D90: Most Useful (Hidden) Tips & Tricks

<p>Hi there,</p>

<p>as cameras are becoming more and more complex, with lots of menu options and other selection criteria, it seems impossible to learn all of them, at least if you're not reading whole books.</p>

<p>I discovered recently that one can adjust the flash lightness - in both directions (+/-). That's a really useful feature.</p>

<p>Now, I am wondering if there are more of these interesting settings somewhere. Not the obvious ones (time setting adjustment with +/-, etc.)... but those which are a little bit more hidden and not so much known.</p>

<p>I would be curious to know if someone out there has some "secret tips & tricks" to share with the community.</p>

<p>Best wishes and thanks for any of those...</p>

<p>Get one of the after-market guides. That will help a lot. I honestly don't find anything "hidden" on my D90, but those guides might help you.</p>

<p>The much maligned Ken Rockwell has a free guide on line. Contrary to what some have said, he doesn't force you to use his settings, but concisely explains what they all do, then tells you what he would choose. It's very useful. Not everything on his site is.</p>

<p>If you want to spend a little money, the guide from bythom.com is one that everybody seems to like.</p>

<p>I agree with Peter, those Bythom ( e) books are very helpfull if you do not know your cam. very well yet ..</p>

<p>I love my D90, but don't use any "secret" methods with it. It's just an excellent, well-designed camera. There is one thing, not a secret -- among quick-release plates for the D90, Kirk makes a better one than RRS. Thom Hogan's guide (bythom.com) as others have said, is excellent, but you have to buy it.</p>

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<p>The much maligned ...</p>

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<p>The much maligned KR's "About" page is very honest: it tells you that you need a good BS detector when reading his pages. He admits that he likes to make things up. Read the "About" page if you're tempted to follow his advice. Of course he doesn't force you to use his settings. But he recommends settings which make for garish, over-saturated, cartoon-like colors, shot in jpeg. Other than that, I recommend his site very highly.</p>

<p>The most useful thing I have found on the D90 is to program the Fn (function) button to take a RAW image in addition to a JPG image on command. I have my D90 set to take JPG (large/fine). But if I see something of particular interest I can push the Fn button and the D90 will record both a RAW and JPG image one time only.</p>

<p>The instructions for programming the D90 to do this are in the D90 manual.</p>

<p>My Fn button gives me a spot meter reading. But anyway. It's hard to say what you'd think of as a "hidden" feature of trick because we don't know which things you don't already know. E.g., you say flash compensation is one of the hidden tricks, but it's in the docs and some people use it all the time and think it's a "normal" feature.</p>

<p>But Ken's D90 guide is as good a place as any to start. Ignore what you read about the site overall, that part of the site is full of useful info. Though anything that appears to be advice or a description of what he does is optional.</p>

<p>I never thought about having the function button turn the RAW+JPG, that is a great one, thanks for the idea</p>

<p>I use the Fn button to get to the custom menu quickly, and then set up a bunch of shortcuts to things I access regularly and want to turn off / on / adjust without delving into the complete menus. Thom's guide is a must read IMO.</p>