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So you just got a D70
and you feel lost and overwhelmed? Fret not my little
friend. Take a deep breath, get out your manual and camera
and read on....
The designers of the D70
did a magnificent job of creating a camera that could be
used almost entirely in an automated fashion, with very
little depth of understanding necessary. They also created a
camera that allows the photographer to override virtually
every but of automation to take complete control of the
camera.
No matter how you choose
to utilize your camera, there are some basic suggestions I
have for achieving the best quality.
1) Use the lowest ISO your
camera has that is practical for the scene you're
shooting.
2) Try to get your exposure dead-on. Avoid over-exposure at
all costs. Learn how to use the histogram and blinking
highlights to achieve this. Don't rely on eyeballing the LCD
screen to make an accurate assessment of your exposure.
3) Use either a scene appropriate white balance like
tungsten, flourescent or cloudy, or better yet, do a custom
white balance. BTW, I almost always use cloudy white balance
outdoors, even in sunny situations. If you're shooting a
scene with lots of green foliage filtering the light you
should use a custom white balance
4) Don't oversharpen or over contrast. It's always better to
have these settings set to normal or less than normal. You
can always bump them up in your image editing software, but
it's difficult if not impossible to bump them down.
5) Use the best file quality you can. That means either
JPG/Large/Fine or NEF.
For those wishing to
utilize the D70 using the most automation and with the least
amount of choices.
Go to the setup menu (the wrench) and set CSM menu to
simple. This will limit the number of Custom Settings you
have to deal with. Then in the shooting menu utilize the
Optimize Image choice to select Portrait or Landscape
specific settings. This will help set all your
digital-specific camera settings (the things you don't need
to think about when shooting film).
For even simpler
operation, you can also use the dial on the top of left of
your camera to select one of the Digital Vari-Program modes.
These are auto, portrait, landscape, sports, close-up, night
landscape or night portrait. These choices will help you get
the right combination of aperture, shutter speed and flash.
Please refer to your manual for an explanation of each
setting. Auto is the absolute simplest way of shooting. If
you don't want to worry about all the digital settings, just
use Auto.
These are the setting I
use. You may find that they work for you, or you may prefer
other settings. Remember I like to have the maximum amount
of control over the camera so these settings generally
require more effort and forethought, so these might not
always be best for you.
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Shooting
Menu
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OPTIMIZE
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Custom>
Sharpening=normal or med. low; tone comp=normal;
color mode=II; saturation=normal
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LONG EXP
NR
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off, unless I'm
shooting long exposures
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IMAGE
QUALITY
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JPG Fine or
RAW
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IMAGE
SIZE
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Large
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WHITE
BALANCE
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I seldom use
auto. Either use the scene appropriate mode or do
preset wb. Outdoors I usually use cloudy, even in
full sun.
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ISO
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Use the lowest
practical ISO. I'm not afraid to shoot at 800-1200
if can't or don't want to use flash.
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Custom
Settings
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BEEP
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Off
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AUTOFOCUS
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AF-C
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AF-AREA
MODE
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Single
Area
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AF
ASSIST
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Off
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ISO
AUTO
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Off
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NO CF
CARD
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Release Lock
(makes it impossible to shoot when there's no
card)
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IMAGE
REVIEW
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Off (saves
power)
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GRID
DISPLAY
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On
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EV
STEP
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1/3
step
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EXP
COMP
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Off
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CENTER
WTD
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8mm
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BKT
SET
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AE &
Flash
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BKT
ORDER
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MTR>Under>Over
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COMMAND
DIAL
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No
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AE-L/AF-L
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AF-ON (This is a
biggie, it turns the AE-L/AF-L button on the back
of the camera into your focus button and removes
that function from the shutter button. Most pros
utilize this setting, pressing the button with
thumb. This separates the focus action from the
shooting action because you are using your thumb to
focus and another finger to press the shutter
button.
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AE
LOCK
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Off > AE-L
button
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FOCUS
AREA
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Off>no
wrap
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AF AREA
ILLUM
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On
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FLASH
MODE
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TTL when using
the built in flash, commander when using the built
in flash to trigger a remote strobe.
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FLASH
SIGN
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On
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SHUTTER
SPD
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1/30th
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MONITOR
OFF
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1 min
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METER-OFF
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8 secs
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SELF-TIMER
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2 secs
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REMOTE
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5 mins
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Setup
Menu
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FOLDERS
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NCD70
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FILE NO
SEQ
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ON, Important! If
you leave this off, your image file names will
always be reset to 0 when you put in a new card.
This can lead to problems of duplicate file
names.
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FORMAT
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Always format
your cards in camera when you want to clear
them.
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CSM
MENU
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Detailed
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DATE
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Don't forget to
set your date and time
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LCD
BRIGHT
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0
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Copyright 2004 Michael A. Schwarz Photography, Inc.
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Once you've mastered your camera,
your next question will naturally be, "What should I buy
now?" Not in any particular order, you no doubt will
need...
Memory Cards- Get some of those nice
fast Lexar 40x or 80x WA compact flash cards. How many you
need really depends on how many photos you plan on shooting
before downloading. If you're going to be traveling with
your camera and not bringing along some method of
downloading photos, you'll need a bunch. Get a few of the
512 or 1 gig cards. If you're going to be shooting a lot of
NEF files, don't rule out the 2-gig cards.
Camera Bag- Get something that will
protect your gear. LowePro makes a nice selection of
shoulder bags, hip packs and backpacks.
External flash- The built-in flash
is handy, but you'll be able to shoot faster, farther and
utilize the D70's wireless TTL feature by getting an SB-600
or an SB-800. If you want to get really fancy, get 2 of
these units and learn how to use multiple wireless
TTL.
A Longer Lens- I have an ongoing
argument with some of my colleagues about the perfect match
for the 18-70mm lens that you got with your D70. Some of
them like the 70-300, but I say, get the 28-200mm. Don't let
the overlap of focal length dissuade you from experiencing
the versatility of this lens. Here's my logic-- with the
18-70 and 70-300, you're going to be switching lenses a lot.
With the 18-70 and 28-200, you're pretty much going to be
using one lens or the other, not switching back and forth a
lot. I prefer this method of shooting. Of course if you need
the extra focal length of the 70-300, the whole point is
moot and you should go for it.
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