Complete Guide to the Nikon D200- P7 pot

õ To get to the SET UP MENU, press the Þ button, then use the % and " keys on the Direction pad to navigate to the SET UP Tab the wrench icon near the bottom left of the display—you may

The SET UP MENU

The SET UP MENU is where you go to change things that you rarely change on your camera, but need customization, such

as the language the camera uses to display information

õ To get to the SET UP MENU, press the Þ button, then use the % and " keys on the Direction pad to navigate to the SET

UP Tab (the wrench icon near the bottom left of the display—you may have to use the < key to get over to the Tab area first!) Press the > key on the Direction pad to get to the individual options within the SET UP MENU

You’ll see a short list of optionsF

69:

Format Wipes all information stored on the

CompactFlash card (see “Using CompactFlash” on page <H119>)

LCD Brightness Sets the brightness of the color LCD on

the back of the camera (see “Setting the LCD Brightness” on page <H191>)

Mirror Lock-up Enables the mirror to be locked up out of

the way for sensor cleaning This option is grayed out unless the camera is running

off power connected to the DC In socket

(e.g the EH-6 AC Adapter) or has a full battery See “Keeping the Sensor Clean”

on page <H575>

Video Mode Sets the video format (see “Television

Playback“ on page <H606>)

World Time Sets the date and time (see “Setting Date

and Time” on page <H184>)

Language Sets the language used for the menus on

the color LCD (see “Setting Language” on page <H188>)

Image Comment Allows a comment to be appended to

your image files (see “Programming a Comment” on page <H189>

Auto Image Rotation Enables or disables the automatic

image rotation sensor (see “Rotating Images” on page <H395>)

Recent Settings Allows you to lock or erase the Recent

Settings menu (see “Recent Settings” on page <H379>)

USB Allows you to change the way the camera

presents itself to the computer (either as a mass storage device [e.g like a hard drive], or as a point-to-point device [e.g like a peripheral that interacts with the computer]) Note that using the WT-3 wireless option forces this to a value of

PTP (point-to-point) and grays out the

option

Dust Off Ref Photo Allows you to take a dust removal

reference photograph for use with Nikon Capture See “Nikon Capture” on page

<H644> This item will be grayed out if you are not set to take NEF images

Battery Info Displays additional information about the

battery status (and how many pictures you obtained with the battery) See “Battery Notes” on page <H108>

Firmware Version Displays the current firmware version of

the camera (see “Firmware Version” on page <H205>)

Despite the name “SET UP”, not all of the items grouped on this menu are things that you do when you initially set up the camera I’ll tackle the items on this menu in the order and organization I think more appropriate In this section of the eBook, we’re simply looking to get the camera set up properly for shooting Individual settings we might change in response

to the scene we’re photographing or other actions will be dealt with later (note the “see…” pointers after each item)

Date, Time, and Language

As noted in the section on power, an internal battery powers a clock/calendar function within the D200 The clock/calendar

is used to add information to the EXIF header about when a picture was taken

Note: If the & icon is blinking near the top left corner of the top

LCD, then the internal battery ran low on power and the date and time were reset Make sure that the camera is either on AC power or has a fully charged battery in it for the next three days in order to recharge the internal battery

Setting Date and Time

õ Set the date and time using the following steps:

1 Press the MENU key to show the menu system

2 Use the Direction pad to navigate to the SET UP tab

(the wrench icon—you may have to use the < key to get over to the tabs first!)

3 Use the Direction pad to navigate to the World Time

option Press the > key to select it

4 Use the Direction pad to navigate to Time Zone

Press the > key to select it

5 In the screen that appears, use the < and > keys on the Direction pad to place the highlighted area in your time zone (names appear at the bottom of the screen) Press the > key to select the currently highlighted area

6 Use the Direction pad to navigate to Date Press the >

key to select it

7 Use the % and " keys on the Direction pad to set the

Year value Press the > key to move to the next field

8 Use the % and " keys on the Direction pad to set the

Month value Press the > key to move to the next field

9 Use the % and " keys on the Direction pad to set the

Day value Press the > key to move to the next field

10 Use the % and " keys on the Direction pad to set the

Hour value Press the > key to move to the next field

11 Use the % and " keys on the Direction pad to set the

Minute value Press the > key to move to the next field

12 Use the % and " keys on the Direction pad to set the

Second value

13 Press the ENTER button to save the data you just

entered

Note: If you pause for 20 seconds or more during Steps 6 through

13, the D200 automatically turns off and cancels any changes you’ve made up to that point Alternatively, you can press the shutter release halfway (or more) during Steps

6 through 13 to cancel the operation

You can also change the format in which the date appears:

14 Use the Direction pad to navigate to Date Format

Press the > key to select it

15 Use the Direction pad to navigate to your choice of formats and press the > key to select it

Finally, you can tell the camera whether Daylight saving time

is active:

16 Use the Direction pad to navigate to Daylight Saving Time Press the > key to select it

17 Use the Direction pad to navigate to your choice of

On or Off and press the > key to select it

Setting Language

The D200 can display menus on the color LCD in twelve languages: Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish

If you’ve purchased an official import of the D200 (i.e not a gray marketF

70

model), it should already be set to the

appropriate language

õ If you’d like to change the camera’s displayed language:

1 Press the MENU key to show the menu system

2 Use the Direction pad to navigate to the SET UP tab

(the wrench icon) and press the > key on the Direction pad to select it

3 Use the Direction pad to navigate to Language (the

second item on the second page of options, and whose current value is shown as a two-letter

abbreviation) and press the > key on the Direction pad

to select it

4 On the new menu that appears, use the Direction pad

to navigate to the language you desire (the languages are in rough alphabetical order (if you use their

International spelling)—German, English, Spanish,

French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, and Swedish, followed by the Asian languages Press the >

70

Gray market products are those that are brought into a country by someone other than the official importer Nikon’s warranties generally only apply to officially imported cameras In the US, especially, Nikon is particularly careful to only repair officially imported cameras

key on the Direction pad to lock in your choice

Note: Changing the camera’s language only applies to the menus

displayed on the color LCD Information displayed in the viewfinder and on the top LCD and viewfinder remains in Anglo-based icons

Programming a Comment

õ The D200 allows you to place a short comment in the EXIF data of every photograph you take I suggest that you use it to enter a Copyright notice on your images:

1 Press the MENU key to show the menu system

2 Use the Direction pad to navigate to the SET UP tab

(the wrench icon) and press the > key on the direction pad to select it

3 Use the Direction pad to navigate to Image

Comment (before you set it, the current value is shown as – rather than ON) and press the > key on the

Direction pad to select it

4 Use the Direction pad to navigate to Input Comment

and press the > key on the Direction pad to select it

5 On the input screen that appears:

a Use the Direction pad to navigate to the next letter you want to enter (white letters on gray background)

b Press the center of the Direction pad to enter the selected letter (highlighted in yellow) into the current position in the bottom box

(highlighted slightly with a light gray background and a darker letter if one is already entered)

c If you need to move the cursor in the bottom box back to fix something, hold down the Thumbnail button (z) and use the Direction pad keys to move it

d Use the Delete button to remove the currently highlighted letter from the bottom box

e If you have more letters to enter, return to Step

5a, otherwise press the ENTER button to

return to the previous menu

6 Use the Direction pad to navigate to Attach

Comment and press the > key on the Direction pad

to select it The box should be checked if you want to use the comment

7 Navigate to Done and press the > key to finish

Note: Step 7 is necessary Just performing Step 6 does not actually

attach the comment!

Tip: As you can tell from the sample screens, I use the comment

Copyright 2006 Thom Hogan/bythom.com on my D200

You can enter up to 36 characters in your comment Choose wisely grasshopper (One person has suggested that

you enter IF FOUND CALL ###-####, but remember this is

what appears on your images—it doesn’t normally show on the camera itself except during setting It might make sense

to put something like (c)2006 Thom Hogan ###-###-####

though.)

Setting the LCD Brightness

õ The D200 allows users to set a brightness value for the color LCD screen on the back of the camera:

3 Use the Direction pad to navigate to LCD Brightness

and press the > key on the Direction pad to select it

4 Use the % and " keys on the Direction pad to select brighter or darker display You’ll see a swatch of patches from black to white to help you assess your

adjustment You should see every ramp position in the

swatches; if the two whitest swatches blend together, the brightness is too high, while if the two darkest swatches blend together, the brightness is too low

Note in this sample screen how the two lightest patches (at right) seem to blend together a bit You’re looking for the setting that allows you to distinguish the extreme dark (left) and extreme bright (right) patches at the same time This setting is too bright for the light

5 Press the > key on the Direction pad to confirm your choice

Novice DSLR users have a tendency to “crank up” the

brightness of the color LCD Moreover, they rely upon it too much to make visual assessments of the photo they just took Unfortunately, both of these things are wrong

The swatch of patches shown in Step 4 is there to help you get a full tonal range display from black to white with a complete gradation in between If you arbitrarily set the brightness higher, you’ll note that several of the patches on

the right side become all white (the opposite, setting too low, would produce multiple black patches on the left side) You’ve effectively told the display to show all bright tones as white—you’ll never be able to see what’s going on in the highlight regions of your image

The correct setting for the LCD brightness is to see all 10 of the tonal patches distinctly from one another and with even gradations, which almost always means a setting of

-1 on the D200 in normal and outdoor light

But the bigger problem is that the color LCD is not color or brightness (gammaF

71) profiled If something looks too bright or too red on the color LCD, it may or may not be in your actual photo data It’s actually worse than that: the color LCD comes closer to reproducing the sRGB gamut than the AdobeRGB gamut If the camera is set to sRGB as the Color Space, the colors you’ll see are slightly more accurate Many users who’ve set AdobeRGB complain of a slight green cast, though

in looking at ColorChecker charts on my color LCD and moving between the various options I see very little

meaningful difference

I’ll repeat: the only way to visually assess an image accurately

is to display it on a color-calibrated monitor using the correct color space profile

Setting the File Numbering Sequence

The D200 allows you to specify when file numbers are reset (as a reminder, the importance of file numbers was discussed

in “File Names” on page <H169>) As mentioned in the section labeled “File Numbering Sequence” on page <H176>, you have three choices:

• Off File numbers are always started at 0001 whenever a

new folder is created, when the storage card is formatted,

or a new storage card is inserted into the camera

• On File numbers are incremented until they reach 9999,

at which point a new folder will be created and the file numbering will begin again at 0001

• Reset The file number is reset to 1+the current file

number in the current folder (if there are no images in the current folder, numbering is reset to 0001)

Of these options, On makes the most sense, and is the one I

use on all my Nikon DSLRs That’s because file name

duplication is dangerous—you could accidentally erase or overwrite a file you wanted to keep

While technically not part of the SET UP menu (it should be,

as it is on the D50), I’ll deal with this function here as well as

in the Custom Settings section later in this book

õ To set File Sequence Numbering:

1 Press the MENU button to see the menu system

2 Use the Direction pad to navigate to the CSM MENU (pink pencil tab) and press > on the Direction pad to select it

3 Use the Direction pad to navigate to the

Shooting/Display option and press the > key on the

Direction pad to select it

4 Use the Direction pad to navigate to CSM #D6, File

No Sequence and press the > key on the Direction

pad to select it

5 Use the Direction pad to navigate to the option you

wish to set (On is my recommendation) and press the

> key on the Direction pad to select it

Note that the file numbers you’re configuring with this menu

option are what the camera sets If you follow my advice in

the post-shooting section of this eBook, you’ll have Nikon PictureProject (or whatever other program you use to transfer files from camera to computer) rename and renumber your

images In those software programs you’re not limited to four

digits, plus you might want to name images sequentially from

a shoot (e.g PhillyZoo0001, PhillyZoo0002, etc.)

Set Up Recommendations Summary

Date and time set to the current date, time, and time zone Language set to your preferred language

Image Comment set to (c) YEAR Your Name

LCD Brightness set to -1 or perhaps -2