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    Nikon D60 For Dummies
    Nikon D60 For Dummies
    Nikon D60 For Dummies
    Ebook549 pages5 hours

    Nikon D60 For Dummies

    By Julie Adair King

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    About this ebook

    You've decided to upgrade from your old point-and-shoot by purchasing the compact and economical Nikon D60, an SLR model without all the bulk. Now, make the most of your new digital camera by actually learning how to use all those options and settings! Take advantage of external controls and learn how to navigate the camera menus to fully customize internal options so that you can capture, share, and print photographs like a professional.

    You'll find out how to understand the controls, navigate the menus, choose your settings, access internal options, and become familiar with automatic modes. You'll learn to use the Image Quality and Image Size settings, which are necessary for both automatic and manual picture-taking. Then, you can easily express your creativity by managing aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and editing your photographs on a computer. You will download photos and print them to share with your friends and family! You will find out how to:

    • Master camera controls
    • Use automatic and manual modes
    • Change, focus, and zoom lenses
    • Adjust picture quality and resolution
    • Manipulate exposure and lighting
    • Work with picture files
    • Print and share photos

    Complete with lists of ten photo-retouching tricks from repairing red eye to cropping photos and ten special-purpose features you can explore on a rainy day, Nikon D60 For Dummies is your one-stop guide to taking and sharing the pictures like a pro.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWiley
    Release dateMar 16, 2011
    ISBN9781118052648
    Nikon D60 For Dummies
    Author

    Julie Adair King

    Julie Adair King ha escrito numerosos libros sobre fotografía digital y tratamiento de imágenes, incluyendo el best seller titulado Fotografía digital para Dummies. Entre sus publicaciones más recientes destaca una serie de manuales Para Dummies específicos para cámaras digitales Canon, Nikon y Olympus. Cuando no está escribiendo, da clases de fotografía digital en el Palm Beach Photographic Centre. Estudió en la Universidad de Purdue y actualmente vive en West Palm Beach, Florida.

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      Book preview

      Nikon D60 For Dummies - Julie Adair King

      Introduction

      Once upon a time, moving up from a point-and-shoot digital camera to an SLR model meant adding significant weight and bulk to your camera bag — and removing a significant amount from your bank account. But all that changed a few years ago with the introduction of the Nikon D40. Finally, here was a camera that offered the power and flexibility of a digital SLR but in a revolutionary, compact size and at an equally compact price. Combine those benefits with the legendary quality for which Nikon is known, and it’s no surprise that the D40, along with its sibling, the D40x, quickly became best-sellers.

      Now, Nikon has taken a great thing and made it even better with the follow-up to those two models, the D60. Amazingly, this model is slightly more diminutive than its predecessors, weighing in at just over 16 ounces, yet it offers an even greater array of features.

      In fact, the D60 offers so many features that sorting them all out can be more than a little confusing, especially if you’re new to digital photography, SLR photography, or both. For starters, you may not even be sure what SLR means or how it affects your picture taking, let alone have a clue as to all the other techie terms you encounter in your camera manual — resolution, aperture, white balance, file format, and so on. And if you’re like many people, you may be so overwhelmed by all the controls on your camera that you haven’t yet ventured beyond fully automatic picture-taking mode. Which is a shame because it’s sort of like buying a Porsche and never actually taking it on the road.

      Therein lies the point of Nikon D60 For Dummies: Through this book, you can discover not just what each bell and whistle on your camera does, but also when, where, why, and how to put it to best use. Unlike many photography books, this one doesn’t require any previous knowledge of photography or digital imaging to make sense of things, either. In classic For Dummies style, everything is explained in easy-to-understand language, with lots of illustrations to help clear up any confusion.

      In short, what you have in your hands is the paperback version of an in-depth photography workshop tailored specifically to your Nikon picture-taking powerhouse.

      A Quick Look at What’s Ahead

      This book is organized into four parts, each devoted to a different aspect of using your camera. Although chapters flow in a sequence that’s designed to take you from absolute beginner to experienced user, I’ve also tried to make each chapter as self-standing as possible so that you can explore the topics that interest you in any order you please.

      The following sections offer brief previews of each part. If you’re eager to find details on a specific topic, the index shows you exactly where to look.

      Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps

      Part I contains four chapters that help you get up and running with your D60:

      bullet Chapter 1, Getting the Lay of the Land, offers a tour of the external controls on your camera, shows you how to navigate camera menus to access internal options, and walks you through initial camera setup and customization steps.

      bullet Chapter 2, Taking Great Pictures, Automatically, shows you how to get the best results when using the camera’s fully automatic exposure modes, including the Digital Vari-Program scene modes such as Sports mode, Portrait mode, and Child mode.

      bullet Chapter 3, Controlling Picture Quality and Size, introduces you to two camera settings that are critical whether you shoot in automatic or manual modes: the Image Size and Image Quality settings, which control resolution (pixel count), file format, file size, and picture quality.

      bullet Chapter 4, Reviewing Your Photos, explains how to view your pictures on the camera monitor and also how to display various types of picture information along with the image. In addition, this chapter discusses how to delete unwanted images and protect your favorites from accidental erasure.

      Part II: Taking Creative Control

      Chapters in this part help you unleash the full creative power of your D60 by moving into semiautomatic or manual photography modes.

      bullet Chapter 5, Getting Creative with Exposure and Lighting, covers the all-important topic of exposure, starting with an explanation of three critical exposure controls: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. This chapter also discusses your camera’s advanced exposure modes (P, S, A, and M), explains exposure options such as Active D-Lighting, metering modes, and exposure compensation, and offers tips for using the built-in flash.

      bullet Chapter 6, Manipulating Focus and Color, provides help with controlling those aspects of your pictures. Look here for information about your D60’s manual and auto-focusing features as well as details about color controls such as white balance and the Optimize Image options.

      bullet Chapter 7, Putting It All Together, summarizes all the techniques explained in earlier chapters, providing a quick-reference guide to the camera settings and shooting strategies that produce the best results for specific types of pictures: portraits, action shots, landscape scenes, close-ups, and more.

      Part III: Working with Picture Files

      This part of the book, as its title implies, discusses the often-confusing aspect of moving your pictures from camera to computer and beyond.

      bullet Chapter 8, Downloading, Organizing, and Archiving Your Photos, guides you through the process of transferring pictures from your camera memory card to your computer’s hard drive or other storage device. Look here, too, for details about using the D60’s built-in tool for processing files that you shoot in the Nikon Raw format (NEF). Just as important, this chapter explains how to organize and safeguard your photo files.

      bullet Chapter 9, Printing and Sharing Your Photos, helps you turn your digital files into hard copies, covering both retail and do-it-yourself printing options. This chapter also explains how to prepare your pictures for online sharing, turn a series of photos into a stop-motion movie, and, for times when you have the neighbors over, how to display your pictures on a television screen.

      Part IV: The Part of Tens

      In famous For Dummies tradition, the book concludes with two top ten lists containing additional bits of information and advice.

      bullet Chapter 10, Ten Fast Photo-Retouching Tricks, shows you how to fix less-than-perfect images using features found on your camera’s Retouch menu, such as automated red-eye removal. In case you can’t solve the problem that way, this chapter also explains how to perform some basic retouching by using tools found in most photo editing programs.

      bullet Chapter 11, Ten Special-Purpose Features to Explore on a Rainy Day, presents information about some camera features that, while not found on most Top Ten Reasons I Bought My D60 lists, are nonetheless interesting, useful on occasion, or a bit of both.

      Appendix: Firmware Notes and Menu Map

      Wrapping up the book, the appendix explains how to find out what version of the Nikon firmware, or internal software, is installed in your camera and how to find and download updates.

      Remember_4C

      If the information you see on your camera menus and other displays isn’t the same as what you see in this book, and you’ve explored other reasons for the discrepancy, a firmware update may be the issue. This book was written using version 1.00 of the firmware, which was the most current at the time of publication. Firmware updates typically don’t carry major feature changes — they’re mostly used to solve technical glitches in existing features — but if you do download an update, be sure to read the accompanying description of what it accomplishes so that you can adapt my instructions as necessary. (Again, changes that affect how you actually operate the camera should be minimal, if any.)

      On a less technical note, the appendix also includes tables that provide brief descriptions of all commands found on the camera’s five menus.

      Icons and Other Stuff to Note

      If this isn’t your first For Dummies book, you may be familiar with the large, round icons that decorate its margins. If not, here’s your very own icon-decoder ring:

      Tip_4C

      A Tip icon flags information that will save you time, effort, money, or some other valuable resource, including your sanity.

      Warning_4C

      When you see this icon, look alive. It indicates a potential danger zone that can result in much wailing and teeth-gnashing if ignored.

      technicalstuff_4c

      Lots of information in this book is of a technical nature — digital photography is a technical animal, after all. But if I present a detail that is useful mainly for impressing your technology-geek friends, I mark it with this icon.

      Remember_4C

      I apply this icon either to introduce information that is especially worth storing in your brain’s long-term memory or to remind you of a fact that may have been displaced from that memory by some other pressing fact.

      Additionally, I need to point out two other details that will help you use this book:

      bullet Other margin art: Replicas of some of your camera’s buttons, dials, controls, and menu graphics also appear in the margins of some paragraphs. I include these to provide a quick reminder of the appearance of the button or option being discussed.

      bullet Software menu commands: In sections that cover software, a series of words connected by an arrow indicates commands that you choose from the program menus. For example, if a step tells you to Choose File⇒Print, click the File menu to unfurl it and then click the Print command on the menu.

      About the Software Shown in This Book

      Providing specific instructions for performing photo organizing and editing tasks requires that I feature specific software. In sections that cover file downloading, archiving, printing, and e-mail sharing, I selected Nikon ViewNX and Nikon Transfer, both of which ship free with your camera and work on both the Windows and Mac operating systems.

      However, because those programs don’t offer any photo-retouching tools, I also feature Adobe Photoshop Elements for some discussions. The version shown in the book is Elements 6 for Windows, but the tools covered here work mostly the same in versions 4 and 5, and for Mac as well as Windows, unless otherwise specified.

      Rest assured, though, that the tools used in both ViewNX and Elements work very similarly in other programs, so you should be able to easily adapt the steps to whatever software you use. (I recommend that you read your software manual for details, of course.)

      Practice, Be Patient, and Have Fun!

      To wrap up this preamble, I want to stress that if you initially think that digital photography is too confusing or too technical for you, you’re in very good company. Everyone finds this stuff a little mind-boggling at first. So take it slowly, experimenting with just one or two new camera settings or techniques at first. Then, each time you go on a photo outing, make it a point to add one or two more shooting skills to your repertoire.

      I know that it’s hard to believe when you’re just starting out, but it really won’t be long before everything starts to come together. With some time, patience, and practice, you’ll soon wield your camera like a pro, dialing in the necessary settings to capture your creative vision almost instinctively.

      So without further ado, I invite you to grab your camera, a cup of whatever it is you prefer to sip while you read, and start exploring the rest of this book. Your D60 is the perfect partner for your photographic journey, and I thank you for allowing me, through this book, to serve as your tour guide.

      Part I

      Fast Track to Super Snaps

      In this part . . .

      Making sense of all the controls on your D60 isn’t something you can do in an afternoon — heck, in a week, or maybe even a month. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t take great pictures today. By using your camera’s point-and-shoot automatic modes, you can capture terrific images with very little effort. All you do is compose the scene, and the camera takes care of almost everything else.

      This part shows you how to take best advantage of your camera’s automatic features and also addresses some basic setup steps, such as adjusting the viewfinder to your eyesight and getting familiar with the camera menus, buttons, and dials. In addition, chapters in this part explain how to obtain the very best picture quality, whether you shoot in an automatic or manual mode, and how to use your camera’s picture- playback features.

      1

      Getting the Lay of the Land

      In This Chapter

      bullet Attaching and using an SLR lens

      bullet Adjusting the viewfinder to your eyesight

      bullet Working with camera memory cards

      bullet Getting acquainted with external camera controls

      bullet Using the camera menus and Shooting Info display

      bullet Choosing shooting options via the Quick Settings display

      bullet Deciphering the viewfinder data

      bullet Displaying onscreen help

      bullet Customizing basic camera operations

      I still remember the day that I bought my first SLR film camera. I was excited to finally move up from my one-button point-and-shoot camera, but I was a little anxious, too. My new pride and joy sported several unfamiliar buttons and dials, and the explanations in the camera manual clearly were written for someone with an engineering degree. And then there was the whole business of attaching the lens to the camera, an entirely new task for me. I saved up my pennies a long time for that camera — what if my inexperience caused me to damage the thing before I even shot my first pictures?

      You may be feeling similarly insecure if your Nikon D60 is your first SLR, although some of the buttons on the camera back may look familiar if you’ve previously used a digital point-and-shoot camera. If your D60 is both your first SLR and first digital camera, you may be doubly intimidated.

      Trust me, though, that your camera isn’t nearly as complicated as its exterior makes it appear. With a little practice and the help of this chapter, which introduces you to each external control, you’ll quickly become as comfortable with your camera’s buttons and dials as you are with the ones on your car’s dashboard.

      This chapter also guides you through the process of mounting and using an SLR lens, working with digital memory cards, and navigating your camera’s internal menus. And for times when you don’t have this book handy, I show you how to access the Help system that’s built into your camera.

      Getting Comfortable with Your Lens

      One of the biggest differences between a point-and-shoot camera and an SLR (single-lens reflex) camera is the lens. With an SLR, you can swap out lenses to suit different photographic needs, going from an extreme close-up lens to a super-long telephoto, for example. In addition, an SLR lens has a movable focusing ring that gives you the option of focusing manually instead of relying on the camera’s autofocus mechanism.

      Of course, those added capabilities mean that you need a little background information to take full advantage of your lens. To that end, the next four sections explain the process of attaching, removing, and using this critical part of your camera.

      Attaching a lens

      Whatever lens you choose, follow these steps to attach it to the camera body:

      1. Remove the cap that covers the lens mount on the front of the camera.

      2. Remove the cap that covers the back of the lens.

      The cap is the one that doesn’t say Nikon on it, in case you aren’t sure.

      3. Hold the lens in front of the camera so that the little white dot on the lens aligns with the matching dot on the camera body.

      Official photography lingo uses the term mounting index instead of little white dot. Either way, you can see the markings in question in Figure 1-1.

      Note that the figure (and others in this chapter) shows you the D60 with its so-called kit lens — the 18–55mm Vibration Reduction (VR) zoom lens that Nikon sells as a unit with the body. If you buy a lens from a manufacturer other than Nikon, your dot may be red or some other color, so check the lens instruction manual.

      4. Keeping the dots aligned, position the lens on the camera’s lens mount as shown in Figure 1-1.

      When you do so, grip the lens by its back collar as shown in the figure, not the movable, forward end of the lens barrel.

      5. Turn the lens in a counter-clockwise direction until the lens clicks into place.

      To put it another way, turn the lens toward the side of the camera that sports the shutter button, as indicated by the red arrow in the figure.

      6. On a lens that has an aperture ring, set and lock the ring so the aperture is set at the highest f-stop number.

      Check your lens manual to find out whether your lens sports an aperture ring and how to adjust it. (The D60 kit lens doesn’t.) To find out more about apertures and f-stops, see Chapter 5.

      Warning_4C

      Always attach (or switch) lenses in a clean environment to reduce the risk of getting dust, dirt, and other contaminants inside the camera or lens. Changing lenses on a sandy beach, for example, isn’t a good idea. For added safety, point the camera body slightly down when performing this maneuver; doing so helps prevent any flotsam in the air from being drawn into the camera by gravity. See Chapter 3 for tips on cleaning your lens.

      Removing a lens

      To detach a lens from the camera body, take these steps:

      1. Locate the lens-release button, labeled in Figure 1-2.

      2. Grip the rear collar of the lens.

      In other words, hold onto the stationary part of the lens that’s closest to the camera body and not the movable focusing ring or zoom ring, if your lens has one.

      3. Press the lens-release button while turning the lens clockwise until the mounting index on the lens is aligned with the index on the camera body.

      The mounting indexes are the little guide dots labeled in Figure 1-1. When the dots line up, the lens should detach from the mount.

      4. Place the rear protective cap onto the back of the lens.

      If you aren’t putting another lens on the camera, cover the lens mount with the protective cap that came with your camera, too.

      Using a VR (vibration reduction) lens

      If you purchased the D60 camera kit — that is, the body-and-lens combination put together by Nikon — your lens offers a feature called vibration reduction. On Nikon lenses, this feature is indicated by the initials VR in the lens name.

      Vibration reduction attempts to compensate for small amounts of camera shake that are common when photographers handhold their cameras and use a slow shutter speed, a lens with a long focal length, or both. That camera movement during the exposure can produce blurry images. Although vibration reduction can’t work miracles, it does enable most people to capture sharper handheld shots in many situations than they otherwise could.

      Warning_4C

      However, when you use a tripod, vibration reduction can have detrimental effects because the system may try to adjust for movement that isn’t actually occurring. That’s why your kit lens — and all Nikon VR lenses — have an On/Off switch, which is located on the side of the lens, as shown in Figure 1-2. When you do shoot with a tripod, remember to set that switch to the Off position.

      If you use a non-Nikon lens, the vibration reduction feature may go by another name: image stabilization, optical stabilization, anti-shake, vibration compensation, and so on. In some cases, the manufacturers may recommend that you leave the system turned on or to a special setting when you use a tripod, so be sure to check the lens manual for information.

      Chapter 6 offers more tips on achieving blur-free photos, and it also explains focal length and its impact on your pictures. See Chapter 5 for an explanation of shutter speed.

      Focusing and zooming the lens

      When paired with a compatible lens, your camera offers autofocusing capabilities, which you can explore in detail in Chapter 6. But with some subjects, autofocusing can be slow or impossible, which is why your camera also offers manual focusing. The process is quick and easy: You just turn the focusing ring on the lens until your subject comes into focus. To try it out, take these steps:

      1. Locate the A-M (Auto/Manual) focusing switch on the side of the lens.

      Figure 1-3 shows the switch as it appears on the D60’s kit lens. The switch should be in a similar location on other Nikon lenses; if you use a lens from another manufacturer, check the lens instruction manual.

      2. Set the switch to the M position, as shown in the figure.

      Warning_4C

      Don’t try to move the focusing ring on the kit lens with the switch set to the A (autofocus) position; doing so can damage the lens.

      3. While looking through the viewfinder, twist the focusing ring to adjust focus.

      If you have trouble focusing, you may be too close to your subject; every lens has a minimum focusing distance. (See Chapter 6 for more tips on focus issues.) You may also need to adjust the viewfinder to accommodate your eyesight; see the next section for details.

      Remember_4C

      Again, the option to switch between autofocusing and manual focusing depends on matching the D60 with a fully compatible lens, as I mentioned in the introduction to this section. The short story is this: The D60 doesn’t have an autofocusing system built into the camera body, which means that the lens itself must sport that mechanism in order for you to autofocus. You can still use the lens if it doesn’t have an autofocusing system; you simply have to focus manually at all times. When you use such a lens, visit Chapter 6 to find out how to set the camera’s Focus mode option, found on the Custom Setting menu, to Manual.

      In addition, some lenses (although not the one sold with the D60 kit) enable you to use autofocusing to set the initial focusing point and then fine-tune focus manually. Check your lens manual for information on how to use this option, if available.

      If you bought a zoom lens, a movable zoom barrel lies behind the focusing ring, as shown in Figure 1-3. To zoom in or out, just move that zoom ring forward and backward.

      The numbers on the zoom ring, by the way, represent focal lengths. I explain focal lengths in Chapter 6. In the meantime, just note that when the lens is mounted on the camera, the number that’s aligned with the lens mounting index (the white dot) represents the current focal length. In Figure 1-3, for example, the focal length is 55mm.

      Adjusting the Viewfinder Focus

      Tucked behind the right side of the rubber eyepiece that surrounds the viewfinder is a tiny vertical switch, called a diopter adjustment control. With this control, labeled in the left image in Figure 1-4, you can adjust the focus of your viewfinder to accommodate your eyesight.

      Warning_4C

      If you don’t take this step, scenes that appear out of focus through the viewfinder may actually be sharply focused through the lens, and vice versa. Here’s how to make the necessary adjustment:

      1. Remove the lens cap from the front of the lens.

      2. Look through the viewfinder and concentrate on the three pairs of brackets shown on the right side of Figure 1-4.

      The brackets are officially called focus brackets, but don’t worry about focusing the actual picture now; just pay attention to the brackets.

      3. Slide the diopter adjustment control up or down until the brackets appear to be in focus.

      Warning_4C

      The Nikon manual warns you not to poke yourself in the eye as you perform this maneuver. This warning seems so obvious that I laugh every time I read it — which makes me feel doubly stupid the next time I poke myself in the eye as I perform this maneuver.

      Working with Memory Cards

      Instead of recording images on film, digital cameras store pictures on memory cards. Some people, in fact, refer to memory cards as digital film, but I hate that term because film and memory cards actually have little in common. Film must be developed before you can view your pictures, a process that involves time and some not-so-nice chemicals. Film can be damaged when exposed to some airport security scanners; memory cards are immune to those devices. The cost per picture is also much higher for film: You have to develop and print each negative, whether the shot is a keeper or a clunker. With digital, you print only the pictures you like — and you can reuse your memory cards over and over and over, saving even more money.

      Whatever term you prefer, your D60 uses a specific type of memory card called an SD card (for Secure Digital), shown in Figures 1-5 and 1-6. Other card types — CompactFlash, Memory Stick, or any others — aren’t compatible with your camera. However, if you use SD cards in your cell phone, portable music player, or other device, you can use the same cards in your camera.

      Safeguarding your memory cards — and the images you store on them — requires just a few precautions:

      bullet Inserting a card: First, be sure that the camera is turned off. Then put the card in the card slot with the label facing the back of the camera, as shown in Figure 1-5. Push the card into the slot until it clicks into place; the memory card access light (circled in Figure 1-5) blinks for a second to let you know the card is inserted properly.

      Remember_4C

      bullet Formatting a card: The first time you use a new memory card, take a few seconds to format it by choosing the Format Memory Card option on the Setup menu. This step simply ensures that the card is properly prepared to record your pictures. See the upcoming section Cruising the Setup menu for details.

      bullet Removing a card: After making sure that the memory card access light is off, indicating that the camera has finished recording your most recent photo, turn the camera off. Open the memory card door, as shown in Figure 1-5. Depress the memory card slightly until you hear a little click and then let go. The card should pop halfway out of the slot, enabling you to grab it by the tail and remove it.

      bullet Handling cards: Don’t touch the gold contacts on the back of the card. (See the left card in Figure 1-6.) When cards aren’t in use, store them in the protective cases they came in or in a memory card wallet. Keep cards away from extreme heat and cold as well.

      bullet Locking cards: The tiny switch on the left side of the card, labeled lock switch in Figure 1-6, enables you to lock your card, which prevents any data from being erased or recorded to the card. Press the switch toward the bottom of the card to lock the card contents; press it toward the top of the card to unlock the data.

      Tip_4C

      You can protect individual images from accidental erasure by using the camera’s Protect feature, covered in Chapter 4.

      Exploring External Camera Controls

      Scattered across your camera’s exterior are a number of buttons, dials, and switches that you use to change picture-taking settings, review and edit your photos, and perform various other operations. Sometimes a single twist of a dial gets the job done; other times, you press several buttons in sequence.

      In later chapters, I discuss all your camera’s functions in detail and provide the exact steps to follow to access those functions. This section provides just a

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