Episode Summary 
DTown TV is a weekly show brought to you by Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski with KelbyTraining.com.
Episode Summary
- This week, the Nikon guys share how they set up a brand new camera. You'll see exactly which settings Scott and Matt change right out of the box. They explain what each one does and the reason why they make it a priority to change right away.
Another Great show This week Guys WELL DONE!! 10 minutes goes flying by…Quick observation, last week Scott said “I will never change my shirt” does this mean he is still wearing the same one after all these weeks? All the best to every one! at DTown.com
Hi Guys..
Great Tips.
Any chance you could explain hyperfocal distance in easy to follow steps.
Another great episode! By far the best way to learn all about Nikon camera’s and the suggestions of getting the most from them.
I presently use the d-80 camera and i was wondering if there will ever be an epsode with tricks regarding that camera?
Keep up the good work guys!
Hey guys,
Love DTown…however…I ONLY have a D90…just don’t have the funds to purchase the D300, D3… et al…
Maybe sometime down the line you could give some attention to the LOWER models…just a suggestion…
Frank
One short comment: This episode was meant to new camera owners, and for them there’s one thing that’s really easy to forget (at least I did): you have to apply most of these settings to *all* of your shooting/custom settings banks (at least if you plan to use settings banks).
For nearly a year, I had the no-memory-card-lock setting only in my custom settings bank A, meaning I could have fired away without a card if I had chosen another bank. Luckily that never happened.
Matti
How do you set up the D700 so the flash like SB 800 or SB900 will flash at 1/250 of sec or 1/320 of sec.
Love this show as I do your photoshopusertv. You guys are great, funny, and a bit crazy.
The show is well done, I never miss an episode. I have a D700 which I really enjoy and only wish I could afford some additional lenses. I hate for my first comment to be negative, but I must point out that although Scott is an unbelievable photographer, teacher and musician, his skills are obviously artistic. You said twice in this episode that you change the exposure in 1/3 stop increments, 1/3, 1/7 and 1 stop (in that order). It would be 1/3, 2/3 and 1 stop (in that order). 1/7 is much smaller than 1/3. Don’t mean to be nitpicky, but when you said it a second time I thought it should be pointed out.
Good show guys.
Back in episode 7 you covered shooting modes. Please do a follow on segment on the advantages/disadvantages of the of different dynamic AF areas (including 3D). Especially when you would you each AF area.
Additionally it would be great to see your procedures for using the AF fine tune feature to optimize your focus.
Thanks, keep up the good work – it’s appreciated.
Great Episode Guys ….. Actually scrap that great series !!!! I love watching everything Nikon. I particulary like the flash segments as I am knew to hot shoe flashes and am about to dive into it.
I would love to see future episodes on Lenses. I am always ask which lens I would recomend for a certains style of shooting, ie a wedding or sports etc. I think a run down of pro lenses and other options for each style would make great episodes.
Love the show keep up the good work!!
Ben
A great help, thanks.
I could never figure out why I never got “Blinkies” I was sure my exp was not always right on, now I know it was not an automatic feature I had to turn it on.
Thanks again for the show, never miss it.
cooksfriend
Good job, well done
Hello,
Another great episode again!
In my camera i always have active d-lightning defined to low. Not that it is alwayes used but in Capture NX2 i can always put is to off, but when it is off the option to change or use in Capture NX2 is disabled. So put Active D-Lightning to Low to have this option availible to you in Capture NX2
Greatings from The Netherlands
Great show as usual, guys! And who cares what color shirt Scott wears!! I even like his humor!
Since I always shoot RAW, do I need to adjust settings like color saturation, mode, sharpening, etc. in my camera? These settings don’t show in CS4 in RAW or in the LCD preview do they if shooting RAW? Would I get an image in my LCD closer to my RAW CS4 processed image or does it make any difference? Now my LCD images are awfully flat. I’ve always been confused about this?
Hello Scott and Matt,
Thank you for a wonderful show — they all have been great!
Please keep sending them to us. Your viewership cannot help but grow…
My very best to both of you,
Guy
Hey Scott & Matt,
Here are a couple of features I always set up on my camera.
1 – I program my FUNC button to cancel firing the flash. This is handy for scenarios where you sometimes need fill flash and sometimes you don’t. Rather than having to turn the flash ON and OFF depending on when I want fill-flash, I simply keep my SB800 on all the time. In shots where I don’t want the flash to fire, I simply hold down the FUNC button while I release the shutter.
2 – I also re-program the DoF Preview button to switch to spot metering whenever I hold it down. This allows me to switch between matrix and spot metering very quickly.
Cheers,
Karl-Franz
Melbourne, FL
I am new to noBS. Enjoyed your session 11. How can I see the first ten shows?
Thanks, Wayne
GREAT JOB GUYS. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.
Hi! Thank you for this weeks show.
A future tip could be to show how to set up your old nikon lenses with the D200/300/700/3/3X. Old lenses without CPU built-in. The F-bayonett I think is one of the strenghts of Nikon cameras and thats worth a short notice. You can use ALL Nikon lenses with full matrix metering!
A tip if you use old lenses a lot and change between different ones is to put the “Non-CPU”-bank on the FUNC-button for fast handling.
Tips for the lower segment cameras maybe hard since these cameras dosn’t have that many features. But it could be usefull to compare the preset modes (portrait, sports, landscape, firework etc.) with the PSAM-modes. Portrait mode = A-mode with largest apature. Sports mode = S-mode with a fast shutter speed. And so on… Don’t forget to explain WHY the preset modes are programmed as they are. Just because thats most likley will give the result you’r aiming for. Let people take control over their cameras. =)
I’m from Sweden and have watch every episode. I think you guys fulfill a need and I try to promote dtown as hard as I can here in Sweden.
Thanks for a great show!
/ Alex
The Mac D700 firmware freezes with a grey screen during the .dmg download.
Is this operational, and any advice would be most welcome.
Love your show.
Each week I learn something new — thank you!
Wish I’d known about the Memory Card Lock during a workshop when I first got my Nikon.
Now *that* will never happen again.
Having used that camera for awhile, now, I also appreciate the tip for customizing “My Menu”. Reading the manual is simply no substitute for what we can learn from experienced Nikon pros!
Would love to see you invite Thom Hogan to visit the set and do a piece with you.
I am starting into learning to shoot professionally. I bought the D90. I liked the show but almost none of the settings you discussed is on my camera; or, if it is, where?
[...] 2009, under Nuotraukos, Rašliavos Paskutinį kartą turbūt apie Nikon D-Town laidą… Šendienos epas buvo pats tūpiausias per… Per visą istoriją. Kelbis ir Kleskovskis (ar kaip jis ten?) [...]
Sorry guys, but Joe McNally’s commercial stole the show this episode. Hilarious!! Even with Joe stealing the show, still a helpful episode. Thank you!
Congratulations. GREAT SHOW and tips.
Could you axplain authentification?
Thanks
Do you guys ever use the shooting menu banks or Custom Settings Menu banks?
I just keep them both on A and change the setting when I need to.
Just wondering if I’m missing out on something.
Thanks,
Ken
Great job guys! Thanks for all the helpful info.. Any other Menu settings that are especially helpful in the field or in general? Appreciate all the tips.
Thanks…. Once again a highlight of the week…. I work part time in a camera store and have shared your website with customers, who are now telling me how much they also enjoy your tips and tricks….
Hi Scott and Matt,
thanks for the wonderful episode again !
I found the tips amazing useful.
One feautre that is regretably not in the D90 but availabe on the D300 and higher end model,
is the one touch zoom feature.
Could you advise NIKON, to make this feature available in the next update of firmware for D90?
Also,
i must agree to some comments earlier,
could the show feature functions/tips with regards to the lower models slightly more?
Hi guys
It might be good to show that you can set you camera to a different set of setting by changing the bank A to B or C and the setting mode to B or C in the camera for shooting jpg or raw as Scott said he changes for this?
Interesting tips, thanks – great show as usual.
I’d also be interested in knowing your personal preferences for…
(i) Active D-lighting (do you use it, or turn it off?)
(ii) Picture controls (do you bother with them at all, or just set them to neutral and do the rest in post-processing).
Both of these of course probably depend heavily on what sort of workflow you adopt after the shoot. I think it would be really interesting for us to see what you actually use to catalogue and process your images. I know you’ve covered Capture NX2 quite a bit already – and that’s logical given the Nikon slant to the show – but I’m still left wondering if you actually use that for your own work?
Scott & Matt…wonderful show as always! The Blinkies tip is key! Matt thanks for the tip on the UpStrap a few weeks ago…got one and its awesome! I’ll post a review on my blog soon and give you kudos for the tip! Enjoy! Pete
Travel Photo Blog:
http://places2explore.wordpress.com/
Another great show. Could you please give us your preference(s) for shooting in manual mode vs. either shutter or aperture priority modes? Also, could you discuss the “easy exposure compensation” feature, including any advantages or drawbacks? Keep up the good work!
Great episode as usual. I only wish that there were more tips that applied to the lower segment cameras. I only have a D90 and a lot of these settings aren’t available on it.
Scott/Matt:
Love the show! Could you do a segment on upgrading firmware? Would be helpful to understand the exact steps to do this… always sounds like a scary thing. Also, I know Moose has a lesson on sensor cleaning, would be great if you guys do do a demo here, especially around the ‘wet’ swab part of the whole deal… again a scary thing for most folks starting out.
Scott… great meeting you at DLWS Outer Banks.
Hey guys, great videos, but how about us old geezers still using D70s cameras, and older?
Geoff.
well though is quite a good show, that one is a bit weak in contents hu…is like one of those clipshows in the simpsons they used to make when run out of new stuff……..anyway, thanx for teaching us!!!!!!!!
why??!! Always video not found??!!!
[...] than go through exactly how to do each of these watch the episode – you can find it at Nikon D Town TV. Share and [...]
Great tips! I would love to see an episode on using the different metering methods/when to use each and how to interpret the histogram to ensure proper exposure. Thanks again for a great show.
One of my favorite episodes so far. Useful, practical tips, and only a little like a Simpson’s clip show, (as someone else commented).
I had to enable the my menu function on my D90 as it was tab select by default I think. Also, I could not find the blinkies on the D90, so now I know! On the D40 I had, you just push up on the selector pad after the photo I think.
Minor annoyances? I know you dont want to list of all the cameras that each tip works on every time. Fair enough. ‘Your try it and see’ approach is sensible enough, but what about just running a subtitle banner along the bottom of the screen while you do the tip to show what cameras it works on? That way, you guys can do your thing, and someone can edit it later to show what cameras it works on.
Oh, and nice GRAY shirt Matt! Do you have a spare for Scott? ;0)
Hey Matt, Hey Scott.
I send you greetings from Germany. I find your show great and have already learned a lot from you.
cu André
If someone is looking for particular feature showed in the episodes, you can download your camera’s manual and use the Search option
Hey guys,
Just wanted to drop by and let you know that I love the show and please keep them coming.
chum79 says:
May 8, 2009 at 9:59 pm
why??!! Always video not found??!!!
why??! why??!! Help me!!! thank!!
Great shows, guys!
I would love to hear your thoughts on Active D lighting. What is it exactly? How does it work? Why would I use it? What are the trade-offs? Does it affect your RAW images?
Thanks!
Hello!
A follow up tip after this episode maybe? You could mention the possibility to actually save or backup all your personal settings to your memory card? Could come in handy if you have multiple bodies or if the settings accidentally would be restored.
Tomas
I agree with Shawn about a show on D-lighting, and while you are at it, maybe how you use the other picture controls too, like vivid. I’d love to hear your thoughts on those features.
why??!! Always video not found??!!!
why??! why??!! Help me!!! thank!!
I love the show, whether Scott you do or don’t change your shirt and you and Matt do a great job sharing! I so appreciate you.
Have a great day!
Loves the video. Keep it coming with new tips and ideas so we can use our Nikon to the fullest.
I have a question about reviewing pictures in “highlight” option. I own a D40 and wondered what the flashing parts of my picture meant – thanks for clarifying for me what this option was for. Your tip; review the picture you have taken and use the exposure setting to step down the exposure. However, I ran into a situation this past weekend, and wanted your advice. It was a mostly cloudy day; however, the sun poked out from time to time. I was taking a picture of my son sitting, he was in shorts and the sun poked through and hit just his knee. Looking at the picture I had taken in highlights view, his knee was flashing. In this situation would you step down the exposure to try and get rid of this over exposed knee or just live with it? Reducing the exposure made the rest of the picture get darker and darker.
Thanks
Gary P
Both Lightroom and NX2 have been mentioned in these videos from time to time. Which do you guys really use? Can we see pros/cons of each?
site won’t work. video will not play.
video will not open
Would you guys do a video about the different exposure modes ( A,S,P,M) I am sure this would be very helpful to tons of new photographers that view your great informative videos that you produce for this website. Thanks so much for everyone’s efforts that goes into this project, it really helps me so much. What a great atmosphere to learn in, I look back and wish we had school like this when I went through grade 1-12. Ha Ha.
Thanks so much, and again. Thanks so much
Hi Guys,
Loving the shows, great format, presentation and content.
You ask for content suggestions, here’s mine.
How about a section on reducing time spent post processing? How to set the camera up for effective jpeg shooting. Some comparisons between basic, normal and fine jpegs. Camera options to choose in these scenarios? What do you think?
Anyway, keep up the good work and thanks for doing the shows.
John
Love your shows ,realy helps alot and are very educational .
Nice studio you got there and te weather outside the windows seems very stabile. (LOL)
Orjan
Hi. I noticed that you said that if you use JPEG you use FINE. Do you really see a substantial difference b/w FINE and NORMAL?
I really enjoy the episodes and know that you are planning a new season. But, I hope you will leave the current episodes on the website for future viewing. It’s a lot of info to absorb and I like rewatching the episodes that address the issues important to me. Thank you, Janet
Moose perterson, which camera you have use with the MC-DC2?
what’s the best for the pic .
thanks for these video .
David – We caught that after we were finished taping, but didn’t think it warranted going back and re-filming the whole section just because of that one little thing. Most people will understand what Scott is talking about and probably just think, “Oh, he said this but meant that.”
Brad Moore
DTown TV Technical Editor
Man I feel for you Scott & Matt. There’s always a critic I guess.
1) Old Davey boy hates for his first comment to be negative. But he doesn’t seem to hate it enough not to do it. You’re such a trooper Dave. Way to man up and overcome your hate.
2) He doesn’t mean to be nitpicky… but he is. Your wife must love you. “Honey… I don’t mean to be nitpicky, but that dress makes your butt look too big”.
3) Come on Dave, you know that Scott must have just mis-spoke or something. But instead of just leaving it and saying “thanks guys” (I mean a bunch of other people commented and it didn’t bother them), you had to go and say “Ooooooooo!!! Look how smart I am!”.
I run a blog myself and it’s tools like you (sorry, I don’t mean to be negative – wait, I must because I wrote it anyway) that make me want to turn comments off on my blog.
Don,
If you don’t use Nikon’s own products for editing your RAW files, the settings you make in-camera are ignored. However, as they are used to render the image you see on the LCD display, you might as well set the to something that approaches how you want it shown. I’ve set my picture control setting to “Standard” with sharpening set to 6 (this would be too high if you’d actually use this in post processing, but is great for determining whether or not your shot is sharp).
Hope this helps,
Hayo
Note: I do actually use Capture NX2 for post processing, bit always override the in-camera settings anyway.
Great show guys!
(1) I agree the adjustment settings like color saturation, mode, sharpening…etc, seem to always confuse me. I shoot RAW as well. I think it would be helpful to demystify these settings, and to give some advice/settings for people shooting RAW that will give the most accurate representation of the RAW image (instead of loading the image into your image processing software and not have the image that you saw in camera).
(2) Another question that I’ve always had is what is the best way to make my images look the same across different media. I know this points directly to the whole color management and color space discussion, but what would you recommend for people to do so that when they edit an image in say Lightroom, and upload it to Facebook/Flickr, that all the colors remain consistent.
Thanks for all you guys are doing!
Brandon
Change your X-Sync speed to 250 Auto FP or 320 Auto FP.
This way you won’t be limited to your camera X-Sync speed (D700 is 1/250 I think).
Sylvia,
The best way to learn is to open up your manual and see if your camera supports the option. Asking Scott or Matt to tell you you won’t remember as much….pull that manual out and take a look. I bet you learn one or two additional features while doing this.
Good Luck,
Tim
You can also browse through the menus and check what’s what.
This will make it easier to remember than just reading the manual
The info button will give a short but comprehensive reference to each function.
I use a D300 but trying a D90 found a lot of features are common to both cameras.
Man, lighten up you beligerant sycophant.
The guy was just pointing out an error, and he was nice about it.
Often when you generate content you can miss errors no matter how hard you try, and it’s helpful when your viewers or readers point them out in an inoffensive way.
You’re the hateful critic in this case.
Just hit the EPISODES on top of this page…
I also vote for that feature in a D90. It would make life easier.
Nikon – Another vote for this feature on the D90.
I second this, and also Jason Odell
The custom settings banks are useful when shooting in different well defined scenarios.
For example, daylight sports, outdoors with fill-flash, indoor events with flash, landscapes, and others. Each of these may require a couple of settings to be different
Custom menu banks definition is quite personal and extremely useful if you can track what settings you change often and why.
Hi Tomas,
Got it covered – http://www.dtowntv.com/2009/04/ask-brad-3/
Great! Now have a couple of new visitors come to learn this feature!
this happened for me on my home machine at one point… turned out to be firewall issues.
scriv, video guy.
Excellent tip!! I will start using this as I do this constantly (turning the flash on and off)when shooting weddings.
Thanks!
thank you. However, it is invalid.
help me! help me!
Gary:
In your case, it always comes down to “shat’s most important to you”. Spectral highlights (shiny spots on skin, windows, shiny surfaces) are always a problem. Basically, you can use EC to compensate for these “as long as it does not compromise other parts of the image”. So, use EC to reduce those if they bother you, but don’t reduce EC too much or you’ll underexpose more important parts of the image. What I would do in this case, is to use the Adjustment Brush in CS4 or LR2 to fix this. If y o don’t have either of these, then try using the Recover slider in Photoshop Elements or CSn. Good luck, Richard