Nikon D7000 tips

[Grandpaw]

What is the Diopter, where is it at and what does it do.

If you have used DSLR cameras for a while you will probably already know the answer to these questions. If this is your first DSLD you may not have even noticed this very important little knob near the viewfinder. What it does is it allows you to adjust the focus in the viewfinder to match your eyesight so that everything you see in the viewfinder will be nice and sharp. This is especially important if you are manually focusing your camera. The reason I am writing about this is because I was amazed how many people either didn't know it was there or if they did, didn't know how to adjust it properly. Not having this adjusted to match your vision will really give you problems if you manually focus your shots so lets make sure you know where it is and how to adjust it.

Where you can find the Diopter knob
You will generally always find the small knob near the top right hand side of your viewfinder. It is very small and will usually have little ridges on it to make it easier to turn and adjust.

Here is how you adjust it to work with your eyesight
First turn your camera "ON" and remove the lens cap
Next find the little knob. I find it easiest to adjust it with my right thumb on the little button.
While looking through the viewfinder at the information at the bottom of the screen, adjust the knob until you get everything sharp and clear. DO NOT USE what is in your actual view to adjust this, only use the information bar at the bottom of the screen to make adjustments.

The reason for only using the information bar at the bottom of the screen and not the picture is that the camera may not be focused properly and if you use an unfocused picture to adjust this with it will make everything out of focus.

Remember if you use someone Else's camera and you manually focus that you need to adjust this first before shooting. Also, if you let someone else use your camera this would be a very important thing to check and reset before you start shooting again.

[Jlow13]

Thanks for all the great tips!

[Grandpaw]

Finding a photo on your memory card in the camera

Have you ever gone on vacation for several days and taken hundreds of pictures and want to find one particular picture to look at? Well it can be a real challenge to find one picture out of hundreds that you have taken but there is a few things that you can do to make it easier. First of all you can narrow it down to a few days or even a single day by selecting that dates that you don't want to see and hiding them. Next you can view several pictures at a time by pressing the ISO button to help quickly narrow your search to find the picture you wanted to see. Each time you press the ISO button you will view a bigger selection of thumbnails of pictures you can see. If you want to verify that the thumbnail you have chosen is the correct one all you need to do is press the OK button and you will see it full size.

Here is how you do it.
Go to the playback menu which is the very top menu
Next toggle to the right and down to Hide image and press OK
Highlight Select date and press OK again
Toggle up and down within the dates to highlight the date or dates you want to hide and then press the right arrow on the multi selector button to select each date. As you scroll through the dates press the right arrow to select each date you want to hide.
Next press the QUAL button (Lower button on the left hand side of the camera) to confirm your choices and then press OK to save.

By doing this you will eliminate the days you do not want to see and view the remaining days by pressing the play button. Remember that these days will remain hidden from view until you go back and uncheck them. You can also choose All deselect all in step four above to be able to view all your pictures again. It would have been nice to be able to check the days that you want to see instead of hiding the ones that you do not want to look at but you don't have that option. If you have taken all your pictures in the same day there will only be a single day to choose and not multiple choices, Jeff

[Grandpaw]

Try converting photos to black & white for a different look & feel

Have you ever taken a picture and thought to yourself, how would that look in black & white? Well with your D7000 it is easy to convert your images to black & white to give your photos an entirely different look right in your camera without any extra software. As always when you pick a picture and modify it the new version will be saved as a copy and you will still have the unchanged original to work with and it is easy and simple to do.

Here is how you do it.
First go to the main menu and choose the RETOUCH MENU which is the fifth menu down on the left side
Highlight Monochrome and press OK
Next highlight Black-and-white and press OK again
Next use the multi function button to choose the picture that you would like to change to black & white and press OK.
Note: if you need to see the thumbnail bigger to verify the picture you want just press the QUAL button in the lower left rear of the camera to see the image fill the screen.


Now you not only have the original photo but an additional photo converted to black & white and saved as a copy. Remember that anytime you alter a picture that you will see a little icon at the top of your LCD screen towards the left hand side that indicates you are looking at a retouched photo. The icon only shows up on your screen when viewing and is not on the actual photo that has been altered.

[Grandpaw]

This tip is for people shooting more than one model camera.

If you use a Nikon D7000 and any other camera model and possibly take the memory card out of one and use it in another or just pick up one of your spare cards out of your bag you could be in for a potential big problem. Lets say you have a card that was used in your other camera and there is still several shots left on the card that you need. Well if you place it in the D7000 and you have it set in the PLAYBACK MENU to play D7000 files or current files you will not see the files from the second camera during the review process with your camera.

So lets say you have placed this card in the D7000 and shoot some test shots and decide when you are done reviewing what YOU CAN SEE ON THE CARD you want to clear off and reformat the card to eliminate all the pictures you have just reviewed from your testing.

So the first thing you do is format the card and as you press the "Yes I want to delete these photos option" then you realize that there were other pictures on the card that you couldn't see that you still needed while viewing the test photos because your camera was set to view only D7000 pictures. This has the potential of being a disaster but it can easily be avoided.

Here is how you do it

First go to the PLAYBACK MENU which is the top menu and select Playback folder and press the right arrow on the multi selection button
Next select ALL and press OK and you are done

Now if you use memory cards that still have pictures on them from other cameras you will be able to see everything on the card in PLAY BACK and not miss any images. I always keep mine on the option of playing "ALL" of the pictures on the card so none of my pictures will get deleted by mistake. Remember if you cannot see them you could easily format the card and they are gone.

[Grandpaw]

A simple tip that may save you money and headaches

Have you ever set your tripod, extra flash, camera or other piece of equipment down and walked off and left it? If you have and an honest person finds it, how would they know how to get it back to you? Did you know that every year in, just in Disney World alone, the lost and found gets 3,500 digital cameras turned in each year and only about 25% of the items turned in are ever claimed. Disney does their best to locate the owner and send it back to them but most of the time have no idea who it belongs to. Be honest now, have you ever been out shooting around town and left your tripod or flash and drove off without it? There is a simple thing that you can do that just might help you get your item back. Often when someone finds an item their first thought is to try get it back to the owner but have no idea who that might be.

Here is what I do and it has worked for me.
Not everyone is honest and will attempt to return the item to it's owner but you can at least help them out by letting them know who the item belongs to. TIP.... You know those free stick on return labels that you get in the mail all the time, well just stick one of those on each of your pieces of equipment and you will give the finder your name and address to work with to help get it back to you or at least get in touch with you about what you want to do. You know that chargers and extra batteries are often forgotten in hotel rooms when you leave. I have a label on each of my batteries so if something drastic happens, even my camera will have my name and address on it. Did you know that if an item, even as big as a stroller is found at Disney World and they can verify the owner that the item will be shipped to the person and Disney will pay the shipping? The bottom line is that it can't be returned if the finder doesn't know who the owner is.

[Yochi]

Where was the focus point of my picture? You can wait until you get your file in your computer and find out it was off the mark that you wanted the focus to be on or you can know instantly if you nailed it. Have you ever looked at one of your pictures that you intended to have the focus on an eye and actually was on an ear instead, leaving the eye soft? This might be for you.

When the preview comes up on the LCD screen I like having the focus point of that picture displayed so I can verify and see exactly where my point of focus was when the picture was taken. Doing this will display a red focus point where it was during the exposure.

Here is how you do it
Go to the PLAYBACK MENU
DISPLAY MODE
Check FOCUS POINT
Next go up the menu to DONE and press OK.

If you try it and do not like it just repeat and UN-check FOCUS POINT, Jeff

Hi
First I want to thank you for this great thread. Am going to have a lot of questions hope I won't be too much of a nag...
I was trying to see the focal point and did everything as you suggested and yet when I am viewing the pictures on the camera I can't se the focal point.
Thanks
Yochi

[Yochi]

Hi
Could you pls explain more about the metering system and what are the benefits of each.
I can adjust the camera to the different metering systems but am not very sure what they mean and when I should use them.
Thanks
Yochi

[Grandpaw]

Hi
First I want to thank you for this great thread. Am going to have a lot of questions hope I won't be too much of a nag...
I was trying to see the focal point and did everything as you suggested and yet when I am viewing the pictures on the camera I can't se the focal point.
Thanks
Yochi

If you have it set to show the focus point and it doesn't just press the up arrow on the multi selector button and it will show up. It could either be a single focus point or multiple points depending on which focus option you are using, Jeff

[Grandpaw]

Hi
Could you pls explain more about the metering system and what are the benefits of each.
I can adjust the camera to the different metering systems but am not very sure what they mean and when I should use them.
Thanks
Yochi

I will try and get something as soon as time becomes available, Jeff

[Grandpaw]

Setting your camera to take a picture only after focus has been acquired

You have options within your menus to either let your shutter be activated at any time or you can set it to only take a picture after the focus has been acquired. Bare in mind that this means that the camera has focused on something but not necessarily the location that you wanted it to be. If you have used the wrong focus point or not continued to hold down the shutter button half way you could get a focus on something other than the desired location. This feature does not guarantee that the proper focus has been achieved but only that the camera will not take an image unless the camera is focused on something. It is up to you to get the camera focused on the right location and it is up to the camera to not take a picture unless the green focus light is on and the camera has something in focus.

You can set your camera to only take a picture after focus has been achieved in both AF continuous and AF single point focus individually.

Here is how you do it

Go to the CUSTOM SETTINGS NENU which is the 3rd one down on the left and looks like a pencil
Next choose a Autofocus and press OK
Next select a1 AF-C priority selection and press OK, highlight Focus and press OK
Next select a2 AF-S priority selection and press OK, highlight Focus and press OK and you are done.

You can choose to do one or both of these choices and your camera will not take a picture unless it has acquired focus on something. Remember it does not pick the subject to be in focus, it only prevents you from taking a picture without something being in focus. I have both of these set to focus on my cameras and see no reason you would ever want to have it otherwise, Jeff

[armando_m]

as I have said before, this is a great list, organize with an index and you'll have an
"in depth D7000 guide"

[Grandpaw]

as I have said before, this is a great list, organize with an index and you'll have an
"in depth D7000 guide"

Thanks for taking a look and leaving the encouraging comment. I just never know how many of these posts, if any, are people getting helpful information from. Thanks again, Jeff

[Grandpaw]

I have just added a complete list of the TIPS in the original first post of this thread. I will keep the list in post number one up to date in case you need to return to an individual tip for a reference. Due to the fact that this thread is getting fairly long I added this at the recommendation of Armando to help aid you in finding the topic you are looking for and not have to wade through several pages to locate what you need.

So far there are 43 TIPS and I will post a list here but will only keep the list in post #1 up to date for your convenience and reference, Jeff

Complete list as of NOW. For the updated list refer to post#1
Tip #1 The Virtual Horizon
Tip #2 Nikon built in flash adjustment
Tip #3 Where was the focus point of my picture
Tip #4 Menus driving you nuts My Menu
Tip #5 Manuals hard to understand Digitutor
Tip #6 Saving all your setting for your favorite type of shooting U1 & U2
Tip #7 Reducing noise in your pictures
Tip #8 Need faster FLASH SYNC SPEED than 1/250??
Tip #9 You might consider a battery grip and this is why
Tip #10 Capturing the natural look or mood with photos taken inside by using fill flash
Tip #11 When to use different flash fill modes and what they do
Tip #12 Additional observation or thought for the tip in my post #10
Tip #13 Some reasons to add an external flash to your list of equipment
Tip #14 Ever wish you had access to your camera manual while you were out shooting?
Tip #15 Lighting up the rear LCD display
Tip #16 Easy way to change your ISO setting in aperture mode
Tip #17 Ever need to get your active focus point back to the center quickly?
Tip #18 Nikon ML-L3 wireless remote
Tip #19 Having trouble with the auto focus in low light
Tip #20 Using the auto ISO setting and setting the minimum shutter speed
Tip #21 Discovering blown out areas quickly while you are still shooting so you can correct your mistakes
Tip #22 Getting your own custom look to your pictures
Tip #23 Wanting to compare two or more pictures up close
Tip #24 Customizing your metering system
Tip #25 Adding copyright information to the EXIF data of each of your pictures
Tip #26 Quick check all your settings BEFORE each time you shoot
Tip #27 Getting a custom white balance
Tip #28 Is your camera a pain in the neck?
Tip #29 Viewing your pictures, menus, or info on the rear LCD screen
Tip #30 Saving custom white balance settings
Tip #31 Getting the rear LCD screen to stay on as long as you need it
Tip #32 Another option to navigate menus with, other than the multi selector button
Tip #33 If you use a wide angle lens you may find this tip very helpful
Tip #34 Does part of your pictures disappear when you have enlargements made?
Tip #35 Ever consider trying "Active D Lighting" or "Regular D Lighting"
Tip #36 Getting a custom look to your pictures under many different situations
Tip #37 Resetting your Nikon SB 800 flash back to normal operation
Tip #38 What is the Diopter, where is it and what does it do
Tip #39 Finding a photo on your memory card in the camera
Tip #40 Try converting photos to black and white for a different look & feel
Tip #41 This tip is for people shooting more than one model camera
Tip $42 A simple tip that may save you money and headaches
Tip #43 Setting your camera to take a picture only after focus has been acquired

[Grandpaw]

Beware of UFOs when changing lenses

We all know about being careful when changing lenses in dusty or damp locations but I just read on another forum about a culprit that may be just as bad or worse on your sensor. Remember that it is springtime and the fine pollen is floating and flying everywhere so be careful when and where you change lenses.

TIP... Be sure you are in a safe environment and point the opening to your camera down towards the floor when changing or removing your lens to help prevent something getting on your sensor. Remember that your camera or lens my be coated with pollen and may need to be cleaned BEFORE removing the lens to avoid transferring pollen on to your sensor. You just can't be too careful, Jeff

[Grandpaw]

Sometimes your rear LCD screen lighting up is annoying to others

Have you ever been trying to watch your child's performance on a school play or anything else where the seating area is dark and between you and what you are trying to watch people are taking pictures? If you have, you have experienced all those bright, annoying and distracting LCD screens that light up after each picture to show a review of the picture just taken. Don't be one of these annoying people and simply turn off the rear LCD review option during the show. This LCD screen can easily and quickly be turned "OFF" and the turned right back "ON" after the show. This is another one of those items I would add to the "MY MENU" so it can be accessed very easily.

This is how you do it
Go to the "PLAYBACK MENU" which is the very top menu and press OK
Next scroll down to "Image Review" and press OK again
Next choose "ON" or "OFF" and press OK


If you need to know how to add this to MY MENU it was covered in tip #4 but I will place it here for your convenience
Here is how you do it
Go to MY MENU which is the six menu down on the left side and press OK
Scroll to ADD ITEMS and press OK
Next choose the PLAYBACK MENU and press OK
Next scroll down to IMAGE REVIEW and press OK
Press OK one more time to save it to MY MENU

Treat others like you would like to be treated and just turn off your LCD during the program. REMEMBER..... The only thing you have done by turning off the review option is that it will not automatically show you the picture for review after taking it. You still have the ability to press the play button to view your photos if needed, Jeff
__________________

[Grandpaw]

Sometimes you may not want the flash to fire in AUTO mode

This tip is for those of you that have not gotten off of the auto mode selection yet. You may consider using this in conjunction with the last tip about turning off your auto photo review when shooting at plays or programs so you don't disturb others by your rear LCD lighting up. This only applies to those of you that use the green auto mode. The on board flash only reaches about 10ft. so if you are shooting from a longer distance than that you may want to use the mode selection next to the GREEN AUTO mode between the GREEN AUTO and SCENE modes that looks like a circle with a lightning bolt with a line through it.

This mode selection is full AUTO but just does not allow the on board flash to pop up or fire. This will allow you to use auto mode but eliminate the flash going off and annoying everyone with your flash that is not going to help out your picture taking anyway. In the other modes the flash will not operate unless you specifically turn it on. This Auto mode can be used anytime you want to take pictures in a low light situation and not want the flash to fire.

This feature is not on the D80 or D90 so if you are upgrading up from one of these or the D7000 is your first DSLR you may not be aware of this option. On the earlier models like the D80 or D90 you had to go into the menu to get the flash not to fire.

A lot of you will be using the more advanced modes or something other than FULL AUTO and this will not apply to you but if you use the GREEN AUTO mode this is a good thing to be aware of, Jeff

[gerald]

Thank you for the great tips, I am finding helpful information that I have not found elsewhere!

[Grandpaw]

Thank you for the great tips, I am finding helpful information that I have not found elsewhere!

Welcome to Photography Review!!! I'm glad you can get something helpful out of my thread. I add a new tip about once a week or sometimes even sooner. I am looking forward to you posting some pictures and joining in on the forums. Again welcome aboard, Jeff

[gerald]

Jeff, thanks again, I did not know about the useful tip of making the camera focus point move to the center by pressing the OK button! Gerald

[Grandpaw]

Accidentally shooting without a memory card in the camera

There is an option that will allow your camera to take a picture without a memory card in the camera and I believe it is the default setting. You do have the option, within your menus, to set the camera to ONLY take pictures if a card is actually in the camera and I would suggest making sure that you have this option turned on to prevent causing problems.

Here is how you do it
Go to custom settings menu. It is the third one down on the left and looks like a pencil and press "OK"
Next scroll down to "f" Controls and press "OK" again
Next scroll down to f8 slot empty release lock and press "OK" again
Select LOCK Released lock and press "OK" again

After following the instructions above your camera will not shoot or take a picture unless you have a SD card in the camera. I suggest setting this option and leaving it that way permanently. I cannot see any time that this would not be the preferred selection, Jeff

[Grandpaw]

Ever wonder just what a particular menu selection does?

The Nikon D7000 has a very extensive menu system and can get a little overwhelming at times. A lot of times the menu system will give you several choices of settings to choose from and that allows you to have a lot of control over how your camera operates. The problem is knowing what each selection will do if chosen. If the menu system is getting a little mind boggling there is something that you can easily do that you may find very helpful when choosing different options in the menus.

This is what you do
You may or may not have noticed that the WB, ISO, and QUAL listed above the buttons to the left hand side of the rear LCD screen actually have something different on the top of the actual button itself. On the WB or (White Balance) button you will notice a question mark and a picture of a key right on the top of the actual button. This one button will act differently in different situations when it is pressed. For this tip we are interested in how pressing this button will help you out while in the menu system. While in the menu system pressing this button will activate the "?" function of the button and allow you to find out what the selection in the menu that you are viewing does. This is very helpful in determining if this selection is the menu item you need and are looking for or not. Next time you are looking through the menus try pressing the WB button to activate the "?" portion of that button and see if it just may give you some very helpful information.

I posted this early because I will be getting ready for an ART Show next week and won't have time to do it then, Jeff

[Franglais]

I've been trying out your tips on the D800. Learnt quite a lot. But #48 doesn't seem to work.

Almost all the tips work on the D800. Some exceptions:

- I don't think you can control the power of the built-in flash with the knurled wheel (tip #2)
- Anything concerning Green-easy-program mode doesn't apply
- Some of the menu items are further down. The D800 has even more menu options than the D7000

Thanks for your ideas. I'll see if I can come up with some myself, now that I have a similar camera

[Grandpaw]

I've been trying out your tips on the D800. Learnt quite a lot. But #48 doesn't seem to work.

Almost all the tips work on the D800. Some exceptions:

- I don't think you can control the power of the built-in flash with the knurled wheel (tip #2)
- Anything concerning Green-easy-program mode doesn't apply
- Some of the menu items are further down. The D800 has even more menu options than the D7000

Thanks for your ideas. I'll see if I can come up with some myself, now that I have a similar camera

Charles, I am glad that a lot of these tips work on the D800. After I write up each tip that I add to the list I take my camera and follow the instructions that I wrote to make sure that each and every tip actually works on the Nikon D7000 if you follow what was written in the post. Many of the tips will work on other models or makes of cameras and I am leaving it up to the readers to find out if it will work on the camera they have.

I would prefer that anyone having a tip send me a PRIVATE MESSAGE or an EMAIL and let me write it up so I can verify that it actually works with a Nikon D7000. As you mentioned, the D800 has a different menu system than the D7000 so what you write up may not actually be the steps that you would use to get it done on the D7000. Someone else may have an excellent tip but if they write it up using another cameras menu it may cause some confusion to D7000 owners due to the difference in menus.

I really would prefer anyone that has a tip to send it to me so I can verify it and make sure that it is written up so it will work on the D7000 and verified before posting on my tips thread. I will be more than happy to give anyone the credit for the tip when I write it up if you state who you are but please let me do the posting of the tips, Jeff

[Franglais]

..

I would prefer that anyone having a tip send me a PRIVATE MESSAGE or an EMAIL and let me write it up so I can verify that it actually works with a Nikon D7000. As you mentioned, the D800 has a different menu system than the D7000 so what you write up may not actually be the steps that you would use to get it done on the D7000. Someone else may have an excellent tip but if they write it up using another cameras menu it may cause some confusion to D7000 owners due to the difference in menus.
...

Of course. I think that you also need to adapt it to your style so that we have a consistent work, and check that it is pitched at the right audience. All the ideas I've had so far have been a bit complex and involved using a cobra flash which many people don't have