Nikon D80 Digital Field Guide - Softcover

Busch, David D.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0470120517 ISBN 13: 9780470120514

Verlag: Wiley, 2007

Inhaltsangabe

You'll want this camera guide along wherever you go
 
Having trouble putting down your Nikon D80 long enough to read the manual? Slip this convenient, full-color guide into your camera bag instead. You'll find big, clear color photos to help you identify the camera's many controls, complete information on using each button and dial, and breathtaking examples of the results. Then discover step-by-step recipes for shooting terrific photos in more than 15 specific situations. This indispensable, go-anywhere guide is like having a personal photographic assistant.
 
* Test-drive your Nikon D80 with a Quick Tour
*
 
Learn to efficiently operate all your camera's controls
*
 
Review photographic basics like exposure, lighting, and composition
*
 
Explore different types of lenses
*
 
Discover the appropriate lens, ISO setting, aperture or mode, shutter speed, and lighting for a variety of subjects and situations
*
 
Get expert tips on downloading and editing your photos

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

David D. Busch is a former photojournalist and a prolific writer about photography. His photographs have been published in magazines as diverse as Scientific American and Petersen's PhotoGraphic, while his articles have appeared in hundreds of publications. He is the author of numerous books, including Digital Photography All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies, also published by Wiley.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Nikon D80 Digital Field Guide

By David D. Busch

John Wiley & Sons

Copyright © 2007 David D. Busch
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-470-12051-4

Chapter One

Exploring the Nikon D80

In This Chapter

Up front

Sides and bottom

On the lens

On top

On the back

Viewfinder display

LCD display

Viewing and playing back images

Activating the Onboard Flash

Choosing metering modes

Adjusting ISO sensitivity

Setting white balance

Programmed exposure modes

Semi-automatic and manual exposure modes

If you found your Quick Tour of your Nikon D80 interesting, you may want to explore the features of the camera in a little more detail, learning all the functions of the various buttons, dials, wheels, switches, and levers that dot its surface. There are a lot of them, but, as you see, having so many dedicated controls helps you work faster. You can access the most-used functions of the D80 by pressing a button and turning a main command dial that are both placed at your fingertips.

You can set features that send you to the menu system in a point-and-shoot camera directly with the D80. On the traditional easy-to-use vs. easy-to-learn scale, the D80 resides firmly at the easy-to-use end of the continuum. Menus may be easier to learn (because they are self-explanatory), but they slow you down once you become familiar with them. On the other hand, once you've taken the time to learn the functions of the D80's controls, it's definitely much faster to use.

I'm going to help you ease on up that learning curve in this chapter. Unlike the official manual that comes with the D80, which is impossibly dense and difficult to navigate, I provide individual full-color photographs of the camera from various views so you can quickly identify a control or component you want to locate. You should find this approach much friendlier than the original manual's tiny black-and-white line drawings, each bristling with numbered callouts that you must cross-reference against a lengthy list with two or three dozen labels.

Moreover, I'm going to explain what each control does within the roadmap, so you don't have to jump around the book to follow multiple cross references. This is a field guide, to be used when you're out taking pictures, rather than a "choose-your-own-adventure" book.

In this chapter, you can find a discussion of controls; in Chapter 2, I describe how to use the D80's basic features, such as metering and autofocus. Then, in Chapter 3, you can find a complete setup guide with an explanation of the camera's thicket of menus.

Up Front

Figure 1.1 shows the Nikon D80 from the front view vantage point of your subjects. To hold your camera steady and keep all the major controls at your fingertips, wrap your right hand around the handgrip and place your left hand underneath, supporting the underside of the lens with your thumb and index finger caressing the zoom ring.

By using this grip, you can reach the shutter release button with the index finger of your right hand, quickly turn the camera on or off with the same finger, and activate the top panel LCD's backlighting control (as I show you later). The middle finger of your left hand should be able to reach the Func button, which serves as a shortcut to features you specify (see Chapter 3) and the depth-of-field preview button.

While you keep the camera steady with your left hand (especially helpful under dim illumination for slower shutter speeds), your fingers are free to manipulate controls on that side of the D80, including the zoom ring, the focus ring (if you're adjusting focus manually), the electronic flash flip-up button, and several other controls. I explain all these controls later in this chapter, too.

I'm providing two views of the front of the camera, from left and right angles (as seen from the subject position). The easiest way to hold the D80 is by wrapping your fingers of your right hand around the handgrip, with your left hand providing support and usually activating most of the controls. However, there are a few controls within reach of your right hand's digits, as shown in figure 1.2. These controls and features include:

* Autofocus assist/Self-timer/ Red-eye reduction lamp: This front-mounted white LED serves three different functions.

When the available illumination is dim, the lamp can flash to provide enough light to increase the contrast so the automatic focus mechanism can function. (You can disable this feature when it might prove obtrusive or distracting.) In self-timer mode, the lamp blinks during the delay period, serving as a countdown to the actual exposure. When you're using flash, the front panel lamp can issue a burst of light just before the exposure, which can help contract the pupils in your subjects' eyes (if they're looking at the camera) and reduce the dreaded red-eye effect.

* Func button: You can define the feature activated by this button (learn how in Chapter 3) so you can quickly access a feature of your choice, say, to switch spot metering to zero exposure on a limited area, or to disable the flash when you don't want it to fire. * Shutter release: Partially depress this button to lock exposure and focus settings. Press it all the way down to take the picture. Tapping the shutter release when the camera has turned off the autoexposure and autofocus mechanisms reactivates both. When a review image is displayed on the back-panel color LCD, tapping this button removes the image from the display and reactivates the autoexposure and autofocus mechanisms. * On-Off switch: Rotate this switch one notch to turn the camera on, and rotate it all the way to activate the top panel LCD backlight. The spring-loaded switch returns to the On position once the backlight is illuminated, and the light remains on for a few seconds. * Sub-command dial: The sub-command dial is a secondary control dial that provides alternate or complementary functions to the main command dial located on the back of the D80. For example, in Manual exposure mode, the main command dial sets the shutter speed, while the sub-command dial adjusts the aperture. * The handgrip: The handgrip serves as a comfortable handle for the D80 that you can clasp with your fingers to support the camera, and it serves as the storage receptacle for the camera's battery. * Depth-of-field preview button: Press and hold this button to close the lens down to the aperture that that will be used to take the picture (normally the lens aperture is kept wide open for bright, easy viewing, until the instant the picture is taken). This gives you a preview of the range of sharpness (depth of field). When you use the depth-of-field button, the view through the viewfinder dims, but you get a better idea of just how much of the image is in focus.

The other side of the D80 has its own complement of controls, as you can see in figure 1.3. These include:

* Bracketing button: Hold down this button and spin the main command dial to activate a bracketing sequence of either two or three shots. Rotate the sub-command dial while holding down this button to choose the size of the increment between bracketed shots, from 0.3 EV to 2.0 EV. The values selected appear on the top panel LCD. Learn more about bracketing in Chapter 4.

* Flash mode...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Wiley
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2007
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0470120517
• ISBN 13: 9780470120514
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 274
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Sebastian Seckfort; 4.92E+12; kontakt@bookfarm.de; ; Luftpark 2; Löbnitz; Sachsen; 4509; Deutschland