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Adjusting Automatic Features with a Nikon D7000
Your Nikon D7000 offers a variety of fully automatic exposure modes on the Mode dial. Your choices include Auto, which is a general purpose, point-and-shoot type of option; Auto Flash Off, which does the [more…]
Choosing an Exposure Mode for a Nikon DSLR
The first picture-taking setting to consider when you’re shooting with your Nikon D3100, D5100 or D7000 is the exposure mode, which you select via the Mode dial. Your choice determines how much control [more…]
Choosing a Shutter Button Release Mode for a Nikon DSLR
By default, the Nikon D3100, D5100, and D7000 capture single images each time you press the shutter button. But by changing the Release mode setting, you can vary this behavior. For example, you can set [more…]
Choosing the JPEG Image Format for a Nikon DSLR
Your Nikon D3100, D5100 or D7000 offers the two file types common on most of today’s digital cameras: JPEG and Camera Raw, or just Raw for short, which goes by the specific moniker NEF [more…]
Choosing the Raw Image Format for a Nikon DSLR
Aside from the default image file type (JPEG), the other picture file type you can create on your Nikon D3100, D5100 or D7000 is Camera Raw, or just Raw [more…]
Setting Automatic Features on a Nikon D5100
Your Nikon D5100 offers a variety of fully automatic exposure modes, which you access via the Mode dial. Your choices include Auto, which is a general purpose, point-and-shoot type of option, Auto Flash [more…]
Choosing Scene Modes with a Nikon D5100
Scene modes on a Nikon D5100 are designed to capture specific scenes in ways that are traditionally considered best from a creative standpoint. For example, most people prefer portraits that have softly [more…]
Customizing the Nikon D5100 Live View Display
In many respects, taking a picture in Live View mode with your Nikon 5100 is no different from regular, through-the-viewfinder photography. Because your monitor is now your viewfinder, you’ll need to make [more…]
How to Autofocus in Live View and Movie Mode with a Nikon D5100
As with viewfinder photography, you can opt for autofocusing or manual focusing a Nikon D5100 during Live View shooting, assuming that your lens supports both. If you use the kit lens, set the lens switch [more…]
Understanding RGB Histogram Mode on a Nikon DSLR
When you view your images in RGB Histogram display mode on a Nikon D3100, D5100, or D7000, you see two histograms: the Brightness histogram and an RGB histogram. [more…]
How to Protect Photos on a Nikon D3100 or D5100
You can protect pictures from accidental erasure by giving them protected status on your Nikon D3100 or D5100. After you take this step, the camera doesn’t allow you to delete a picture from your memory [more…]
Setting Advanced Exposure Modes on a Nikon DSLR
In the automatic shooting modes available to you on your Nikon D3100, D5100, or D7000 you have very little control over exposure. You may be able to choose from one or two Flash modes, and you can adjust [more…]
Reading and Adjusting the Exposure Meter on a Nikon D5100
To help you determine whether your exposure settings are on cue in M (manual) exposure mode, the Nikon D5100 displays an exposure meter in the viewfinder and Shooting Information display. The meter is [more…]
Controlling ISO with a Nikon D5100
The ISO setting adjusts the Nikon D5100’s sensitivity to light. At a higher ISO, you can use a faster shutter speed or a smaller aperture (higher f-stop number) because less light is needed to expose the [more…]
Choosing an Exposure Metering Mode with a Nikon D5100
To fully interpret what the exposure meter on your Nikon D5100 tells you, you need to know which metering mode is active. The metering mode determines which part of the frame the camera analyzes to calculate [more…]
Setting Autoexposure Lock on a Nikon DSLR
To help ensure a proper exposure, your Nikon D3100, D5100, or D7000 continually meters the light until the moment you depress the shutter button fully. In autoexposure modes, it also keeps adjusting exposure [more…]
Adjusting Flash Output with a Nikon D3100 or D5100
When you shoot photos with your Nikon D3100 or D5100 and its built-in flash, the camera attempts to adjust the flash output as needed to produce a good exposure. But if you shoot in the P, S, A, or M exposure [more…]
How to Focus a Nikon DSLR Manually
Some subjects confuse even the most sophisticated autofocusing systems, causing a camera's autofocus motor to spend a long time "hunting" for its focus point. Autofocus systems also struggle in dim lighting [more…]
How to Change White Balance Settings on a Nikon D5100
A digital camera (like your Nikon D5100) compensates for different colors of light through white balancing. Simply put, white balancing neutralizes light so that whites are always white, which in turn [more…]
How to Customize White Balance Settings on a Nikon DSLR
You can fine-tune almost any White Balance setting on your Nikon D3100, D5100, or D7000 (the exceptions being custom presets that you create through the PRE option). Make the adjustment as spelled out [more…]
How to Create White Balance Presets on a Nikon D5100
If none of the standard White Balance settings on your Nikon D5100 does the trick and you don’t want to fool with fine-tuning them, take advantage of the PRE [more…]
Bracketing White Balance with a Nikon DSLR
Bracketing enables you to easily record the same image with your Nikon D3100, D5100, or D7000 at several different exposure settings. In addition to being able to bracket autoexposure and Active D-Lighting [more…]
Making Adjustments with Picture Controls on a Nikon DSLR
A feature that Nikon calls Picture Controls offers one more way to tweak image sharpening, color, and contrast when you shoot in the P, S, A, and M exposure modes with your Nikon D3100, D5100, or D7000 [more…]
How to Straighten Horizon Lines in Pictures with a Nikon DSLR
If you have a knack for shooting with your Nikon D3100, D5100, or D7000 slightly misaligned with respect to the horizon line, it means that photos often wind up crooked. An inability to “shoot straight” [more…]
Working with Lens Distortion on a Nikon DSLR
Certain lenses can produce a type of distortion that causes straight lines to appear curved in the photos you take with your Nikon D3100, D5100, or D7000. Wide-angle lenses, for example, often create [more…]
