Nikon D3400 For Dummies
Overview
Discover the essentials to getting better photos with the Nikon DLSLR D3400.
The Nikon D3400 hits stores as Nikon's most advanced entry-level DSLR camera. Along with the pixel power to deliver sharp images, it also offers tools to be instantly creative and quickly share photos to a smartphone. This book will get you up to speed on the D3400 in a flash—teaching you all the basic photography skills needed to get great shots from a DSLR camera, while also giving you clear, hands-on guidance through the D3400's specific controls.
Nikon D3400 for Dummies helps you learn the ins and outs of the Nikon D3400, including how to get started right away in auto mode, get creative with scene modes, and take full control in
manual mode. Filled with practical, easy-to-follow instructions, this book will help you transform from an inexperienced beginner to an advanced shutterbug whose shots could grace the cover of any popular magazine.
- Get the lowdown on the controls and settings on a Nikon D3400
- Learn how pro photographers set their cameras to get better shots
- Discover the tools that control your camera's exposure settings
- Put your newfound knowledge together to shoot better portraits, action shots, and low-light images
If you're ready to put down your dinky, dim-lit, non-zooming smartphone and pick up a real professional-grade DSLR camera, do so with the help of Nikon D3400 for Dummies.
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About The Author
Julie Adair King has been covering digital cameras and photography for over two decades. Along with Digital Photography For Dummies, Julie has also written For Dummies guides covering specific Nikon and Canon digital SLR cameras. When not writing, she teaches master classes in photography and digital photo editing.
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nikon d3400 for dummies
CHEAT SHEET
With the D3400 camera, Nikon proves once again that you don't have to give an arm and a leg — or strain your back and neck — to enjoy dSLR photography. The D3400 doesn't skimp on power or performance, offering a great set of features to help you take your photography to the next level. But for novices, the camera also offers plenty of easy-to-use, automated modes.
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Photography
Just as you can add miscellaneous comments via the Image Comment feature to images on your Nikon D3400, you can embed copyright information within your image and movie files. Again, the copyright information is stored as metadata and can be viewed on the camera in some playback modes and also when looking at the photo or movie in some photo programs and apps.
Photography
When the Nikon D3400 camera is in shooting mode, its standby timer feature saves battery power by putting the Information display and viewfinder display to sleep after a period of inactivity. Similarly, the camera limits the Image Review period (the length of time your picture appears immediately after you press the shutter button), the length of time the Live View display remains inactive, how long a picture appears in playback mode, and how long menus remain onscreen.
Photography
Found on the lower-left corner of the Nikon D3400 camera back, the i button activates a control strip that gives you quick access to some critical shooting settings. Here's how to use the control strip for viewfinder photography:
Make sure that the camera is in any shooting mode except Guide.
Display the Information screen.
To really take creative control, step up to one of these four exposure modes, which enable you to adjust aperture (f-stop) to manipulate depth of field (the zone of sharp focus) and adjust shutter speed to determine whether moving objects appear sharply focused or blurry. You also gain access to some features not available in the fully automatic modes.
Photography
With one exception, Retouch menu filters on your Nikon D3400 are designed for use on still photos and can't be applied to movies. The single movie-related item on the menu is Edit Movies.For all other photos, you can apply most Retouch menu features in two ways:
Go the regular menu route. Press the Menu button and then press the Multi Selector right to access the strip of menu icons on the left side of the screen.
For photography novices, the D3400 offers automatic settings that enable point-and-shoot simplicity. The settings listed here help you capture the most common types of subjects; just set the Mode dial to the icon shown in the table. For automatic photography and movie recording using special effects, set the dial to Effects and rotate the Command dial to select an effect.
Photography
Tucked away on the left-front side of the Nikon D3400 camera, just under the Flash button, the Function (Fn) button is set by default to provide quick access to the ISO Sensitivity setting. By holding down the button and rotating the Command dial, you can adjust the setting without going through the Shooting menu or Information or Live View control strips.
Photography
By default, the Information display of your Nikon D3400 appears as shown on the left in the P, S, A, and M exposure modes. Other exposure modes use the same design but use a light gray background instead of the darker version used in the P, S, A, and M modes. You can alter the Information display design and color scheme.
Photography
The first setting to consider is the exposure mode, which you select via the Mode dial. Your choice determines how much control you have over two critical exposure settings — aperture and shutter speed — as well as many other options, including those related to color settings and flash photography. The Mode dial determines how much input you have over exposure, color, and other picture options.
Photography
The Image Overlay option on the Nikon D3400's Retouch menu enables you to merge two photographs into one. This option was used to combine a photo of a werewolf, shown on the left, with a nighttime garden scene, shown in the middle. The result is the ghostly image shown on the right. Oooh, scary! Image Overlay merges two RAW (NEF) photos into one.
Hidden under the cover on the left side of the Nikon D3400 camera are the following connection ports, labeled in the photo shown on the left side of the figure:
USB port: Through this port, you can connect your camera to a USB port on a computer for picture downloading and to connect the camera to certain printers for direct printing of photos on the memory card.
Photography
Sometimes known as burst mode, Continuous mode shooting records a continuous series of pictures as long as you hold down the shutter button, making it easier to capture action. On the Nikon D3400, you can capture up to five frames per second.A few critical details:
Enabling flash disables continuous shooting.
Photography
By default, your Nikon D3400 camera stores all images in one folder, which it names 100D3400. Folders have a storage limit of 999 images; when you exceed that number, the camera creates a new folder, assigning a name that indicates the folder number — 101D3400, 102D3400, and so on. You're also given a new folder if a file in the current folder is numbered 9999.
Photography
Set to the right of the viewfinder, the AE-L/AF-L button on your Nikon D3400 enables you to lock focus and exposure when you shoot in autoexposure and autofocus modes.By default, the button is set to lock autofocus and autoexposure together and to keep them locked as long as you keep your finger on the button.
Photography
In certain exposure modes on your Nikon D3400 camera, flash is set by default to fire automatically if the camera thinks that the ambient light is insufficient; in other modes, you have to manually enable the flash. Here's the breakdown:
Auto mode; all Scene and Effects modes that permit flash: Flash is set to Auto by default.
Even if the Nikon D3400 isn't your first dSLR, it pays to take some time before your first shoot to get familiar with its controls. The front-left side of the Nikon D3400 camera, shown in the figure, sports these features:
Flash button: In the advanced exposure modes (P, S, A, and M), pressing this button raises the built-in flash.
Photography
You can quickly reset all the options on the Nikon D3400's Shooting menu by selecting the Reset Shooting Menu, as shown on the left. Likewise, the Setup menu also has a Reset Setup Options item to restore all settings on that menu, as shown on the right. Choose the Reset option to return to the default settings for the respective menu.
Like many dSLR cameras, the Nikon D3400 offers Live View, a feature that enables you to use the monitor instead of the viewfinder to compose photos. Turning on Live View is also the first step in recording a movie; using the viewfinder isn't possible when you shoot movies.To shift to Live View mode, press the LV button.
With the D3400 camera, Nikon proves once again that you don't have to give an arm and a leg — or strain your back and neck — to enjoy dSLR photography. The D3400 doesn't skimp on power or performance, offering a great set of features to help you take your photography to the next level. But for novices, the camera also offers plenty of easy-to-use, automated modes.
Photography
When shooting images on your Nikon D3400, you might need to adjust the exposure and color. The following Retouch filters enable you to tweak exposure and color:
D-Lighting: Active D-Lighting brightens too-dark shadows in a way that leaves highlight details intact. You can apply a similar adjustment to an existing photo by choosing the D-Lighting filter from the Retouch menu.
Photography
After unpacking your Nikon D3400 camera, you have to assemble a few parts. In addition to the camera body and the supplied battery (be sure to charge it before the first use), you need a lens and a memory card. Here's what you need to know up front:
Lens: You can mount a wide range of lenses on your D3400, but some aren't compatible with all camera features.
Photography
Certain lenses can produce a type of distortion that causes straight lines to appear curved. Wide-angle lenses, for example, often create barrel distortion, in which objects at the center of a picture appear to be magnified and pushed outward — as if you wrapped the photo around the outside of a barrel. The effect is easy to spot in a rectangular subject like the oil painting shown here.
For portraits marred by red-eye, give the Nikon D3400's Red-Eye Correction filter a whirl, as shown. If the camera detects red-eye, it applies the filter and displays the results on the screen. The Retouch menu offers an automated red-eye remover.Press the Zoom In button to magnify the display, as shown in the figure, so that you can closely inspect the repair.
Your Nikon D3400 camera offers six Scene modes, which select settings designed to capture specific scenes using traditional characteristics. For example, most people prefer portraits that have softly focused backgrounds.So in Portrait mode, the camera selects settings that can produce that type of background. Scene modes are represented on the Mode dial by the symbols shown here.
Photography
You're no doubt familiar with self-timer mode, which delays the shutter release for a few seconds after you press the shutter button, giving you time to dash into the picture. Here's how it works on the D3400:After you press the shutter button, the AF-assist lamp on the front of the camera starts to blink, and the camera emits a series of beeps (assuming that you didn't disable its voice via the beep option on the Setup menu).
By using the Release mode setting on your Nikon D3400, you set the camera whether to capture a single image each time you press the shutter button (Single Frame mode); to record a burst of photos as long as you hold down the shutter button (Continuous mode); or to delay the image capture until a few seconds after you press the shutter button (Self-Timer mode).
When you set the Mode dial to Effects, as shown here, you can apply special effects as the Nikon D3400 camera writes the picture to the memory card. Effects mode lets you apply special effects to movies and still photos.
Shooting in Effects mode brings up another problem: To create the effects, the camera puts most picture-taking controls, such as White Balance and Metering mode, off limits.
Photography
Single Frame Release mode on your Nikon D3400 captures one picture each time you press the shutter button. It's the default setting for all exposure modes except the Sports Scene mode.Quiet Shutter mode works just like Single Frame mode but makes less noise as it goes about its business. First, the camera disables the beep that it emits by default when it achieves focus.
Photography
If you have a knack for shooting with your Nikon D3400 camera misaligned with respect to the horizon, photos like the one on the left often wind up crooked. Luckily, the Retouch menu offers a Straighten tool that can rotate tilting horizons back to the proper angle, as shown on the right. You can level crooked photos with the Straighten tool.
When you photograph a tall building and tilt the camera upward to fit it all into the frame, an effect that's referred to as convergence, or keystoning, occurs. This effect causes vertical structures to tilt toward the center of the frame.Buildings sometimes even appear to be falling away from you, as shown in the left image.
Through the Image Comment feature on the Nikon D3400's Setup menu, you can add hidden text comments to your picture files. Suppose, for example, that you're traveling on vacation and visiting a different destination every day. You can annotate all the pictures you take on a particular outing with the name of the location or attraction.
Photography
You can use several of your Nikon D3400 camera's Retouch menu filters to apply effects to existing photos. Experiment with the following Retouch menu filters:Filter Effects submenuCross Screen: This filter adds a starburst effect to the brightest part of the image, as shown. To try it, select Filter Effects from the Retouch menu and then select Cross Screen.
To crop a photo means to trim away some of its perimeter. Cropping out excess background can often improve an image. With the Trim function on the Nikon D3400's Retouch menu, you can crop a photo right in the camera. Cropping creates a better composition and eliminates background clutter.
However, always make this your last editing step because after you crop, you can't apply any other fixes from the Retouch menu.
Scattered across your Nikon D3400 camera's exterior are numerous controls that you use to change picture-taking settings, review your photos, and perform various other operations. Your virtual tour begins with the bird's-eye view shown in the figure. There are a number of features of note here:
On/Off switch and shutter button: Okay, you've probably already figured out this combo button.
Photography
You can customize the behavior of the Nikon D3400's shutter button as far as the button's impact on the autofocus and autoexposure systems. Again, start by opening the Setup menu and choosing the Buttons option. On the next screen, the last two settings relate to the shutter button. Here's what you need to know about each setting:
Shutter-release Button AE-L: This option determines whether pressing the shutter button halfway locks focus only or locks both focus and exposure.
The guided menus on your Nikon D3400 work much like interactive menus you encounter in other areas of your life — on cellphones, bank machines, and the like — except that instead of pressing buttons on the screen, you use the Multi Selector and OK button to make your menu selections.And thankfully, your camera also doesn't nag you to hurry up and "please place the item in the bagging area!
Photography
When you look in your Nikon D3400 viewfinder to frame a shot, the initial value shown in brackets at the right end of the viewfinder display indicates the number of additional pictures that can fit on your memory card.But as soon as you press the shutter button halfway, which kicks the autofocus and exposure mechanisms into action, that value changes to instead show you how many pictures can fit in the camera's memory buffer.
Here's a basic "what's this thing do?" guide to each control on the back of the Nikon D3400 camera. You find these features, as shown in the figure:
Viewfinder adjustment dial: Rotate this dial to adjust the viewfinder focus to your eyesight.
AE-L/AF-L button: Pressing this button initiates autoexposure lock (AE-L) and autofocus lock (AF-L).
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