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Ken Rockwell 2007

Nikon D80 User's Guide

2007 KenRockwell.com

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION... 2 BASICS: CAMERA SETTINGS.. 3 TOP RIGHT PANEL CONTROLS.. 11 REAR PANEL CONTROLS... 15 FRONT and SIDE CONTROLS.. 23 FRONT RIGHT CONTROLS.. 26 PLAYBACK MENU ("[ > ]" icon)... 28 SHOOTING MENU (camera icon).. 30 CUSTOM SETTING MENU (Pencil icon).. 36 SET UP MENU (wrench icon).. 49 RETOUCH MENU (brush icon).. 55

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INTRODUCTION
This will teach you to be an expert on the Nikon D80's controls and menus. It also includes a lot of tips, tricks, and the settings I prefer to use. To get great photos you still need to get yourself to the right place at the right time and point the camera in the right direction, which is a lot harder than mastering the D80. Right out of the box at default settings the D80 does a great job so long as you preset the exposure compensation to -0.7. Making a great photo involves locations, timing, patience and a whole lot more. Below are the basics. Explicit details follow in later pages. Many tricks are in the pages below. Feel free to skim to find these great tricks, like inserting your and contact info automatically into every file, preventing blinking with flash photos, making the zoom preview image go away immediately and Auto ISO. I share this, free for the reading, because I love to help. This guide is copyrighted and registered with the United States Library of Congress. It is forbidden to reproduce, print or do anything else with this without written permission, especially if you have any plans to hand it out, email or copy it to anyone for any reason. It's OK to make one print for your camera bag, which is the only permitted use of this PDF. It took me two months to write this D200 User's Guide. I work for tips. If you find it as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop you may have had to take, feel free to help me write more. Feel free to send me a few bucks at KenRockwell.com/donate.htm, or by mail at: Ken Rockwell PO Box 8778 La Jolla CA 92038 THANKS! Ken

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BASICS: CAMERA SETTINGS
I leave most settings at their defaults. I shoot with the top left mode dial in P, Program Exposure mode. Many of these menu options are shown only after you select the FULL MENUS option in the Setup Menu and are often deactivated in anything except the P, S, A and M modes. I reset everything every time I use my camera, much as a pilot uses a checklist before flight to prevent any switches from being in the wrong position. When I don't check first, I often have left my D80 in some screwy mode from shooting in the dark the night before. Nikon has an easy reset feature. I use it every time! My standard operating setting is only a few clicks different from the defaults. RESET Find the two buttons with green dots next to them on the top right of the D80. They are the +/- * and AF * buttons. Hold them both down for a few seconds. The top LCD blinks and everything is back to normal. I do this every time I use my D80. If I forget, I may have the resolution or White Balance or ISO or God knows what set to something screwy and spoil all my shots. I'll see WB problems on the LCD, but I won't notice if I left my D80 at ISO 1,600 from the night before. That's why I always use reset. Reset leaves the detailed menu tweaks alone. It's smart enough to reset only the big dumb things I might have moved overnight. Reset resets flash exposure compensations and sync modes, but doesn't reset any screwy settings you may have made in Custom Setting 22 for remote or manual flash. Reset resets mostly everything tactical, which is mostly you see on the top LCD. It leaves alone strategic items like languages, file numbering and Optimize Image settings.

Page 6 of 57 OPTIMIZE IMAGE
This is set in the Shooting Menu. I crave vivid color! I tweak my D80 to give color as vivid as I can get. If it went to 11 I'd use that, too. I go to MENU > Shooting Menu (green camera icon) > Optimize Image > Custom. Here's how I set each item under Custom: Image Sharpening: Auto (default). Tone Compensation (contrast): Auto (default). The D80 automatically adjusts its contrast and dynamic range to each and every shot. It works great. Color Mode: IIIa (three-a). This is critical: this gives brighter colors than the default of I. No, color mode II is pronounced "two" and not to be confused with 11 (eleven). You don't want Mode II even if you could use it. Details are here. Saturation: +, of course. This gives brighter colors in addition to the boost from Color Mode III. Hue: 0 (Default). Don't touch this! it will subtly mess around with your colors. Leave it at 0. After setting this it's critical to save it by selecting " Done" and clicking to the right actively to select OK. If you forget to hit OK it won't remember all these settings! Read more at Shooting Menu. FOCUS (AF) Mode I use the default of AF-A. This mode automatically selects between the two older modes, AF-C and AF-S. These are explained under AF Area Modes. METERING I use Matrix. You set this by holding the rectangle-with-a-dot-in-the-middle button to the left of the +/- button near the shutter release. Leave it at its default of Matrix, shown on the top LCD as the same weird icon as on the button. Seeing how poor the matrix meter has become in the D80 (it requires constantly varying levels of compensation) I intend to try center weighted metering. With my intimate knowledge of the Zone System, it might let me nail the correct exposures more quickly. That would be a big step backwards; center weighting went obsolete in the mid 1980s then the Matrix meter was invented.
Page 7 of 57 LENS SETTINGS
Many lenses have no switches or settings. If so, don't worry. If the switch says "M/A - M " then use M/A. This gives autofocus, and if I grab the focus ring it instantly lets me make manual corrections. As soon as I tap the shutter button again I get autofocus. This M/A setting, if the lens has it, provides both kinds of focus without ever having to move any switches. It's the best. If a lens has an "A - M" switch, leave it at "A." To get manual focus you may or may not have to move the switch on the lens, and/or the switch on the camera. Different lenses require different settings on the camera and lens to get manual. Some, like the old 300mm f/4 AF, required moving both the camera and lens switches! Others, like the new Nikon 18-135mm, require no switching and you may grab the manual focus ring at any time, even in the A mode. Read your lens' manual, or in the USA ask Nikon 24/7/365 at (800) NIKON-UX. Non-G lenses will have an aperture ring on the base of the lens where it's attached to the camera. Set this this ring to the smallest aperture (largest number), usually 22, if not 32 or 16. This number will be orange on autofocus lenses. There usually is a lock to keep this ring set there, since if it comes off that setting you'll get an error message from most cameras. These were the basics. Keep reading for explicit details.

Page 8 of 57 TOP PANEL CONTROLS - Left
Mode Selector Knob (On top left.) Spin it to select among P, S, A and M exposure modes. I ignore the green AUTO and the other convenience modes (flower, lady in hat, etc.). Many of the menu options are shown only after you select the FULL MENUS option in the Setup Menu and are often deactivated in anything except the P, S, A and M modes.
Page 9 of 57 P: Program Automatic Exposure Mode
I use "P" for program auto exposure. In this mode the camera chooses the f/stop and shutter speed for you. If I want different apertures or shutter speeds I rotate the rear command dial, which selects alternate combinations of f/stops and shutter speeds which give the same exposure. Nikon calls this "Program Shift." A *P symbol appears on the top LCD lets you know you've chosen a different combination for exposure. The *P doesn't appear in the finder, but you can see the apertures and shutter speeds. Three easy ways to return to the standard program combination are to: 1.) flip to a different mode and back to P, or 2.) turn the D80 off and back on, or 3.) spin the rear dial back to its original position. The *P symbol goes away when you've returned to the standard combinations. The standard combinations are f/1.4 @ 1/8, f/2 @ 1/15, f/2.8 @ 1/30, f/4 at 1/60, f/5.6 @ 1/125, f/8 @ 1/250, f/11 @ 1/500, etc. A shifted set might use f/2.8 @ 1/2,000, f/4 @ 1/1,000, f/8 @ 1/500 or might use f/2.8 @ 1/4, f/4 @ 1/2, f/5.6 @ 1 sec, etc. Don't worry, just flick the rear dial until you get the combination you prefer. A, S and M Modes If you want to use only one aperture or one shutter speed then use S or A mode and the camera will automatically pick the other value. I never use these; I shift the program instead. If you want to set both the hard way, use M, manual, mode. In these three modes you select the aperture with the front dial and the shutter speed with the rear dial. You can reverse which dial does what in the Custom Setting 15. In A or S mode you can only set one of the two values because the camera is setting the other one for you. A Mode: Aperture Priority In A mode you choose the Aperture and the D80 chooses the shutter speed.
Page 10 of 57 S Mode: Shutter Priority
In S mode you set the Shutter and the D80 sets the aperture. If the D80 runs out of available apertures you easily can get under or over exposure in S mode: watch that the D80 can select a correct aperture for your lighting. M Mode: Manual You set everything the hard way. I look at the LCD to check exposure. You can use the bar graph in the finder - but why? If you wanted to do that use another mode and let the D80 do the setting for you. HINT: Due to a continuing firmware defect, AUTO ISO doesn't deactivate in Manual mode. I always turn off AUTO ISO when I enter Manual Mode, otherwise Auto ISO changes ISO on you and ruins your intended exposure.

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TOP RIGHT PANEL CONTROLS
OFF, ON, Light and Shutter Release Button Leave it ON unless you're putting it away. It draws no more power in ON than OFF. OFF is a lock to prevent accidental operation in your case. Twist it clockwise to illuminate the top LCD.
Page 12 of 57 FORMAT and Weird Rectangle Button This is the metering switch.
I always use Matrix, shown by an icon on the top LCD which looks like the same weird rectangle on the button. Hold the weird rectangle button and spin the rear dial to set the metering modes to Matrix (weird rectangle), center weight (a dot with a ring around it) or spot (a small dot), as seen on the top LCD. There is no indication in the finder. Hold this and the other FORMAT button on the top left rear to format the memory card. I do this every time I shoot. Hold down both buttons and the top LCD flashes "For." Hold them both down again and the card is formatted. This erases everything, and ensures you won't be getting any errors. Professionals reformat a card each and every time a card is put in in the camera. This is because files and folder structures are sometimes messed up or changed when the card is read in-camera or with a reader or used in any other camera. Professionals prefer to be safe than sorry. We don't use cards to archive previous photos. One time I kept saving my winner shots on a card by simply erasing the rest each time. After a few months I started to get errors. These went away as soon as I reformatted the card. Reformatting completely renovates the card. Erasing does not, and leaves potential errors lurking.
Page 13 of 57 +/- and Green Dot Button
This exposure compensation button is very important. You'll probably wear the paint off this one. This button makes the photos lighter or darker. + is lighter, and - is darker. A flaw in the D80's firmware makes most photos too light, so I leave mine set to -0.7. If your photo is too light, hold the +/- button and spin the rear dial to a more negative number, like -1.3. If your photos are too dark, hold it and spin the dial to a more positive number, like -0.3 or 0.0. It's perfectly OK to go to any number you need, like -2.3 or +1.0. This only affects photos as you take them. Use whatever setting looks best. This error isn't a simple calibration issue. The D80 does different weird things with different subjects. The D80's meter firmware is designed erroneously to expose for the darkest part of the image, so it's almost impossible to get the right exposure of someone wearing black, especially as they move around the image. You may need -2.0 or -3.0 compensation, while other shots of light objects may be fine with 0.0. It is this need for constant variation and supervision which makes this meter so bad and why I prefer my D200. The D40 is the same as the D80. Flash exposure is Nikon's usual perfection. HINT: You can see the + or minus value displayed in the finder as well as the top LCD, so you can adjust this without taking your eye from the finder. The finder display only reads the value when the button is pressed, otherwise those digits read exposures remaining. Hold this and the other green dot button below at the same time for a few seconds to reset most settings to their defaults as explained on the first page. I do this every time I shoot to cancel whatever whacky settings I may have been using before. Bearded Rectangle, Backwards Clock and Remote Clicker Button This controls how the shutter fires. Hold it and turn the rear dial, or press it to cycle among the various modes. The modes are shown on the top LCD. [S]: Normal mode is shown as an [S] in a rectangle on the top LCD, as shown above. The D80 takes one picture each time you press the shutter, regardless of how long you hold the shutter. Bearded Rectangle: The D80 takes one picture if you press the shutter and release it. The D80 takes photos at about three frames per second if you hold down the shutter. I use this mode because I have my choice of one or many shots depending on how long I hold the shutter. In dim light I hold it for many exposures so I can pick the best one later.

Page 17 of 57 WB / ? / Key Button: WHITE BALANCE
1.) If playing (note the color code: yellow: play, silver: shooting), it locks the image from deletion. I never do this, since it makes it a pain to erase later from my computer. Of course Formatting the card erases everything! One trick for which I use the lock is if I forgot to format the card when I started shooting. I lock the few new shots, then use the DELETE ALL command in the Play Menu to dump all the old stuff I didn't lock. I then have to unlock each shot and proceed normally. 2.) If setting the menus, pressing this ? button often gets help and explanations of what's going on with that menu item. 3.) If not playing back, then you're in shooting mode. Hold this button and turn the front and rear dials to set the White Balance. You can see the setting on the top LCD. The rear dial makes selections among the major settings. The front dial finetunes the setting from -3 (warmer or redder) to +3, cooler or bluer. I leave my WB at AUTO. See also How to Set White Balance and White Balance Examples. Here is a run down of the individual WB settings from left to right, as shown on the bottom of the top LCD: Auto (A): I use this all the time. It makes its best guess for WB. It's usually very good. Indoor tungsten can be too orange unless you have some bright tungsten light also in the image. If you do, it removes the orange and compensates completely. If not, the D80 only partly compensates and you get a nice warm image instead. Tungsten (hanging light bulb icon that's easy to confuse with the sun icon): This makes the picture very blue. Use this only for deliberate Arctic freezing effects, or under conventional tungsten light bulbs. Fluorescent (glowing tube icon): Used to make crappy fluorescent light look less crappy. These settings rarely work; use the preset setting for better results. Direct Sunlight (sun icon): Use this outdoors in direct sunlight. Use other settings for shadows or indirect sunlight. Flash (lightning bolt icon): I never use this. It's almost the same as direct sun. I'm told it's really for studio strobes, since the Auto mode compensates magically for flash if you use it on-camera. The reason to use this is if you use a different trim value for your strobes than you do for sunlight.

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Cloudy (cloud icon): Warmer (oranger) than the sunlight position. I use this in shade, too. Shade (house casting a shadow icon): very warm (orange). Use this for sunset shots and deep shade. K (Continuously Variable): This setting lets you choose any amount of blue or orange. Once you select "K" you choose the value, from 2,500 to 10,000, with the front knob while holding WB. The calibrations are abstract in what we scientists call (degrees) Kelvin. More degrees look warmer (oranger) and fewer degrees looks cooler (bluer). There are no rules in real-world photography: use whatever setting looks best to you. 2,500 K is very, very blue. I'll use something around 2,650 K in dim home lighting to get neutral results. 3,200 K is the same as tungsten above. 5,400 K is the same as direct sun above. I'll use something around 4,000 K indoors with a mixture of sun and tungsten light. 10,000 K is very, very orange. The shade setting is similar to 7,500 K, and 10,000 K is warmer. Preset (PRE): You use this setting with a white or gray card to get perfect color matching. Hold "WB" and spin the front knob after choosing PRE with the rear knob. To set it to a white or gray card (or anything neutral): 1.) Ensure your card or other neutral object is in the light representative of the light on the subject. 2.) Hold WB and spin the rear dial to get to the PRE setting. 3.) Release the WB button. 4.) Press and hold the WB button again for a few seconds. 5.) PRE starts to blink. 6.) Release the WB button. 7.) Point your camera at the card or neutral colored thing and Press the shutter. 8.) If the display flashes "good" you're set. 9.) If the display flashes "ng" then repeat from step 4.)

Page 19 of 57 ISO / Minifying Glass / Checkerboard Button
If playing, it reduces the images to fit 2x2 or 3x3 on the screen. If the image was zoomed, it zooms out. If shooting, hold this and turn the rear dial to change the ISO, or sensitivity to light. I usually leave my ISO at 100 and let the D80's Auto ISO adjust as needed. Auto ISO makes all the ISO adjustments for you. I always use Auto ISO since it's as smart as I am. Higher ISOs can give sharper images in dimmer light because they let the D80 shoot at faster shutter speeds or smaller apertures, but they also can add more grain (noise) to your photos. ISO 100 gives the cleanest images, but the most potential for blur in dim light. I use ISO 100 outdoors. ISO 400 and ISO 800 are perfect for sports outdoors. ISO 1,600 gives the noisiest images, with the least potential for blur. ISO 1,600 still looks pretty good if you need it, but I only use it indoors. ISO 3,200 is for use as a last resort. It is grainy, and lets you shoot in the dimmest light without flash. Auto ISO selects magically among all these (except for ISO 3,200) so you and I don't have to worry about it. Firmware Flaw: ISO goes from 100 to 3,200. Above ISO 1,600 Nikon uses bizarre terminology to scare amateurs away from setting these, because these same amateurs would clog up Nikon's (800) NIKON-UX support lines complaining about grainy photos. Nikon calls ISO 2,000 "Ho.3," ISO 2,500 "Ho.7" and ISO 3,200 "H1.0." HINT: If you've selected Auto ISO then you cannot set a manual ISO higher than you allow in Auto ISO. To get to ISO 3,200 (cryptically called H1.0 by Nikon) you must turn off Auto ISO.
Page 20 of 57 QUAL / Magnifying Glass Button
If playing, zooms in. Use the up/down/left/right button to scroll around. TRICK: When zoomed in, flicking the rear dial will go forward/back among other images, all at the same zoom and location. (The Left/Right/Up/Down key still moves around inside the zoomed images.) This makes it easy to see which shots in a sequence are sharp or not. The bad news is that when you delete one that the monitor returns to the default full-image view. If not playing, press this and spin the dials to set the kind of file, the size of the file and the size of the image. You read the setting from the top LCD. The rear dial controls the kind of file (raw, JPG or both), and the size of the JPG file (FINE, NORMAL or BASIC). I always use JPG, never raw. (see JPG vs. Raw.) I usually use BASIC JPG and sometimes NORMAL JPG. BASIC JPG looks almost the same as NORMAL, unless you're making six foot wide prints. It also makes a file half the size of Normal, which speeds up everything and saves space on my hard drives and backup CDs. I never use FINE; it looks the same as NORMAL and wastes space. Feel free to use any settings you like; that's why they're here. The front dial selects L, M or S image (pixel) size for the JPG images. I usually use L or M. You can see examples from my similar D200 at D200 Quality Setting Examples. AE-L AF-L Button This locks the focus or exposure. You select what it locks in Custom Setting 18. I set mine to lock exposure for as long as I hold the button. Rear Dial Click this left and right to control most of the D80's functions. You can reverse which dial does what in Custom Setting 15.

Page 21 of 57 Up-Down-Left-Right Key This is the four-way thumb switch.
While playing, this moves among your images and the data for them. I find it more convenient to spin the front and rear dials to do the same thing; try it. When playing a zoomed image, it scrolls around the image. Trick: After zooming, push the center to make the little zoom preview go away immediately! Otherwise you have to wait a second or two. While shooting, it selects the AF areas. In the menus, it moves around your selections. Dot - L Slide Switch Locks the Up/Down/Left/Right switch, but only in the shooting mode. While shooting, L (lock) makes the D80 ignore the Left/Right/Up/Down key. This keeps your selected AF area unchanged. It doesn't have any effect in the other modes. Smart! Almost Invisible (when off) Green Light This light should be red, because it means the D80 is talking to the SD memory card and you must not remove it. If you're dumb enough to yank out the card with the light on, you not only will lose some photos, you may destroy your SD card. This normally blinks when the D80 is turned on or off or wakes up to shoot. It blinks for a moment after each shot to record it to the card. it blinks as you select different playback images as it reads them from the card. It can stay lit for a minute or more while data gets written, if you insist on shooting a lot of fast sequences in raw. You may ignore it while shooting. You don't have to wait for it, except to pull out your SD card. The D80 has a fat buffer to let you shot as fast as you want without having to wait for this light.

Page 22 of 57 OK Button

In playback, calls up the Retouch Menu. If zoomed in (or zoomed out to the 2x2 or 3x3 modes), it returns you to a normal sized image. In menus, sets menu items. The D40 is much better, since it puts the OK key in the middle of the Up/Down/Left/Right key.

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FRONT and SIDE CONTROLS
From the top down: +/- Lightning Bolt Button 1.) Press once to pop up the built-in flash. 2.) Hold and spin the front dial to alter the brightness of the flash. 0.0 is normal and I leave it there almost all the time. Only in rare instances do I ever need to adjust it towards the minus side to make it darker, or the plus side to make it lighter. 3.) Hold and spin the rear dial to select flash sync mode. The Sync Mode is displayed in the box with the lightening bolt on the left of the top LCD. Here are the modes and what they do: Normal (blank, which is the default): In Program and A exposure modes, the shutter won't stay open longer than about 1/60 second. You can change this minimum speed in custom function 24, which defaults at 1/60 second. I forget the exact default because I have mine set to 1/15.

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Another reason to select REAR is because the flash goes off at the end of the exposure. People presume photos are made the instant a flash fires, then leave. This wreaks havoc with long exposures. If you use REAR mode with long exposures they'll stay put and not move until the end. Of course you'll also want to select flash lock to eliminate the preflash. REAR doesn't do anything with short exposures. Trick FV Lock Mode: You can set this in the Custom Menus. I cover this below. It prevents people from blinking with flash! BKT Button Bracketing. I never use this. Bracketing was a popular crutch used by new photographers who couldn't get their exposures correct on film. Ansel Adams (and I) thought bracketing was very bad, because it was more work than learning how to expose correctly and because it usually guarantees that your best exposure is at the wrong instant, making you lose 2/3 of your good shots. Today the D80 has a great LCD and color histogram for getting the correct exposure. Use them, not bracketing. Big Button Above AF - M Switch This unlocks the lens. Push this straight in and rotate the lens to remove it. It's a bayonet mount. AF - M Switch Autofocus or Manual focus. If your lens has the same switch, you usually can leave this at AF and use the switch on the lens to select manual. Some lenses are different; see your lens manual or ask Nikon in the USA at (800) NIKONUX.

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FRONT RIGHT CONTROLS
Front Dial This is used to fine-tune most settings. You can reverse which dial does what in Custom Setting 15. Top Unmarked Button to Left of Lens Mount: FUNC (Assignable Function) button This button can be programmed to many clever tricks. I wish my Nikons had more of these! You set what it does in Custom Function 16. I leave mine on flash exposure lock (Bolt FV Lock), which lets me make flash photos without people blinking. Tap it to fire the flash and set the exposure, and subsequent photos won't need to fire a preflash, which ensures people blink. Read Custom Function 16 to learn all the clever things it can do.

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Bottom Button Below Lens Mount: Depth-of-Field Preview Button Tap this to stop the diaphragm down to the taking aperture. The viewfinder probably gets darker, but look carefully and you can see what's in focus or not. This analog feature is a remnant from film days. Today most people look at the LCD playback. Safety Defect: Nikon has a flaw in the firmware which fires a huge, blinding burst of flash when you press this button. You must disable this in Custom Function 26 to save your eyesight. The blinding flash burst is intended as a way to let you preview the effects of flash or multiple flashes. The defect is that it is left ON by default.

Page 31 of 57 Preset Choices
There are five fixed preset modes. They cannot be altered. They are: N Normal SO Softer VI Vivid VI* More Vivid PO Portrait BW Black-and-White Black-and-White is a sixth preset mode which does have some adjustments under Custom. The Filter Effects menu under Custom lets the D80 create images which look as if they were shot through a colored filer on black-andwhite film. I leave mine set to the RED filter, which increases the contrast of clouds against the sky. You might think I would use Vivid or More Vivid, except that they crank up some of the contrast and sharpness settings and leave them there. I want vivid colors, but leave the contrast and sharpness on Auto. This way as subjects get contrastier I don't have to stop and turn the contrast back down. In VI* you can easily blow out a slightly high-contrast scene. Therefore I use the Custom (pencil icon) setting: Custom (pencil icon) This is where Nikon hides the critical adjustments other camera makers make more obvious. Canon lets you define many of these and recall them easily. Nikon only gives you one setting. Canon also gives you a wider and more precise range of adjustments, and therefore it's easier to make bad mistakes with Canon. The extreme settings here aren't very extreme. Play to your heart's content and see what you prefer. Done "Done" is the most important Custom Optimize Image menu item. If you forget to select it and then click to the right to select OK it forgets everything! Always remember to select DONE and OK after you change any of the settings below, otherwise they will be ignored.
Page 32 of 57 Image Sharpening
I leave mine on AUTO. I've never messed with the manual settings. Sharpening is an artificial effect not to be confused with sharpness. When I first got a digital camera I thought: "cool, I'm cranking this to 11," and realized my error. Don't turn it up for no reason, since the image can start to look artificial. Play with it if you want. I've played with it out of curiosity, and always leave it on AUTO. Tone Compensation (Contrast) Nikon meant to say Contrast. I always leave mine set to AUTO. In AUTO the D80 automatically applies the Zone System and adjusts contrast to match your subject, for each and every shot! If Nikon's marketing department was paying attention, they would promote this as Automatic Dynamic Range Optimization, since that's what it does and Canon has nothing like this. The D80 automatically lowers contrast and increases dynamic range for very contrasty subjects, and cranks up contrast for dull subjects. Saturation also varies with this setting. If you crank it to + it looks vivid and bold for flatter subjects, but when you have a contrasty subject it's too much and blows out. Leave it in AUTO and you won't have to piddle with it. Avoid Custom tone compensation. Most people call this a custom curve. I've never used it. To use it you have to buy Nikon Capture and create a curve. You then use Nikon capture to load it into the D80. Once you've done that you select it here. If you haven't loaded your own custom curve and select this you get the default Normal curve. Custom curves are way beyond anything with which I want to bother. The curves in the camera are the best ones anyway. Real photographers pay more attention to their subject's lighting. Color Mode Color Mode has three settings: 1. Color Mode Ia (one-a, sRGB) is default. It's normal and boring. 2. Color Mode II (two, Adobe RGB) gives dull colors. Don't touch this unless you really know what you're doing and print your own work. See Adobe RGB vs. sRGB. 3. Color Mode IIIa (three-a, also sRGB) gives bolder colors. I use it all the time. I have no idea how Nikon cooked up these numeric designations.

Page 46 of Flash Warning This lets you turn off the flash reminder bolt in the finder.
I leave this on. The flash reminder is much more than an idiot light. The D80 analyzes the dynamic range of the scene, and if it's too great, reminds you to use flash to fill the dark areas. It is the world's smartest idiot light. 24 Flash Shutter Speed This is another world-class trick easy to use on Nikon, and nonexistent on Canon. This lets you chose the slowest shutter speed used in the normal flash sync mode in the P and A exposure modes. I explain flash sync modes here. This lets you get much more natural images that include more ambient light with flash. Use this well and your photos won't look as if they're shot on a black cyc in Hell, lit only by car headlights, as do most flash shots indoors. I leave mine set to 1/8. Set it slower to get more ambient light if needed, but it leaves more likelihood of blur if you or the subject moves. Set it higher to lessen the possibility of blur, but this reduces the amount of ambient light that can be captured. This is much better than using the SLOW flash sync mode which can lead to very long (30 second) exposures in very dim light. 25 Auto FP This lets you shoot above 1/200 second with an SB-600 or SB-800 flash. I've never used this, but leave it on in case I do. It doesn't do anything at slower speeds. 26 Modeling Flash OUCH! TURN THIS OFF! In its default on mode, when you press the depth-of-field preview, it fires off a long burst of all your flashes. Safety Defect: The first time I did this I was looking at my camera, and almost blinded. With all the stupid warnings in the instruction books, I'm surprised that Nikon has left this dangerous firmware flaw unresolved. Default should be off!

Page 47 of Monitor Off

This selects how long the monitor stays lit after you ignore it. This works in the menus and on playback. Firmware Defect: Sadly this doesn't affect the length of the Image Review after you make a shot. When I was making our Christmas Card photo of my family with a remote control, the monitor always shut off the same second I managed to run back over to my D80. 28 Auto Meter Off This selects how long the meter stay active after you start ignoring it. I leave this at the default of 6 seconds. 28 Self Timer This selects the time, presuming you have the self timer active, between pressing the shutter and the shutter firing. I leave this at 2 seconds, since I use the self timer only if I forgot my ML-L3 remote control. I use my ML-L3 remote, not the self timer, if I'm taking pictures of myself. 30 Remote On Duration This selects how long the D80 stays awake waiting to be released by the MLL3 remote control, presuming you've set it to work via remote control. The default is one minute, which is silly, since when I'm using my remote I don't want to have to take a picture every minute or have to reset my D80 to pay attention again. I set mine to 15 minutes. You set the D80 to pay attention to the remote with the Shutter Release Mode button. 31 Exp(osure) Delay Mode This is a flimsy excuse for a mirror lock-up. In this mode the shutter fires 4/10s of a second after the mirror flips up. It's better than nothing, but I still wish it had a 1970s style default mirror-up at the beginning of the self timer interval. The best is the self timer of Mamiya cameras, which have a dedicated self-timer button. Press the self timer button, and the camera goes off a few seconds later. Nothing to set, nothing to remember to reset.

RETOUCH MENU (brush icon)
How to Get Here Select the Retouch Menu by pressing MENU, moving to the left and then up or down to select the brush icon at the bottom. You'll then see RETOUCH MENU on the top of the color LCD. Trick: Press the OK button when an image is displayed to get to most of the retouch menu. What it Sets This lets you manipulate images in-camera. The originals are unaltered. The D80 creates new versions of the images and saves them. Processing Time: It takes several seconds to chew on a file and save it once you've given the command. The D40 does the same things much faster. Concatenation: The D80 is sneaky enough to know if a file was created with these trick modes, and often won't let you apply the same filter twice. You can concatenate different filters. Firmware Defect: the new images are saved with a file number one more than the most recent image, and are prefaced with CSC, not DSC. The EXIF create time is unaltered, so you'll have to sort images by create time if you can. This double-defect means that the file numbers of the newly created versions are scrambled from the originals. If you're playing with the most recent image the file numbers are close, but if you're playing with an earlier file, it's file number will be unrelated to the original. By prefacing the file with CSC instead of DSC the modified files will sort differently than the originals. The correct way to have done this would be to retain the same file name and append -edit, -edit1, -edit2, etc. For instance, if you make a new version of DCS_0123.jpg, the new file might be called CSC_5837.jpg. Good luck sorting them out! If done correctly, the new version would be named DSC_0123edit.jpg.

Page 56 of 57 D-Lighting

This creates new versions of images with lightened shadows similar to Photoshop's Shadow/Highlight Adjustment tool. You have three levels of lightening: Normal, Moderate (less) and Enhanced (more). You'll never need this with the D80, because the D80's meter firmware is defective and usually overexposes, especially images with dark sections. This trick D-Lighting would have been clever on one of the cameras with a good meter, like the D200, D70 and D50, but not the D80 or D40 which expose for the shadows with a vengeance. Red-Eye Correction This creates new versions of images attempting to rectify flash-induced red eyes. This filter is sneaky enough to know if you used flash or not to make the image, and won't let you use this filter if you didn't use flash. I've never had a problem with red-eye with the D80, so all the better. When I was able to cause red-eye, this filter only corrected half of the eyes! Trim This creates new, cropped versions of images. No pixels are moved or changed in size. Trim removes unwanted pixels from the sides of an image and saves a smaller image. Monochrome This creates new black-and-white versions of images. It has three modes: Black-and-White, Sepia (Brown-and-white) and Cyanotype (Blue-and-White). Filter Effects This creates new versions of images with different colors. You've got your choice of: Skylight: slightly warmer and pinker. Warm Filter: slightly warmer.

Page 57 of 57

Color Balance: This one's slick. It calls up a better control panel than Photoshop's color balance tool, which dates from the 1980s. Nikon's tool reminds me of what we have on million-dollar color correction machines used in Hollywood telecine to color correct motion pictures. The Nikon D80 shows three histograms (reminiscent of Tektronix' WFM700 waveform monitors) and the D80's Up/Down/Left/Right key becomes the color correction track ball. Click it left and right to alter blue-red, and up down for magenta - green. If you have something neutral, watch the waveforms, oops, histograms, until they are about equal. Left - right on the Up/Down/Left/Right key slides the red and blue in opposite directions, and green - magenta slides the red and blue equally left or right. The green stays put. Small Picture This creates a much smaller version of an image. You've got your choice of 640x480, 320x240 and 160x120 pixels. Image Overlay This is silly. It creates a new image by adding two others together in the z-axis (intensity). It only works with raw originals. A reader wrote me about a genius plan to use this for in-camera mutilation of large dynamic range scenes by combining two very different exposures. I don't see it working. I'm missing the genius part. You can't get to this with the OK key on playback. You have to use the menu button.

Nikon D80 Setup Guide

For Nature, Landscape and Travel Photography
External Controls Exposure Mode Metering Mode Bracketing WB ISO QUAL Autofocus Mode Flash Mode Shooting Mode Shooting Menu Optimize Image Image Sharpening Tone Compensation Color Mode Saturation Hue Adjustment Image Quality Image Size White balance ISO Sensitivity Long Exp. NR High ISO NR Multiple exposure Setup Menu CSM/Setup menu Format memory card World Time LCD Brightness Video Mode Language USB Image Comment Folders File no. sequence Mirror Lock-up Dust Off Ref Photo Battery Info Firmware Version Auto image rotation Aperture Priority 3D Matrix Metering Off (until needed) Variable, dep. on situation 100 - 800 dep. on situation RAW AF-S or AF-C SLOW REAR, -1.0 Continuous or Single Custom Setting Menus R Reset 01 Beep 02 AF-area mode 03 Center AF area 04 AF-assist 05 No memory card? 06 Image review 07 ISO auto 08 Grid display 09 Viewfinder warning 10 EV step 11 Exposure comp. 12 Center-weighted 13 Auto BKT set 14 Auto BKT order 15 Command dials 16 FUNC button 17 Illumination 18 AE-L/AF-L 19 AE lock 20 Focus area 21 AF area illumination 22 Built-in flash 23 Flash warning 24 Flash shutter speed 25 Auto FP 26 Modeling flash 27 Monitor off 28 Auto meter-off 29 Self-timer 30 Remote on duration 31 Exp. Delay mode 32 MB-D80 batteries Playback Menu Delete Playback Folder Rotate Tall Slide Show Hide Image Print Set Default Off Dynamic Area Normal zone Off Lock On Off On On 1/3 Off 8mm AE only Under>MTR>Over Off Spot metering Off AE lock only Off Wrap On Depends on situation Off 1/60 On On 5 sec. 8 sec. Depends on situation 15 min. Off (until needed) Dep. on battery type External Controls Exposure Mode Metering Mode Bracketing WB ISO QUAL Autofocus Mode Flash Mode Shooting Mode Shooting Menu Optimize Image Image Sharpening Tone Compensation Color Mode Saturation Hue Adjustment Image Quality Image Size White balance ISO Sensitivity Long Exp. NR High ISO NR Multiple exposure Setup Menu CSM/Setup menu Format memory card World Time LCD Brightness Video Mode Language USB Image Comment Folders File no. sequence Mirror Lock-up Dust Off Ref Photo Battery Info Firmware Version Auto image rotation
For Portrait and Wedding Photography
Aperture Priority 3D Matrix Metering Off Custom or variable 200 - 800 dep. on situation JPEG AF-S (AF-C if necessary) Normal or SLOW REAR Single Custom Setting Menus R Reset 01 Beep 02 AF-area mode 03 Center AF area 04 AF-assist 05 No memory card? 06 Image review 07 ISO auto 08 Grid display 09 Viewfinder warning 10 EV step 11 Exposure comp. 12 Center-weighted 13 Auto BKT set 14 Auto BKT order 15 Command dials 16 FUNC button 17 Illumination 18 AE-L/AF-L 19 AE lock 20 Focus area 21 AF area illumination 22 Built-in flash 23 Flash warning 24 Flash shutter speed 25 Auto FP 26 Modeling flash 27 Monitor off 28 Auto meter-off 29 Self-timer 30 Remote on duration 31 Exp. Delay mode 32 MB-D80 batteries Playback Menu Delete Playback Folder Rotate Tall Slide Show Hide Image Print Set Default Off Dynamic Area Normal zone Off Lock On Off On On 1/3 Off 8mm AE only Under>MTR>Over Off Flash off Off AE lock only Off Wrap On Depends on situation Off 1/60 On On 5 sec. 8 sec. Depends on situation 15 min. Off (until needed) Dep. on battery type
Custom None Normal II or IIIa Enhanced 0 RAW N/A Variable, dep. on situation 100 - 800 dep. on situation Off (until needed) Off Off (until needed)
Custom None Normal Ia Normal 0 JPEG Fine Large Custom or variable 200 - 800 dep. on situation Off (until needed) Off Off (until needed)
Full Default -0 NTSC (North America) En Dep. on situation On (Copyright Mike Hagen) Default On As needed when cleaning Default -1.01 On
Selected Default Off Default Default Default

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For Sports and Action Photography
External Controls Exposure Mode Metering Mode Bracketing WB ISO QUAL Autofocus Mode Flash Mode Shooting Mode Shooting Menu Optimize Image Image Sharpening Tone Compensation Color Mode Saturation Hue Adjustment Image Quality Image Size White balance ISO Sensitivity Long Exp. NR High ISO NR Multiple exposure Setup Menu CSM/Setup menu Format memory card World Time LCD Brightness Video Mode Language USB Image Comment Folders File no. sequence Mirror Lock-up Dust Off Ref Photo Battery Info Firmware Version Auto image rotation Aperture Priority (wide open) 3D Matrix Metering Off (unless HDR photography) Variable, dep. on situation 400 - 800 dep. on situation RAW and/or JPEG Fine AF-C SLOW REAR, -1.0 Continuous Custom Setting Menus R Reset 01 Beep 02 AF-area mode 03 Center AF area 04 AF-assist 05 No memory card? 06 Image review 07 ISO auto 08 Grid display 09 Viewfinder warning 10 EV step 11 Exposure comp. 12 Center-weighted 13 Auto BKT set 14 Auto BKT order 15 Command dials 16 FUNC button 17 Illumination 18 AE-L/AF-L 19 AE lock 20 Focus area 21 AF area illumination 22 Built-in flash 23 Flash warning 24 Flash shutter speed 25 Auto FP 26 Modeling flash 27 Monitor off 28 Auto meter-off 29 Self-timer 30 Remote on duration 31 Exp. Delay mode 32 MB-D80 batteries Playback Menu Delete Playback Folder Rotate Tall Slide Show Hide Image Print Set Default Off Dynamic Area Wide zone Off Lock On Off On On 1/3 Off 8mm AE only Under>MTR>Over Off Spot metering Off AE lock only Off Wrap On Depends on situation Off 1/60 On On 5 sec. 8 sec. Depends on situation 15 min. Off (until needed) Dep. on battery type External Controls Exposure Mode Metering Mode Bracketing WB ISO QUAL Autofocus Mode Flash Mode Shooting Mode Shooting Menu Optimize Image Image Sharpening Tone Compensation Color Mode Saturation Hue Adjustment Image Quality Image Size White balance ISO Sensitivity Long Exp. NR High ISO NR Multiple exposure Setup Menu CSM/Setup menu Format memory card World Time LCD Brightness Video Mode Language USB Image Comment Folders File no. sequence Mirror Lock-up Dust Off Ref Photo Battery Info Firmware Version Auto image rotation

For Point and Shoot Photography
Program 3D Matrix Metering Off Auto 200-800 dep. on situation JPEG AF-C Normal Continuous Custom Setting Menus R Reset 01 Beep 02 AF-area mode 03 Center AF area 04 AF-assist 05 No memory card? 06 Image review 07 ISO auto 08 Grid display 09 Viewfinder warning 10 EV step 11 Exposure comp. 12 Center-weighted 13 Auto BKT set 14 Auto BKT order 15 Command dials 16 FUNC button 17 Illumination 18 AE-L/AF-L 19 AE lock 20 Focus area 21 AF area illumination 22 Built-in flash 23 Flash warning 24 Flash shutter speed 25 Auto FP 26 Modeling flash 27 Monitor off 28 Auto meter-off 29 Self-timer 30 Remote on duration 31 Exp. Delay mode 32 MB-D80 batteries Playback Menu Delete Playback Folder Rotate Tall Slide Show Hide Image Print Set Default On Dynamic Area Wide zone On Lock On On (1600, 1/30 sec.) On On 1/3 Off 8mm AE only Under>MTR>Over Off Spot metering Off AE lock only Off Wrap On TTL On 1/60 On On 20 sec. 8 sec. Depends on situation 15 min. Off (until needed) Dep. on battery type
Custom None Normal IIIa Enhanced 0 RAW and/or JPEG Fine Large Variable, dep. on situation 400 - 800 dep. on situation Off (until needed) Off Off (until needed)
Custom None Normal IIIa Enhanced 0 JPEG Fine Large Auto 200 - 800 dep. on situation Off (until needed) Normal Off (until needed)