30
Nikon® D600™
Digital Field Guide
Nikon®
D600™
J. Dennis Thomas
Digital Field Guide
Nikon® D600™ Digital Field Guide
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-1-118-50930-2
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEB SITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEB SITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEB SITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.
For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please con-tact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (877) 762-2974, outside the U.S. at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you pur-chased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012955842
Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates. Nikon and D600 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nikon, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associ-ated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
About the AuthorJ. Dennis Thomas is a freelance photographer and author based out of Austin, Texas. He has nearly 25 years of experience behind the lenses of Nikon cameras. His work has been published in many regional and national publications, including Rolling Stone, SPIN, Elle, EBONY, W, Country Weekly, Us Weekly, and Thrasher. He has written more than a dozen highly successful Nikon Digital Field Guides, a comprehensive book about concert and live music photography, and a book about urban and rural decay photography. Thomas also writes articles about photography for Digital Photo magazine and www.masteringphoto.com, and maintains a blog called The Nikon Digital Field Guide Companion (www.deadsailorproductions.blogspot.com).
CreditsAcquisitions EditorCarol Kessel
Project EditorKristin Vorce
Technical EditorGeorge Maginnis
Copy EditorMarylouise Wiack
Editorial DirectorRobyn Siesky
Business ManagerAmy Knies
Senior Marketing ManagerSandy Smith
Vice President and Executive Group PublisherRichard Swadley
Vice President and Executive PublisherBarry Pruett
Project CoordinatorSheree Montgomery
Graphics and Production SpecialistsAndrea Hornberger
Quality Control TechnicianJessica Kramer
Proofreading and IndexingJoni Heredia Ty Koontz
As always, to my girls Henrietta and Maddie.
AcknowledgmentsI’d like to thank everyone at Wiley who works so hard to get these books out, especially my favorite woman at Wiley, Courtney Allen, for always lending an ear and an objective opinion, and generally being an all-around great gal. I’d also like to thank Kristin Vorce and Carol Kessel for all the hard work that they do behind the scenes, Kathleen Jeffers for getting out all the paperwork, Robyn Siesky for crackin’ the whip on the production team, and Barry Pruett for giving the go-ahead and signing the checks!
I’d also like to thank the folks at Precision Camera and Video in Austin, Texas, Jack and Monica Puryear at Puryear Photography, Cricket Krengel, and everyone else who lent a helping hand along the way.
Contents at a GlanceIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxv
CHAPTER 1Exploring the Nikon D600 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
CHAPTER 2Nikon D600 Essentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
CHAPTER 3Setting up the Nikon D600 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
CHAPTER 4Selecting and Using Lenses with the Nikon D600 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
CHAPTER 5Controlling Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
CHAPTER 6Working with Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
CHAPTER 7Working with Live View and Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
CHAPTER 8Advanced Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
APPENDIX AGeneral Composition Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
APPENDIX BAccessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
APPENDIX CHow to Use the Gray Card and Color Checker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
ContentsIntroduction xxv
CHAPTER 1Exploring the Nikon D600 1Key Components of the D600 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Top of the camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Back of the camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Front of the camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Right side of the camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Left side of the camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Viewfinder Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Information Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
CHAPTER 2Nikon D600 Essentials 31Exposure Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Programmed auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Aperture-priority auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Shutter-priority auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36U1/U2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Scene modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Portrait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Child . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Close Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Night Portrait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Night Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Party/Indoor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Beach/Snow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Sunset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Dusk/Dawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Pet Portrait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Candlelight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Blossom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Autumn Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Silhouette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41High Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Low Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Auto modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Auto (flash off) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Metering Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Center-weighted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Spot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Autofocus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Phase detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Contrast detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Focus Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Continuous-servo AF (AF-C) . . . . . . . . . . . 47Single-servo AF (AF-S) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Auto-servo (AF-A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Manual (MF) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Autofocus Area Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Single-point AF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Dynamic-area AF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
9 points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5021 points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5039 points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 513D-tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Auto-area AF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Release Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Single frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Continuous low speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Continuous high speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Quiet shutter-release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Self-timer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Remote control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Mirror lockup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
ISO Sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Auto ISO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Noise reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Long exposure NR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56High ISO NR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
White Balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58What is Kelvin? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58White balance settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Picture Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
D600 File Formats, Size, and Compression . . .68NEF (RAW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Bit depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
JPEG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Image size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Image quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
CHAPTER 3Setting up the Nikon D600 75The Playback Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Playback folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Hide image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Playback display options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Copy image(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Image review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81After delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Rotate tall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Slide show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82DPOF print order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
The Shooting Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Reset shooting menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Storage folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84File naming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Role played by card in Slot 2 . . . . . . . . . . . 86Image quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Image size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Image area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88JPEG compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89NEF (RAW) recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89White balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Using White Balance settings . . . . . . . 90Choosing a color temperature . . . . . . . 92Preset manual white balance . . . . . . . . 92Copy white balance from an
existing photograph . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Set Picture Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Manage Picture Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Auto distortion control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Color space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Active D-Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97High Dynamic Range (HDR) . . . . . . . . . . . 98Vignette control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Long exposure NR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99High ISO NR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100ISO sensitivity settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Remote control mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Multiple exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Interval timer shooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Time-lapse photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Movie settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
The Custom Settings Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . 104Reset custom settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Custom Settings menu a: Autofocus . . . 105
a1: AF-C priority selection . . . . . . . . . 105a2: AF-S priority selection . . . . . . . . . 106a3: Focus tracking with lock-on . . . . . 106a4: AF point illumination . . . . . . . . . . . 106a5: Focus point wrap-around . . . . . . . 106a6: Number of focus points . . . . . . . . 107a7: Built-in AF-assist illuminator . . . . . 107
Custom Settings menu b: Metering/exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107b1: ISO sensitivity step value . . . . . . . 107b2: EV steps for exposure cntrl . . . . . 107b3: Easy exposure compensation . . . 108b4: Center-weighted area . . . . . . . . . 108b5: Fine-tune optimal exposure . . . . . 109
Custom Settings menu c: Timers/AE lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109c1: Shutter-release button AE-L . . . . . 109c2: Standby timer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109c3: Self-timer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109c4: Monitor off delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110c5: Remote on duration . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Custom Settings menu d: Shooting/display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110d1: Beep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111d2: Viewfinder grid display . . . . . . . . . 111d3: ISO display and adjustment . . . . . 111d4: Screen tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111d5: CL mode shooting speed . . . . . . . 112d6: Max . continuous release . . . . . . . 112d7: File number sequence . . . . . . . . . 112d8: Information display . . . . . . . . . . . . 112d9: LCD illumination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113d10: Exposure delay mode . . . . . . . . 113d11: Flash warning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
d12: MB-D14 battery type . . . . . . . . . 113d13: Battery order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Custom Settings menu e: Bracketing/flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114e1: Flash sync speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114e2: Flash shutter speed . . . . . . . . . . . 114e3: Flash cntrl for built-in flash . . . . . . 114e4: Exposure comp . for flash . . . . . . . 115e5: Modeling flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115e6: Auto bracketing set . . . . . . . . . . . 116e7: Bracketing order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Custom Settings menu f: Controls . . . . . 116f1: OK button (shooting mode) . . . . . 116f2: Assign Fn button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116f3: Assign preview button . . . . . . . . . 119f4: Assign AE-L/AF-L button . . . . . . . . 119f5: Customize command dials . . . . . . 119f6: Release button to use dial . . . . . . 120f7: Slot empty release lock . . . . . . . . 120f8: Reverse indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . 120f13: Assign MB-D14 AE-L/AF-L
button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Custom Settings menu g: Movie . . . . . . 121
g1: Assign Fn button . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121g2: Assign preview button . . . . . . . . . 122g3: Assign AE-L/AF-L button . . . . . . . 122g4: Assign shutter button . . . . . . . . . 122
The Setup Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Format memory card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Save user settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Reset user settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Monitor brightness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Clean image sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Lock mirror up for cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . 124Image Dust Off ref photo . . . . . . . . . . . . 125HDMI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Flicker reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Time zone and date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Image comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Auto image rotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Battery info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Copyright information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Save/load settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
GPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Virtual horizon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Non-CPU lens data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129AF fine-tune . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Eye-Fi upload . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Firmware version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
The Retouch Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132D-Lighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Red-eye correction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Monochrome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Filter effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Color balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Image overlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136NEF (RAW) processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Resize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Quick retouch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Straighten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Distortion control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Fisheye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Color outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Color sketch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Perspective control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Miniature effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Selective color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Edit movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Side-by-side comparison . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
My Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143The Information Display Settings . . . . . . . . 144
CHAPTER 4Selecting and Using Lenses with the Nikon D600 147
Lens Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148Deciphering Nikon Lens Codes . . . . . . . . . . 148Third-Party Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150Wide-Angle Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Standard or Midrange Zoom Lenses . . . . . . 158Telephoto Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Special-Purpose Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Micro-NIKKOR lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Defocus Control lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Fisheye lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Perspective Control lenses . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Lens Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Teleconverters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Extension tubes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169Close-up filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170UV filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Neutral density (ND) filters . . . . . . . . . . . 171
CHAPTER 5Controlling Exposure 173Defining Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
ISO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175Shutter speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Fast shutter speeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178Slow shutter speeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Aperture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Fine-Tuning Your Exposure . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Exposure compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186Using histograms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
CHAPTER 6Working with Light 193Lighting Essentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Quality of light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194Soft light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194Hard light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Lighting direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Frontlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Sidelight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197Backlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Natural Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Continuous Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201D600 Built-in Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203Built-in Flash Exposure Modes . . . . . . . . . . 204
i-TTL and i-TTL BL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204Repeating Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205Commander . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Flash Sync Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206Sync speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206Front-curtain sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207Slow sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208Red-Eye Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Rear-curtain sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Flash Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Creative Lighting System Basics . . . . . . . . . 210Light Modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
CHAPTER 7Working with Live View and Video 213Live View Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Focus modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214Single-servo AF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214Full-time-servo AF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
AF-area modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215Live View Still Photography . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217Movie Live View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220Frame Size and Frame Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . 223Video Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Video Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227In-Camera Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Viewing and Shooting Using
the HD Output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229Viewing images on the camera . . . . . . . 229Viewing images on an HDTV . . . . . . . . . 230Shooting video using an external
HD device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
CHAPTER 8Advanced Topics 233U1/U2 User Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234Working with Off-camera Flashes . . . . . . . . 240
Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240Speedlights or flashes . . . . . . . . . . . . 241Light stands and brackets . . . . . . . . . 243Umbrellas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Manual flash exposures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244Guide Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245Distance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245Aperture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246GN / D = A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246Portraits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Small product and still-life . . . . . . . . . 249
HDR and Tone Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251Bracketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252In-camera HDR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253Tone mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
APPENDIX AGeneral Composition Tips 256Keep It Simple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256Rule of Thirds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257Leading Lines and S-Curves . . . . . . . . . . . . 258Helpful Hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
APPENDIX BAccessories 260Nikon MB-D14 Battery Grip . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260Speedlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262Nikon GP-1 GPS Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263Nikon ME-1 Stereo Microphone . . . . . . . . . 263WU-1b Wireless Mobile Adapter . . . . . . . . . 264ML-L3 Wireless Remote Control . . . . . . . . . 265
APPENDIX CHow to Use the Gray Card and Color Checker 266
The Gray Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266The Color Checker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Glossary 268
Index 275
IntroductionThere had been rumors circulating for quite a while that Nikon was planning to
release an affordable full-frame camera, so when the D600 was announced, it wasn’t a complete surprise. The world was expecting a full-frame sensor in a D7000 and that’s what they got. What was surprising, however, was that the D600 wasn’t just a full-frame D7000; it inherited quite a bit of technology from its bigger brother, the D800.
While the D800 turned the world of digital photography on its head, the D600 arrived a little later and set the world on fire. With a 24MP sensor (which puts it on par with one of Nikon’s flagship cameras, the D3X), the brand-new EXPEED 3 image processor, the updated Multi-CAM 4800FX 39-point autofocusing system, and the 2016-pixel Color Matrix Metering II metering system, the D600 borders on being a professional camera.
Although the D600 isn’t necessarily a professional-grade camera, it does have a lot of professional features, including a magnesium alloy top and bottom for durability, weather sealing for protection against the elements, and easily accessible buttons to make quick changes during shooting. The D600 has everything an advanced photographer needs, but Nikon also hasn’t forgotten about newer photographers. The D600 offers a plethora of scene modes to allow you to open up your creativity and capture great images in any shooting situation, no matter how much photography experience you have. The D600 also allows in-camera editing so you don’t necessarily need to be computer savvy to add great effects to your images. It even allows you to edit RAW files.
The D600 will appeal to videographers as well. It matches the D800 in almost every way in terms of video capabilities, including the ability to record uncompressed video through the HDMI port. Other features that will appeal to videographers — in addition to the lower price point — include the stereo microphone input, the stereo headphone
xxvi
Nikon D600 Digital Field Guide
output, the ability to control ISO, shutter speed, and aperture, and the number of fast lenses Nikon offers to achieve the shallow depth of field that is the hallmark of high-quality video production.
To sum it all up, Nikon has created an amazing, full-featured, full-frame camera that isn’t out of reach of regular folks.
About the Digital Field GuideThe Digital Field Guide book series is intended to act as an adjunct to the manual that comes with your camera. While the manual gives you a great overview of the camera, a photographer didn’t write it. The Nikon D600 Digital Field Guide gives you all of the information you need about the camera from a working photographer’s perspective.
The goal of this guide is to help photographers — from novices to advanced amateurs — grasp all of the features of their new camera. It includes tips learned from working with the camera in the field, as well as some basic information to help new photographers quickly get up to speed.
This guide walks you through setting up your camera and offers insight into which settings to use, as well as why each setting is useful in a particular situation. It includes full-color images that demonstrate different photography concepts and show you some of the things that the D600 is able to accomplish under different circumstances.
The Nikon D600 Digital Field Guide will help you quickly become familiar with your camera so that you can navigate and handle it better, and more easily reach your photographic goals and visions.
CHAPTER 1
Exploring the Nikon D600This chapter covers the
key components of the D600, including the buttons, switches, dials, and knobs. These are the features you most need to master because you will use them all the time as you modify settings to adapt to chang-ing shooting conditions.
The D600 is very similar to its DX sibling the D7000 and, indeed, was designed with this camera in mind. If you’re upgrading to FX from the D7000, you will feel instantly at home. If you’re stepping up from a D5100 or a D3200, the number of con-trols may surprise you. If you are accustomed to using one of Nikon’s compact pro bod-ies such as the D300s, D700, or D800, you will definitely notice the difference in the control layout. Getting to know all your camera’s menus, buttons, and
dials allows you to capture your images just as you envision them.
Nikon D600 Digital Field Guide
2
Chapter 1 Exploring the Nikon D600
Key Components of the D600The exterior controls of the D600 are used to access features that are most commonly changed. The D600 is a more advanced model than the D3200 and D5100 series, so it has a lot more buttons and dials to allow you to change your settings more quickly, which is a good thing. On the other hand, the D600 has much fewer buttons than the higher-end cameras, so a lot of the buttons perform double or even triple duty, depend-ing on what mode the camera is in.
The good news is that a number of buttons can be customized so that you can control the settings that you need to access the most.
Top of the cameraMost of the important buttons are on the top of the D600. This makes it easier to find them, especially when you have your eye to the viewfinder. This is where you find the dials to change the shooting modes as well as the all-important shutter-release button and the relatively new Movie record button.
▶ Shutter-release button. In my opinion, this is the most important button on the camera. Pressing this button halfway activates the camera’s autofocus and light meter. Fully depressing this button releases the shutter and takes a photograph. When the camera has been idle, and has “gone to sleep,” lightly pressing the shutter-release button wakes it up. When the image review is on, lightly press-ing the shutter-release button turns off the LCD and prepares the camera for another shot.
▶ On/off switch. This switch, located concentric to the shutter-release button, is used to turn the camera on and off. Push the switch all the way to the left to turn the camera off; pull the switch to the right to turn the camera on. The on/off switch also has a spring-loaded momentary switch, which, when pulled to the far right, turns on the control panel backlight.
▶ Movie record button. When the camera is in Live View movie mode ( ), pressing this button (which has a simple red dot on it) causes the camera to start recording video. Pressing it a second time stops the video recording. In Live View still photography mode ( ) and standard shooting mode or scene modes, this button has no function at all.
▶ Metering mode button ( ). Pressing this button and rotating the Main Command dial allows you to change the metering mode among Matrix ( ), Center-weighted ( ), and Spot metering ( ). This is also one of the buttons
