Tips from the Lynda.com Shooting with the Nikon D5100 course.
These are some of the first craft skills required in order to realize an artistic vision.
- Caring for the Camera
- Set Up
- Holding the Camera
- Mode Tips
- Playback
- Focus
- White Balance
- Self Timer
- Distortion
- Multiple Exposures
- Flash
- Picture Controls
- Live View
- Video
Caring for the Camera
- Camera and lens rear cap screw together to guard against dust.
- Drain battery completely every now and again and give a full charge.
- Cold weather: put the camera into a ziplock bag before taking it inside. Leave it in the bag until the temperatures equalize. This can stop condensation forming in or on the camera.
Set Up
- Resetting menus: shooting menu and custom settings menus have reset options.
- Reset does not reset the clock.
- Set clock/time zone in the set up menu.
- Just change timezone when travelling.
- Also used to set daylight saving time.
- Repeated use of delete can cause memory card problems. Use format memory card instead.
- Image review: turn off in sensitive location so you don’t get bright screen light.
Holding the Camera
- Elbows in!
- Portrait mode – turn the camera clockwise and keep the elbows in. More of the weight is in right hand now.
- Move the camera AND the hands up to face.
Mode Tips
- Auto mode not to be totally sniffed at. It’s quick.
- Exposure Compensation is sticky – remember to reset it after use.
- Program Mode gives equivalent combinations of shutter and aperture.
- Program Mode can get confusing if Auto ISO is on – it tends to stick to the highest permissible ISO setting.
Playback
- Image Review also automatically takes you into image playback mode.
- Playback – keep zooming out and you get thumbnails and then the calendar view.
- From calendar view, one more zoom out and you get thumbnails for the day in question.
- Delete command in playback menu saves deleting lots of images manually.
Focus
- Dynamic area autofocus: for erratically moving subjects, especially if moving just a bit.
- 3D autofocus: for more predictable motion when the camera tries to track objects.
- 3D autofocus might also be better for recomposing.
- Manual Focus tips:
- Zoom in and focus. Then zoom out to the desired focal length.
- Use manual focus to lock focus when repeatedly shooting the same scene – e.g. a landscape.
White Balance
- Mostly leave on Auto.
- But Auto may let you down in:
- Shady or cloudy locations
- Locations where there is mixed light – e.g. sunlight shining into a room with the lights on.
- Remember to reset it back to Auto if you change it!
Self Timer
- For self-portraits, if there’s nothing where you’ll be, focus needs to be locked. Switch to manual focus once auto-focussed on something and leave it there.
- For long exposures, light can get in through the viewfinder. Use the supplied cover.
Distortion
- Auto Distortion Control is worth experimenting with when using wide-angle lens.
- Long Exposure Noise Reduction – good for long exposures. Slows down writing to the card, so use only with exposures longer than about 1s.
Multiple Exposures
- HDR takes 2 shots.
- Only works when shooting JPEGs.
- Smoothing dictates how HDRish the image will look.
- Multiple Exposure – takes 2 or 3 shots which are then combined to make one exposure.
Flash
- Slow sync flash allows the background to be exposed too.
- When using flash – remember max sync speed is 1/200, so you can’t get a faster shutter speed.
Picture Controls
- Only for JPEG. Unless editing RAW in Nikon software.
Live view
- Focus anywhere by moving the box.
- Hit OK to go back to centre.
- Zoom in using + and – buttons to help with manual focus.
Video
- For regular stuff, shutter speed of around 1/50 is normally OK.