Hello I have a Nikon D200 and just bought the new 18-200 lens. Wow, I
watched the Blue Crane Video on how to use the camera. was pretty
good but am looking for more. Can anyone recommend other video
training movies that are good. Love my new camera but the camera has
LOTS OF SETTINGS
Oh My God :)
Thanks
> Hello I have a Nikon D200 and just bought the new 18-200 lens. Wow, I
> watched the Blue Crane Video on how to use the camera. was pretty
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
>
> Oh My God :)
Here's a little one:
https://www.elitevideo.com/aelocd200.wmv
Nikon has some videos on their site introducing all the features. Kind
of tedious but actually quite thorough.
http://www.nikondigitutor.com/index_eng.html
So... any specific questions or tips to discuss? One I learned is you
can set the center of the multiselector to zoom 100% on playback, and
you should learn how to use the checkerboard button & comand wheel to
zoom & pan. My default settings are to have the preview come up only
when I hit the arrow button... I don't always check every shot and to
come up in RGB histogram mode, then up one for blinking highlight mode &
rarely I'll want to see the shutter speed just used... I almost always
shoot in A mode but sometimes want to go to manual like for a panorama
which is a different approach than the first tutorial above. I set the
AE-L AF-L to only lock focus, then I reframe & let the exposure get
measured on the actual frame. Or often I'll AF then flick AF off with my
left middle finger.
Turn off beeps & AF assist light if you ever want to shoot around people
& not be annoying. And turn off the flash modelling light that flickers
when holding the DOF preview.
Notice the Recent Settings Menu! That's great once you get your defaults
the way you want there will be a few weird things you might change &
this way you don't have to remember where they are hidden in the menu.
Like maybe the AF assist light... when you need it & want it and non-cpu
lens data, interval timer shooting & image size for time lapse movies,
exposure delay mode (pseudo-mirror lockup) if you don't have a cable
release, long exposure NR (sometimes you don't want to wait for that).
Self timer duration: 2 sec for substituting a cable release, 5 or 10 sec
for group portraits.
I leave the AF area modes switch on center only and the AE mode on
matrix. Be sure to check these as they can get flipped while pulling the
camera in & out of you bag. Then I set the whatchacallit extra button on
the front for spot exposure metering so I can point around the scene &
see how specific areas are exposing. I use exposure compensation a lot
in aperture priority mode but I guess the other way to go is program
mode then use the front & rear command dials to force things. I turned
auto ISO off... maybe turn it on if you knew you would be shooting under
wildly changing lighting with no time to look at settings.

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Paul Furman Photography
http://www.edgehill.net/1
Bay Natives Nursery
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Paul Furman - 27 Jun 2007 20:50 GMT
cross-posted now to rec.photo.digital.slr-systems
>> Hello I have a Nikon D200 and just bought the new 18-200 lens. Wow, I
>> watched the Blue Crane Video on how to use the camera. was pretty
[quoted text clipped - 47 lines]
> auto ISO off... maybe turn it on if you knew you would be shooting under
> wildly changing lighting with no time to look at settings.
Another thing I do is set all the jpeg processing to minimum contrast &
saturation. This gives a more accurate RGB histogram reading since
that's based on the jpeg, not the raw data and it's always easier to
increase contrast in post processing, not so easy when highlights are
blown & shadows blocked up. I shoot RAW plus jpeg though I usually don't
need the RAW version, it's nice to always have them when I do need them.
I only copy over the RAW files once I've culled the keepers but I do
save most non-keepers in a 'seconds' folder... you never know.

Signature
Paul Furman Photography
http://www.edgehill.net/1
Bay Natives Nursery
http://www.baynatives.com