture and also helps everyone involved get an idea of what you re trying to show It also helps show how you want to frame or compose a shot You can even shoot a series of still photos and transform them into a storyboard if
475. sting books range from skimpy and illustrated by black and white photos to lushly illustrated in full color but too generic to do much good Photography instruction is useful but it needs to be related directly to the Nikon D3100 as much as possible I ve tried to make David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography differ ent from your other D3100 learn up options The roadmap sections use larger color pictures to show you where all the buttons and dials are and the explanations of what they do are longer and more comprehensive I ve tried to avoid overly general advice including the two page checklists on how to take a sports picture or a portrait pic ture or a travel picture Instead you ll find tips and techniques for using all the fea tures of your Nikon D3100 to take any kind of picture you want If you want to know where you should stand to take a picture of a quarterback dropping back to unleash a pass there are plenty of books that will tell you that This one concentrates on teach ing you how to select the best autofocus mode shutter speed f stop or flash capability to take say a great sports picture under any conditions This book is not a lame rewriting of the manual that came with the camera Some folks spend five minutes with a book like this one spot some information that also appears in the original manual and decide Rehash without really understanding the differ ences Yes you ll
476. subjects in motion seeing them stopped in time can verge on the surreal Capture unseen perspectives Some things are never seen in real life except when viewed in a stop action photograph M I T s Dr Harold Edgerton captured a series of famed balloon burst images back in the 1930s that were only a starting point Freeze a hummingbird in flight for a view of wings that never seem to stop Or cap ture the splashes as liquid falls into a bowl as shown in Figure 5 12 No electronic flash was required for this image and wouldn t have illuminated the water in the bowl as evenly Instead several high intensity lamps and an ISO setting of 1600 allowed the camera to capture this image at 1 2 000th second m Vanquish camera shake and gain new angles Here s an idea that s so obvious it isn t always explored to its fullest extent A high enough shutter speed can free you from the tyranny of a tripod making it easier to capture new angles or to shoot quickly while moving around especially with longer lenses I tend to use a mono pod or tripod for almost everything when I m not using an image stabilized lens and I end up missing some shots because of a reluctance to adjust my camera sup port to get a higher lower or different angle If you have enough light and can use an f stop wide enough to permit a high shutter speed you ll find a new freedom to choose your shots I have a favored 170mm 500mm lens that I use for sports and wildlife pho
477. such as the D300s and D3 D3x allow assigning a function of your choice to the multi selector center button With the D3100 the multi selector is used exclusively for navigation for example to navigate among menus on the LCD or to choose one of the eleven focus points to advance or reverse display of a series of images during picture review or to change the kind of photo information displayed on the screen The OK button is used to con firm your choices or send the image currently being viewed to the Retouch menu for modification So from time to time in this chapter and throughout this book I ll be referring to the multi selector and its left right up down buttons and center OK button Setting the Clock It s likely that your Nikon D3100 s internal clock hasn t been set to your local time so you may need to do that first The in camera clock might have been set for you by someone checking out your camera prior to delivery If you do need to set the clock the flashing CLOCK indicator on the LCD will be the giveaway You ll find complete Figure 1 3 The multi selector pad has four directional buttons for navigating up down left right and an OK button to confirm your selection Chapter 1 m Getting Started with Your Nikon D3100 11 instructions for setting the four options for the date time time zone actual date and time the date format and whether you want the D3100 to conform to Daylight Savings Time in Chapt
478. sync The timing mechanism that ensures that an internal or external electronic flash fires at the correct time during the exposure cycle A digital SLR s flash sync speed is the highest shutter speed that can be used with flash ordinarily 1 200th of a second with the Nikon D3100 See also front curtain sync and rear curtain sync focal length The distance between the film and the optical center of the lens when the lens is focused on infinity usually measured in millimeters focal plane A line perpendicular to the optical axis which passes through the focal point forming a plane of sharp focus when the lens is set at infinity A focal plane indi cator is etched into the Nikon D3100 on the top panel focus tracking The ability of the automatic focus feature of a camera to change focus as the distance between the subject and the camera changes One type of focus track ing is predictive in which the mechanism anticipates the motion of the object being focused on and adjusts the focus to suit format To erase a memory card and prepare it to accept files fringing A chromatic aberration that produces fringes of color around the edges of sub jects caused by a lens s inability to focus the various wavelengths of light onto the same spot Purple fringing is especially troublesome with backlit images front curtain sync first curtain sync The default kind of electronic flash synchro nization technique originally associated with focal pla
479. t confirm the version number of your Nikon D3100 s current firmware 1 Turn on the D3100 2 Press the MENU button and select Firmware Version from the Setup menu The cameras firmware version will be displayed as in Figure 10 2 3 Write down the version number for Parts A B and L 4 Turn off the D3100 Next go to the Nikon support site locate and download the firmware update In the USA the place to go is http support nikontech com which will offer a list of choices including one that says Current Firmware Downloads available for Nikon Products Click that link then click the DSLR link on the page displayed next Scroll down to the D3100 row in the table and review the version number for the current update 318 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography E Firmware version ARR BERI 1 002 T Cl Done Update If the version is later than the one you noted in your camera click the firmware link in either the Windows or Macintosh columns depending on your computer to down load the file It will have a name like D3100Update zip Windows or D3100update sitx Macintosh Extract the file to a folder on your computer using the unzipping or unstuffing software of your choice The D3100 s firmware comes in three parts A B and L which can be updated indi vidually The actual update files will be named something like A31000101 bin B31000101 bin L31000101 bin The final prep
480. t adjusts the values of pixels located in midtone and shadow areas so they don t become too dark because of the underexposure Highlight tones will be preserved while shad ows will eventually be allowed to go dark more readily Bright beach or snow scenes especially those with few shadows think high noon when the shadows are smaller can benefit from using Active D Lighting Figure 3 19 shows a typical example You have just two choices Off and On You ll want to experiment to see which types of situations can benefit your shooting the most 98 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Auto Distortion Control Wide angle lenses can produce a bowing in effect called barrel distortion that s most noticeable at the edges of images Telephoto lenses can produce the opposite effect an inward bending effect called pincushion distortion If you notice this problem in your pictures you can partially nullify the effects by using Auto Distortion Control the first entry on the second page of the Shooting menu as shown in Figure 3 20 If you have no distortion problems leave it off because the less manipulation of your images in the camera the better Color Space The Nikon D3100 s Color Space option gives you the choice of two different color spaces also called color gamuts named Adobe RGB because it was developed by Adobe Systems in 1998 and sRGB supposedly because it is the standard RGB color space These
481. t when the zooming flash head which can be set to adjust the coverage angle of the lens is set to the 35mm position It has all the features of the D3100 s flash unit plus Commander mode which allows it to trigger other flash units wirelessly repeating flash modeling light and selectable power output along with some extra capabilities For example you can angle the flash and rotate it to provide bounce flash It includes additional non through the lens exposure modes thanks to its built in light sensor and can zoom and diffuse its coverage angle to illuminate the field of view of lenses from 8mm with the wide angle diffusion dome attached to 120mm on a D3100 The SB 900 also has its own powerful focus assist lamp to aid autofocus in dim lighting and has reduced red eye effects simply because the unit when attached to the D3100 is mounted in a higher position that tends to eliminate reflections from the eye back to the camera lens Nikon SB 700 This lower cost unit see Figure 8 13 has a guide number of 28 92 meters feet at ISO 100 when set to the 35mm zoom position It has many of the SB 900 s features includ ing zoomable flash coverage equal to the field of view of a 16 56mm lens on the D3100 24 120mm settings with a full frame camera and 14mm with a built in diffuser panel It has a built in modeling flash feature but lacks repeating flash accessory filters and an included flash diffuser dome which can
482. t appears briefly on the left side of the screen as you change from one exposure mode to the other It s prettier to look at and adds a little flair to the dis play because you can choose black white or orange backgrounds but I find it distracting You can change the shooting information display to the format of your choice using three easy to understand screens 1 Choose Info Display format from the Setup menu 2 Choose either Classic or Graphic and press the multi selector right button 3 Specify a background color and press OK Classic Blue Black or Orange Graphic White Black or Orange 4 You ll be returned to the first screen you saw where you can again choose from Classic or Graphic modes or press the MENU button or tap the shutter release to exit Auto Info Display This setting controls when the shooting information display is shown on the LCD The display is a handy tool for checking your settings as you shoot It does use up battery power so you might want to turn off the automatic display if you don t need to review your settings frequently or if you especially want to conserve battery power The shoot ing information display can be viewed any time by pressing the Info button at the lower left side of the back of the D3100 You can choose whether to display Auto scene modes or P S A and M modes individually Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 109 Here s how this option works for both types of
483. t are less than max allow stretching the capacity of your mem ory card so you can shoehorn quite a few more pictures onto a single memory card That Figure 3 15 JPEG compres sion yields little image quality loss top extreme com pression pro duces visible loss of detail bottom Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 89 can come in useful when on vacation and youre running out of storage or when you re shooting non critical work that doesn t require 10 megapixels of resolution such as pho tos taken for real estate listings web page display photo ID cards or similar applica tions Some photographers like to record RAW JPEG Basic so they ll have a moderate quality JPEG file for review only and no intention of using for editing purposes while retaining access to the original RAW file for serious editing For most work using lower resolution and extra compression is false economy You never know when you might actually need that extra bit of picture detail Your best bet is to have enough memory cards to handle all the shooting you want to do until you have the chance to transfer your photos to your computer or a personal storage device However reduced image quality can sometimes be beneficial if you re shooting sequences of photos rapidly as the D3100 is able to hold more of them in its internal memory buffer before transferring to the memory card Still for most sports and other applications youd probably rather have
484. t exposure is especially critical take the light reading off an object of known reflectance Photographers sometimes carry around an 18 percent gray card available from any camera store and for critical exposures actually use that card placed in the subject area to measure exposure or to set a custom white balance if needed To meter properly you ll want to choose both the metering method how light is evalu ated and exposure method how the appropriate shutter speeds and apertures are cho sen based on the metered information I ll describe both in the following sections F STOPS VERSUS STOPS In photography parlance stop always means the aperture or lens opening However for lack of a current commonly used word for one exposure increment the term stop is often used In the past EV served this purpose but Exposure Value and its abbreviation has been inextricably intertwined with its use in describing Exposure Compensation In this book when I say stop by itself no f I mean one whole unit of exposure and am not necessarily referring to an actual f stop or lens aperture So adjusting the exposure by one stop can mean both changing to the next shutter speed increment say from 1 125th second to 1 250th second or the next aperture such as f 4 to f 5 6 Similarly 1 3 stop or 1 2 stop increments can mean either shutter speed or aperture changes depending on the context Be forewarned Chapter 4 m Fin
485. t first lets clear up that black cat gray cat white cat conundrum without using any actual cats Black white and gray cats have been a standard metaphor for many years as well so Pm going to explain this concept using a different and more cooperative life form fruit Figure 4 4 Exposure modes Semi automatic Manual modes Scene modes Figure 4 5 The yellow banana orange and deep pur ple plum repre sent light middle and dark tones Chapter 4 Fine Tuning Exposure 155 Figure 4 5 shows three ordinary pieces of fruit The yellow banana at left represents a white cat or any object that is very light but which contains detail that we want to see in the light areas The orange in the middle is a stand in for a gray cat because it has most of its details in the middle tones The deep purple plum serves as our black cat because it is a dark object with detail in its shadows The colors confuse the issue so I m going to convert our color fruit to black and white For the version shown in Figure 4 6 the exposure measured by spot metering was opti mized for the white yellow banana changing its tonal value to a medium 18 percent gray The dark purple and medium toned orange fruit are now too dark For Figure 4 7 the exposure was optimized for the dark purple plum making most of its surface now fall into the middle tone 18 percent gray range The light yellow banana and mid tone orange are now too
486. t matter is used to locate the subject within the frame If you ve selected Spot metering only standard i TTL without balanced fill flash is used 9 Mirror up Mirror up shutter opens The mirror flips up and the shutter opens At this point exposure and focus are locked in 10 Flash fired At the correct triggering moment depending on whether front or rear sync is used the camera sends a signal to one or more flashes to start flash dis charge The flash is quenched as soon as the correct exposure has been achieved 11 Shutter closes The shutter closes and mirror flips down You re ready to take another picture Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 279 12 Exposure confirmed Ordinarily the full charge in the flash may not be required If the flash indicator in the viewfinder blinks for about three seconds after the expo sure that means that the entire flash charge was required and it could mean that the full charge wasn t enough for a proper exposure Be sure to review your image on the LCD to make sure it s not underexposed and if it is make adjustments such as increasing the ISO setting of the D3100 to remedy the situation Working with Nikon Flash Units If you want to work with dedicated Nikon flash units at this time you have five choices the D3100 s built in flash the Nikon SB 900 SB 600 SB 400 on camera flash units and the SB R200 wireless remote flash These share certain features which Pll discuss w
487. t you change the filename applied in the camera to something more useful and edit the date time stamps of your files Photoshop Photoshop Elements Photoshop is the highend choice for image editing and Photoshop Elements is a great alternative for those who need some of the features of Photoshop but can do without the most sophisticated capabilities including editing CMYK files Both editors use the latest version of Adobe s Camera Raw plug in which makes it easy to adjust things like image resolution white balance exposure shadows brightness sharpness luminance and noise reduction One plus with the Adobe products is that they are available in iden tical versions for both Windows and Macs The latest version of Photoshop includes a built in RAW plug in that is compatible with the proprietary formats of a growing number of digital cameras both new and old and which can perform a limited number of manipulations on JPEG and TIFF files too This plug in also works with Photoshop Elements but with fewer features Here s how easy it is to manipulate a RAW file using the Adobe converter 1 Transfer the RAW images from your camera to your computer s hard drive 2 In Photoshop choose Open from the File menu or use Bridge 3 Select a RAW image file The Adobe Camera Raw plug in will pop up showing a preview of the image like the one shown in Figure 9 9 Mo svunal ss O ioc Figure 9 9 The basic ACR dial
488. tal SLR Photography Continuous Shooting The Nikon D3100 s 3 frames per second Continuous shooting release mode reminds me how far digital photography has brought us The first accessory I purchased when I worked as a newspaper sports photographer some years ago was a motor drive for my film SLR It enabled me to snap off a series of shots in rapid succession which came in very handy when a fullback broke through the line and headed for the end zone Even a seasoned action photographer can miss the decisive instant when a crucial block is made or a baseball superstar s bat shatters and pieces of cork fly out Continuous shoot ing simplifies taking a series of pictures either to ensure that one has more or less the exact moment you want to capture or to capture a sequence that is interesting as a col lection of successive images The D3100 s motor drive capabilities are in many ways much superior to what you get with a film camera For one thing a motor driven film camera can eat up film at an incredible pace which is why many of them were used with cassettes that held hun dreds of feet of film stock At three frames per second typical of film cameras a short burst of a few seconds can burn up as much as half of an ordinary 36 exposure roll of film The Nikon D3100 which fires off bursts at a faster frame rate up to 3 frames per second has reusable film so if you waste a few dozen shots on non decisive moments you ca
489. te the Nikon D3100 s GPS capabilities in the GPS choice within the Setup menu The first step is to allow the GP 1 to acquire signals from at least three satellites If you ve used a GPS in your car you ll know that satellite acquisition works best outdoors under a clear sky and out of the shadow of tall buildings and the Nikon unit is no excep tion It takes about 40 60 seconds for the GP 1 to connect A red blinking LED means that GPS data is not being recorded a green blinking LED signifies that the unit has acquired three satellites and is recording data When the LED is solid green the unit has connected to four or more satellites and is recording data with optimum accuracy Next set up the camera by selecting the GPS option found under the Setup menu on the Nikon D3100 Then select Auto Meter Off to disable automatic shutoff of the D3100 s exposure meters That will assure that the camera doesn t go to sleep while D3100 Figure 5 17 Nikon GP 1 geotagging unit Figure 5 18 Captured GPS information can be dis played when you review the image Chapter 5 m Advanced Shooting Tips for Your Nikon D3100 201 youre using the GPS unit Of course in this mode the camera will use more power the meters never go off and the GPS draws power constantly but you don t want to go through the 40 60 second satellite acquisition step each time you take a picture There is also a Position option in the Setup men
490. tely thereby controlling how much of the scene s illumination comes from the main flash and how much from the auxiliary flash units which can be used as fill flash background lights or if youre care ful to illuminate the hair of portrait subjects Studio Flash If you re serious about using multiple flash units a studio flash setup might be more practical The traditional studio flash is a multi part unit consisting of a flash head that mounts on your light stand and is tethered to an AC or sometimes battery power sup ply A single power supply can feed two or more flash heads at a time with separate con trol over the output of each head When they are operating off AC power studio flash don t have to be frugal with the juice and are often powerful enough to illuminate very large subjects or to supply lots and lots of light to smaller subjects The output of such units is measured in watt sec onds ws so you could purchase a 200ws 400ws or 800ws unit and a power pack to match Their advantages include greater power output much faster recycling built in model ing lamps multiple power levels and ruggedness that can stand up to transport because many photographers pack up these kits and tote them around as location lighting rigs Studio lighting kits can range in price from a few hundred dollars for a set of lights stands and reflectors to thousands for a high end lighting system complete with all the necessary acces
491. ter effect 144 145 Color Balance options 133 134 color coding for 71 Color Outline option 140 creating retouched copy of image 128 D Lighting option 128 129 Distortion Control options 139 Filter Effects options 133 Fisheye option 139 Image Overlay option 135 136 Miniature Effect 142 143 NEF RAW Processing options 136 137 Perspective Control option 140 141 Quick Retouch option 138 Red Eye Correction options 130 131 Small Picture option 134 Straighten option 138 Trim options 130 132 retouching See also Retouch menu with Adobe Camera Raw 307 on reviewing images 46 revealing images with short exposures 192 193 reviewing images 27 29 45 55 Before and After effect Retouch menu 144 145 in calendar view 49 50 deleting images 29 46 370 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography file information screen for 50 51 with GPS data 55 with Highlights display 51 52 with histograms 50 52 histograms displaying 172 movies viewing 214 with overview data screen 54 55 photo information working with 50 55 power saving by turning off 115 protecting images on 28 retouching images 46 with RGB histograms 50 52 scrolling through images 46 scrolling while 28 with Shooting Data screens 51 53 55 as thumbnails 46 48 49 zooming in out on 28 46 48 RGB histograms 173 174 Display mode options Playback menu 74 75 reviewing images with 50 52 right angle viewer 8 Ritchie
492. terans who tell you that a guide like this one isn t necessary because everything is in the user s manual Of course the basics on each control is in the manual supplied with the camera but how do you find it and once you ve located the information how do you figure out what it means What you really need is a street level roadmap that shows where everything is and exactly how it s used Instead what Nikon gives you in the user s manual is akin to a world globe with an overall view and many cross references to the pages that will tell you what you really need to know Check out the Getting to Know the Camera pages in Nikon s manual which compress views of the front back top and bottom of the D3100 into two tiny black and white line drawings and a couple insets There the tiny drawings with more than four dozen call outs point to various buttons and dials crammed into the pair of illustrations If you can find the control you want within this cramped layout you ll still need to flip back and forth among multiple pages individual buttons can have several different cross ref erences to locate the information 36 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Most other third party books follow this format featuring black and white photos or line drawings of front back and top views and many labels I originated the up close and personal full color street level roadmap rather than a satellite view
493. that are particularly cryptic 68 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography I m not going to waste a lot of space on some of the more obvious menu choices in these chapters For example you can probably figure out even without my help that the Beep option in the Setup menu with the solid state beeper in your camera sounds off during various activities such as the self timer countdown You can certainly decipher the import of the two options available for the Beep entry On and Off In this chapter Pll devote no more than a sentence or two to the blatantly obvious settings and con centrate on the more confusing aspects of D3100 setup such as autofocus Pll start with an overview of using the D3100 s menus themselves Anatomy of the Nikon D3100 s Menus For this entry level camera Nikon has tried to simplify the menu system reducing four separate menu listings Playback Shooting Custom Settings and Setup to three the Custom Settings menu has been banished and its options distributed among the three remaining menus There are also two bonus menus the Retouch menu which con tains functions you can apply to your images rather than operational options and the Recent Settings menu which simply displays the 20 most recent menu items youve accessed If you ve never used a Nikon digital SLR before this chapter will help you learn how to access and apply all these choices and most importantly why you
494. the metering selection it s at the bottom of the right hand column using the multi selector buttons 2 Press OK to select the option 3 Use the multi selector up down buttons to choose Matrix Center weighted or Spot metering described below and represented by the icons shown in Figure 1 14 24 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 1 14 Metering mode icons are left to right Matrix Center weighted Spot 4 Press OK to confirm your choice 5 Press the information edit button to exit or just tap the shutter release button m Matrix metering The standard metering mode the D3100 attempts to intelli gently classify your image and choose the best exposure based on readings from a 420 segment color CCD sensor that interprets light reaching the viewfinder using a database of hundreds of thousands of patterns m Center weighted metering The D3100 meters the entire scene but gives the most emphasis to the central area of the frame measuring about 8mm m Spot metering Exposure is calculated from a smaller 3 5mm central spot about 2 5 percent of the image area You ll find a detailed description of each of these modes in Chapter 4 Choosing Focus Modes This section shows how to select when the D3100 calculates focus all the time continu ously only once when you press a control like the shutter release button single autofo cus or manually when you rotate a focus ring on t
495. the only printed user manual you receive with the Nikon D3100 is a terse booklet that includes only the basic setup and usage information and an even smaller quick start guide pamphlet poster Many point and shoot cameras come with better printed mate rials Both are decent for what they do but they make a book like this one even more necessary than when Nikon provided compact user manuals in printed form m CD ROM Reference Manual The true manual for the D3100 is furnished as a PDF file on a CD ROM packed in the box If you have this book you probably don t need the CD ROM version of the manual because I m providing more com plete descriptions of features and options But you might want to check the refer ence manual that Nikon provides if only to confirm the actual nomenclature for some obscure accessory or to double check an error code You can copy this PDF version to your laptop netbook a CD ROM or other media in case you want to access this reference when my book isn t handy If you have an old Secure Digital card that s too small to be usable on a modern dSLR I still have some 128MB and 256MB cards you can store the PDF on that But an even better choice is to put the manual on a low capacity USB thumb drive which you can buy for less than 10 You ll then be able to access the reference anywhere you are because you can always find someone with a computer that has a USB port and Adobe Acrobat Reader avai
496. the sensor A hot pixel is one that shows up as a bright spot only during long exposures as the sensor warms A pixel stuck in the on position always appears in the image Both show up as bright red green or blue pixels usually surrounded by a small cluster of other improperly illuminated pixels caused by the camera s interpolating the hot or stuck pixel into its surroundings as shown in Figure 10 5 A stuck pixel can also be permanently dark Either kind is likely to show up when they contrast with plain evenly colored areas of your image Figure 10 5 A stuck pixel is surrounded by improperly interpolated pixels created by the D3100 s demosaicing algorithm Chapter 10 m Nikon D3100 Troubleshooting and Prevention 329 Finding one or two hot or stuck pixels in your sensor is unfortunately fairly com mon They can be removed by telling the D3100 to ignore them through a sim ple process called pixel mapping If the bad pixels become bothersome Nikon can remap your sensor s pixels with a quick trip to a service center Bad pixels can also show up on your camera s color LCD panel but unless they are abundant the wisest course is to just ignore them Q I see an irregular out of focus blob in the same place in my photos Is that sen sor dust A Yes Sensor contaminants can take the form of tiny spots larger blobs or even curvy lines if they are caused by minuscule fibers that have settled on the sensor T
497. the turning off of expo sure meters while using the GP 1 after the time specified in Auto meter off delay discussed earlier in this chapter has elapsed When the meters turn off the GP 1 becomes inactive and must reacquire at least three satellite signals before it can begin recording GPS data once more m Auto meter off Disable Causes exposure meters to remain on while using the GP 1 so that GPS data can be recorded at any time despite increased battery drain m Position This is an information display rather than a selectable option It appears when the GP 1 is connected and receiving satellite positioning data It shows the latitude longitude altitude and Coordinated Universal Time UTC values Youll find more on using GPS in Chapter 5 Eye Fi Upload This option is displayed only when a compatible Eye Fi memory card is being used in the D3100 The Eye Fi card looks like an ordinary SDHC memory card but has built in WiFi capabilities so it can be used to transmit your photos as they are taken directly to a computer over a WiFi network You can select On or Off There are times when you might want to disable the Eye Fi card for example if you ve set it to automatically upload your pictures to Facebook as you shoot and you decide you don t want the cur rent batch youre shooting to be transmitted You ll find more about using Eye Fi in Chapter 10 Firmware Version You can see the current firmware release in use in this
498. ther screen that presents seven differ ent types of lamps from sodium vapor through warm white fluorescent down to high temperature mercury vapor If you know the exact type of non incandescent lighting Figure 3 16 Adjusting color temperature can provide different results of the same subject at settings of 3 400K left 5 000K middle and 2 800K right 92 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 3 17 gt White balance The Waie Balance menu has predefined A AUTO Auto values plus the option of set eg ting a preset Incandescent D pe yourself ALZA Fluorescent Direct sunlight Flash Cloudy amp Shade PRE Preset Manual being used you can select it or settle on a likely compromise Press the multi selector right button again or press OK to select the fluorescent lamp variation you want to use When you ve finished choosing a fluorescent light source and for all other predefined val ues Auto Incandescent Direct Sunlight Flash Cloudy or Shade you ll next be taken to the fine tuning screen shown in Figure 3 18 and which uses the incandescent set ting as an example The screen shows a grid with two axes a blue amber axis extend ing left right and a green magenta axis extending up and down the grid By default the grid s cursor is positioned in the middle and a readout to the right of the grid shows the cursor s coordinates on the A B axis yes I know
499. ther than allowing them to be seriously underexposed Advanced Shooting Tips for Your Nikon D3100 Getting the right exposure is one of the foundations of a great photograph but a lot more goes into a compelling shot than good tonal values A sharp image proper white balance good color and other factors all can help elevate your image from good to exceptional So now that you ve got a good understanding of exposure tucked away youll want to learn how to work with some additional exposure options use the auto matic and manual focusing controls available with the Nikon D3100 and master some of the many ways you can fine tune your images In this chapter I m including some specific advanced shooting techniques you can apply to your Nikon D3100 If you master these concepts you can be confident that you re well on your way towards mastering your Nikon D3100 In fact you ll be ready for the discussions of using lenses Chapter 7 and working with light Chapter 8 How Focus Works Although Nikon added autofocus capabilities to its cameras in the 1980s back in the day of film prior to that focusing was always done manually Honest Even though viewfinders were bigger and brighter than they are today special focusing screens mag nifiers and other gadgets were often used to help the photographer achieve correct focus Imagine what it must have been like to focus manually under demanding fast moving conditions such as sports ph
500. this button and spin the command dial to add or subtract exposure when using 60 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Program Aperture priority or Shutter priority modes This facility allows you to override the settings the camera has made and create a picture that is lighter or darker This is called exposure compensation You can apply exposure compensa tion in Manual mode too but in that case the exposure isn t really changed The D3100 simply tells you how much extra or reduced exposure you are requesting using a display in the viewfinder and LCD which I ll describe later in this chapter Finally the button can be used in conjunction with the flash button on the front of the camera to set flash exposure compensation Hold down both buttons and spin the command dial to adjust the amount of flash exposure I ll explain this process in Chapter 8 Focal plane indicator This indicator shows the plane of the sensor for use in appli cations where exact measurement of the distance from the focal plane to the sub ject are necessary These are mostly scientific close up applications m Mode dial Rotate the mode dial to choose between Program Aperture priority Shutter priority and Manual exposure modes as well as the scene modes Auto Auto No Flash Portrait Landscape Child Sports Close up and Night Portrait Your choice will be displayed on the LCD and in the viewfinder both described in th
501. ting of a scene or as supplementary illumination to fill in the shadows The built in flash will pop up automatically as required in Auto Portrait Child Close up and Night Portrait scene modes To use the built in flash in Manual Aperture priority Shutter priority or Program modes just press the flash pop up button shown in Figure 1 17 When the flash is fully charged a lightning bolt symbol will flash at the Viewfinder flash ready indicator Flash pop up Flash mode Flash compensation button 30 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography right side of the viewfinder display When using P Program and A Aperture priority exposure modes the D3100 will select a shutter speed for you automatically from the range of 1 250th to 1 60th seconds In S Shutter priority and M Manual modes you select the shutter speed from 1 250th to 30 seconds Transferring Photos to Your Computer When you re ready to transfer your photos to your computer you ll find everything you need to know in this section The final step in your picture taking session will be to transfer the photos you ve taken to your computer for printing further review or image editing Your D3100 allows you to print directly to PictBridge compatible printers and to create print orders right in the camera plus you can select which images to transfer to your computer I ll outline those options in Chapter 3 I always
502. ting with 308 center weighted metering and 160 Quick Retouch option Retouch menu 138 brightness histograms 172 174 Display mode options Playback menu 74 75 reviewing images with 50 Bring more into focus Guide mode 33 brush cleaning sensors 333 335 buffer for continuous shooting 18 190 191 built in flash 38 39 258 259 manual flash 274 red eye reduction with 130 Shooting menu options 104 TTL through the lens mode 274 typical flash sequence 278 279 working with 29 30 279 280 bulb blowers See blower bulbs bulb exposures 195 C cables See also USB cables external flash connecting 286 multiple non dedicated units connecting 290 291 remote cables 7 8 TTL flash cords 8 video cables 7 calculation of exposure See exposure calendar view reviewing images in 49 50 camera shake savibration reduction short exposures and 193 with telephoto lenses 244 246 with wide angle lenses 241 candid photography telephoto lenses for 244 Capture One Pro C1 Pro 302 304 card readers firmware updates with 319 with Nikon Transfer 298 power saving with 115 transferring images to computer with 30 31 card safes 324 Carson MiniBrite magnifiers 336 338 catadioptric lenses 249 CCD sensor 228 CD ROM Nikon Software Suite on 6 reference manual on 6 center weighted metering 24 103 working with 159 160 Child mode 20 22 built in flash in 29 flash sync modes in 277 children See also Child mode
503. tion is thrown away by selecting from among the Standard Fine Super Fine or other quality settings offered by your camera See also RAW Kelvin K A unit of measure based on the absolute temperature scale in which absolute zero is zero it s used to describe the color of continuous spectrum light sources and applied when setting white balance For example daylight has a color temperature of about 5 500K and a tungsten lamp has a temperature of about 3 400K lag time The interval between when the shutter is pressed and when the picture is actually taken During that span the camera may be automatically focusing and cal culating exposure With digital SLRs like the Nikon D3100 lag time is generally very short with non dSLRs the elapsed time easily can be one second or more under cer tain conditions latitude The degree by which exposure can be varied and still produce an acceptable photo lens flare A feature of conventional photography that is both a bane and a creative out let It is an effect produced by the reflection of light internally among elements of an optical lens Bright light sources within or just outside the field of view cause lens flare Flare can be reduced by the use of coatings on the lens elements or with the use of lens hoods Photographers sometimes use the effect as a creative technique and Photoshop includes a filter that lets you add lens flare at your whim lighting ratio The proportional relationship bet
504. tion is turned off m Active D Lighting status Shows the D Lighting that will be applied Focus point Shows the appropriate focus indicator for the AF area mode in use m Image Size Displays the current resolution L Large M Medium or S Small m Image Quality Shows JPEG Image Quality Fine Norm or Basic m White balance Displays the current white balance preset or WB Auto Movie time remaining Indicates the number of minutes and seconds remaining for movie shooting 212 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Alignment grid Not shown in the figure This set of lines can be used to help line up horizontal or vertical lines m Self timer Not shown in figure A self timer icon appears at right when the self timer is active m Movie frame size Shows current movie resolution Additional information is arrayed along the bottom of the LCD image more or less duplicating much of the data in the LED display that is seen through the viewfinder These indicators include m Metering method Shows whether Matrix Center weighted or Spot metering is selected Choose before entering Live View m Shutter speed The currently selected shutter speed m F stop The current f stop m ISO value Shows the ISO sensitivity setting or ISO Auto m Shots remaining Indicates the number of images remaining on your memory card at the current Image Size and Image Quality settings Shooting in Live View
505. tional advice that you ve already forgotten tried to sell you a Secure Digital card and then after theyd given you all the help you could absorb sent you on your way with a handshake 4 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Perhaps you purchased your D3100 from one of those mass merchandisers that also sell washing machines and vacuum cleaners In that case you might have been sent on your way with only the handshake or maybe not even that if you resisted the efforts to sell you an extended warranty You save a few bucks at the big box stores but you don t get the personal service a professional photo retailer provides It s your choice There s a third alternative of course You might have purchased your camera from a mail order or Internet source and your D3100 arrived in a big brown or purple red truck Your only interaction when you took possession of your camera was to scrawl your signature on an electronic clipboard In all three cases the first thing to do is to carefully unpack the camera and double check the contents with the checklist on one end of the box helpfully designated under the Supplied Accessories bracketed heading While this level of setup detail may seem as superfluous as the instructions on a bottle of shampoo checking the contents first is always a good idea No matter who sells a camera it s common to open boxes use a par ticular camera for a demonstration and then repack t
506. tions off their retinas When using the self timer this lamp also flashes to mark the countdown until the photo is taken and serves to pro vide some extra illumination in dark environments to assist the autofocus system m Hand grip This provides a comfortable hand hold and also contains the D3100 s battery Memory card door Slide this door toward the back of the camera to provide access to the SD memory card slot m AC adapter port Connect the optional EP 5 power cable from the EH 5a AC adapter into this port You ll find more controls on the other side of the D3100 shown in Figures 2 3 and 2 4 The main points of interest shown include m Fn Function button This conveniently located button can be programmed to perform any one of several functions including changing the image quality setting ISO or specifying white balance using the Buttons entry in the Setup menu Its default behavior is to set the ISO sensitivity when you hold it while rotating the command dial I recommend retaining this default behavior because the D3100 doesn t have a dedicated button for this function m Lens release button Press this button to unlock the lens and then rotate it away from the shutter release button to dismount your optics Flash pop up Flash mode button This button releases the built in flash so it can flip up and start the charging process If you decide you do not want to use the flash you can turn it off by pressing the f
507. tions that worked for previous books dedicated to earlier camera models and concentrate on expanded descriptions of things readers have told me they want to know more about a solid helping of fresh sample photos and lots of details about the latest and greatest new features Rest assured this book was written expressly for you and tailored especially for the D3100 Who Are You When preparing a guidebook for a specific camera it s always wise to consider exactly who will be reading the book Indeed thinking about the potential audience for David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography is what led me to taking the approach and format I use for this book I realized that the needs of readers like you had to be addressed both from a functional level what you will use the D3100 for as well as from a skill level how much experience you may have with digital photography dSLRs or Nikon cameras specifically From a functional level you probably fall into one of these categories m Professional photographers who understand photography and digital SLRs and simply want to learn how to use the Nikon D3100 as a backup camera or as a cam era for their personal off duty use m Individuals who want to get better pictures or perhaps transform their growing interest in photography into a full fledged hobby or artistic outlet with a Nikon D3100 and advanced techniques m Those who want to produce more professional loo
508. tments in 212 selecting methods 154 156 157 161 165 shooting information display on mode 57 short exposures 191 194 Exposure compensation button 59 60 extension tubes 253 external flash 258 259 See also speedlights Commander mode flash units 284 285 connecting 286 flash modes for 283 284 L firmware and 317 light stands supporting 292 multiple light sources 288 291 non dedicated units connecting 290 291 overheating of flash units 284 typical flash sequence 278 279 vignetting avoiding 243 voltage issues 291 working with 280 281 zoom heads using 283 extra batteries 7 11 312 extra low dispersion glass 229 extreme close ups in movies 219 220 Eye Fi cards backing up shots on 323 324 default value 106 Setup menu s upload options 126 Eye Fi cards 323 324 eyecup 5 41 42 cap 5 magnifier eyepiece 8 eyeglasses diopter correction for 14 eyecup on viewfinder for 41 F E J Westcott Company 266 f stops See also maximum aperture DOF depth of field and 184 equivalent exposures 153 light and 151 Live View information on 211 212 sharpness range of 184 shutter speeds compared 152 stops vs 156 taking aperture 63 face detection L firmware for 315 316 on reviewing images 47 Face priority AF 102 in Live View 208 209 Facebook Eye Fi cards and 324 faces See also face detection flat faces with telephoto lenses 246 fades in movies 219 falling back effect 140 141
509. to 85mm focal lengths going longer only when youre forced to shoot from a greater distance and wider only when shooting three quarters full length portraits or group shots Symptom blur due to camera shake Use a higher shutter speed boosting ISO if necessary consider an image stabilized lens or mount your camera on a tripod monopod or brace it with some other support Of those three solutions only the first will reduce blur caused by subject motion a VR lens or tripod won t help you freeze a race car in mid lap Symptom color fringes Chromatic aberration is the most pernicious optical prob lem found in telephoto lenses There are others including spherical aberration astigmatism coma curvature of field and similarly scary sounding phenomena The best solution for any of these is to use a better lens that offers the proper degree of correction or stop down the lens to minimize the problem But that s not always possible Your second best choice may be to correct the fringing in your favorite RAW conversion tool or image editor Photoshop s Lens Correction filter found in the Filter menu s Distort submenu offers sliders that minimize both red cyan and blue yellow fringing Symptom lines that curve inwards Pincushion distortion is found in many tele photo lenses You might find after a bit of testing that it is worse at certain focal lengths with your particular zoom lens Like chromatic aberration it can be par tially
510. tography almost invariably with a tripod as I don t find the recipro cal of the focal length rule particularly helpful in most cases I would not hand hold this hefty lens at its 5 00mm setting with a 1 500th second shutter speed under most circumstances Nor if you want to account for the crop factor would I use 1 750th second However at 1 2 000th second or faster it s entirely possible for a steady hand to use this lens without a tripod or monopod s extra support and I ve found that my whole approach to shooting animals and other elusive subjects changes in high speed mode Selective focus allows dramatically isolating my prey wide open at 6 3 too 194 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Figure 5 12 A large amount of artificial illu mination and an ISO 1600 sensitivity set ting allowed capturing this shot at 1 2 000th sec ond without use of an elec tronic flash Chapter 5 m Advanced Shooting Tips for Your NikonD3100 195 Long Exposures Longer exposures are a doorway into another world showing us how even familiar scenes can look much different when photographed over periods measured in seconds At night long exposures produce streaks of light from moving illuminated subjects like automobiles or amusement park rides Extra long exposures of seemingly pitch dark subjects can reveal interesting views using light levels barely bright enough to see by At any time of day in
511. tremely short duration as brief as 1 50 000th second or less Although the D3100 s built in flash unit can give you these ultra quick glimpses of moving subjects an external flash such as one of the Nikon speedlights offers even more versatility You can read more about using electronic flash to stop action in Chapter 8 192 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Of course the D3100 is fully capable of immobilizing all but the fastest movement using only its shutter speeds which range all the way up to a respectably quick 1 4 000th second Indeed you ll rarely have need for such a brief shutter speed in ordinary shoot ing If you wanted to use an aperture of f 1 8 at ISO 200 outdoors in bright sunlight for some reason a shutter speed of 1 4 000th second would more than do the job You d need a faster shutter speed only if you moved the ISO setting to a higher sensitivity say to compensate for a polarizing filter you attached to your lens Under less than full sun light 1 4 000th second is more than fast enough for any conditions youre likely to encounter Most sports action can be frozen at 1 2 000th second or slower and for many sports a slower shutter speed is actually preferable for example to allow the wheels of a racing automobile or motorcycle or the propeller on a classic aircraft to blur realistically If you want to do some exotic action freezing photography you can use the Nikon D3100 s faster s
512. ts You ll find this post shot feature in the Retouch menu which Ill describe later in the chapter A new wrinkle however is the Active D Lighting capability introduced with Nikon s recent cameras which unlike the Retouch menu post processing feature applies its improvements while you are actually taking the photo That s good news and bad news Figure 3 19 No D Lighting left Active D Lighting right Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 97 It means that if youre taking photos in a contrasty environment Active D Lighting can automatically improve the apparent dynamic range of your image as you shoot without additional effort on your part However you ll need to disable the feature once you leave the high contrast lighting behind and the process does take some time to apply as you shoot You wouldn t want to use Active D Lighting for continuous shoot ing of sports subjects for example There are many situations in which the selective application of D Lighting using the Retouch menu is a better choice For best results use your D3100 s Matrix metering mode described in more detail in Chapter 4 so the Active D Lighting feature can work with a full range of exposure information from multiple points in the image Active D Lighting works its magic by subtly underexposing your image so that details in the highlights which would normally be overexposed and become featureless white pixels are not lost At the same time i
513. ts at H1 or H2 ISO 6400 and 12800 equivalent as D700 owners get from their cameras Lack of wide angle perspective Of course the 1 5X crop factor applies to wide angle lenses too so your 20mm ultrawide lens becomes a hum drum 30mm near wide angle and a 35mm focal length is transformed into what photographers call a normal lens Zoom lenses like the 18 105mm lens that is often purchased with the Nikon cameras in a kit have less wide angle perspective at their minimum focal length The 18 105mm optic for example is the equivalent of a 27mm moderate wide angle when zoomed to its widest setting Nikon has fixed this problem by providing several different extra wide zooms specifically for the DX format includ ing the relatively affordable 12 24mm f 4 DX Nikkor You ll never really lack for wide angle lenses but some of us will need to buy wider optics to regain the expan sive view we re looking for Mixed body mix up The relatively small number of Nikon D3100 owners who also have a Nikon full frame camera like the D700 can t ignore the focal length mix up factor If you own both FX and DX format cameras some D3100 owners use them as a backup to a D700 for example it s vexing to have to adjust to the different fields of view that the cameras provide If you remove a given lens from one camera and put it on the other the effective focal length field of view changes That 17 35mm f 2 8 zoom works as an ultrawide to
514. ts underneath from dust and moisture In the figure you can also see the neck strap connector and switches on the lens to adjust for autofo cus manual focus and to turn vibration reduction VR on or off The connector ports shown in Figure 2 6 with the rubber cover removed are as follows m Accessory terminal Plug in the MC DC2 wired remote control or the GP 1 global positioning system GPS accessory into this port m USB port Plug in an optional USB cable one is not furnished with your Nikon D3100 and connect the other end to a USB port in your computer to transfer pho tos or to interface with the Nikon Camera Control Pro software described in Chapter 9 m HDMI port Connect your camera to an HDTV television or monitor using this port You ll have to buy a mini HDMI cable for this option as one is not furnished with the camera Figure 2 5 VR on Lens autofocus Neck strap GPS Remote off switch manual focus connector HDMI Video switch connector cover Figure 2 6 Chapter 2 m Nikon D3100 Roadmap 41 Accessory terminal USB connector HDMI port AV connector m Video port You can link this connector with a standard definition television to view your photos on a large screen An optional A V cable that carries both video output from your camera as well as monaural audio can be purchased from your favorite electronics or camera retailer Attach the yellow RCA plug from this cable to the yellow coded RCA jack
515. tware that would reverse my dumb move so I could retrieve the software No wait I didnt have the software I needed to recover the software I erased I d reformatted it to oblivion Chalk this one up as either the ultimate irony or Stupid Photographer Trick 523 A more reasonable approach is to try special data recovery software you can install on your computer and use to attempt to resurrect your lost images yourself They may not actually be gone completely Perhaps your SD card s table of contents is jumbled or only a few pictures are damaged in such a way that your camera and computer can t read some or any of the pictures on the card Some of the available software was writ ten specifically to reconstruct lost pictures while other utilities are more general pur pose applications that can be used with any media including floppy disks and hard disk drives They have names like OnTrack Photo Rescue 2 Digital Image Recovery MediaRecover Image Recall and the aptly named Recover My Photos You ll find a comprehensive list and links as well as some picture recovery tips at www ulti mateslr com memory card recovery php I like the RescuePRO software that SanDisk supplies see Figure 10 4 especially since it came on a mini CD that was impossible to erase by mistake DIMINISHING RETURNS Usually once you ve recovered any images on a Secure Digital card reformatted it and returned it to service it will function relia
516. ty edges Some kinds of chromatic aberration can be reduced by stopping down the lens while all sorts can be reduced by using lenses with low diffraction index glass or ED elements in Nikon nomenclature and by incorporating elements that cancel the chromatic aberration of other glass in the lens Symptom lines that bow outward Some wide angle lenses cause straight lines to bow outwards with the strongest effect at the edges In fisheye or curvilinear lenses this defect is a feature as you can see in Figure 7 10 When distortion is not desired you ll need to use a lens that has corrected barrel distortion Manufacturers like Nikon do their best to minimize or eliminate it producing a rectilinear lens often using aspherical lens elements which are not cross sections of a sphere You can also minimize barrel distortion simply by framing your photo with some extra space all around so the edges where the defect is most obvious can be cropped out of the picture Some image editors including Photoshop and Photoshop Elements and Nikon Capture NX have a lens distortion correction feature Figure 7 10 Many wide angle lenses cause lines to bow outwards toward the edges of the image with a fisheye lens this tendency is considered an interesting feature Chapter 7 m Working with Lenses 243 Symptom dark corners and shadows in flash photos The Nikon D3100 s built in electronic flash is designed to provide even coverage for
517. u s GPS entry which doesn t really do any thing other than show you your current GPS information on the D3100 s LCD screen Youre all set Once the unit is up and running you can view GPS information using photo information screens available on the color LCD and described in Chapter 2 The GPS screen which appears only when a photo has been taken using the GPS unit looks something like Figure 5 18 The shooting information screen provides a constant update of your GPS status with an indicator in the upper right corner of the screen m Non flashing static You re in business The GP 1 has acquired the satellites it needs to function and any pictures you take will have location data embedded in the Exif information attached to your image file m Flashing The GP 1 is searching for satellites No GPS data will be recorded when you take pictures You ll probably see this flashing indicator when you shoot indoors in a location that doesn t have a clear view of the sky through some open windows m No icon The GP 1 is not receiving location data from the satellites for a period of at least two seconds No GPS data will be attached to your images while the icon is not visible 06 04 2011 02 12 30 NIKON D3100 This page intentionally left blank Live View and Shooting Movies As weve seen in our exploration of its features so far the Nikon D3100 is superbly equipped for taking still photographs of very high quality in a wid
518. u are not using manual focus the D3100 will analyze the scene and may switch to another scene mode that s more appropriate for the scene It may choose Portrait Landscape Close up if the subject is close to the camera or Night Portrait if the D3100 detects a dark background scene modes If none of these seem especially suitable the camera will fall back to Auto or Auto Flash Off Viewing Live View Information Once you ve activated Live View a display like the one shown in Figure 6 6 appears Not all of the information appears all the time For example the Time Remaining indi cator shows only when there are 30 seconds or less remaining for Live View shooting The indicators overlaid on the image can be displayed or suppressed by pressing the Info button that s the one on the top of the camera southwest of the shutter release As you press the Info button on top of the camera repeatedly not the information edit button on the back to the left of the LCD which is used when you want to adjust set tings the LCD cycles among these screen variations m Live View screen overlaid with shooting information m Live View screen overlaid with only minimal information m Live View screen overlaid with basic information plus a 16 segment alignment grid The overlaid indicators include m Shooting mode This indicator shows the mode dial position you ve selected including any of the PASM Program Aperture priority Shutter priority
519. u might not be able to take a picture at all while the camera is seeking focus you re locked out until the autofocus mechanism is happy with the current setting AF S Single Autofocus is sometimes referred to as focus priority for that reason Because of the small delay while the camera zeroes in on correct focus you might experience slightly more shutter lag This mode uses less battery power When sharp focus is achieved the focus confirmation light at the lower left will remain green without flashing By keeping the shutter button depressed halfway you ll find you can reframe the image while retaining the focus and exposure that s been set AF C This mode also known as Continuous Autofocus is the one to use for sports and other fast moving subjects In this mode once the shutter release is partially depressed the camera sets the focus but continues to monitor the subject so that if it moves or you move the lens will be refocused to suit Focus and exposure aren t really locked until you press the shutter release down all the way to take the picture You ll often see Continuous Autofocus referred to as release priority If you press the shutter release down all the way while the system is refining focus the camera will go ahead and take a pic ture even if the image is slightly out of focus You ll find that AF C produces the least amount of shutter lag of any autofocus mode press the button and the camera fires It also uses the mo
520. unprocessed information captured by the camera after conversion to digital form RAW files are very large compared to JPEG files and must be processed by a special program such as Nikon Capture NX or Adobe s Camera Raw filter after being downloaded from the camera rear curtain sync second curtain sync An optional kind of electronic flash syn chronization technique originally associated with focal plane shutters which consists of a traveling set of curtains including a front first curtain which opens to reveal the film or sensor and a rear second curtain which follows at a distance determined by 348 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography shutter speed to conceal the film or sensor at the conclusion of the exposure For a flash picture to be taken the entire sensor must be exposed at one time to the brief flash expo sure so the image is exposed after the front curtain has reached the other side of the focal plane but before the rear curtain begins to move Rear curtain sync causes the flash to fire at the end of the exposure an instant before the second or rear curtain of the focal plane shutter begins to move With slow shutter speeds this feature can cre ate a blur effect from the ambient light showing as patterns that follow a moving sub ject with the subject shown sharply frozen at the end of the blur trail If you were shooting a photo of The Flash the superhero would appear sharp with a ghostly trail
521. ure priority modes 166 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography For example I ve selected a Manual exposure with both f stop and shutter speed suit able for my image using say ISO 200 I can change the exposure in one third stop increments by using the information edit screen to change the ISO to 400 for one addi tional stop or to 100 for one less stop s worth of exposure I keep my preferred f stop and shutter speed in either case but still adjust the exposure Or perhaps I am using S mode and the metered exposure at ISO 200 is 1 500th sec ond at f 11 If I decide on the spur of the moment I d rather use 1 500th second at f 8 I can change the ISO to 100 Of course it s a good idea to monitor your ISO changes so you don t end up at Hi 1 ISO 6400 accidentally ISO settings can of course also be used to boost or reduce sensitivity in particular shoot ing situations The D3100 can use ISO settings from ISO 100 up to Hi 1 0 3 200 equivalent The camera can also adjust the ISO automatically as appropriate for var ious lighting conditions When you choose the Auto ISO setting in the Shooting menu as described in Chapter 3 the D3100 adjusts the sensitivity dynamically to suit the sub ject matter based on minimum shutter speed and ISO limits you have prescribed As I noted in Chapter 3 you should use Auto ISO cautiously if you don t want the D3100 to use an ISO higher than you might otherwise have s
522. ures with two or three cameras around your neck or tucked in a 238 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography camera case so youd be ready to take a long shot or an intimate close up or wide angle view on a moment s notice without the need to switch lenses It made sense at the time to have a half dozen or so bodies two to use one in the shop one in transit and a couple backups Zoom lenses of the time had a limited zoom range were heavy and not very sharp especially when you tried to wield one of those monsters hand held That s all changed today Smaller longer sharper zoom lenses many with VR features are available When selecting between zoom and prime lenses there are several considerations to pon der Here s a checklist of the most important factors I already mentioned image qual ity and maximum aperture earlier but those aspects take on additional meaning when comparing zooms and primes m Logistics As prime lenses offer just a single focal length you ll need more of them to encompass the full range offered by a single zoom More lenses mean additional slots in your camera bag and extra weight to carry Just within Nikon s line alone you can choose from a good selection of general purpose if you can count AF lenses that won t autofocus with the D3100 as general purpose prime lenses in 28mm 35mm 50mm 85mm 100mm 135mm and 200mm focal lengths all of which are overlapped by the 18
523. us Mode raskain wel oie a aa A EEA 185 A tofoc s ete pou hueta beers Beaded eke Tea RN e ipea iN 188 Continuous Shooting sn 6 hos a4 oe eke Bae eek oe es rererere 190 A Tny Shiceof Mme eri han ed ek oe eae eee eee A 191 Working with Short Exposures 44 64 s05 ss0e0 dees eseee en 192 Long EXpPOSUres snes d deb shg eink we ARE a eR E 195 Three Ways to Take Long Exposures 2oved ceeds ueeweseeun sex 195 Working with Long Exposures 454 s60 740s0 add Oia awe been 196 Geotagging with the Nikon GP l 92 0 lt 464 e2saebenseadethdanes 199 Chapter 6 Live View and Shooting Movies 203 Working with Live VIGW ais cod ae sew ye ea oe coe Bae ne amp w 203 Fun with Live View s 4os6 46sse264664 080044 beoseduea nd ices 204 Beginning Liye View ssc a 6 e5 6 oe Be wd aeie bw Raha ee ER By 205 Viewing Live View Information 02 sees ee ee eee 210 Shooting in Live View lt i 40 44 os ee ear ene Nie eee se eRdae es 212 Shooting Movies with the D3100 4323 0456 Petadeced saad baded ads 213 Viewing Your MovieS 0 cece eee eee ee eee eee tens 214 Editing Your Movies 1s canuseeetwe o0 esa eee Ree ak eee ee 214 Tips for Shooting Better Movies 0 464 2 4420 i0s0 snea0e eee 216 Make a Shooting Script 4 46 eek Wai wed ee baw eked we eae d 216 Use Storyboards lt c oo b 4 28 cad se Rk AGO KEE SG ENED ROR ORE EE ER 217 Story relling in Vige lt lt sada gureetan et ORG ewes ew oe HRA 217 Lighting fot Vides 452 4
524. us shooting environments To learn more browse our complete collection of David Busch titles and purchase please visit WWW Courseptr com davidbusch
525. ut it s not uncommon for such mistreatment to do some damage Memory cards can also be stomped on accidentally bent dropped into the ocean chewed by pets and otherwise rendered unusable in myriad ways Or if the card is for matted in your computer with a memory card reader your D3100 may fail to recognize it Occasionally I ve found that a memory card used in one camera would fail if used in Chapter 10 m Nikon D3100 Troubleshooting and Prevention 325 a different camera until I reformatted it in Windows and then again in the camera Every once in awhile a card goes completely bad and seemingly can t be salvaged Another way to lose images is to do commonplace things with your SD card at an inop portune time If you remove the card from the D3100 while the camera is writing images to the card you ll lose any photos in the buffer and may damage the file struc ture of the card making it difficult or impossible to retrieve the other pictures you ve taken The same thing can happen if you remove the SD card from your computer s card reader while the computer is writing to the card say to erase files you ve already moved to your computer You can avoid this by vor using your computer to erase files ona Secure Digital card but instead always reformatting the card in your D3100 before you use it again What Can You Do Pay attention If you re having problems the first thing you should do is stop using that memory card Don
526. vailable Chapter 3 m Setting Up Your Nikon D3100 69 Figure 3 1 The most recently accessed menu appears when you press the MENU button PLAYBACK MENU e Delete Playback folder T Display mode F E Image review Rotate tall Slide show Print set DPOF There are three columns of information in each menu screen m The left hand column includes an icon representing each of the top level menu screens From the top in Figure 3 1 they are Playback right pointing triangle icon Shooting camera icon Setup wrench Retouch a paintbrush and Recent Settings a tabbed page with Help access represented by a question mark at the bottom of the column The center column includes the name representing the function of each choice in the currently selected menu For example Delete represents the menu entry for removing individual photos or multiple images while Print set DPOF indicates the menu entry used for choosing photos for printing m The right hand column has an icon or text that shows either the current setting for that menu item or text or an icon which represents the function of that menu entry In Figure 3 1 a trash can icon shows that you can use the Delete entry for remov ing images while the text OFF appears next to the Rotate tall entry indicating that the D3100 has been set to not rotate vertical images on the LCD 70 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography Navigating among the
527. ve introduced new bugs of their own Each new firmware release incorporates the changes from previous releases so if you skip a minor upgrade you should have no problems How It Works If youre computer savvy you might wonder how your Nikon D3100 is able to over write its own operating system that is how can the existing firmware be used to load the new version on top of itself It s a little like lifting yourself by reaching down and pulling up on your bootstraps Not ironically that s almost exactly what happens At your command when you start the upgrade process the D3100 shifts into a special mode in which it is no longer operating from its firmware but rather from a small piece of software called a bootstrap loader a separate protected software program that func tions only at startup or when upgrading firmware The loader s function is to look for firmware to launch or when directed to copy new firmware from a Secure Digital card to the internal memory space where the old firmware is located The loader software isn t set up to go hunting through your Secure Digital card for the firmware file It looks only in the top or root directory of your card so that s where you must copy the firmware you download Once youve determined that a new firmware update is available for your camera and that you want to install it just follow these steps If you chicken out any Nikon Service Center can install the firmware upgrade for you
528. ver the longer exposures also increase the likelihood that some pixels will register random phantom photons often because the longer an imager is hot the warmer it gets and that heat can be mistaken for photons Chapter 4 m Fine Tuning Exposure 167 Fortunately Nikon s electronics geniuses have done an exceptional job minimizing noise from all causes in the D3100 Even so you might still want to apply the optional long exposure noise reduction that can be activated using Long exp NR in the Shooting menu where the feature can be turned On or Off This type of noise reduction involves the D3100 taking a second blank exposure and comparing the random pixels in that image with the photograph you just took Pixels that coincide in the two represent noise and can safely be suppressed This noise reduction system called dark frame subtraction effectively doubles the amount of time required to take a picture and is used only for exposures longer than one second Noise reduction can reduce the amount of detail in your picture as some image information may be removed along with the noise So you might want to use this feature with moderation You can also apply noise reduction to a lesser extent using Photoshop and when con verting RAW and sRAW files to some other format using your favorite RAW converter or an industrial strength product like Noise Ninja www picturecode com to wipe out noise after you ve already taken the picture Bra
529. vertently Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 273 Determining Exposure Calculating the proper exposure for an electronic flash photograph is a bit more com plicated than determining the settings for continuous light The right exposure isn t sim ply a function of how far away your subject is which the D3100 can figure out based on the autofocus distance that s locked in just prior to taking the picture Various objects reflect more or less light at the same distance so obviously the camera needs to measure the amount of light reflected back and through the lens Yet as the flash itself isn t available for measuring until it s triggered the D3100 has nothing to measure The solution is to fire the flash twice The initial shot is a monitor preflash that can be analyzed then followed virtually instantaneously by a main flash to the eye the bursts appear to be a single flash that s given exactly the calculated intensity needed to pro vide a correct exposure As a result the primary flash may be longer in duration for dis tant objects and shorter in duration for closer subjects depending on the required intensity for exposure This through the lens evaluative flash exposure system is called i T TL intelligent Through The Lens and it operates whenever the pop up internal flash is used or you have attached a Nikon dedicated flash unit to the D3100 Guide Numbers Guide numbers usually abbreviated GN are a way of specifyi
530. verything lens and then never purchase another Available for less than 300 you wont tie up a lot of money in this lens There s no VR so for most the 18 105mm VR lens is a better choice m AF S DX VR Zoom Nikkor 18 200mm f 3 5 5 6G IF ED I owned this lens for about three months and decided it really didn t meet my needs It was introduced as an ideal kit lens for the Nikon D200 a few years back and at the time had almost everything you might want It s a holdover more upscale kit lens for the D3100 Its stunning 11X zoom range covers everything from the equivalent of 27mm to 300mm when the 1 5X crop factor is figured in and its VR capabilities plus light weight let you use it without a tripod most of the time However I found the image quality to be good but not outstanding and the slow maximum aper ture at 200mm to be limiting when a fast shutter speed is required to stop action The zoom creep a tendency for the lens to zoom when the camera is tilted up or down found in many examples will drive you nuts after awhile see Figure 7 4 m AF S VR II Zoom Nikkor 24 120mm f 3 5 5 6G IF ED This one is a relatively new full frame lens but it works fine on a cropped sensor model like the D3100 It has a useful zoom range and as a bonus if you ever decide to upgrade to a full frame camera you can take this lens along with you What Lenses Can You Use The previous section helped you sort out what basic lens
531. w digital SLR photographer espe cially those coming from the point and shoot world That s because correct focus plays a greater role among your creative options with a dSLR even when photographing the same subjects Most non dSLR digital cameras have sensors that are much tinier than the sensor in the D3100 Those smaller sensors require shorter focal lengths which as you ll learn in Chapter 7 have effectively more depth of field The bottom line is that with the average point and shoot camera everything is in focus from about one foot to infinity and at virtually every f stop Unless youre shooting close up photos a few inches from the camera the depth of field is prodigious and autofo cus is almost a non factor The D3100 on the other hand uses longer focal length lenses to achieve the same field of view with its larger sensor so there is less depth of field That s a good thing creatively because you have the choice to use selective focus to iso late subjects But it does make the correct use of autofocus more critical Figure 5 7 With shallow depth of field a distracting background becomes blurry Chapter 5 m Advanced Shooting Tips for Your Nikon D3100 183 184 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography To maintain the most creative control you have to choose three attributes m How much is in focus Generally by choosing the f stop used you ll determine the range of sharpness amount o
532. want to change the comment each time say you change cities during your trav els The embedded comments can be read by many software programs including Nikon ViewNX or Capture NX The standard text entry screen can be used to enter your comment with up to 36 char acters available For the copyright symbol embed a lowercase c within opening and closing parentheses c You can enter text by choosing Input Comment turn attach ment of the comment On or Off using the Attach Comment entry and select Done when youre finished working with comments If you find typing with a cursor too tedious you can enter your comment in Nikon Capture NX and upload it to the cam era though a USB cable Now is a good time to review text entry because you can use it to enter comments rename folders and perform other functions 1 Press MENU and select the Setup menu 2 Scroll to Image Comment with the multi selector up down buttons and press the multi selector right button 3 Scroll down to Input Comment and press the multi selector right button to con firm your choice 4 Use the multi selector navigational buttons to scroll around within the array of alphanumerics as shown in Figure 3 26 There is a full array of uppercase lower case and symbol characters They can t be viewed all at once so you may need to scroll up or down to locate the one you want Then enter your text m Press the Zoom in button to insert the highlighted chara
533. was introduced it was available only in kit form with the 18 55mm VR lens By the time this book is published I expect to see it offered packaged with other lenses including the terrific 18 105mm VR lens These are all good basic lenses that can serve you well as a walk around lens one you keep on the camera most of the time especially when you re out and about without your camera bag The num ber of options available to you is actually quite amazing even if your budget is limited to about 100 350 for your first lens One other vendor for example offers only 18mm 70mm and 18mm 55mm kit lenses in that price range plus a 24mm 85mm zoom Here s a list of Nikon s best bet first lenses Don t worry about sorting out the alphabet soup right now I provide a complete list of Nikon lens codes later in the chapter m AF S DX Nikkor 18 105mm f 3 5 5 6G ED VR This lens introduced at the same time as the D3100 s big brother the Nikon D90 is my choice as a walk ing around lens for this camera I much prefer it over the 18 200mm VR described later even though it has a more limited zoom range Its focal length range is quite sufficient for most general photography and at around 300 with the camera or slightly more when purchased separately it s a real bargain see Figure 7 2 m AF S DX Nikkor 18 55mm f 3 5 5 6G VR This new VR version of the 18 55 see Figure 7 3 is a better choice than the basic 18
534. ween the amount of light falling on the subject from the main light and other lights expressed in a ratio such as 3 1 lossless compression An image compression scheme such as TIFF that preserves all image detail When the image is decompressed it is identical to the original version lossy compression An image compression scheme such as JPEG that creates smaller files by discarding image information which can affect image quality macro lens A lens that provides continuous focusing from infinity to extreme close ups often to a reproduction ratio of 1 2 half life size or 1 1 life size Matrix metering A system of exposure calculation that looks at many different seg ments of an image to determine the brightest and darkest portions and base f stop and shutter speed on settings derived from a database of images maximum burst The number of frames that can be exposed at the current settings until the buffer fills Glossary 347 midtones Parts of an image with tones of an intermediate value usually in the 25 to 75 percent brightness range Many image editing features allow you to manipulate mid tones independently from the highlights and shadows mirror lock up The ability of the D3100 to retract its mirror out of the light path to allow access to the sensor for cleaning neutral color A color in which red green and blue are present in equal amounts pro ducing a gray neutral density filter A gray camera filter reduc
535. wever one of these will almost assuredly be too thick to allow you to reverse your LCD for storage But with an acrylic or glass protector you may not need to At about 6 each they also happen to be the least expensive option as well I get mine shown in Figure 10 3 from a company called Da Products www daprod ucts com GGS also makes excellent glass shields but unfortunately there seems to be no direct importer of these shields in the USA You can find them by Googling or searching eBay auctions and stores They attach using sticky adhesive that holds the panel flush and tight but which allows the shield to be pried off and the adhe sive removed easily if you want to remove or replace the shield They don t attenu ate your view of the LCD and are non reflective enough for use under a variety of lighting conditions Flip up hoods These protectors slip on using the flanges around your D3100 s eyepiece and provide a cover that completely shields the LCD but unfolds to pro vide a three sided hood that allows viewing the LCD while minimizing the extra neous light falling on it and reducing contrast They re sold for about 40 by Delkin and Hoodman If you want to completely protect your LCD from hard knocks and Figure 10 3 A tough tem pered glass or acrylic shield can protect your LCD from scratches 322 David Busch s Nikon D3100 Guide to Digital SLR Photography need to view the screen outdoors in bright sunlight the
536. which is the worst from a bokeh standpoint Lenses that generate a bright cen ter that fades to a darker edge are favored because their bokeh allows the circle of con fusion to blend more smoothly with the surroundings The bokeh characteristics of a lens are most important when youre using selective focus say when shooting a por trait to deemphasize the background or when shallow depth of field is a given because you re working with a macro lens with a long telephoto or with a wide open aperture See also circle of confusion bounce lighting Light bounced off a reflector including ceiling and walls to provide a soft natural looking light buffer The digital camera s internal memory where an image is stored immediately after it is taken until it can be written to the camera s non volatile semi permanent mem ory card Glossary 341 burst mode The digital cameras equivalent of the film cameras motor drive used to take multiple shots within a short period of time each stored in a memory buffer tem porarily before writing them to the media calibration A process used to correct for the differences in the output of a printer or monitor when compared to the original image Once you ve calibrated your scanner monitor and or your image editor the images you see on the screen more closely rep resent what you ll get from your printer even though calibration is never perfect Camera Raw A plug in included with Photoshop and Phot
537. with Adobe Camera Raw 307 in Live View 3 212 on reviewing images 28 46 48 This page intentionally left blank 2 COURSE TECHNOLOGY a CENGAGE Learning Professional Technical e Reference Like the Book Let us know on Facebook or Twitter EE E facebook com courseptr twitter com courseptr Fan us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter to learn about upcoming books promotions contests events and more Darid OL YOUR CONIPLETE SOLUTION Course Technology PTR has your complete digital photography solution Created with the expertise of bestselling author and photographer David Busch we now offer books iPhone applications and field guides on the latest digital and digital SLR cameras from Canon Nikon Sony Olympus and Panasonic These three formats allow you to have a comprehensive book to keep at home an iPhone app to take with you when you re on the go and a pocket sized compact guide you can store in your camera bag Now all the camera information you need is at your fingertips in whatever format you prefer SONY ka X DSLR A390 A290 olympus NIKOND35 D3x PEN E P2 David Busch is the 1 bestselling camera guide author A professional photographer with more than 20 years of experience and over a million books in print David provides expert authority to these guides covering digital and digital SLR cameras from Canon Nikon Sony Olympus and Panasonic Featuring beautiful full color images D
538. would be a disaster If you were a wedding photographer for exam ple and unlikely to be able to restage the nuptials if a memory card goes bad you ll probably want to shoot no more pictures than you can afford to lose on a single card and have an assistant ready to copy each card removed from the camera onto a backup hard drive or DVD onsite If none of these options are available to you consider interleaving your shots Say you don t shoot weddings with a Nikon D3100 but you do go on vacation from time to time Take 50 or so pictures on one card or whatever number of images might fill about 25 percent of its capacity Then replace it with a different card and shoot about 25 per cent of that card s available space Repeat these steps with diligence youd have to be determined to go through this inconvenience and if you use four or more memory cards youll find your pictures from each location scattered among the different Secure Digital cards If you lose or damage one you ll still have some pictures from all the var ious stops on your trip on the other cards That s more work than I like to do I usually tote around a portable hard disk and copy the files to the drive as I go but it s an option Another option is to transmit your images as they are shot over a network to your lap top assuming a network and a laptop are available A company called Eye Fi www eye fi no com markets a clever SD card with wireless capabilities
539. y even be someone like me who uses a more advanced Nikon dSLR such as the D300s as a main camera but finds the super compact D3100 an allur ing walk about camera and backup If you fall into any of those categories you may be able to skim through this chapter quickly and move on to the two that follow The next few pages are designed to get your camera fired up and ready for shooting as quickly as possible If you re new to digital SLRs Nikon dSLRs or even digital photography you ll want to read through this intro duction more carefully After all the Nikon D3100 is not a point and shoot camera although as I said you can easily set it up in fully automated Auto mode or use the semi automated Program exposure mode and a basic autofocus setting for easy capture of grab shots But if you want a little more control over your shooting you ll need to know more So I m going to provide a basic pre flight checklist that you need to com plete before you really spread your wings and take off You won t find a lot of detail in this chapter Indeed I m going to tell you just what you absolutely must understand accompanied by some interesting tidbits that will help you become acclimated to your D3100 Pll go into more depth and even repeat some of what I explain here in later chapters so you don t have to memorize everything you see Just relax follow a few easy steps and then go out and begin taking your best shots ever In a Hur
540. y for the Nikon dSLRs is about 110 Such units are limited in features however and intended for those with entry level cameras Plan on spending some money to get the features that a sophisticated elec tronic flash offers Flexibility Con continuous lighting Because incandescent and fluorescent lamps are not as bright as electronic flash the slower shutter speeds required see Action stopping above mean that you may have to use a tripod more often espe cially when shooting portraits The incandescent variety of continuous lighting gets hot especially in the studio and the side effects range from discomfort for your Chapter 8 m Making Light Work for You 263 human models to disintegration if you happen to be shooting perishable foods like ice cream The heat also makes it more difficult to add filtration to incandes cent sources m Flexibility Pro electronic flash Electronic flash s action freezing power allows you to work without a tripod in the studio and elsewhere adding flexibility and speed when choosing angles and positions Flash units can be easily filtered and because the filtration is placed over the light source rather than the lens you don t need to use high quality filter material For example a couple sheets of unexposed processed Ektachrome film can make a dandy infrared pass filter for your flash unit Roscoe or Lee lighting gels which may be too flimsy to use in front of the lens can be
541. y to turn on the rangefinder as described in Chapter 3 2 Select a focus point Use the multi selector to move the highlighting around in the frame 3 Rotate the lens focus ring Zoom lenses will have two rings there s no fixed con vention as to whether the wider or narrower ring is the focus ring Choose the one farthest from the zoom scale 4 Watch the rangefinder If the indicator is pointing towards the left focus farther away If the scale points towards the right focus more closely 5 Achieve sharp focus When the subject you ve selected with the focus zone bracket is in sharp focus only two bars will appear centered under the 0 and the focus con firmation indicator will stop blinking If no 0 appears the camera cannot deter mine focus Autofocus Area Where autofocus mode chooses when to autofocus the Autofocus Area parameter tells your Nikon D3100 how to choose which of the 11 focus points in the viewfinder should be used to evaluate and lock in focus Ordinarily your camera would like to be able to choose among the available AF points itself In fact that s the default behavior and when AF Area mode for Viewfinder is set to Auto Area the D3100 chooses the focus point automatically in Auto No Flash Portrait Landscape Night Portrait and PAS Program Aperture priority and Shutter priority exposure modes Giving the D3100 free rein in selecting a focus point works well much of the time and you can use thi
542. y utility pro grammers needed to use Nikon s software development kit or reverse engineer the encryption to make their utilities work with Nikon NEF files Even today each time a new Nikon dSLR is introduced you must upgrade your copy of most Nikon software products as well as third party products like Adobe Camera Raw to ensure compati bility with the new camera s files The fact that these upgrades often are not available until months after the camera is introduced is nothing short of frustrating The next few sections provide some descriptions of the Nikon software you ll want to use with your D3100 Nikon ViewNX This latest incarnation of Nikon s basic file viewer is better than ever making it easy to browse through images convert RAW files to JPEG or TIFF and make corrections to white balance and exposure either on individual files or on batches of files It works in tandem with Nikon Transfer and Nikon Capture NX as you can open files inspected Figure 9 1 NikonView NX is a great file viewer Chapter 9 m Useful Software for the Nikon D3100 297 in ViewNX in one of the other programs or within a third party application you reg ister add to the utility s list of programs it can access automatically First and foremost Nikon ViewNxX is a great file viewer There are three modes for look ing at images a Thumbnail Grid mode for checking out small previews of your images an Image Viewer mode see Figure 9 1 t
543. you want as I did in Figure 6 8 In this case I took pictures of a parade and then used them to assemble a storyboard to follow when I shot video at a similar parade on a later date Figure 6 8 A storyboard is a series of simple sketches or photos to help visualize a segment of video Storytelling in Video Today s audience is accustomed to fast paced short scene storytelling In order to pro duce interesting video for such viewers it s important to view video storytelling as a kind of shorthand code for the more leisurely efforts print media offers Audio and video should always be advancing the story While it s okay to let the camera linger from time to time it should only be for a compelling reason and only briefly Composition is one of the most important tools available to you for telling a story in video However while you can crop a still frame any old way you like in movie shoot ing several factors restrict your composition and impose requirements you just dont always have in still photography although other rules of good composition do apply Here are some of the key differences to keep in mind when composing movie frames Horizontal compositions only Some subjects such as basketball players and tall buildings just lend themselves to vertical compositions But movies are shown in horizontal format only So if you re interviewing a local basketball star you can end up with a worst case situation like the one shown
544. ys possible to categorize the discussions that follow by function In fact I m going to start off by describing a few of the offerings available from Nikon Nikon s Applications and Utilities If nothing else Nikon has made sorting through the software for its digital cameras an interesting pursuit Through the years weve had various incarnations of programs with names like PictureProject NikonView and Nikon Capture Some have been compati ble with both the Nikon dSLR and amateur Coolpix product lines Many of them have been furnished on disk with the cameras Others most notoriously Nikon Capture NX have been an extra cost option which particularly infuriated those of us who had paid a lot for a Nikon dSLR and found that we d need to pay even more to get the software needed for the camera Recently Nikon has begun splitting their software offerings into separate programs that are sort of standalone products but which integrate with the others For example if you bought Nikon Capture NX you found that the program didn t really capture anything as the previous Nikon Capture 4 did If you wanted to operate the camera remotely you needed to buy the off shoot program Nikon Camera Control Pro which costs even more money which doesn t work with the D3100 at this writing If Nikon software wasn t interesting enough already some years back Nikon began encrypting the white balance information in image files so that third part

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