Nikon Coolpix P5100 settings.

[reklov]

We have given up trying to find a faster point and shoot camera and will keep my wife's P5100.
As we are both beginners to digital cameras ( and have a lot to learn ) I wonder if someone could help us with optimizing the P5100 settings.
My wife basically only uses the green auto or scene modes, at least 95% of the time and 95% of the time they are landscape shots.
Not certain that any manual settings are necessary for these two modes, but if there are, would greatly appreciate some advice.
I'm probably embarrassing myself here, but what the heck :-)

[Franglais]

I suggest that you start by trying to understand what the built-in modes do and why. Try shooting the same scene with different modes then check out the EXIF data to see what the camera has chosen to do for settings like:

- shutter speed (sports mode will set higher shutter speed)
- aperture (landscape mode will set smaller aperture to get greater depth of field)
- saturation (landscape mode may set high saturation and portrait mode set lower saturation)
- sharpness (landscape mode could be high)
- ISO (night scene mode will tend to bump up the ISO)

Check out some of the images you're already taken. Try to figure out what went wrong with the less successful ones. When you've understood what the camera choices are then you can start to make your own.


We just has a thread in the Help files forum on how to view the EXIF data

[reklov]

Thanks Charles. Good advice.