If you’re a Nikon shooter, listen up. Wildlife photographer and knowledgeable Nikon shooter Steve Perry has some really useful tips and tricks that will make your life much easier.
Perry has spent a lifetime shooting Nikon, and this video covers the 7 favorite camera customizations and tricks he’s discovered over the years. It’s worth noting (and he does) that these tricks do not apply to the D3XXX or D5XXX series, but anything above those entry-level options will have these settings buried in the menus… you just have to know where to look.
You can check out the video above for a full breakdown of each tip—including instructions on how to create these custom settings—or scroll down for a quick summary of all 7:
1. Quick Zoom to Check Focus
You can customize the multi-selector center button so that it automatically zooms you in, 100%, on the area that was under the selected AutoFocus point. Great way to quickly check focus and pop right back out again.
2. Quick Zoom to 100% in Live View
This is the same as the first trick, except it lets you zoom into your Live View and check focus before you take the shot. It’s a quicker way to check 100% focus than tapping the zoom-in magnifying glass button 3 times.
3. Fast Image Review
Jealous of the fancy Canon dial that lets users quickly scroll through images? Don’t be. You can set the main command dial on the back of the camera (behind the shutter button) to quickly scroll one image at a time, and the sub command dial (in front of the shutter button) to scroll through 10 images at a time.
4. Fast Card Format
You don’t have to menu-dive to format your memory card. Instead, you can use the two buttons with the Format logo located underneath. It looks like this:
Just press and hold those two buttons until “For” shows up on the top screen, and then again one more time to format your card. No menu diving required. You can even use the main command dial to select what card you’d like to format, once you’re on that “For” screen.
5. Temporarily Disable Flash
If you have a speedlight attached to your camera, you don’t have to turn it on and off every time you want/don’t want to use it. Instead, leave it on and program your Function or Preview buttons to temporarily disable the speedlight when you press and hold that button.
6. Use the Movie Record Button to Change ISO
For on-the-fly ISO changes while you’re looking through the viewfinder, just customize your Movie Record button so that it lets you change ISO using the main command dial when you press and hold it. Easy peasy. You can also set the sub command dial on the front to change you from regular ISO to Auto-ISO the same way.
7. Store AF Points by Orientation
Perry saved his favorite customization for last. If you use this, your camera will remember where your selected AF point was the last time you had the camera in a vertical orientation, and a horizontal orientation.
So when you rotate the camera, the camera will automatically move the AF point back to where it was the last time you had it in that orientation. SUPER useful.
(via DIYP)
