D7100 guide super detailed

<p>I purchased the Mastering the Nikon D7100 book. It is extremely thorough. In fact, it's so thorough that I can't conceive of anyone being able to consider so many variables when taking photos.<br>

I suppose the guide can be used as a reference, but I've been reading it cover to cover---I'm up to about page 250--and I haven't felt that I've learned much. For example, the section on metering is 46 pages long.<br>

Additionally, after each explanatory sub-section, there's the author's recommendation, which usually states something to the effect "I always keep the Y feature on setting X" or "99 percent of the time I keep the Y feature on X." I suppose if it were written the other way around, most people would just take the initial advice, and skip the section.<br>

I know that technical guides can be extremely long, but this is a user's guide. Any suggestions on how to "read" this guide?</p>

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<p>You are reading way too much information. As people say, maybe we only use 20, 30% of the features on a camera; the problem is that every person uses a different 30%. You certainly don't need to know everything about your D7100 to use it effectively. I occasionally run into a feature that I need to look up, especially on the video side.</p>

<p>I would say figure out the basics such as exposure, metering modes .... I would go through the Custom Settings. At least be aware that which options are available. Again, every photographer maybe different. Just because someone out there uses some setting 99% of the time doesn't necessarily mean you will use it even 10% of the time.</p>

<p>Don't mean to give you a 'wise guy" type answer, but instead of reading that guide cover to cover, why not go out and take some pictures and see which features and settings are more suitable for you individually?</p>

<p>Shun is spot on. I'd ad that the best way is to read a section or two and then go and play with the settings to see how you like them and how they affect your shooting style and needs. Do this repeatedly, and do it often until you are happy with how you have your camera set up and <strong>know why you are using the settings you are</strong>.</p>

<p>Yes, a lot of stuff, better not to worry too much, IMO. Metering: Leave in matrix, set compensation to -0.3EV, forget about it, go have fun. Works for me.</p>

<p>Yeah, that book is a monster, but very thorough. I have it, it's a great reference, but a really good book to start with is Nikon D7100 Experience by Douglas J. Klostermann. His metering section is only 12 pages long and it's pretty good. I think it's about $15.</p>

<p>Read it all the way through to get an idea of what you can do with your camera. These books are really like a verbose version of the users manual. If it's too boring just skip to the next part.</p>

<p>The book is called "mastering" but there is more to know to be a master. For instance o these books don't contain sections on how to shoot in detail, just what settings the camera have. For instance how is in camera spot metering really used or how do you set up the camera for af-on focusing or how do exposure compensation and flash exposure compensation work together.</p>

<p>I would also take the authors recommendations with a large grain of salt. There is too much difference between photographers to make it useful. Having looked at one of the "Mastering the ...." books I found that a lot of the recommended settings is not what I would use or recommend.</p>

<p>Anyway after reading go and shoot some and then if there is something you don't fully understand, go back and read it again.</p>

 

<p>I have not yet read these books. But if You have been around cameras some time, it takes about two hours to read the manufacturer owners manual, browse through and make initial settings to the new or reseted camera. These settings are matter of personal preference and photographic situation at hand. Sometimes I use someone elses camera, make some setting changes to my taste, leave and when I return, the settings are again different, depending who has used camera since then and what has been photographed.</p>

<p><em>Metering: Leave in matrix, set compensation to -0.3EV, forget about it, go have fun. Works for me. - </em>And it wouldn't work for me - work a bit too often in conditions where spot metering is an easier way to get a reading I can work with. And I found matrix metering to be fairly inconsistent between cameras - so maybe this works for the D7100, but on a D7300 some day it may be exactly too dark.<br /> Out of all the fluff that is worth forgetting about in setting up a camera, metering isn't one of them. I think learning how your meter tends to respond, how the different modes work and when to apply what is a skill that is really worth the time. Shooting manual mode while not exactly knowing how the meter meters is still just guessing (maybe slightly educated guessing, but I rather just go for knowing).<br /> The second thing I would find worth it to invest time into is the AF system - but again, no pre-fab settings, but experiment for yourself which settings work for which circumstances, program it into U1 and U2. Especially for tracking high-speed moving things (sports, wildlife), the default settings aren't optimal and you can get a lot more performance. Experiment, so you learn first hand what is what - books help find the way, but walk the path yourself.</p>

<p>For the rest - shooting raw eliminates a whole raft of settings worth forgetting about. And as it's more important to focus on composition and understanding the light conditions more than anything, eliminating distractions is very much worth the effort.</p>

<p>It takes more than 2 hours to read the owners manual from cover to cover.<br>

The D7100 manual is <strong>384 pages</strong>. The D810 for instance is <strong>530</strong> pages.</p>

<p>In contrast the D70 from 2004 was <strong>219</strong> pages.<br>

The F80/N80 (Nikon SLR) from 2000 was <strong>113</strong> pages.<br>

The Nikkorex F (Nikon SLR) from 1962 was <strong>35</strong> small pages.</p>

 

<p>Speaking of user manuals, I don't know whether this is common with other models, but the printed manual for the D3200 is not complete. The complete manual is only on the CD. I suspect there are a fair number of people who never see the whole manual on these. Even the full manual leaves a few things out. </p>

<p>One I always struggle with is 'My Menu', as I know it would be useful but I can never fathom out how to use it. I only want to access some frequently used settings but I can never find how to get to the my menu without going into the menu...where I may as well make the settings myself. Same with memory banks and U1 and U2. I just go and adjust each thing one at a time as I can never get them to work.</p>