Nikon D600 For Dummies E-Book

Julie Adair King

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Seitenzahl: 555

Beschreibung

A full-color beginner guide to the basics of the Nikon D600 The Nikon D600 is a professional-level full-frame sensor that is sure to attract an audience of DSLR newcomers and pros. This friendly-and-thorough full-color guide shows you how to get a firm grasp on this powerful camera and helps you to ultimately get better photos. * Helps you shoot in Auto mode and manage playback options, and walks you through basic troubleshooting * Teaches you to take creative control by adjusting manual settings to get better results from exposure, lighting, focus, and color, then apply those settings to a photo session * Offers invaluable advice on video mode along with the new autofocus features * Details sending images to a computer for organizing, editing, and sharing Nikon D600 For Dummies takes aim at a fun-but-understandable way to help you better understand this amazing camera.

Leseprobe

Nikon® D600™ For Dummies®

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/nikond600 to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Introduction

A Quick Look at What’s Ahead

Icons and Other Stuff to Note

eCheat Sheet

Practice, Be Patient, and Have Fun!

Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps

Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land

Looking at Lenses

Choosing a lens

Attaching and removing lenses

Changing the focusing method (auto or manual)

Zooming in and out

Getting shake-free shots with Vibration Reduction (VR) lenses

Adjusting the Viewfinder Focus

Ordering from Camera Menus

Decoding the Displays

Working with Memory Cards

Using two cards at the same time

Formatting cards

Exploring External Camera Controls

Topside controls

Back-of-the-body controls

Front-left controls

Front-right controls

Hidden connections

Asking Your Camera for Help

Reviewing Basic Setup Options

Cruising the Setup menu

Browsing the Custom Setting menu

Choosing a storage folder

Restoring default settings

Chapter 2: Choosing Basic Picture Settings

Setting the Image Area (FX or DX Mode)

Choosing an Exposure Mode

Choosing the Shutter-Release Mode

Single Frame and Quiet modes

Continuous (burst mode) shooting

Self-timer shooting

Remote Control mode

Mirror lockup and exposure delay modes

Choosing the Right Quality Settings

Diagnosing quality problems

Considering image size: How many pixels are enough?

Understanding Image Quality options (JPEG or Raw)

JPEG: The imaging (and web) standard

Raw (NEF): The purist’s choice

Chapter 3: Taking Great Pictures, Automatically

Setting Up for Automatic Success

As Easy as It Gets: Auto and Auto Flash Off

Taking Advantage of Scene Modes

Selecting a Scene mode

Checking out the Scene(s)

Chapter 4: Exploring Live View Photography and Movie Making

Reviewing the Basics

Using Live View with a DX lens

Live View safety tips

Customizing the Live View display

Exploring Live View Focusing

Choosing an Autofocus mode: AF-S or AF-F?

Selecting an autofocus target (AF-area mode)

Choosing the right focusing pairs

Stepping through the autofocusing process

Manual focusing in Live View and movie mode

Shooting Still Pictures in Live View Mode

Shooting Digital Movies

Setting basic recording options

Reviewing a few final recording options

Starting and stopping recording

Adding index markers during recording

Screening Your Movies

Trimming Movies

Saving a Movie Frame as a Still Image

Part II: Working with Picture Files

Chapter 5: Playback Mode: Viewing, Erasing, and Protecting Photos

Customizing Basic Playback Options

Adjusting playback timing

Enabling automatic picture rotation

Viewing Images in Playback Mode

Viewing multiple images at a time

Displaying photos in Calendar view

Choosing which images to view

Magnifying photos during playback

Viewing Picture Data

Choosing data-display options

File Information mode

Highlights display mode

RGB Histogram mode

Shooting Data display mode

GPS Data mode

Overview Data mode

Deleting Photos

Deleting images one at a time

Deleting all photos

Deleting a batch of selected photos

Hiding Photos during Playback

Protecting Photos

Creating a Slide Show

Viewing Your Photos on a Television

Chapter 6: Downloading, Printing, and Sharing Your Photos

Choosing the Right Photo Software

Three free photo programs

Advanced photo programs

Sending Pictures to the Computer

Connecting the camera and computer for picture download

Starting the transfer process

Downloading using ViewNX 2

Processing Raw (NEF) Files

Processing Raw images in the camera

Processing Raw files in ViewNX 2

Planning for Perfect Prints

Check the pixel count before you print

Allow for different print proportions

Get print and monitor colors in sync

Preparing Pictures for E-Mail and Online Sharing

Prepping online photos using ViewNX 2

Creating screen-friendly copies in the camera

Copying Files from One Memory Card to Another

Part III: Taking Creative Control

Chapter 7: Getting Creative with Exposure and Lighting

Introducing the Exposure Trio: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO

Understanding exposure-setting side effects

Doing the exposure balancing act

Exploring the Advanced Exposure Modes

Reading (And Adjusting) the Meter

Setting Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO

Adjusting aperture and shutter speed

Controlling ISO

Choosing an Exposure Metering Mode

Sorting through Your Camera’s Exposure-Correction Tools

Applying Exposure Compensation

Using Autoexposure Lock

Expanding tonal range with Active D-Lighting

Exploring high dynamic range (HDR) photography

Working with Flash

Setting the Flash mode

Adjusting flash output

Locking flash exposure on your subject

Exploring a few additional flash options

Bracketing Exposures

Bracketing exposure and flash

Bracketing Active D-Lighting

Chapter 8: Manipulating Focus and Color

Mastering the Autofocusing System

Choosing an Autofocus mode

Choosing an AF-area mode: One focus point or many?

Choosing the right autofocus combo

Selecting (and locking) an autofocus point

Autofocusing with still subjects: AF-S + Single Point

Focusing on moving subjects: AF-C + Dynamic Area

Exploring a few last autofocus tweaks

Focusing Manually

Manipulating Depth of Field

Controlling Color

Correcting colors with white balance

Changing the White Balance setting

Fine-tuning White Balance settings

Creating custom White Balance presets

Bracketing white balance

Choosing a Color Space: sRGB versus Adobe RGB

Taking a Quick Look at Picture Controls

Chapter 9: Putting It All Together

Recapping Basic Picture Settings

Shooting Still Portraits

Capturing Action

Capturing Scenic Vistas

Capturing Dynamic Close-Ups

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Chapter 10: Ten More Ways to Customize Your Camera

Creating Custom Exposure Modes (U1 and U2)

Creating Your Own Menu

Adding Image Comments

Embedding a Copyright Notice

Choosing Your Own File and Folder Names

Changing the Purpose of the OK Button

Changing the Behavior of the Command Dials

Customizing the Fn, Depth-of-Field Preview, and AE-L/AF-L Buttons

Customizing the buttons for still photography

Customizing buttons for movie recording

Modifying the Role of the Shutter Button

Chapter 11: Ten Features to Explore on a Rainy Day

Applying the Retouch Menu Filters

Removing Red-Eye

Solving Exposure and Color Problems

Straightening Tilting Horizon Lines

Correcting Perspective

Removing (Or Creating) Lens Distortion

Cropping Your Photo

Playing with Special Effects

Exploring Time-Lapse Photography

Shooting time-lapse photos

Creating a time-lapse movie

Two Roads to a Multi-Image Exposure

Cheat Sheet

Nikon® D600™ For Dummies®

by Julie Adair King

Nikon® D600™ For Dummies®

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774

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Copyright © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2012954126

ISBN 978-1-118-53079-5 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-53081-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-53078-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-53057-3 (ebk)

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

About the Author

Julie Adair King is the author of many books about digital photography and imaging, including the best-selling Digital Photography For Dummies. Her most recent titles include a series of For Dummies guides to popular digital SLR cameras, including the Nikon D3200, D7000, D5100, and D300s. Other works include Digital Photography Before & After Makeovers, Digital Photo Projects For Dummies, Julie King’s Everyday Photoshop For Photographers, Julie King’s Everyday Photoshop Elements, and Shoot Like a Pro!: Digital Photography Techniques. When not writing, King teaches digital photography at such locations as the Palm Beach Photographic Centre. A native of Ohio and graduate of Purdue University, she resides in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Author’s Acknowledgments

I am deeply grateful for the chance to work once again with the wonderful publishing team at John Wiley and Sons. Rebecca Senninger, Jennifer Webb, Steve Hayes, Teresa Artman, and Sheree Montgomery are just some of the talented editors and designers who helped make this book possible. And finally, I am also indebted to technical editor Scott Proctor, without whose insights and expertise this book would not have been the same.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

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Introduction

Nikon. The name has been associated with top-flight photography equipment for generations. And the introduction of the D600 has only enriched Nikon’s well-deserved reputation, offering all the control a die-hard photography enthusiast could want — including a full-frame image sensor at a previously unheard of price — while at the same time providing easy-to-use, point-and-shoot features for the beginner.

In fact, the D600 offers so many features that sorting them all out can be more than a little confusing, especially if you’re new to digital photography, SLR photography, or both. For starters, you may not even be sure what SLR means or why a full-frame sensor is such a big deal, let alone have a clue as to all the other techie terms you encounter in your camera manual — resolution, aperture, white balance, and so on. And if you’re like many people, you may be so overwhelmed by all the controls on your camera that you haven’t yet ventured beyond fully automatic picture-taking mode, and that’s a shame because it’s sort of like buying a Porsche and never actually taking it on the road.

Therein lies the point of Nikon D600 For Dummies. Through this book, you discover not just what each bell and whistle on your camera does, but also when, where, why, and how to put it to best use. Unlike many photography books, this one doesn’t require any previous knowledge of photography or digital imaging to make sense of things, either. In classic For Dummies style, everything is explained in easy-to-understand language, with lots of illustrations to help clear up any confusion.

In short, what you have in your hands is the paperback version of an in-depth photography workshop tailored specifically to your Nikon picture-taking powerhouse.

A Quick Look at What’s Ahead

This book is organized into four parts, each devoted to a different aspect of using your camera. Although chapters flow in a sequence that’s designed to take you from absolute beginner to experienced user, I’ve also tried to make each chapter as self-standing as possible so that you can explore the topics that interest you in any order you please.

Here’s a brief preview of what you can find in each part of the book:

Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps: Part I contains four chapters to help you get up and running. Chapter 1 offers a tour of the external controls on your camera, shows you how to navigate camera menus to access internal options, and walks you through initial camera setup. Chapter 2 explains basic picture-taking options, such as shutter-release mode and image quality settings, and Chapter 3 shows you how to use the camera’s fully automatic exposure modes. Chapter 4 explains the ins and outs of using Live View, the feature that lets you compose pictures on the monitor, and also covers movie recording.

Part II: Working with Picture Files: This part offers two chapters, both dedicated to after-the-shot topics. Chapter 5 explains how to review your pictures on the camera monitor, delete unwanted images, and protect your favorites from accidental erasure. Chapter 6 guides you through downloading pictures to your computer, preparing photos for printing, and sharing images online.

Part III: Taking Creative Control: Chapters in this part help you unleash the full creative power of your camera by moving into the advanced shooting modes (P, A, S, and M). Chapter 7 covers the critical topic of exposure, and Chapter 8 explains how to manipulate focus and color. Chapter 9summarizes all the techniques explained in earlier chapters, providing a quick-reference guide to the camera settings and shooting strategies that produce the best results for portraits, action shots, landscape scenes, and close-ups.

Part IV: The Part of Tens: In famous For Dummies tradition, the book concludes with two “top ten” lists containing additional bits of information and advice. Chapter 10 covers ten ways to customize your camera, and Chapter 11 wraps up the book by detailing some camera features that, although not found on most “Top Ten Reasons I Bought My D600” lists, are nonetheless interesting, useful on occasion, or a bit of both.

Icons and Other Stuff to Note

If this isn’t your first For Dummies book, you may be familiar with the large, round icons that decorate its margins. If not, here’s your very own icon-decoder ring:

A Tip icon flags information that saves you time, effort, money, or some other valuable resource, including your sanity. Tips also point out techniques that help you get the best results from specific camera features.

When you see this icon, look alive. It indicates a potential danger zone that can result in much wailing and teeth-gnashing if ignored. In other words, this is stuff that you really don’t want to learn the hard way.

Lots of information in this book is of a technical nature — digital photography is a technical animal, after all. But if I present a detail that is useful mainly for impressing your technology-geek friends, I mark it with this icon.

I apply this icon either to introduce information that is especially worth storing in your brain’s long-term memory or to remind you of a fact that may have been displaced from that memory by some other pressing fact.

Also note these two details before you start exploring the book:

Other margin art: Replicas of some of your camera’s buttons and onscreen symbols also appear in the margins of some paragraphs. I include these to provide a quick reminder of the appearance of the button or feature being discussed.

Software menu commands: In sections that cover software, a series of words connected by an arrow indicates commands that you choose from the program menus. For example, if a step tells you to “Choose File⇒Convert Files,” click the File menu to unfurl it and then click the Convert Files command on the menu.

eCheat Sheet

As a little added bonus, you can find an electronic version of the famous For Dummies Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/nikond600. The Cheat Sheet contains a quick-reference guide to all the buttons, dials, switches, and exposure modes on your camera. Log on, print it out, and tuck it in your camera bag for times when you don’t want to carry this book with you.

Practice, Be Patient, and Have Fun!

To wrap up this preamble, I want to stress that if you initially think that digital photography is too confusing or too technical for you, you’re in very good company. Everyone finds this stuff a little mind-boggling at first. So take it slowly, experimenting with just one or two new camera settings or techniques at first. Then, each time you go on a photo outing, make it a point to add one or two more shooting skills to your repertoire.

I know that it’s hard to believe when you’re just starting out, but it really won’t be long before everything starts to come together. With some time, patience, and practice, you’ll soon wield your camera like a pro, dialing in the necessary settings to capture your creative vision almost instinctively.

So without further ado, I invite you to grab your camera, a cup of whatever it is you prefer to sip while you read, and start exploring the rest of this book. Your D600 is the perfect partner for your photographic journey, and I thank you for allowing me, through this book, to serve as your tour guide.

Part I

Fast Track to Super Snaps

In this part . . .

Making sense of all the controls on your D600 isn’t something you can do in an afternoon — heck, in a week, or maybe even a month. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t take great pictures today. By using your camera’s point-and-shoot automatic modes, you can capture terrific images with very little effort. All you do is compose the scene, and the camera takes care of almost everything else.

This part shows you how to take best advantage of your camera’s automatic features and also addresses some basic setup steps, such as adjusting the viewfinder to your eyesight and getting familiar with the camera menus, buttons, and other controls. In addition, chapters in this part explain how to obtain the very best picture quality, whether you shoot in an automatic or manual mode, and how to use your camera’s Live View and movie-making features.

Chapter 1

Getting the Lay of the Land

In This Chapter

Attaching and using an SLR lens

Adjusting the viewfinder to your eyesight

Selecting from menus

Figuring out the displays

Working with memory cards

Getting acquainted with your camera

Getting help

Customizing basic operations

If you’re like me, shooting for the first time with a camera as sophisticated as the Nikon D600 produces a blend of excitement and anxiety. On one hand, you can’t wait to start using your new equipment, but on the other, you’re a little intimidated by all its buttons, dials, and menu options.

Well, fear not: This chapter provides the information you need to start getting comfortable with your D600. Along with an introduction to the camera’s external controls, I offer details about working with lenses and memory cards, viewing and adjusting camera settings, and choosing basic camera setup options.

Looking at Lenses

One of the biggest differences between a point-and-shoot camera and an SLR (single-lens reflex) camera is the lens. With an SLR, you can change lenses to suit different photographic needs, going from an extreme close-up lens to a super-long telephoto, for example. In addition, an SLR lens has a focusing ring that gives you the option of focusing manually instead of relying on the camera’s autofocus mechanism.

I don’t have room in this book to go into detail about the science of lenses, nor do I think that an in-depth knowledge of the subject is terribly important to your photographic success. But the next few sections offer advice that may help when you’re shopping for lenses, figuring out whether the lenses you inherited from Uncle Ted or found on eBay will work with your D600, and taking the steps involved in actually mounting and using a lens.

Choosing a lens

To decide which lens is the best partner for your D600, start by considering these factors:

Compatibility with the D600: You can mount a wide range of lenses on your camera, but some lenses aren’t fully compatible with all camera features. For example, with some lenses, you can’t take advantage of autofocusing and must focus manually.

Your camera manual lists all the lens types that can be mounted on the D600 and explains what features are supported with each type. For maximum compatibility, look for these types: Type D or G AF Nikkor, AF-S Nikkor, or AF-I Nikkor. (The latter is an older, expensive professional lens that is no longer sold but might be available on the resale market.)