Just got a new D300!

[todd_angood]

<p>Hi all,<br>

I just joined this forum but have been a reader for several months of both the Nikon and Leica sites. I hope I'm in the appropriate area for this question. Anyway, I just traded in my D80 for a D300. Wow! what a camera. The menus are pretty deep but yet to me seem a littler simpler than my D80. Mind you, I just got it yesterday and have only done basic set up and taken some experimental pictures all in the space of 1 1/2 hours.<br>

My question is, do any of you D300 folks have any tips or suggestions that might be helpful as I begin navigating my way through this? Obviously, I have the owners manual and I also purchased a Magic Lantern guide.<br>

FYI, you guys are all correct on the NAS syndrome.....between Leica and Nikon, I am constantly in "justification after the purchase" mode with my wife! :)<br>

I look forward to hearing from all of you.<br>

Todd</p>

[tholte]

<p>I can't help you with any tips because I shoot with the D300 in a very simple way but I can tell you that it is a great camera and you will really like it. </p>

[Rene11664880918]

<p>Welcome to the Nikon forum! Same as you I upgraded from a D80 to a D300. You have more control at your finger tips, that is why it seems much easier. For my D80 I bought Magic Lantern guide but for my D300 I bought Thom Hogans' and I find it much better. He even give you some set ups you can down load into your camera. http://www.bythom.com/nikond300guide.htm<br>

Never tell your wife how much you expend on cameras and never take her to a camera shop! :) Have fun with your camera! Cheers!</p>

[albertdarmali]

<p>I am pretty sure your next move will be shopping for lens to 'justify' the quality of your D300. :)</p>

[bill_keane2]

<p>It's great getting a new camera! Now get out there and enjoy! Congratulations.</p>

[todd_angood]

<p>Rene'<br>

Thanks for the advice about the Hogan book and download. I'll look in to that. Way ahead of you on the wife and the camera store thing. It's the same great tip I learned from my dad who has the same NAS problem I have. It's genetic.</p>

[Richard Williams]

<p>A few random suggestions:<br>

- Upgrade to the latest firmware.<br>

- Tame the deep menus by customising 'My Menu' to contain your most frequently used settings (I hardly bother with the standard menus now).<br>

- Set up the custom button to do something useful (like bracketing).<br>

- Experiment with the LCD brightness (it's maybe a bit over-bright by default, which can be a bit misleading).<br>

- Take some time to see which of the complex permutations of controls that affect AF suit your shooting style (IMHO, this is the trickiest thing about the camera to sort out).<br>

- Try switching off the AF illuminator lamp (it can be distracting to your subjects, and the AF works pretty well without it in quite dim conditions).<br>

- High ISO performance is good enough to make the ISO auto setting genuinely useful (try setting the shutter speed and aperture you really want and let ISO auto take the strain of correcting the exposure).<br>

- Try using Nikon's own View NX or Capture NX to process your raw shots.</p>

[ronald_moravec1]

<p>Six posts down is how I handle Nikon raw files. I find some pretty serious flaws with NX, but it does have some nice features. It is certainly easier to learn than Photoshop, but in the end, the fine control is not there. By the time I drop multiple control points, I can mask off an area.</p>

<p>I find manual exposure to be better than any meter except an incident meter. Set the camera to the prevailing light and shoot away. Put the camera on image review, histogram showing, glance at it for a sec to be sure you have not clipped, then touch the shutter to turn it off. I redid one exposure out of 20 I made on an outing this afternoon. Dec. days are shorter and the sun was fading fast I use AiS lenses on a D40 and the meter will not activate. I just set it for sun and shoot away. Don`t be a meter slave. </p>

[liljuddakalilknyttphotogra]

<p>Welcome to the forum & congratulations on the camera.<br>

If you shoot RAW, settings won't matter all that much. Personally I shoot it rather neutral - I use E.V. -0.3 for most of my shooting - - works beautifully on mine.<br>

Lil :-)</p>

[thomas_m_eutsler]

<p>Todd , go to Ken Rockwell.com do a search for the D 300 , then look for "user manual " print it out<br>

and as I did , take it to Kinko's and have it spiral bound :) a User Friendly manual</p>

[liljuddakalilknyttphotogra]

<p>Todd,<br>

go to Thom Hogan for help. Ken Rockwell's site does not have the best recommendations. I'm sorry Thomas, but Ken Rockwell has a very bad reputation & his settings are the last thing I'd ever use. He must blow his red chanels on a regular basis.... but that's the way he likes his shots.<br>

Todd, if you really want settings - Sam posted settings on DPR many months ago. His settings are much liked. Just post on the D300-D100 forum and ask for settings. They will advice you far better then KR ever will. Many Pros in that forum.<br>

JMHO (even about KR)</p>

<p>Lil :-)</p>

[nina_myers]

<p>lil', personally, I don't find Sam's settings all that helpfull. They're just... defaults. lol. And i'm not impressed AT ALL with his photography. Not to say he doesn't do his job, just...</p>

<p>At least Ken EXPLAINs what each thing does, in plain language. You don't have to use what he uses, but you could try it out to see when it would be appropriate.</p>

<p>I used Ken's D80 and D300 user manuals to learn my camera's menu, and learn what does what. I found them very helpful.</p>

<p>So in short, I like Ken's manuals. :) Take a look Todd.</p>

[liljuddakalilknyttphotogra]

<p>Nina,<br>

my name is Lil - not lil' - - I'm not lil' anything. My christened name is Lil.<br>

I'd take Sam's settings any day over Ken Rockwell & if you want to shoot like Ken - - please feel free to do so. I on the other hand can not stand his oversaturate reds etc etc etc. This is the man who feels jpgs are all that's necessary.<br>

Please feel free to use KR settings - - I on the other hand use my own & seem to be doing just fine not following KR</p>

<p>Lil :-)</p>

<p> </p>

[rayyeager]

<p>I recently came over to the "Darkside" because of the D300. What a great camera! Have fun ... Ray.</p>

[Matthew Brennan]

<p>A tip, purchase the Thom Hogan D300 guide <strong>and read it..........</strong></p>

<p>and</p>

<p>Set the High ISO noise reduction (NR) to 'normal' - I made an initial mistake of setting the High ISO NR to the 'high' setting and lost details in the less exposed parts of my photos. The D300 is a great fun camera and produced great prints for me - enjoy!</p>

 

[ryan_long]

<p>The D300 is outstanding, but if you shoot in RAW you may notice that what you have in camera is not what you get when you load up your files into lightroom v1 or 2, Adobe Camera RAW, Photoshop etc. The RAW files just get washed out, which kind of defeats the purpose of mucking about with those amazing looking picture control settings. You'll see the preview display what you had on the D300's LCD and then "load" and all the vibrance just goes right down the drain.</p>

<p>The only surefire way I've found to maintain RAW files that are identical to what you see on your LCD screen is to use Nikon's Capture NX software. Which is unfortunate, because for my workflow, Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop really speed things up, and Capture NX is anything but speedy. </p>

<p>Adobe has been working on a few camera profile betas which do a decent job, but still don't approach Capture NX. </p>

<p>Right now, my workflow with the D300 is to import right into lightroom, weed out the good shots, boot up Capture NX and work with those shots before exporting to the layout department. It's not the most elegant solution, but it works.</p>

<p>Also, I'll echo: learn to love your My Menu, give Active D-lighting a try (it's an interesting effect), check your LCD brightness for faithful repros of what you shot (I had to turn mine down one notch due to unfaithful and misleading exposure as displayed).</p>

 

[jefflipsman]

<p>As mentioned above, turn on Active D-lighting. Use the normal setting and try it out. It adjusts for blown highlights and shadows.<br>

From what I can tell PhotoShop ignores Active D-lighting when it converts from raw format. View NX respects the setting and carries it through to the JPG. If you shoot in JPG then you don't have to worry about the conversion issue.<br>

Great camera. Enjoy!</p>

[todd_angood]

<p>Thanks to all for all of the advice. I think I'll order up Thom's book after my wife leaves the house :). I never have shot in RAW format but I am getting more curious. It seems a little intimidating to me but I guess it would be a great winter project to learn about and occupy my time. Thanks again!</p>

[timkeller]

<p>Todd, I was intimidated by RAW for a couple weeks after getting my D300 and shot everything in both RAW and JPG, just in case. Once I actually sat down and processed a few RAW images, I turned the JPG option off and have never used it since. I sort through my images in ViewNX, then average 5 minutes or less per image in processing the RAW images through CaptureNX. I'm simple, fun, and rewarding to bring out the best in your images. Enjoy!</p>

[dean]

<p>RAW is not a difficult issue at all. Just try it, and it will open up a ton of doors. :) You might try setting up a couple different shooting programs. (sorry, I don't remember the proper term for them.) I have one set up for vivid, low iso, and no D-lighting. Then I have my "standard" one for portrait/ documentary type work. The problem is: I end up shooting portraits in vivid, and have to change it in NX - huge waste of time!<br>

Awesome camea, though. I love it!</p>

[rarmstrong]

<p>Not sure what type of computer you are using, if it's a Mac, it would be worth taking a look at Aperture 2.1 for working with your RAW files. It is a very intuitive program, has a lot of depth, deals very well with the RAW files from the D300, is less expensive and easier to use than Photoshop and it's quick. Congratulations on your new D300! Great camera...you'll have a blast with it!</p>

[wpahnelas]

<p>todd, i agree with what tim keller wrote. once you start to appreciate what you're able to do with RAW images, you won't want in-camera jpgs. there's virtually no image that can't be improved with just a few minutes of post processing. only thing i would add is that for picture control, i always use neutral. the others -- including the D2X ones available for download -- seem overwhelming to me. it isn't that apparent, except once you get into CaptureNX and start trying different ones... and that brings out the most wonderful thing about RAW images: editing in NX is non-destructive, and things like WB, picture control and active D-lighting and be tweaked and un-tweaked at will.</p>

[nina_myers]

<p>Whoa Lil...<br>

Whoa.<br>

I don't wanna shoot like anything/anyone, that's just my point. I had just mentioned to NOT employ Ken's settings, but to look at how he explains each setting and play around with it.<br>

I'm sorry to OFFEND you with my typing.<br>

Next time i'll try to AVOID any direct contact with you.<br>

SORRY.</p>

[wentbackward]

<p>My menu has all the things I use the most:</p>

<ul>

<li>Shooting menu bank</li>

<li>Custom setting bank</li>

<li>Set Picture Control</li>

<li>a3 Dynamic AF area</li>

<li>a8 AF point selection</li>

<li>ISO sensitivity auto control</li>

<li>Active D-Lighting</li>

<li>c3 Self time delay</li>

<li>NEF recording</li>

<li>Multiple exposure</li>

</ul>

<p>Download the Nikon Portrait/Landscape and D2X modes 1 & 3 picture controls. Learn how to use NX to create a custom picture control. There are also some film emulations around such as velvia and reala, but they're not great. I also like to set the standard picture control with +3 on contrast for outdoor shots. You can save this picture control under a new name and dload it back to your computer. I have one called "Things" and one called "People". Play around to get the tones you like.</p>

<p>Shoot RAW in difficult/unusual situations but get familiar enough with the picture controls (as you would have done with film previously) so you can shoot confidently in familiar scenarios and not need to shoot RAW anymore. Why? Spend less time in post, see and know immediately what it is you're capturing and ultimately less time at the computer means more time photographing, with the kids, reading a book, getting drunk or whatever else you could be doing instead of fiddling with RAW files.</p>

<p>Learn how the autofocus system works with the modes C and S. Know the differences. Turn on 3D tracking and take pictures of kids or sports. Set continuous low, choose a focus point and keep your finger on the trigger for at least 3 shots, see what happens.</p>

<p>Understand your matrix metering and understand what over exposed is, even though the highlights are far from being blown. Regain your contrast!</p>

<p>If you're not printing large images, use the high ISO, get off your widest aperture in low light and learn the trade offs between greater lens sharpness vs noise. Noise is not bad and NX can do wonders with it. For portraits I'd set 1250 ISO even when shooting with a flash, it irons out a lot of skin issues for me (A Monte Zucker trick).</p>

<p>Learn the CLS wireless flash system, get an off camera flash (SB600/800/900), set your on camera flash to commander mode and set it to zero power output, using only the off camera flash.</p>

<p>Set continuous low, turn on bracketing and hold your finger on the trigger.</p>

<p>For chimpaholics, set f1 multiselector center (centre!!) button -> playback mode to Zoom On/Off High magnification. View an image, press the centre of the multiselector and it will zoom to 100% on the focus point. Instant sharpness check. Press it again to zoom back to normal.</p>

<p>This is the same for D3/D300/D700 and mostly the same for D100/D200.</p>

<p>Most of all, have fun!</p>

[simon_hickie1]

<p>I'm still experimenting with settings after 4 months of ownership. Current setup:<br>

RAW + NORMAL JPEG - allows me to browse images easily & then convert best ones for more work;<br>

Picture Mode: DX2 Mode 2 (downloaded from Nikon website) with autocontrast enabled + sharpening 4 or 5;<br>

ADR OFF - ADR adds noise in shadows in my experience & autocontrast seems to work better;<br>

AF in 21 point mode;<br>

Matrix metering with no default compensation;<br>

Aperture Priority, single shot - usually leave it on f8 when turning off, but adjust as needed;<br>

Auto ISO usually on - set to 1/80th or thereabouts;<br>

Latest Firmware (1.10).<br>

Hope this helps.</p>

<p> </p>