Nikon D7000 tips

[volks]

Jeff, your tips are fantastic and to some degree will benefit everyone, especially a novice like myself.
Great job and many thanks.

[Grandpaw]

Additional observation or thought for the tip in my post #10
Saving all your settings for your favorite type of shooting.

I was discussing this tip with a friend of mine and he was telling me that he had programmed both U1 & U2 on his camera and wished that there were more than two positions available. I know this is obvious but just because you set up U1 & U2 doesn't mean they have to stay that way permanently. If you have some special shooting session coming up there is no reason you can't take the time a few days ahead of time, while you are not under stress, to reset and save your new settings to one of these positions for your upcoming shooting condition. Waiting until you actually need to set your camera under shooting conditions may end in disaster.

I know this is obvious but some times we get blinders on and get stuck in one train of thought. This is just to remind you to be flexible and remember these settings and options, as are many others on your camera, there to help you and are not cut in stone. As time goes by your tastes or needs may change and you need to stay flexible enough to change with them.

If you do decide to re program U1 or U2 and may have a need to reset it back to what you had it saved for earlier you need to make a note of the settings so it can be accomplished easily and you don't have to start from scratch and figure them out again, Jeff

[Grandpaw]

Some reasons to add an external flash to your list of equipment

External flashes are not cheap but they really add a lot to your ability to get great pictures. The external flash is much stronger, delivering much more power and range by several times over the on board flash. You now have increased the options for lighting your subject properly greatly by giving you many more ways to light up your subject. With the D7000 and many other Nikon cameras you can use the on board flash by itself, you can use the external flash by itself or use a combination of both. The extra flash can be mounted on the camera or placed away from the camera and controlled wirelessly by the on camera flash and camera settings, when it is placed in COMMANDER MODE found in the settings within your menus. (This is one of the things I suggest adding to the "MY MENU" in your camera so it can be accessed easily). I told you how this is done in post #5 of this thread. You can also actually adjust the power of a remote wireless flash through the camera menus without touching the flash itself. The external flash allows you to bounce the flash off of wall and ceilings or anything else for that matter. By placing the flash further from the lens you can also drastically cut down or eliminate that annoying red eye that you get in pictures when using a flash. Another thing you can do with the EF is use gels on the flash to help correct white balance or to get different effects with your lighting. The strong flash also gives you a much greater ability to use fill flash when shooting outside. This might sound like a strange statement but you might find that the more light you have effecting your image the more a flash, or FILL FLASH, will be needed to help eliminate all the little shadows created by the existing light sources especially strong sunlight.

Have you ever taken a picture with the on board flash and found that you had a round shadow on the bottom of your pictures? Well if you have a wide lens, longer lens or a sunshade on you lens when taking picture using the on board flash, this is caused by the flash hitting the top front edge of one of these throwing a shadow on your picture. The strange thing is that depending on where you have your lens zoomed to it may cause a shadow on some pictures and not others. Whether the shadow shows up or not depends on if the lens or lens shade got in the line of the light from the flash to your subject or not. An external flash usually will eliminate this problem in most cases.

It also allows you to bounce the flash off walls or ceilings to help improve your lighting and also eliminate the irritating red eye in your photos. Having a second flash will expand your options when needing extra light. Instead of having just the one option of the straight on harsh lighting that the on camera flash provides, you can now bounce the light from your flash off of the ceiling or walls.

In the Nikon system if you place the camera and external flash in TTL mode, (Through the lens mode} it will adjust you lighting automatically whether it is on or off the camera. I would suggest getting one because it will open up a whole world of new opportunities in addition to the ones you already have, Jeff

[Grandpaw]

Ever wish you had access to your camera manual with you while out shooting?

Well how about downloading your camera manual into your smartphone or ipod so you always have it handy. You can do a word search and get quick access to just what you need.
You can find the manual for the Nikon D7000 HERE.

You can also download the manual for your flash or any other equipment in case you need it.

Another thing that you can do is make notes about settings, equipment, time of day and conditions for different shooting situations and download all the information and keep it at your fingertips for easy access any time you need it.

This may be just the excuse to purchase that ipod you have been wanting. This would be a good thing to not only having access to while out shooting but to have with you in that boring waiting room of your doctors office while you are waiting for your appointment. This way you can make better use of the normally wasted times when you are just setting around with nothing to do, Jeff

[Grandpaw]

Lighting up the rear LCD display

Have you ever been shooting in the dark and needed the rear LCD display turned on to check or change some settings and had to fumble around to find the INFO button to turn it on? Well there is a much easier way to to do it. The on and off switch for your camera when turned past the "on" position will back light the top LCD screen. Did you know it can be set to also turn on or light up the rear LCD at the same time. The power on switch , at least to me, is easier to find in the dark for turning on the rear screen. If you would like to try this option look below.

Here is how you do it.
Go to the Custom Setting Menu which is the third one down on the left that looks like a pencil
Next go to the right and down to "F Controls" and push the right side of your toggle button
Next choose f1 switch and push the right side of your toggle button
Next select the bottom option that says "info and information display" and press OK

From now on turning your camera power switch past the on position will not only turn on the back light to the top screen it will turn on the rear LCD screen where you can see it also, Jeff

[Grandpaw]

Easy way to change ISO setting in Aperture Priority mode.

If you shoot in Aperture Priority mode you are choosing the aperture and letting the camera choose the shutter speed. If after choosing the aperture or F-stop you desire to get the depth of field you want, the shutter speed is too low you need to raise the ISO. To keep the same aperture and get the shutter speed more in line with what you need you would need to press the ISO button and then rotate the thumb dial to get a higher ISO which in turn will allow for a faster shutter speed. This requires pushing down and holding the ISO button while rotating the thumb wheel at the same time and also requires taking your eye away from the viewfinder.

There is a setting in the CUSTOM SETTING MENU that will allow you to keep your eye on the viewfinder and just turn the thumb wheel to change the ISO. This works only in the "A" or "Aperture Priority" mode and is easy to change.

Here is how you do it
First you go to the CUSTOM SETTING MENU which is the third selection down on the left side and it looks like a pencil
Next go to the right menu and choose "D" Shooting/display and press the right side of your toggle button
Next scroll down to d3 ISO display and adjustment and press the right side of your toggle button again
Next scroll down to Show ISO/Easy ISO and push your "OK" button

After doing this you will be able to not only see your subject in the viewfinder and the ISO reading you will have the capability and ease of adjusting the ISO by turning just the thumb wheel to get your shutter speed where you need it without ever taking your eye off the viewfinder. Remember that this will only change the action for the "A" or "Aperture Priority Mode" and the thumb wheel will act as it always has in the other modes.

I use "A" mode a lot and find this to be a handy option, Jeff

[Grandpaw]

Ever need to get your active focus point back to the center quickly?

With the Nikon D7000 having 39 focus point sometimes you spot something you need to take an image of and you have no idea where the focus point is at and you need to quickly get your focus point back to the center to be able to get the shot.

Here is how you do it.
The fastest way to achieve this is to press the OK button in the middle of your toggle switch on the rear of your camera and no matter where it was it returns to the center point with one press of the button.

[Grandpaw]

Nikon ML- L3 wireless remote


This is a very handy accessory to have and probably the cheapest thing you will ever buy made by Nikon. This remote can be purchased for less that $15.00. With the new D7000, Nikon has added a censor to the back side of the camera allowing this remote to be used either from the front or rear of the camera. Having this remote will allow you, with the aid of a tripod, to get in the picture yourself without using the timer on the camera and running to get into position for the shot. Having this remote will also let you take multiple pictures without returning to your camera. I have also used it before on a very cold night to take pictures of the eclipse of the moon. I set up my camera, jumped into my car with the heater going and snapped away in comfort.

Another use for this remote would be to set your camera in the menu option to raise the mirror the first time you press the remote and then take a picture on the second pressing of the remote. This will allow you to eliminate any movement from the mirror vibrations. This is a handy option to use especially when using longer lenses or slower shutter speeds. You also have an option to lock up the mirror on the lower mode ring dial but for what I shoot I find this works better and lets me review the picture on the rear LCD screen each time after taking a shot.

REMEMBER!!!!! Below is how you set it up, but to actually use the remote you need to set the outer mode dial on top left hand side of your camera to REMOTE. Press to lock release button and turn the dial to REMOTE which is the little icon between the timer and mirror lock up modes.As always when you are done using the remote return this dial back to a regular shooting position and DO NOT LEAVE it set to remote.

Here is how you set it up
Go to the shooting menu which is the second one down on the left and looks like a camera
Scroll down to REMOTE CONTROL and press the right side of the toggle button on the rear of your camera
You have three choices, so scroll down to REMOTE MIRROR UP and then press OK

NOTE: You have three options when using the remote
Operate like listed above
Fire immediately
Fire with a 2 second delay

[Grandpaw]

Having trouble with auto focus in low light

Ever go out at night and the light is so low you just can't get your camera to focus! Well I have a simple answer.

Here is what you do
I have had this happen a few times and have found that with your camera on single area focus point activated on the spot you want to focus on, if your camera will not focus, all you need to do is buy a laser light pen at Walmart for about $2.50 and point it at the spot that your focus point is on and the camera will lock on followed by the little green light in the viewfinder magically appearing and your shot will be in focus. This of course is for stationary subjects taken in dark surroundings but it will make your camera lock on to the focus quickly.

Remember to not point the light in people's or animal's eyes and it is probably not a good idea to point it at the sensor of your camera.

NOTE: I normally wait several days in between posting tips but I am doing this one ahead of time due to getting ready for my trip to Disney World at the end of the week. Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year, Jeff

[n8]

I would have never thought of that. Good tip Jeff. I think this could be posted somewhere else too as it's for more than d7k users.

[Grandpaw]

I would have never thought of that. Good tip Jeff. I think this could be posted somewhere else too as it's for more than d7k users.

Thanks Nate for reading my tip thread. You made my day when you found something in it that you can use also. When I posted this I also posted this tip in the HELP forum at the same time because I thought many members and visitors besides Nikon users may find it useful, Jeff

[Neous]

Subscribed!

Very nice thread, thanks for the tips

[Grandpaw]

Using the Auto ISO setting and setting minimum shutter speed

The Auto ISO setting will work on all the mode settings EXCEPT P,S,A,M, U1 and U2 modes. If you use any of the other modes on the dial or choose any of the 19 Scene modes that you have to choose from you can set your ISO to automatically increase as the need arises. If you choose to use Auto ISO mode I would recommend setting the limit of what the ISO will go up to. You will have to determine for yourself the highest ISO by determining how high you can go and still maintain the picture quality you desire. I do not use auto ISO myself but if I did the highest I would probably allow it to go would be 3200. You will also be able to set your minimum shutter speed in the same place in the menu allowing you to set the shutter speed to not go below what is needed to stop action in the shot or eliminate blur from shaky hands.

An example of when this may be helpful is when you start shooting pictures at your child's baseball game and as the game goes on the sun starts going down and the light gets less and less. By choosing the Auto ISO setting ahead of time as the sun goes down your camera will allow you to keep taking pictures by increasing the ISO automatically so you can keep on shooting. If you have it set to a certain ISO such as ISO 400, after the point the light gets past it's ability to capture the pictures you want, your pictures will just start getting darker. If you have chosen the Auto ISO setting you can continue shooting and the camera will increase the ISO as needed to allow you to keep capturing those special memories. As with changing any settings I would recommend doing it before hand so it doesn't catch you off guard at the game. Trying to change settings when you are under pressure to get the next shot is not the time to try and figure out what you need to do or how to do it.

If you would like to try this, here is how you do it.

Go to the shooting menu. The second one down on the left that looks like a camera
Next go to ISO sensitivity settings and press the right side of your toggle switch
Go to Auto ISO sensitivity control and turn it on
Next go down to Maximum sensitivity and press the right toggle button and choose the limit that you want and press OK
Next choose the minimum shutter speed that you think you can handle or is needed and press OK
You are now all set up and ready to go

Can you see how if you wait until the game and you are under presser that figuring out how to do this could get you all messed up.
Also remember that you may have to set the ISO higher than you might like to get the shot of your child. Sometimes you have to set the ISO higher than you would like because having a little noise in the shot is a better option than not getting the shot at all.

[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

[Grandpaw]

Wanting to compare two or more pictures up close


Here is how you do it
You can zoom in or out on an image by using the bottom two buttons on the left hand side of the rear LCD screen. After zooming in on a picture any at all, when you use the toggle button with the arrows on it, you can move around on the picture to get a close up view of any part of your photo to make sure you are getting exactly what you want. With the toggle button you can move up, down, left or right and you can even go diagonally if you press on the sections between the arrows. You probably knew that, but did you know you could also do this? If you have zoomed in on a picture and want to compare it to any of the pictures before or after the one you are looking at all you need to do is turn the thumb wheel on the top right rear side of the camera. This will allow you to view and compare different pictures at the same zoomed in level of magnification. If at any time you are zoomed in on a picture and want to return to the original size, without having to repeatably hit the "-" minus button, all you have to do is press the "OK" button and it will put you right back to the original photo without any magnification.

[n8]

The intervalometer has got to be one of the most convoluted functions on the d7k. I wanted to get some practice in before getting my ultra wide (Tokina 12-24...nice), and wanted to do some stacking for star trails. I had set the intervalometer to take 200 shots at 30sec each. What did I get? 5. This happened because I did not set the interval to account for the exposure and rendering time, which means the interval needed to be at about 45 seconds rather than 1.

So, the tip here is, when using the intervalometor for long exposures, set your interval for the time of the exposure+render time.

p.s. Turning of long exposure noise reduction really cuts down on rendering time...like a lot. Do it.

[Grandpaw]

Customizing your metering system

You can choose from Matrix Metering, Center Weighted and Spot Metering. You can also custom adjust each of these choices to get exactly the exposure that you desire. The EV adjustment on the top right hand side of the camera is fine and very useful for individual shots to get them just the way you like, but if you find that any of the three metering choices need to be adjusted on an ongoing basis due to consistently being a little over or under exposed you can custom adjust or tweak each one and save your setting. Using the EV compensation is great for individual images but does not work well for correction of an on going need.

It is easy to fine tune each of your camera's metering choices so that you will consistently get the exposure you want and still have the option of using the EV compensation if you need it for single images.

Here is how you do it

Go to the CUSTOM SETTING MENU which is the third one down on the left and looks like a red pencil
Toggle to the right and scroll down to "b" Metering/exposure
Toggle to the right and go down to"b5" Fine tune optical exposure
Toggle to the right again and scroll up to "Yes" and click OK
Choose the metering choice that you want to adjust and toggle to the right
Use your up and down arrows to select the amount of adjustment you think you need and then press OK

Remember that you may need to go back a few times to make additional adjustments to get it exactly how you want it. You can adjust one, two or all three metering choices differently with their own custom settings. One of the reasons that you probably decided on the Nikon D7000 is it's ability to get it to due exactly what you want it to do so take advantage of the options and control over the settings that you have with this GREAT camera.`

[Grandpaw]

Adding copyright information to the EXF data of each of your pictures

On each picture you take the camera records all the settings you used for that shot such as time of day and date the picture was taken, F stop , shutter speed, ISO and a lot more. There is a place in the EXF data that allows you to embed a comment such as Copyright and your name. It is a good idea to add this information in the EXF data of each photo that you take. By setting this up in the camera it will automatically be added to each picture at the time the picture was taken without doing anything additional. This will allow your name and copyright to go along with each of your pictures no matter where the image travels to or ends up.

Here is how you do it

Go to the SETUP MENU which is the fourth one down on the left and looks like a wrench
Toggle to the right and go down to Copyright Information and press the right side of the toggle button
Scroll down to Copyright and press the right arrow
Add comment such as COPYRIGHT John Doe 2012
To OK your comment hold down the Eyeglass or "+" plus button at the bottom left of the rear LCD screen and press OK. You need to check the Attach comment then scroll up to Done and press OK.

Use the toggle button with the arrows to choose the letters and numbers you want and press OK. To navigate within your comment section hold down the "-" minus button which is the second button up from the bottom left side of the rear LCD screen and use the toggle button with the arrows to navigate within the comment section. To delete, highlight the letter or number to be deleted and press "Delete".

From now on until you change your settings, every picture taken with this camera will include this comment in the EXF data no matter who is operating the camera, Jeff.

[zoomdaddy]

Well I have not been here in a while and things have changed for me .. I was shooting Sony for about 6 years and it just seemed that they were always just on the verge of doing something at the pro level (a850/900) almost hit the spot, but no follow up with Sony, Still I hung on until about 1 month ago I made the move to Nikon. I have started out with the D7000 and 5 lenses a couple of flashes, And I must say the level of feature on the Nikon really gives you and advantage, tethered shooting for one, flash control, many more features, I am waiting to see what they are going to do in the FF arena, may have to do a D4 we shall see, But for now I am very pleased with the results I am getting..

My 2 cents

Kevin

[Grandpaw]

"Quick Check all your settings BEFORE each time you shoot"

This is one tip that effects all levels of photographers for as long as they use a camera. Owning a camera that gives you so many options over all the settings is great and gives you a lot of room to control your results or to experiment with different adjustments. Having all this control is a good thing because it opens up all kinds of new opportunities, but have you ever left all your settings the same and not reset them back to the normal settings after shooting? If you are wondering if I have ever done this the answer is YES! I also think that if you are honest you will admit to having done this a time or two yourself.

I know that over the years I have a tendency, when I'm about to wrap up shooting, to do a little experimenting with adjustments and settings just before I pack up to go home. If the next time I go out to shoot I forget to do a "Quick Check" of the settings I could be out in the morning taking images with a very high ISO setting that didn't get changed back from the night before or a EV adjustment of a half stop off that I do not need for my current shooting or any of the many other setting changes that are available.

This tip can be easily forgotten or overlooked but I think this is one of the most important tips you can get and is a smart thing to get into the habit of doing every time you pick up your camera. This should be done no matter what level of experience you have or how simple or complicated the camera that is being used. By getting in the habit of doing a "Quick Check" first, it will help you avoid noticing you have a problem during shooting or later while viewing your images on the computer. Remember that this can and has happened to photographers ranging from beginners to professionals, Jeff

[Footski]

I joined this site because of this thread and I have now spent a happy couple of hours going through it all with my D7000 in hand. I thought I knew it well, but how wrong you can be. I have implemented the following 7 tips: Setting the U1 setting, Showing point of focus in an image,Altering the power of the on board flash,Lighting the rear display,ISO setting in Aperture mode, remote mirror up and comparing two images close up. Thank you so very much.

On the down side, I could not get the 'OK' button to rest the selected focus point to the centre!!!

I will continue to watch with interest.

Barry

[Grandpaw]

I joined this site because of this thread and I have now spent a happy couple of hours going through it all with my D7000 in hand. I thought I knew it well, but how wrong you can be. I have implemented the following 7 tips: Setting the U1 setting, Showing point of focus in an image,Altering the power of the on board flash,Lighting the rear display,ISO setting in Aperture mode, remote mirror up and comparing two images close up. Thank you so very much.

On the down side, I could not get the 'OK' button to rest the selected focus point to the centre!!!

I will continue to watch with interest.

Barry

The only reason that pressing the OK button won't get your focus point back to the center is because the focus lock is on. Make sure the little flip switch above the info button is pointing toward the dot and NOT the "L", Jeff