V1.03 Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 1 Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 1 st Edition By Thom Hogan byThom Press V1.03 Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 2 Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 First Edition 2006 Published in the United States by byThom Press Emmaus, PA 18049 Hhttp://www.bythom.com © 2006 Thom Hogan All Rights Reserved Copies of this work may not be distributed in any form or by any transmission method. All photographs by and © Thom Hogan This book is not sponsored by Nikon Corporation. Information, data, and procedures described herein are correct to the best of the author’s and publisher’s knowledge; all other liability is expressly disclaimed. Nikkor, Nikon, and Speedlight are registered trademarks of Nikon Corporation, Japan. CompactFlash is a trademark of SanDisk Corporation. All other products or name brands are trademarks of their respective manufacturers. The author and publisher shall not be responsible for errors contained herein or any damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of the material in this book. In particular, the author and publisher shall not be responsible for any damage to the sensor of the camera of any reader who follows the cleaning instructions contained in this book. Nor shall the author and publisher be responsible for damage to camera electronics by anyone attempting to make their own external power supply based upon the ideas presented in this book. It’s a sad commentary on our society that I even need to include this disclaimer. 1 st Edition, version 1.03: 4/5/06 V1.03 Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 3 Acknowledgements As with all my books, a full draft was reviewed by volunteers to weed out unclear language and misstatements. This book is better because of them. Several Web sites proved useful in researching aspects of this book. While I mention several at appropriate points in the book, four need to be singled out for D200 users: • Phil Askey’s Hhttp://www.dpreview.com not only has some of the most thorough reviews of digital cameras (yes, even more thorough than the ones on my own site), but also has an ongoing forum that’s useful for getting answers to tough questions (select Nikon D100/D1/D2/D200 from the Forums pop-up in the left navigation panel). • Rob Galbraith Hhttp://www.robgalbraith.com has developed a reputation in the digital photojournalism world for some of the most articulate and detailed explanations of professional digital camera use. Again, an active forum helps get answers to common problems (select Forums in upper left navigation panel and then the Nikon Digital SLR link in the forums). • Nikonians Hhttp://www.nikonians.com is another of the “well-attended” public forums that are useful for Nikon D200 users. Click on Forums, register as a member or click on CLICK HERE to go to Forums, then click on the D200 Users Group link. • Nikon Café Hhttp://www.nikoncafe.com is a relatively new moderated forum and has had a lively discussion of the D200. Click on Cameras and Gear, then click on the Nikon D200 forum link. V1.03 Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 4 About this eBook This eBook was created using Adobe Acrobat directly from my original files. I’ve tried to retain as many of the navigational features as Acrobat allows (for example, the Bookmarks section at the left is derived from the Table of Contents and is fully active—click on an entry and you’ll be taken to it). Curiously, trying to create a fully functional eBook using Adobe’s tools is worthy of an eBook itself (most of the chapters would be centered on trying to get promised features to work, and how they keep changing between Acrobat Professional versions, sometimes going backwards in ability). Your Rights versus Mine I make my living documenting Nikon equipment. Thus, I have registered the Copyright for this work in order to protect my rights. That said, I have not enabled copy protection, forced you to enter a serial number, asked you to agree to a License Agreement, or in any other way limited access to the information in this eBook. I trust you to honor my Copyright and to follow a few simple guidelines: 1. Treat the CD you received as you would a printed book. 2. I grant those of you who purchased this eBook directly from Thom Hogan the specific permission to print or have printed by a third party a single copy of this eBook for your own private use. You may not resell that printed copy, and must destroy it if you sell or pass on the original eBook you received to someone else. Do not print a copy if you don’t agree with the previous sentence. 3. I grant everyone who purchases the eBook directly from Thom Hogan specific permission to create a backup copy of this eBook file for their own private use. However, you must destroy that backup copy and V1.03 Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 5 any other copies you have of this work, printed or electronic, if you sell or pass on the original eBook you received. It is a violation of Copyright law to sell copies of this work. It is also a violation of Copyright law to put this work in any public forum, send it to any newsgroup, place it on a Web site, or allow it to be accessed on any file sharing service. This work is registered with the Copyright office. That means that punitive damages and legal fees can and will be sought against anyone found illegally copying this work. Ignorance of the law and claims that someone else told you that you had rights to resell this work F 1 are not legal defenses. 1 I have not and will not pass rights for this work to other parties. Yes, other people fraudulently claim that they own the rights when they don’t. And they hear from my lawyer when they do. Don’t say you weren’t warned should you try this. V1.03 Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 6 Printing the eBook On to more a more positive subject: if you’d like a hard copy of the eBook, you can print a copy for your personal use by selecting PRINT from the FILE menu. It’s possible to print on both sides of the paper and get a real book-like experience by using the Print: Odd Pages Only and Print: Even Pages Only options on the Print dialog, but I don’t recommend this unless you’re good at keeping track of paper, know how to properly re-orient the paper for the second pass, and are sure that your printer won’t choke on a page somewhere. Since there are so many printers available and their dialog boxes all allow different printing options, I can’t help you figure out the most economical or convenient way to print your eBook F 2 . Yes, it even took me a few minutes to figure out how to create front and back copies on my laser printer, so I know it’s a hassle. A complete set of step-by-step instructions that work for the three printers I have available are included on the CD in a separate file, called PRINTING.PDF. Take the resulting pages to your copy shop, have them trim the edges (the final page size is 5.5 x 8.5” unless you’ve let Acrobat rescale the book to fit the full page) and bind. This eBook is actually in three specific sections that could be bound separately (“Before You Take Pictures,” “Shooting Pictures with Your D200,” and “After You’ve Taken Pictures with your D200”); I’ve tried to keep the instructions you’d want while out shooting in the middle section. 2 Since I get the occasional question as to why I don’t publish a paper version, I’ll explain: paper versions turn out to be more expensive to produce in the small quantities at which a niche publication like this sells. Producing this eBook electronically allows me to create it on demand, reducing waste and cost, and to keep it up to date as I learn new things about the camera. It also gives me a chance to correct the inevitable minor typos that somehow creep into every major production. On that last point: I keep a current errata list on my Web site. You’ll find the one for this version of the eBook (1.03) at http://www.bythom.com/d200guideerrata.htm . V1.03 Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 7 If you’re really the type that doesn’t like to struggle through the paper handling idiosyncrasies of your printer, most Kinko’s and similar copy shops can print, collate, and bind a nice portable version of this book for you (show them the statement on the back cover or on the previous page if they balk at printing a Copyrighted work). Make sure they know that the final page size is 5.5” x 8.5”. Note: Kinko’s and other copy shops should actually refuse to make a copy of this eBook, as it is protected by Copyright. Show them the boxed area on the back cover of the eBook jacket, my Web page for the eBook, or Item #2 in the “Your Rights versus Mine” section where I grant you permission to print or have printed a copy for your personal use. If that doesn’t work, have them email me at Hthom_hogan@msn.com to verify that this is okay. If you encounter a copy shop that doesn’t ask you to show permission to reproduce a copyrighted work, or one that still refuses after being shown permission, I’d like to hear about it. If the former and the copy shop is a chain, it is probably violating direct court orders that mandate that they don’t do this. I’ve not put Digital Rights Management on this file to block all copying and printing, because it’s a hassle for the user. So, please respect my rights and help report those that willingly violate them. Note: Some Kinko’s now use a special piece of software to print from PDF files, such as the one for this eBook. Since that software first attempts to extract all text from the file and I have selected to block text extraction in Acrobat, this means that such software fails to work with this eBook. Kinko’s can still print it by simply running Acrobat, but this limits some of the fancier options they can do. This eBook is designed to help you get quality results from your Nikon D200. While I’ll try to provide introductory material that should help even a photography novice get by, this eBook probably isn’t the place to learn what an aperture or shutter speed is (check out Hhttp://www.bythom.com/bookrecs.htm if you want some recommendations for general photography books). V1.03 Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 8 Nevertheless, I will try to explain the concepts and terminology that are necessary to understand how a D200 works. If you find something in this eBook unclear, or that I’ve assumed knowledge on your part that you don’t have, don’t hesitate to drop me an email asking for an explanation. Not only will I answer your question, but it will give me some insight on what I might want to change in future editions to make the eBook even clearer. Besides dealing with the practical side of the camera and showing you how all the basic functions work, I’ll also provide you with some tips on how to squeeze every last bit of image quality out of your camera as well as how to make up for some of its shortcomings. V1.03 Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 9 Note on the First Edition While this is a first edition, the D200 is enough like earlier Nikon DSLRs that I’ve been able to re-purpose and rewrite portions of earlier eBooks—specifically the D2x eBook, as the D200 shares menu structure and many options with that camera—which means that much of the information here has been previously vetted. One thing I have done with this eBook, though, is restructure it from my previous ones, and augment it with more introductory material. The audience for the D200 includes more first-time SLR F 3 users, so I’ve worked very hard on making this work both more approachable and more understandable, even though my previous Nikon books have been highly regarded in that respect. Since I mentioned the change in structure, let me point it out; this eBook is separated into three distinct sections: • Things you should know and consider before using the D200 (labeled “Before You Take Pictures” and starts on page < H29>). In this first major section I cover a lot about what a DSLR is, some of its critical components (like the sensor that captures images), how to set up your camera for shooting, and things you should do and know before you head out the door to take pictures. This section is up front because it’s the background material you need to get up to speed with the unique aspects of your camera. • Things you need to know while using the D200 (labeled “Shooting Pictures with the D200” and starts on page < H209>). This is the “how-to” section of the eBook. Here’s where I walk you through each feature of the camera as you’d use it. I’ll explain why you might use it, how to make that feature active, and what your options are. If you’re going to print only one section of this eBook and 3 SLR stands for Single Lens Reflex, and I’ll explain what that means on page <29>. You’ll also see me use DSLR, or Digital Single Lens Reflex, to distinguish the digital bodies from the film bodies. V1.03 Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 10 carry it with your camera, this is the section you’ll want. Yes, you may find a few things repeated in this section from the first, but in the interest of making for a complete “how-to” section, I’ve elected to repeat some set-up and other instructions. • Things you need to know and do after you’ve taken your pictures (labeled “After You’ve Taken Pictures with Your D200” and starts on page < H588>). When you come back from shooting with your camera you still have things you may want to do, like transfer, print, view, organize, or improve your images. This is where Nikon’s supplied software comes in, and you’ll be at your computer for most of this type of work, so we’ll be discussing computers and computer hookups here. That also mimics the order you’ll want to follow as you master your new camera: initiation, use, and post production. As I wrote earlier, this eBook incorporates a few bits and pieces from earlier eBooks I’ve written about Nikon equipment. It’s not easy keeping up with all the changes Nikon keeps making to its DSLR lineup and software, though, so if you have any of my previous eBooks you’ll find that my words and explanations may have changed, even for features that were common across many models. So don’t skip over anything—read everything here as it stands, not as you think it might be. As I receive comments from readers of this eBook, I update the original file. Since I generate this eBook directly from my files, this means that I am usually able to keep the text nearly error-free while adding or modifying sections to make a point more clearly. Every now and then I make a full pass through the manuscript, augmenting what I’ve previously written with knowledge I’ve learned from using the camera, teaching workshops, and from other sources. When I do that, I iterate the “edition number.” And when I create a new edition, I offer low-cost updates to people that bought the original eBook from me. [...]... it’s right side up) into your eye via the viewfinder eyepiece When you press the shutter release, the mirror flips up out of the way, a shutter opens to reveal the sensor, and the light then goes directly to the digital sensor (or film in the case of a film SLR) Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 29 V1.03 Before the shot, light (green arrows) takes a path through the camera that is reflected... have to get the image from the camera to your computer and then perhaps to a printer, so you have to “flow” the image through a chain of hardware, too Despite the “work” part of the name, workflow can not only be fun, it isn’t always difficult or time-consuming 7 If you’d like to help pay to maintain the content on my Web site http://www.bythom.com, go there and click on the Amazon support link at the. .. bottom of the home page, then buy any of the other books recommended in this eBook from Amazon A small portion of what you pay Amazon comes to me, and that’s the money I use to purchase Web space, services, and review equipment Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 28 V1.03 Before You Take Pictures In this section I’ll take the time to explain how an SLR body works, plus we’ll look at the. .. mode (Feet) 531 H To Set Auto Aperture Flash 531 To Set Manual Flash 532 To Set Repeating Flash 533 H H H Maximum Number of Repeating Flashes at Each Power Setting 534 H To Manually Set the Zoom Head 535 H Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 18 V1.03 To Set the Distance Scale to Feet or Meters 536 To Set Flash Exposure Compensation 537 To Set Red-Eye Reduction... this is the section of the eBook you want with you in the field if you’re going to print out any portion of the eBook as reference H 4 What do I do with the images I shoot? In addition to the camera information in this eBook, the last major Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 27 V1.03 portion of this eBook (“After You’ve Taken Pictures with Your D200” on page < 588>) details the software... mirrors (red) to get to your eye As the picture is taken, the main mirror moves out of the way and the light only goes to the sensor (blue) Thus, during the actual moment the picture is taken, the viewfinder “blacks out” for a moment, as no light gets to the prism By way of comparison, film point-and-shoot cameras have a separate viewfinder that you look through that mimics the view that the lens sees... Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 21 V1.03 Conventions Used in this eBook In this eBook I occasionally make comparisons between the D200 and previous Nikon models In general, whenever this eBook uses the term D1 or D1 series, I’m referring to the entire D1 family (i.e the D1, D1h, and D1x) The same is true of the D2 family (D2h, D2hs, and D2x) Use of an individual model name in the text... The introduction of the D200 was what they were waiting for, though the resulting camera is a bit different than the earlier models they learned about Finally, it is just good form to know how your camera compares against other Nikon DSLRs When software products are mentioned, including those that Nikon supplies with the camera, I try to identify the version I used for this eBook when I introduce the. .. in high ISO quality Personally, I don’t worry about the minor differences in image quality between the two, and am happy to shoot just about anything with either camera Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 26 V1.03 need to know and keep the language in terms everyone can understand We’ll get to the detailed answer of this question in the next section (see “What’s an SLR?” on page < 29>)... Hiding Images 403 H H H CUSTOM SETTINGS 406 Custom Setting #C Custom Settings Bank (Custom Settings Bank) 411 H H Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 15 V1.03 Custom Setting #R Custom Settings Reset (Reset Custom Setting Menu) 415 Custom Setting #A1 Continuous Servo AF Priority (AF-C Priority Selection) 418 Custom Setting #A2 Single Servo AF Priority . Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 1 Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 1 st Edition By Thom Hogan byThom Press V1.03 Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide. Power Setting H534 To Manually Set the Zoom Head H535 V1.03 Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D200 Page 19 To Set the Distance Scale to Feet or Meters H536 To Set Flash Exposure. navigation panel and then the Nikon Digital SLR link in the forums). • Nikonians Hhttp://www.nikonians.com is another of the “well-attended” public forums that are useful for Nikon D200 users.