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Nikon Shooting/Custom menu banks - how do you use them?
- Thread starter Lars
- Start date
Hulyss Bowman
Active member
I might be an oddity but I never ever used those banks. Worst : If I were at Nikon, I would erase those banks. I have quite a lot of friends in photography and I never seen them using any kind of custom settings. Worst II : I use my camera almost always as she come out of the box. This can be cool sometime. I discovered how the d9 function in the D700 menu can be useful with long lenses... four darn years after having bought the cam (my only menu settings are about raw).Starting with the D2X in 2005, I have tried to figure out how to best use the shooting and custom settings banks A/B/C/D. Let's just say I'm still trying to figure it out.
Anyone like to share how they use those banks? Different scenarios? Multiple users? Weekdays?
Lars
Does it stopped me shooting almost everything during those years ? never
Those banks are only useful, IMHO, for very very quick changes in professional situation such as weeding or dynamic reportage (outdoor/indoor...).
Photographers can survive without it, easy.
Jorgen Udvang
Subscriber Member
Ha ha... and I thought I was the only one? I use my Nikon cameras more or less the same way I used the OM-1, except I've switched to aperture priority. Now I have to figure out what d9 is :loco:I might be an oddity but I never ever used those banks. Worst : If I were at Nikon, I would erase those banks. I have quite a lot of friends in photography and I never seen them using any kind of custom settings. Worst II : I use my camera almost always as she come out of the box. This can be cool sometime. I discovered how the d9 function in the D700 menu can be useful with long lenses... four darn years after having bought the cam (my only menu settings are about raw).
Does it stopped me shooting almost everything during those years ? never
Those banks are only useful, IMHO, for very very quick changes in professional situation such as weeding or dynamic reportage (outdoor/indoor...).
Photographers can survive without it, easy.
Jorgen Udvang
Subscriber Member
Nice list, partly because it gives the full overview at one glans, or at least with less scrolling than what is required at the back of the camera, and partly because the sheer size of it explains why I have never bothered to even try.
Lars,
In the first "Shooting Menu" banks, I label group A "Color" and set the jpegs to my preferred tones so I can use them for quick images to send via email, etc. In this for *me*, sharpening and contrast are dialed back a bit, and color rendition is set very slightly warm with normal saturation -- IOW no huge color, contrast or saturation pops. Then I set group B to "Mono." Here I set the jpeg to B&W and add 1 point of sepia, again dial sharpening back a bit and dial contrast to my tastes. Clearly, this does not affect the raw -- but if you use Capture NX-D, it will export those settings to the raw converter, a nice touch for speed -- but moreover, it gives you a great mono in the image review and you get to see immediately if you're capturing what you expected. I like this feature a lot.
Next in the "Custom Setting" banks, I set 3; "Std," "Landscape" and "Rear" for live view focus. Here I simply set the camera up the way I like to use it for normal shooting in Std. In Landscape, I set the 3 second delay to get mirror up and shutter trip 3 seconds later, set AF to rear button only so the shutter press doesn't change focus, and of course set to manual metering mode -- note that in manual metering mode, if you press and hold the the rear AE-L button for a split-second, you get an Aperture-preferred setting on the cam, a slick trick in varied lighting conditions to get your exposure close to correct quickly. Rear is simply a similar set for use with live view, but honestly I rarely use LV as I find that when lenses are properly AF fine tuned, that using the center AF spot in AF or manual with confirm dot, is more than accurate enough.
Oh, set your center command wheel button to 100% review -- it is not the highest mag option, but the second highest. That will get you to 100% review instantly, and you can scroll around the image to confirm exact focus.
Hope this helps,
In the first "Shooting Menu" banks, I label group A "Color" and set the jpegs to my preferred tones so I can use them for quick images to send via email, etc. In this for *me*, sharpening and contrast are dialed back a bit, and color rendition is set very slightly warm with normal saturation -- IOW no huge color, contrast or saturation pops. Then I set group B to "Mono." Here I set the jpeg to B&W and add 1 point of sepia, again dial sharpening back a bit and dial contrast to my tastes. Clearly, this does not affect the raw -- but if you use Capture NX-D, it will export those settings to the raw converter, a nice touch for speed -- but moreover, it gives you a great mono in the image review and you get to see immediately if you're capturing what you expected. I like this feature a lot.
Next in the "Custom Setting" banks, I set 3; "Std," "Landscape" and "Rear" for live view focus. Here I simply set the camera up the way I like to use it for normal shooting in Std. In Landscape, I set the 3 second delay to get mirror up and shutter trip 3 seconds later, set AF to rear button only so the shutter press doesn't change focus, and of course set to manual metering mode -- note that in manual metering mode, if you press and hold the the rear AE-L button for a split-second, you get an Aperture-preferred setting on the cam, a slick trick in varied lighting conditions to get your exposure close to correct quickly
. Rear is simply a similar set for use with live view, but honestly I rarely use LV as I find that when lenses are properly AF fine tuned, that using the center AF spot in AF or manual with confirm dot, is more than accurate enough.Oh, set your center command wheel button to 100% review -- it is not the highest mag option, but the second highest. That will get you to 100% review instantly, and you can scroll around the image to confirm exact focus.
Hope this helps,
Lars
Active member
Jack,
That is quite constructive - everyone else discussing those banks (incl me) seem to use shooting and custom banks in parallel, to use A with A, B with B etc. You have created a matrix instead. :thumbs:
Now, being a software and UX professional I have to say that I'm quite horrified at what Nikon has come up with here. I'm guessing it's a legacy from D1 age - my D2X worked almost exactly as the D810 in this regard so almost nothing has changed here since 2005. Nikon should redesign these settings from scratch, and allow the photographer to be selective in what settings to save to a set.
-Lars
That is quite constructive - everyone else discussing those banks (incl me) seem to use shooting and custom banks in parallel, to use A with A, B with B etc. You have created a matrix instead. :thumbs:
Now, being a software and UX professional I have to say that I'm quite horrified at what Nikon has come up with here. I'm guessing it's a legacy from D1 age - my D2X worked almost exactly as the D810 in this regard so almost nothing has changed here since 2005. Nikon should redesign these settings from scratch, and allow the photographer to be selective in what settings to save to a set.
-Lars
I actually prefer the matrix approach to the unified approach, as it makes logical sense and reduces total menu items to select. The downside is it does require I enter separate menu items to change it. But then combining them into the same main menu block would make the initial selections far more complicated as the items you lock in to each setting are currently contained fully within that given main menu heading, and of course also make logical sense grouped the way they are...