Nikon D7000 tips

[petero1649]

Reducing noise in your pictures.
To start with this tip applies to pictures taken preferably on a tripod and have a relatively still subject. What you do is to take multiple pictures of the same subject and have "auto gain" on which results in a noticeable decrease in noise by taking either two or three pictures and dividing the exposure between the frames and merging them back together into one image within the camera.

To do this go to SHOOTING MENU
Multiple exposure, select Number of shots, go down to AUTO Gain and turn it on then scroll up to DONE and click OK.

You have a choice of two or three frames and I like to use three to reduce the noise as much as possible. The three ways you can trip the shutter are 1st, manually pushing the button three times, 2nd using a remote to do the same thing, or 3rd by placing your camera on CH burst mode and doing three quick pictures by pressing the shutter button once. You have to pay attention because you will be shooting at 6FPS. I prefer this method because it is the fastest and reduces the chances of movement while taking the three shots. The multiple exposure function automatically turns off and will need to be reset to take additional multiple pictures. If you leave the AUTO GAIN off each of your pictures will be exposed for the full amount needed to take a single picture so make sure the AUTO GAIN is turned on. I have already posted a picture taken with this method and will add it below so you can see it again. Any camera can take multiple pictures that can be merged into one shot using PhotoShop or additional software but the Nikon's will do it quickly IN CAMERA for simple, instant results. Try this and see what you think, you should have a noticeable reduction in the amount of noise that can be seen, Jeff

Note: the noise reduction was off in the camera for this shot and no noise reduction was done in post production. The only method to reduce noise was the method used above. Also I suggest adding the multiple exposure button to your "My Menu" so it can be accessed easily and quickly for additional shots like this.

I have only very recently acquired my D7000, and I am grateful for the time and effort you are putting into this forum. The fact that an experienced user makes suggestions about different settings gives a lot of confidence to new users like myself in altering and using the changes offered. Please do keep on with this labor of love.

I love that water shot. If I have a preferred scene to shoot, it will nearly always incorporate water and preferably taken after dark.

[Muzzargh]

Saving all your settings for your favorite type of shooting.

Ever spend a lot of time getting all the settings fine tuned for taking shots at the beach, portraits, landscapes or something else only to loose them after changing to a different mode selection and have to figure them out again the next time you shoot? If you have, then take advantage of all the time you spent tweaking your settings and save them to U1 or U2 on the mode dial of your camera. After you have invested all the time getting your favorite tweaks for, lets say shots at the beach, BEFORE you move that mode dial just pick U1 or U2 on the mode dial and save all the settings and tweaks for the next time by doing this.

Go to MENU > SETUP > Save user settings > (select U1 or U2) > Save settings

Now the next time you go back to that style of photography all the work is done, just turn the mode dial to whichever selection you saved them to and you are ready to go. If you find that after using it a little while you need to make a few more fine adjustments then repeat the steps above. Be sure to save the new adjustments BEFORE you move the mode dial or you will loose the latest adjustments and revert back to the last time you saved. This is a feature that few cameras have and you can save a complete set of settings for two types of photography of your choice so take advantage of this great function, Jeff

I would be interested in hearing from some of the members to find out if any of you are getting any helpful information out of this, if so let me know and I will keep posting. Close to 400 views with only n8 giving any comments. Thanks n8!!

I have just purchased a D7000 to replace my D70 but have to wait 3 weeks for delivery

Anyway I was just thinking, could you also save the settings to your SD card and load them when needed? This way you could have several "favourites" ready to go. You could name them something meaningful as well?

Keep up the good work Jeff!!

[Grandpaw]

I have just purchased a D7000 to replace my D70 but have to wait 3 weeks for delivery

Anyway I was just thinking, could you also save the settings to your SD card and load them when needed? This way you could have several "favourites" ready to go. You could name them something meaningful as well?

Keep up the good work Jeff!!

I am checking into this option and will let you know what I find out.

[Grandpaw]

Discovering blown out areas quickly while you are still shooting so you can correct the problem

Two things that are not good to find out after you get home and view your pictures on your computer are finding out that your point of focus was in the wrong place, which I covered how to eliminate this problem in post #4, and the other is finding out that you have areas that have been blown out with little to no detail in them. Post #4 told you how to know immediately where your point of focus was so you could quickly re-take your photo and fix that problem. In this post I will show you how to find out if you have any blown out areas in your image while viewing it on your rear LCD screen. You can go into your menu and set it up so that any blown out highlights will flash when viewing your picture on the rear LCD screen and alert you to any problems instantly so you can adjust your exposure and retake the shot right on the spot instead of finding out about the problem when viewing it on your computer at home when it is too late to do anything about it.

This is how you do it.

Go to the PLAYBACK MENU
DISPLAY MODE
Check Highlights
Next go up the menu to DONE and press OK.

Note that this is the same place you set the option to see where your focus point would be on post #4. After setting this option, each time you take a picture and review it on the camera, any highlights or sections of your image that are blown out will flash and alert you to the problem so the shot can be retaken after adjusting your exposure. It is a little annoying seeing the flashing after taking a picture if you have a problem but it is not anywhere near as annoying as waiting to find out later when nothing can be done about it. These are two things that if they are not done right when the photo was taken that CANNOT be corrected later.

[Grandpaw]

Getting your own custom look to your pictures

Everyone has different shooting styles and looks that they are trying to achieve when taking pictures. One of the settings I like to use on my camera is the VIVID setting under the shooting menu sub category "picture control menu". For me I like the additional pop it gives my images. You can also custom adjust this to get just the look your after. I would suggest giving it a try to see whether you like it or not. You may find you like it for some subjects and not others but you can easily change it to any of the other five options you have to choose from when you get into the menu. Remember each of the choices you have can be tweaked to your personal taste. This is one of the settings that I have in the "MY MENU" that I talked about in post #5 of this thread. Try it and play around with it so you can get your photos to have JUST THE LOOK you want.

Here is how you do it

Go to the shooting menu which is the second one down on the left and looks like a camera
Toggle to the right and then go down to"Set Picture Control" and toggle to the right
Now scroll down to VI Vivid and push OK
If you would like to customize any of the six options under "Set Picture control" just toggle to the right instead of selecting OK in the previous step and you can customize it all you want.

After trying this out, if it is not for you there are always the other five options other than Vivid that you can try and customize. I personally like the Vivid setting look and use it all of the time, Jeff

[JanD]

Jeff,
I did what you said on my D7000 but once I get to Mangage Picture Control and toggle to the right, my choices are: SAVE/EDIT, RENAME, DELETE, OR LOAD/SAVE. If I toggle to the right on SAVE/EDIT, then I can scroll down to VI VIVED, but, when I click OK on VIVED, it brings up a long list under SAVE. If at that point I just push MENU again and then go back in, I am back on the STANDARD choice. I am confused. How do you even know if you are on VIVID and what are all the SAVE choice and letter girds, etc for?

[Grandpaw]

Jeff,
I did what you said on my D7000 but once I get to Mangage Picture Control and toggle to the right, my choices are: SAVE/EDIT, RENAME, DELETE, OR LOAD/SAVE. If I toggle to the right on SAVE/EDIT, then I can scroll down to VI VIVED, but, when I click OK on VIVED, it brings up a long list under SAVE. If at that point I just push MENU again and then go back in, I am back on the STANDARD choice. I am confused. How do you even know if you are on VIVID and what are all the SAVE choice and letter girds, etc for?

You are going to the wrong place. I will cut and paste the tip below. Note that it says go to "Set Picture Control" and not "Manage Picture control". Try it one more time and I think it will work for you. Let me know what happens.


Here is how you do it

Go to the shooting menu which is the second one down on the left and looks like a camera
Toggle to the right and then go down to"Set Picture Control" and toggle to the right
Now scroll down to VI Vivid and push OK
If you would like to customize any of the six options under "Set Picture control" just toggle to the right instead of selecting OK in the previous step and you can customize it all you want.

After trying this out, if it is not for you there are always the other five options other than Vivid that you can try and customize. I personally like the Vivid setting look and use it all of the time, Jeff

[pweb]

Thank you for all these tips, Jeff. I'm leaving shortly for a photo trek with my D7000 -- unfortunately my life has been incredibly busy ever since I got this camera, so your tips are helping me brush up on some details.

[Grandpaw]

Thank you for all these tips, Jeff. I'm leaving shortly for a photo trek with my D7000 -- unfortunately my life has been incredibly busy ever since I got this camera, so your tips are helping me brush up on some details.

Thanks Pam for saying something. These are things I thought might be helpful to others but with almost 800 views and so few replies or comments I'm not so sure if it isn't just a waist of time. Hopefully some of the people that have viewed the tips have found some helpful information. Thanks again Nate and Pam for showing some interest, Jeff

[Bookie]

Keep up the good work Jeff. Tips are very helpful. Sorry I dont post much, not much of a "talker" more of a "listener".

Greg

[Grandpaw]

You might consider a battery grip and this is why....

After you have the essentials such as the body, lenses, a flash and tripod you may want to consider checking out a battery grip for the better handling and extra battery life with an additional battery.

I purchased my first SLR camera in1970, a Nikon F with FTN meter, and have had several cameras since then and none up until I bought my Nikon D7000 had a battery grip or grip of any kind. They do have a fair sized price tag on them and they do add some weight. These are two reasons that I have never had one before. Months ago I began getting interested in one and started doing some research on battery grips and decided to purchase one for my Nikon D7000. After doing my research I decided to go with a Nikon grip instead of a third party grip so I would lessen the chance for buyer’s remorse. I have to say that sometimes I take a lot of handheld vertical pictures and for me to be able to comfortably take these type of pictures, and for this alone, would make it worth the price of the grip. I was skeptical about the added weight and cost but find that for me the pluses outweigh the negatives.

The grip allows you to add a second battery for longer shooting and it will also give you the ability to use AA batteries as a backup in an emergency. On the grip itself there is a second shutter button, thumb and finger wheel, navigation joystick button and a second AE-L and AF-L button on the grip itself all designed for use when shooting vertical images. There is also an on-off switch so when you are not using the grip it can be turned off so the extra buttons cannot be used or accidentally pressed. In the camera you can choose which battery to use first and then change over to the second one. I have mine to use the battery in the grip first and then when it is finished start using the one in the camera.

You may read in some reviews that by having one battery in the grip and the other one in the camera that this is a mistake on Nikon's design. After using mine I personally think it is a good thing because if I want to quickly remove the grip to make the camera smaller or lighter, having one of the batteries still in the camera makes this a one step change over and I do not have to locate and reattach the battery door to be able to use my camera.

The Nikon MB-D11 battery grip is well built and matches the D7000 perfectly. It looks just like it was made on the camera and not an add on. It does not give you more FPS as some grips do but does give you a more professional looking camera with a much better grip in both the horizontal and vertical positions and twice as much battery life with the addition of a second battery. Now that I have tried using a grip I will probably always get one for any future cameras that I might own. Is this something that you can live without? Yes you can! Is it for everyone? No it isn't! But I must say that after shooting without one for forty years that I am very happy that I took the plunge and made the purchase. This grip is something that I find very useful and would recommend checking it out if you have some extra cash. I purchased mine for about $219 with free shipping. If you get interested in one make sure, if you want the Nikon brand, that what you are looking at actually is really a Nikon grip and not a knockoff of one. This is not a must have piece of equipment but I have to tell you that I am very happy with mine and would recommend getting one if you are interested. I think it is one of those things that if you do splurge and get it you will ask yourself why you didn’t do it sooner, Jeff

[Mup]

Thanks Pam for saying something. These are things I thought might be helpful to others but with almost 800 views and so few replies or comments I'm not so sure if it isn't just a waist of time. Hopefully some of the people that have viewed the tips have found some helpful information. Thanks again Nate and Pam for showing some interest, Jeff

A teachers time is never wasted. Awesome information and it's helping me greatly.
THANK YOU! 👍

[kimwayne]

wow..this is a very nice thread for a d7000 user like me.thanks for the tips,my d7000 is just a 3 weeks old and your experience helps me to understand some of my dilemma.

[Grandpaw]

Capturing the natural look or mood with photos taken inside by using fill flash.

When you take pictures inside and use your flash the subject usually comes out right and the background looks dark and it is obvious that a flash was used, maybe giving you that deer in the headlights look. On the other hand if you use just the ambient or natural light in the room sometimes the subject will come out a little dark due to your camera metering for the whole scene. What just might be the answer is to shoot in manual and add a little fill in flash. Earlier I told you about your ability to adjust the strength of your on camera flash for fill outdoors and now we are going to do the same thing except we are adding flash indoors to fill in. To do this you will need to shoot in manual mode and this might be a scary thing to think about if you have never used it before.

To shoot on manual mode you first pick an ISO that will work in the conditions you will be shooting in. Next turn the mode dial on your camera to "M". Next chose either an F stop or shutter speed that you like to use and adjust the opposite choice to get the correct exposure while looking at the light meter in the bottom of the viewfinder. When using fill flash inside you will need to shoot in manual instead of "A" or "S" modes because if you try fill flash in these modes , when you flip up the flash to activate it your shutter speed will change to 1/60 sec and mess up your previous meter reading.

HINT... If you are a little scared of using "M" mode to get your settings, then you can always go to full "auto" and see what the settings would be for the picture and return to manual and use these same settings. In manual the finger wheel in the front changes the F stop and the thumb wheel on the rear of the camera will change or set the shutter speed.

Lets say that the scene you are taking you choose to use "A" or "Aperture Priority" mode. You pick a F stop of say F 3.5 and after adjusting your shutter speed to get your exposure correct using the light meter that you can view in the bottom of the viewfinder, the shutter speed the camera gave you is 1/100 sec. and you then take a shot. If the room looks fairly evenly well lit but your subject could use just a little more light than the camera meter gave it, this is where the fill flash can help. The camera averaged in the lights that may be beyond your subject causing your subject to be a little dark.

Push the button to make the flash pop up and take a shot. Is your subject now just a little too bright? If it is, and it probably will be due to adding the light from the flash, this is where turning down the power of the flash to get the right mix of ambient light and flash come in. Press the info button at the bottom right corner of the rear LCD screen. Now press the same button that you pressed to make the flash pop up and while you are holding the button "IN" rotate the finger wheel on the front of the camera near the shutter button and turn down the flash and try taking the shot again. Repeat this until the correct amount of fill flash is achieved and you are happy with the results. You are looking for a picture that has the ambient natural light look with only the flash powered up enough to get the job done and not be noticeable. You are going for a natural, no flash used look. Remember that you are using the meter to get the settings for the natural light and then your adding only enough fill flash to bring out your subject.

I think you will find after playing with this just a little that this tip will be very helpful and the pictures you take will have a much more pleasing and natural look to them. Do remember to change your flash back to full strength and if you normally do not use "M" mode return it to what you normally use so it won't mess you up the next time you shoot.

If any of these tips have helped you or you have any questions please post a reply and let me know, Jeff

NOTE: This can also be done with an external flash if the power is adjustable.

[n8]

Not sure if you covered this yet Jeff, but selecting slow/rear curtain will also allow enough ambient light in to keep the pic looking natural. I think selecting slower shutter speeds in manual forces this, and the mode changes automatically.

[Grandpaw]

Not sure if you covered this yet Jeff, but selecting slow/rear curtain will also allow enough ambient light in to keep the pic looking natural. I think selecting slower shutter speeds in manual forces this, and the mode changes automatically.

fotofill, I am glad you found something new to try out. You may want to use the rear curtain setting as Nate mentioned and I will write up something on that before too long.

Nate, I haven't covered slow or rear curtain settings but I will in the weeks to come, thanks for the idea.

Oldtimer, hopefully there might be something that you will benefit from but with your experience you may not read anything that you don't already know. Most of the tips I have written up apply to many more models than just the Nikon D7000.

I do appreciate the feedback and ideas so keep them coming. I know there is a wide range of experience within the members and visitors of our site so some of the readers will get more out of these tips than others will depending on their experience in photography. The reason I am posting these tips is to hopefully inform the readers about something they didn't already know and give them new things to try and experiment with. I am aware that there are many members with a vast amount of knowledge and know much more than I do but I am also aware that to some, this will be something new and helpful. So take any of the tips for what it is worth or you can get out of it that may make you photography a little more fun and exciting. If you have any suggestions of things to cover contact me either here or by PM or E-mail and if it is something I know about or can study up on I will be glad to post a tip about it.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read the tips and I do hope you may get some benefit out something that you didn't already know, Jeff

[Grandpaw]

When to use different flash sync modes and what they do.

Nate had mentioned in an earlier reply to one of my tips about using the rear flash sync mode and I said that I would write something up about how it works and what it does. To explain this would involve a lot of writing to cover it all so I looked around for a video that would do it and I think I have found one that covers it very well. If you are interested in how the sync modes work and when to use them than this will do a very good job in helping you understand when and what to do.

Check out this video for using your camera's, "flash sync modes", Jeff

[Old Timer]

Ok I just pulled the trigger on a D7000 as a backup and companion camera to the D700. Now I need to go back and read all you great tips on the D7000. I spent about an hour on Ken Rosewell's site reading up about it before I made the final decision. I'll be putting the the D2h up for sale soon.

[0ptics]

Thanks for the information and the post!!!

[laursen]

Geee, this is a goldmine! - thank you Grandpaw!!:thumbsup:

Cheers Niels

[kenwilkes]

Thank you for all your hard work Jeff, I learned quite a bit. Kudos

[Grandpaw]

Thank you for all your hard work Jeff, I learned quite a bit. Kudos

Thank you for taking the time to read my tips thread and a special THANK YOU for your post!

[volks]

So Jeff, when are you going to start on the D7200 ?
Just kidding. Hope you are doing well.

[Grandpaw]

So Jeff, when are you going to start on the D7200 ?
Just kidding. Hope you are doing well.

If someone would give me a D7200 or D750 I would be more than happy to start new tips threads. I have had a list of medical things come up this past 12 months starting with fighting off cancer and a list of several medical things that has pretty much eliminated a photography budget. If some kind person or company wants to donate a camera I will get started right away!!!

[volks]

If someone would give me a D7200 or D750 I would be more than happy to start new tips threads. I have had a list of medical things come up this past 12 months starting with fighting off cancer and a list of several medical things that has pretty much eliminated a photography budget. If some kind person or company wants to donate a camera I will get started right away!!!

Gee Jeff, I'm really sorry to hear about your medical issues. That really sucks. Are you getting making any improvements ?