Most of the Nikon D500’s key functions and settings that are changed frequently can be accessed directly using the array of dials, buttons, and knobs that populate the camera’s surface. With so many dedicated controls available, you’ll find that the bulk of your shooting won’t be slowed down by a visit to the vast thicket of text options called Menu-land.

While it might take some time to learn the position and function of each of these controls, once you’ve mastered them, the D500 camera is remarkably easy to use. That’s because dedicated buttons with only one or two functions each are much faster to access than the alternative—a maze of menus that must be navigated every time you want to use a feature. The advantage of menu systems—dating back to early computer user interfaces of the 1980s—is that they are easy to learn. The ironic disadvantage of menus is that they are clumsy to use.

You don’t need instructions to wend your way through a complex menu system to find the command you want, say, to format a memory card—it’s in there somewhere—even if a half-dozen or more button presses are required to find the correct option. Direct access buttons are the exact opposite: you have to learn and memorize what each one does, but once learned, those buttons are much faster to use.

If you want to operate your D500 efficiently, you’ll need to learn the location, function, and application of all these controls. What you really need is a street-level roadmap that shows where everything is, and how it’s used. But what Nikon gives you in the user’s manual is akin to a world globe with an overall view and many cross-references to the pages that will tell you what you really need to know. Check out the Getting to Know the Camera section, primarily pages 1–4, in Nikon’s manual, which offers four tiny black-and-white line drawings of the camera body that show front, back, two sides, and the top and bottom of the D500. There are about six dozen callouts pointing to various buttons and dials. If you can find the control you want in this cramped layout, you’ll still need to flip back and forth among multiple pages (individual buttons can have several different cross-references!) to locate the information.

Most other third-party books follow this format, featuring black-and-white photos or line drawings of front, back, and top views, and many labels. I originated the up-close-and-personal, full-color, street-level roadmap (rather than a satellite view) that I use in this book and my previous camera guidebooks. I provide you with many different views and lots of explanation accompanying each zone of the camera, so that by the time you finish this chapter, you’ll have a basic understanding of every control and what it does. I’m not going to delve into menu functions here—you’ll find a discussion of your Playback, Shooting, Custom Settings, and Setup options in Chapters 11, 12, and 13. Everything here is devoted to the button pusher and dial twirler in you.

You’ll also find this “roadmap” chapter a good guide to the rest of the book, as well. I’ll try to provide as much detail here about the use of the main controls as I can, but some topics (such as autofocus and exposure) are too complex to address in depth right away. So, I’ll point you to the relevant chapters that discuss things like setup options, exposure, use of electronic flash, and working with lenses with the occasional cross-reference.

Nikon D500: Full Frontal

This is the side seen by your subjects as you snap away. For the photographer, though, the front is the surface your fingers curl around as you hold the camera, and there are really only a few buttons to press, all within easy reach of the fingers of your left and right hands. There are additional controls on the lens itself. You’ll need to look at several different views to see everything.

Figure 3.1 shows the front of the camera with the lens removed. The components are as follows:

• Self-timer lamp. When using the self-timer, this lamp flashes to mark the countdown until the photo is taken.
• Quick return mirror. This flip-up mirror directs the image seen by the lens upward to the viewing screen and exposure metering system, and thence onward to the eyepiece of the optical viewfinder. Semi-silvered locations on the mirror allow some illumination to be directed downward to the autofocus mechanism located on the floor of the compartment.
• Stereo microphones. The D500 has a pair of microphones built into the front of the camera, each seen as a hole flanking the pentaprism “hump.”
• Auto aperture lever. This mechanical lever pivots to physically move the diaphragm inside the lens to the f/stop that will be used to take the picture. The actual size of the aperture is determined by the setting calculated by the D500’s exposure system, or specified by you in Aperture-priority or manual exposure mode, and conveyed to the camera through the electrical contacts located at the top edge of the lens mount.
• Electronic contacts. These eight contact points mate with matching points on the bayonet mount of the lens itself, and allow two-way communication between the camera and lens for functions like aperture size and autofocus information.

Figure 3.1

• Lens bayonet mount. This precision bayonet mount mates with the matching mount on the back of each compatible lens. The mount configuration is basically unchanged since the original Nikon F was introduced in 1959, with only a few changes, such as the meter coupling lever introduced in 1977, and autofocus drive screw in 1986.
• Meter coupling lever. This sliding lever projects from the lens indexing ring surrounding the lens bayonet mount, and mates with a notch on the edge of the lens barrel of lenses that have a physical aperture ring. Its position tells the camera the maximum aperture of the lens as well as the currently selected f/stop of lenses that have their own built-in aperture ring. Lens indexing allows the D500 to use older lenses (such as non-autofocus AI or AI-S lenses) for automatic exposure using Aperture-priority.

  You’ll need to enter the maximum aperture and focal length of such lenses one time in the Non-CPU Lens Data entry of the Setup menu, and then tell the D500 when you have mounted this lens. (I’ll show you how to do this in Chapter 13.)

  The presence of the lens indexing ring is the reason why you need to lock the aperture of your autofocus D-type lenses at the minimum setting (usually f/16 or f/22) using an orange-accented lock switch on the lens itself, so that the lens can communicate aperture information electronically. The indexing makes no difference when using G-type lenses that lack an aperture ring.

• Autofocus drive screw. This feature, along with the meter coupling lever/lens indexing ring, are two components lacking in Nikon’s most recent entry-level cameras, but present in more advanced models like the D500. The drive screw is connected to a motor in the camera body to allow the camera to adjust focus of lenses that lack an AF motor within the lens itself. These lenses are marked with an AF designation instead of AF-S (the S represents the lens’s internal Silent Wave motor). The D500 can autofocus any AF or AF-S lens, whereas entry-level models like the Nikon D3xxx or D5xxx (which don’t have the camera-body motor and this drive screw) autofocus only the AF-S lenses. I’ll explain autofocus and lens features in more detail in Chapters 5 and 7.
• Lens release button. Press this button to retract the locking pin on the lens mount so a lens can be rotated to remove it from the camera.
• Lens release locking pin. This pin slides inside a matching hole in the lens to keep it from rotating until the lens release button is pressed.

Figure 3.2 shows a view of the left side Nikon D500, as seen from the front. The main components you need to know about are as follows:

• Power connector cover. This little door flips open to allow plugging a cable from the AC/DC adapter into the battery compartment in the hand grip.
• Memory card door. Your Secure Digital memory cards can be inserted here when you slide the door toward the rear of the camera to open it.
• NFC antenna. This is where you tap your smart device to link using NFC, as explained in Chapter 13.
• Shutter release button. Angled on top of the hand grip is the shutter release button, which has multiple functions. Press this button down halfway to lock exposure and focus. Press it down all the way to actually take a photo or sequence of photos if you’ve changed the mode dial to either of the continuous shooting modes, C_L or C_H (Continuous shooting low speed and Continuous shooting high speed), or if you’ve redefined the behavior of the self-timer to take 1 to 9 exposures when its delay has expired. (I’ll show you how to take multiple shots with the self-timer in Chapter 11.) Tapping the shutter button when the D500’s exposure meters have turned themselves off reactivates them, and a tap can be used to remove the display of a menu or image from the rear color LCD monitor.

Figure 3.2

• On/Off switch. Rotating this switch to the detent turns the camera on. Continuing to rotate past the detent to the farthest position illuminates the top-panel LCD monitor lamp, so you can read settings in dim lighting.
• Sub-command dial. This dial is used to change shooting settings. When settings are available in pairs (such as shutter speed/aperture), this dial will be used to make one type of setting, such as aperture, while the main command dial (on the back of the camera) will be used to make the other, such as shutter speed. Using the Custom Setting f4 menu adjustments, you can reverse the default rotational direction, swap the functions of the sub-command and main command dials, control how the sub-command dial is used to set aperture, and tell the D500 that you want to use the main command dial to scroll through menus and images. All these options are discussed in more detail in Chapter 12.
• Hand grip. This provides a comfortable handhold, and also contains the D500’s battery. Unlike some earlier Nikon models which had their external electrical contacts for add-on accessories inside the battery compartment, it’s not necessary to remove the battery of the D500 to mount the MB-D17 accessory battery/vertical grip. Its contacts are located on the bottom of the camera.
• Function 1 (Fn1) button. This conveniently located button has no function by default. However, using Custom Setting f1, it can be programmed to perform any one of 24 different actions, ranging from metering modes (Matrix, Center-weighted, Spot) to flash off or bracketing bursts.
• Preview (Depth-of-field) button. By default, this button closes down the lens aperture to the opening that will be used to take the picture, as set by the D500’s light meters or by you (when in Manual or Aperture-priority modes). The Preview/DOF button can be redefined using the same functions offered for the Fn button, as discussed in Chapter 12.

You’ll find more controls on the other side of the D500, shown in Figure 3.3. In the illustration, you can see the mode dial on top, and the rubber covers on the side that protect the camera’s USB, TV, HDMI, microphone ports, and GPS/accessory terminal. The main points of interest shown include:

• Bracket button. Hold down this button and rotate the main command dial to change the number of bracketed exposures to shoot; rotate the sub-command dial to adjust the exposure increment to be changed between each bracketed shot. When the number of exposures is set to zero, bracketing is turned off.
• Neck strap ring. It comes with a split-ring attached that can be used to fasten a neck strap to the D500.
• Lens mounting index. Match the dot on the lens with this indicator when mounting your lens.
• Lens autofocus/manual switch. You can change from Autofocus mode to Manual using this switch, or the switch on the camera body.
• Vibration reduction switch. If your lens has vibration reduction, you can turn it off here, say, when you’re using a tripod and don’t want VR to (potentially) interfere.
• Vibration reduction mode. You can select from Normal and Active VR modes, for general-purpose and aggressive vibration reduction, respectively.)

Figure 3.3

• Port covers. These three rubber covers protect the USB, HDMI, microphone, headphone ports, and GPS/accessory terminals (described shortly) when not in use.
• Focus mode selector switch. Rotate to change from autofocus to manual focus. You should remember that the modes selected with this switch and the autofocus/manual focus switch on the lens must agree. If you’ve chosen A (or M/A, which allows for manual fine-tuning of autofocus) on the lens, then the camera body switch must be set to AF. If either the lens or body switch (or both) are set to M, then the lens must be focused manually.
• Focus mode button. Press this button and rotate the main command dial to change from continuous-servo autofocus (AF-C) to single-servo autofocus (AF-S) or manual focus (M). Rotate the sub-command dial to change autofocus area selection modes. Both options were described in Chapter 2, and will be explained in more detail in Chapter 4.
• Flash sync terminal (inset). This connector hides beneath a PC connector/10-pin connector cover, along with the 10-pin remote terminal. You can see the two connectors uncovered in the inset in Figure 3.3. Connect a standard PC/X-contact cable or other accessory to this connector. If you are connecting a non-dedicated flash unit to your Nikon D500 (say, a studio strobe or some other non-automatic non-Nikon flash), it would plug in here.
• 10-pin remote terminal (inset). This connector is used for a variety of accessories, including cable release cords, remote releases of other types (including radio/IR receivers), GPS links (to the Nikon GP-1), and so forth.

The main features on the side of the Nikon D500 are a pair of rubber covers that protect the four connector ports underneath from dust and moisture. The four connectors, shown in Figure 3.4, with the rubber covers removed, are as follows:

• USB connector. Plug in the USB cable furnished with your Nikon D500 and connect the other end to a USB port in your computer to transfer photos, to upload Picture Control settings, or to upload/download other settings between your camera and computer.

Figure 3.4

• Microphone connector. Although the D500 has built-in microphones on top, if you want better quality (and want to shield your video clip soundtracks from noises emanating from the camera and/or your handling of it), you can plug in an accessory mic, such as the Nikon ME-1, here.
• HDMI connector. You need to buy an accessory HDMI mini-C cable to connect your D500 to an HDTV, as one to fit this port is not provided with the camera. If you have a high-resolution television, it’s worth the expenditure to be able to view your camera’s output in all its glory.
• Headphone connector. Plug in your headphones or other audio device here using a stereo miniplug to monitor your sound as you record, or to listen to the audio when playing back a video clip.

The Nikon D500’s Business End

The back panel of the Nikon D500 (see Figure 3.5) bristles with more than a dozen different controls, buttons, and knobs. That might seem like a lot of controls to learn, but you’ll find, as I noted earlier, that it’s a lot easier to press a dedicated button and spin a dial than to jump to a menu every time you want to change a setting.

You can see the controls clustered along the top edge of the back panel in Figure 3.6. The key buttons and components and their functions are as follows:

• Playback button. Press this button to review images you’ve taken, using the controls and options I’ll explain in the next section. To remove the displayed image, press the Playback button again, or simply tap the shutter release button.
• Trash/Format #1 button. Press to erase the image shown on the LCD monitor. A display will pop up on the LCD monitor asking you to press the Trash button once more to delete the photo, or press the Playback button to cancel. Hold down this button and the metering mode button on the top-right surface of the camera (both are marked with red Format labels). “For” will appear in the monochrome status LCD monitor. Choose which memory card you want to erase (rotate the main command dial). Press the buttons again to begin formatting your memory card.

Figure 3.5

Figure 3.6

• Viewfinder eyepiece. You can frame your composition by peering into the viewfinder. It’s surrounded by a soft rubber frame that seals out extraneous light when pressing your eye tightly up to the viewfinder, and it also protects your eyeglass lenses (if worn) from scratching. One thing you may notice right away if you’ve owned previous Nikon cameras is that the information display at the bottom of the viewfinder image is different. Nikon replaced the old segmented green LCD readout with a white organic LED (OLED) display that is much easier to see.
• Viewfinder shutter lever. You should ensure that light coming from the back of the camera doesn’t venture inside and possibly affect the exposure reading when taking pictures while not looking through the viewfinder (say, the camera is mounted on a tripod). Flip this switch to block illumination coming from the rear from reaching the exposure metering system, which resides in the same pentaprism used for viewing. My recommendation: To be safe, you should use the shutter when making long exposures, even when working in live view. Although the camera calculates exposure using the sensor rather than the system in the prism, some light can leak past the upraised mirror and affect your exposure. (The mirror is only partially silvered in its center, so that it can pass light to the autofocus sensor in the floor of the mirror box.)
• Diopter adjustment control. Pull this knob out, and then rotate it to adjust the diopter correction for your eyesight, then push in to lock the setting.
• AF-ON button. Press this button to activate the autofocus system without needing to partially depress the shutter release. This control, used with other buttons, allows you to lock exposure and focus separately: Lock exposure by pressing the shutter release halfway, or by pressing the AE lock (AE-L) button; autofocus by pressing the shutter release halfway, or by pressing the AF-ON button. There are lots of cool ways you can use the AF-ON button, and I’ll explain them in detail in Chapter 12.
• Speaker. Sound emitted by your D500 emerges here.
• Sub-selector. In shooting mode, this joystick-like control can be pressed sideways instead of the multi selector (described soon) to select a focus point (autofocus is covered in Chapter 5), while pressing the sub selector down (as if it were a button) locks focus and exposure while it’s held down. In playback mode, it behaves the same as the multi selector to scroll around within a zoomed image. Or, you can reprogram it to display the next or previous image, instead, using Custom Setting f1, as I’ll explain in Chapter 12.
• Main command dial. This is the main control dial of the D500, used to set or adjust most functions, such as shutter speed, bracketing sequence, white balance, ISO, and so forth, either alone or when another button is depressed simultaneously. It is often used in conjunction with the sub-command dial on the front of the camera when pairs of settings can be made, such as image formats (main command dial: image format; sub-command dial: resolution); exposure (main: shutter speed; sub: aperture); flash (main: flash mode; sub: flash compensation); or white balance (main: WB preset; sub: fine-tune WB). You can swap functions of the main and sub-command dials, reverse the rotation direction, choose whether the aperture ring on the lens or the sub-command dial will be used to set the f/stop, and activate the main command dials to navigate menus and images. You’ll learn about these Custom Settings menu options (Custom Setting f4) in Chapter 12.

You’ll be using the buttons to the left of the LCD monitor (shown in Figure 3.7) quite frequently, so learn their functions now.

• MENU button. Summons/exits the menu displayed on the rear LCD monitor of the D500. When you’re working with submenus, this button also serves to exit a submenu and return to the main menu.
• Help/Protect/Picture Controls button. This is a triple threat button:
  • Shooting mode: The button also summons a setting screen for Picture Controls, a kind of color/sharpness fine-tuning option explained in Chapter 11.
  • Playback mode: Protects an image from accidental erasure when reviewing a picture on the LCD monitor. Press once to protect the image, a second time to unprotect it. A key symbol appears when the image is displayed to show that it is protected. (This feature safeguards an image from erasure when deleting or transferring pictures only; when you format a card, protected images are removed along with all the others.)
  • Menu mode: When viewing most menu items on the monitor, pressing this button produces a concise Help screen with tips on how to make the relevant setting.
• Zoom In button. Used exclusively in Playback mode. Press to zoom in on an image when in full screen view, or to decrease the number of thumbnails when in index view (described next). Note: you can also zoom in and out in playback mode using “squeeze” and “stretch” gestures on the touch screen, similarly to the techniques used with smart phones. I’ll explain zooming and other playback options in the next section.

Figure 3.7 Buttons on the left side of the LCD.

• Zoom Out/Index/Flash button. This button has separate Playback and Shooting mode functions:
  • Playback mode. Use this button to change from full-screen view to four, nine, or 72 thumbnails. Press the Zoom In button to go the other way back to full screen and magnified views.
  • Shooting mode. This button sets the firing mode for an attached external electronic flash. Press the button and rotate the main command dial until the desired flash mode is displayed on the control panel. The settings cycle among front-curtain sync, red-eye reduction, red-eye reduction with slow sync, slow sync, rear-curtain sync, and flash off modes, which are all explained in Chapter 9.
• OK button. Press to confirm your choices when making some settings.
• Fn2 (Function 2) button. This second function button can be pressed during playback to assign a rating of 1 to 5 stars to the image displayed on the LCD monitor. Hold down the Fn2 button and press the left/right directional buttons to subtract/add stars. Note that you’re not limited to using the star system to represent how much you like an image. You’re free to dream up your own categories, such as one star for scenics, two stars for sports photos, and so forth.

  This button can also be redefined using Custom Settings f1 options to summon My Menu, to access the top item in the My Menu list, or to perform no function at all (None).

More buttons reside on the right side of the back panel, as shown in Figure 3.8. The key controls and their functions are as follows:

• Multi selector. This joypad-like disk can be shifted up, down, side to side, and diagonally for a total of eight directions. It can be used for several functions, including AF point selection, scrolling around a magnified image, trimming a photo, or setting white balance bias along the green/magenta and blue/yellow axes. Within menus, pressing the up/down arrows moves the on-screen cursor up or down; pressing toward the right selects the highlighted item and displays its options; pressing left cancels and returns to the previous menu.
• Multi selector center button. The button in the center of the multi selector can be pressed to activate several different default functions, depending on your current mode. Like many other controls, it can be redefined; in this case use Custom Setting f2. I’ll explain those options in Chapter 12.
  • Shooting mode. Resets focus point to the center of the frame.
  • Playback mode. Turns zoom on/off
  • Live view. Resets focus point to the center of the frame.
  • Menu mode. Selects highlighted menu option (same as right arrow button)
• Focus selector lock. Rotate this switch to the L position to disable changing the focus point with the multi selector.
• Memory card access lamp. When lit or blinking, this lamp indicates that a memory card is being accessed.
• Live view selector. Rotate this switch clockwise to specify live view, or counterclockwise to set the camera for video capture.
• Live view button. When the live view selector is set to the Live View position, press to activate live view display of the current sensor image on the color monitor LCD. To deactivate live view, press the button again.

Figure 3.8

• Info button. This is your second of two “information” buttons, and not to be confused with its neighbor, the i button.
  • In Shooting mode. Press this button to activate the shooting information display, which shows current exposure information, autofocus modes, and other data. Press again to remove the information display (or simply tap the shutter release button). The display will also clear after the period you’ve set for LCD monitor display (the default value is 20 seconds). The information display can be set to alternate between modes that are best viewed under bright daylight (see Figure 3.9), as well as a “reversed” version that’s better under dimmer illumination. I’ll describe the use of the shooting information display in more detail later in this chapter.
  • In Live View mode. Press the Info button to cycle among various data displays on the screen, including virtual horizon, grid, and two levels of information.
  • In Playback mode. When reviewing an image, pressing the Info button exits playback mode and displays the shooting information display. Press a second time to return to a blank screen.
• i button. This button has four functions, which depend on the camera’s current mode. When the selection screen appears, highlight any of the available options and press the right directional button or press the OK button or multi selector center button to access the adjustments for that setting. If a Help icon (Question Mark) appears at lower left when an entry is highlighted, press the Protect/Picture Control/Help button to view a handy pop-up tool tip.
  • Photo Shooting mode: A screen pops up like the one shown in Figure 3.10, providing quick access to frequently changed controls, including (top to bottom) Photo Shooting Memory Bank, Custom Settings Bank, Custom Control Assignment, Active D-Lighting, Choose Image Area, Long Exposure NR (noise reduction), and High ISO NR.

Figure 3.9 The information display can be set to alternate between this dark-on-light mode that is best viewed under bright daylight, as well as a light-on-dark version for darker conditions.

Figure 3.10 In Photo Shooting mode, pressing the i button produces this selection screen.

Figure 3.11 In Live View mode, pressing the i button produces a similar menu.

Figure 3.12 In Playback mode, the i button allows you to select a rating, send an image to a smart device, embed IPTC metadata in an image, retouch a still image, or choose a slot and folder. For video clips, your choices are Rating, Edit Movie, and Choose Slot and Folder.

• Live View mode: A slightly different settings screen, like the one in Figure 3.11, appears, offering adjustments for Choose Image Area, Active D-Lighting, Electronic Front Curtain Shutter, Monitor Brightness, Photo Live View Display White Balance, and Split Screen Display Zoom. These will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 14.
• Movie Shooting mode: A screen similar to the live view version seen in Figure 3.11 pops up, but with controls for Image Area, Movie Frame size/rate, Active D-Lighting, Movie Quality, Microphone Sensitivity, Microphone Frequency Response, and Wind Noise Reduction. Scroll down with the directional buttons to reveal more choices: Destination Card, Monitor Brightness, Multi Selector Power Aperture Control (when enabled, press the up/down buttons to adjust the aperture), Highlight Display, Headphone Volume, and Electronic VR. See Chapter 15 for more on each of these options.
• Playback mode. When reviewing a still image, press the i button and choose Rating, Select to Send to Smart Device/Deselect, IPTC (to embed International Press Communications Council information in your files, as explained in Chapter 13), Retouch, and Choose Slot and Folder (see Figure 3.12). When a movie clip is displayed during Playback mode, your choices are Rating, Edit Movie, and Choose Slot and Folder.

Playing Back Images

Reviewing images is a joy on the Nikon D500’s big 3.2-inch color swiveling LCD touch screen monitor. The display is big and bright, and there is abundant detail on that 2.36 million dot, XGA-resolution screen. One reason the LCD is so bright is that your screen has an amazing 1024 × 768–pixels of resolution, with separate dots for red, green, and blue.

Here are the basics involved in reviewing images on the LCD monitor screen (or on a television/HDTV screen you have connected with a cable). You’ll find more details about some of these functions later in this chapter, or, for more complex capabilities, in the chapters that I point you to. This section just lists the must-know information.

• Start review. To begin review, press the Playback button at the upper-left corner of the back of the D500. The most recently viewed image will appear on the LCD monitor.
• Playback card. If you have two memory cards installed in your D500, you can change which card is used for playback by starting playback with the Playback button, and then pressing the i button and selecting Choose Slot and Folder. Press the right directional button and choose XQD or SD card slots. A list of available folders on the selected slot will be shown. Press the right button again to activate that slot/folder.

  You can also select the active folder using the Playback Folder option (choose ND500 folders, All, or Current folder) in the Playback menu. You can create and activate a new folder using the Storage Folder entry in the Photo Shooting menu. See Chapter 11 for more information on both options.

• View thumbnail images. To change the view from a single image to four, nine, or 72 thumbnails, follow the instructions in the “Viewing Thumbnails” section that follows.
• Zoom in and out. To zoom in or out, press the Zoom In or Zoom Out buttons, following the instructions in the “Zooming the Nikon D500 Playback Display” in the next section. (It also shows you how to move the zoomed area around using the multi selector keypad.)
• Move back and forth. To advance to the next image, press the right edge of the multi selector pad; to go back to a previous shot, press the left edge. When you reach the beginning/end of the photos in your folder, the display “wraps around” to the end/beginning of the available shots. Note: You can assign a special behavior to the sub-command dial such that rotating it skips ahead either 10 or 50 images, or allows you to change folders. See the discussion of Custom Setting f4 (Customize Command Dials > Sub-dial Frame Advance) in Chapter 12 for more information.
• See different types of data. To change the type of information about the displayed image that is shown, press the up and down portions of the multi selector pad.
• Remove images. To delete an image that’s currently on the screen, press the Trash button once, then press it again to confirm the deletion. To select and delete a group of images, use the Delete option in the Playback menu to specify particular photos to remove, as described in more detail in Chapter 11.
• Cancel playback. To cancel image review, press the Playback button again, or simply tap the shutter release button.

Zooming the Nikon D500 Playback Display

The Nikon D500 zooms in and out of preview images using the procedure that follows:

1. Zoom in. When an image is displayed (use the Playback button to start), press the Zoom In button to fill the screen with a slightly magnified version of the image. You can also press the multi selector center button, tap the touch screen twice, or touch two fingers to the LCD monitor and spread them apart to enlarge the image.
2. Continue zooming. A navigation window appears in the lower-right corner of the LCD monitor showing the entire image. Keep pressing to continue zooming in to the maximum of 21X enlargement (with a full-resolution large image in DX format). (Medium and Small images can be enlarged up to 16X and 10X, respectively.)
3. Zoomed area indicated. A yellow box in the navigation window shows the zoomed area within the full image. (See Figure 3.13.) The entire navigation window vanishes from the screen after a few seconds, leaving you with a full-screen view of the zoomed portion of the image.
4. Move zoomed area around. Use the multi selector buttons to move the zoomed area around within the image. The navigation window will reappear for reference when zooming or scrolling around within the display. You can also slide one finger around the touch screen to move the zoomed area.
5. Find faces. To detect faces, rotate the sub-command dial while an image is zoomed. Up to 35 faces will be detected by the D500, indicated by white borders in the navigation window. Rotate the sub-command dial or tap the on-screen guide (seen at the lower-left bottom edge in the figure) to move highlighting to the individual faces.
6. Review same area on another image. Use the main command dial or tap the left/right triangles at the bottom of the touch screen to move to the same zoomed area of the next/previous image. This allows you to compare a detail in a series of similar shots. I often use the capability to see if a spot in an image is a dust spot (it shows up in the same place in other images), or just an artifact found in a single image.
7. Zoom out. Use the Zoom Out/Thumbnail button to zoom back out of the image.
8. Exit. To exit zoom in/zoom out display, keep pressing the Zoom Out button until the full screen/full image/information display appears again. Or, just tap the shutter release halfway or press the Playback button to exit playback entirely.

Figure 3.13 The Nikon D500 incorporates a small thumbnail image with a yellow box showing the current zoom area.

Viewing Thumbnails

The Nikon D500 provides other options for reviewing images in addition to zooming in and out. You can switch between single image view and four, nine, or 72 reduced-size thumbnail images on a single LCD monitor screen.

Pages of thumbnail images offer a quick way to scroll through a large number of pictures quickly to find the one you want to examine in more detail. The D500 lets you switch quickly from single- to four- to nine- to 72-image views, with a scroll bar displayed at the right side of the screen to show you the relative position of the displayed thumbnails within the full collection of images in the active folder on your memory card. Figure 3.14 offers a comparison between the three levels of thumbnail views. The Zoom In and Zoom Out/Thumbnail buttons are used, or you can use the pinch and spread gestures with two figures on the touch screen to increase or decrease the number of thumbnail indexes shown.

• Add thumbnails. To increase the number of thumbnails on the screen, press the Zoom Out button or pinch the touch screen. The D500 will switch from single image to four thumbnails to nine thumbnails to 72 thumbnails. (The display doesn’t cycle back to single image again.)
• Reduce number of thumbnails. To decrease the number of thumbnails on the screen, press the Zoom In button or use the spread gesture on the touch screen to change from 72 thumbnails to nine thumbnails to four thumbnails, or from four to single-image display. Continuing once you’ve returned to single-image display starts the zoom process described in the previous section.

Figure 3.14 Switch between four thumbnails (left), nine thumbnails (center), or 72 thumbnails (right), by pressing the Zoom Out and Zoom In buttons or using pinch and spread gestures on the touch screen.

• Change slot and folder. When viewing images, if two memory cards are installed in the D500, press the i button to produce the dialog box (shown earlier in Figure 3.12) that includes an option to choose the playback slot and folder of the memory card that contains the images you want to view.
• Switch between thumbnails and full image. When viewing thumbnails, you can quickly switch between thumbnail view and full image display by pressing the OK button in the center of the multi selector, or by tapping the thumbnail image on the touch screen.
• Retouch an image/thumbnail. When an image or thumbnail is viewed, press the i button to access the options screen that includes a Retouch option for that image (described in Chapter 13).
• Change highlighted thumbnail area. Use the multi selector to move the yellow highlight box around among the thumbnails, or, preferably, use a single finger on the touch screen to scroll back and forth or to select a particular thumbnail. Note that touching a thumbnail moves the highlighting to that thumbnail, while tapping the thumbnail produces a full screen view of the image.
• Protect and delete images. When viewing thumbnails or a single-page image, press the Protect button to preserve the highlighted image against accidental deletion (a key icon is overlaid over the thumbnail image; press Protect again to remove protection).
• Exit image review. Tap the shutter release button or press the Playback button to exit image review. You don’t have to worry about missing a shot because you were reviewing images; a half-press of shutter release automatically brings back the D500’s exposure meters, the autofocus system, and, unless you’ve redefined your controls or are using manual focus, cancels image review.

Working with the Shooting Information/Photo Data Displays

Your Nikon D500 can display two types of information on the color monitor as you are reviewing or taking pictures:

• Shooting information display. This is the screen of information that appears in shooting mode when you press the Info button on the right side of the back of the camera. The shooting information display partially duplicates some of the data shown on the top control panel LCD.
• Photo Data. These are a series of up to eight screens (including GPS data, which appears only if you used a GPS device to take the picture) that provide various types of shooting and other information about a particular image that you are reviewing during playback. The data shown applies only to that image, and does not reflect your D500’s current shooting settings (unless you’re viewing an image you’ve just taken). I’ll show you each of these screens, too, and explain how you can use them.

Using the Shooting Information Display

The shooting information display appears when you press the Info button to the lower right of the color LCD monitor. This display shows for about 10 seconds by default, but you can change this to a period of up to 10 minutes using Monitor Off Display, Custom Setting c4, as described in Chapter 12. Hide this display by pressing the Info button twice, or by tapping the shutter release button. (The D500 will always clear the LCD monitor screen when you depress the shutter release button, and activate the exposure meter at the same time, so you’ll be ready to take a shot if you want.) The shooting information display provides a lot of basic shooting data. Figures 3.15 and 3.16 show a color-coded version. It does not appear colored like this on your LCD monitor, and, for clarity, I’m showing some options that don’t appear on the screen at the same time; for example, your display will have only some of the flash information in my illustration.

Figure 3.15 The shooting information display has this kind of information, color-coded here for simplicity.

Figure 3.16 Shooting information display continued.

I’ve applied some labels that highlight the basic kinds of settings you’ll find on this screen. I’ve simplified the labels here; you’ll find similar callouts of the individual icons later in this chapter in the section on the top-panel monochrome display, which largely duplicates the information you see here. As I noted, this rendition simply provides an overview of the kind of data you’ll find on the color monitor; not every readout will appear on your screen, and certainly not all at once.

Using the Photo Data Displays

When reviewing an image on the screen, your D500 can supplement the image itself with a variety of shooting data, ranging from basic information presented at the bottom of the LCD monitor display, to three text overlays that detail virtually every shooting option you’ve selected. There is also a display for GPS data if you’re using a GPS device, and two views of histograms. There’s actually a third histogram view that can be summoned when you reprogram the center button of the multi selector. I’ll explain how to do that and how to work with histograms in the discussion on achieving optimum exposure in Chapter 4. However, this is a good place to provide an overview of the kind of information you can view when playing back your photos.

You can change the types of information displayed using the Playback Display Options entry in the Playback menu. There you will find checkboxes you can mark for both basic photo information (overexposed highlights and the focus point used when the image was captured) and detailed photo information (which includes an RGB histogram and various data screens). I’ll show you how to activate these info options in Chapter 11, and provide more detailed reasons why you might want to see this data when you review your pictures. This section will simply show you the type of information available. Most of the data is self-explanatory, so the labels in the accompanying figures should tell you most of what you need to know. To change to any of these views while an image is on the screen in Playback mode, press the multi selector up/down buttons.

• File information screen. The basic full image review display is officially called the file information screen, and looks like Figure 3.17. Press the multi selector down button to advance to the next information screen (or the up button to cycle in the other direction).
• Highlights. When highlights display is active (after being chosen in the Display Mode entry of the Playback menu, as described in Chapter 11), any overexposed areas will be indicated by a flashing black border. As I am unable to make the printed page flash, you’ll have to check out this effect for yourself. You can visualize what these “blinkies” look like in Figure 3.18, as they are most easily discerned as the black splotches on the boats in the foreground.
• RGB histogram. Another optional screen is the RGB histogram, which you can see in Figure 3.19. I’m going to leave the discussion of histograms for Chapter 4.
• Shooting data 1–8. These are a series of screens that collectively provide everything else you might want to know about a picture you’ve taken. Note that each screen may not show all the information that can be displayed on that screen, and that all the screens may not appear. Only the data and screens that apply to your image will be shown. For example, the GPS screen appears only if a picture has GPS information embedded in it; the Artist/Copyright and IPTC screens are shown only if you have chosen to embed that information in your image file. (I’ll show you how to do that in Chapter 13.) Seven of the eight possible screens are shown in Figures 3.20 to 3.26. (The second page of the IPTC information is not shown.)
• Overview data. This screen, shown in Figure 3.27, provides a smaller image of your photo, but more information, including a luminance (brightness) histogram, metering mode used, lens focal length, exposure compensation, flash compensation, and lots of other data that’s self-explanatory.

Figure 3.17 File information screen.

Figure 3.18 Highlights screen.

Figure 3.19 RGB histogram screen.

Figure 3.20 Exposure, lens, and autofocus/VR information appears here.

Figure 3.21 Information about flash exposures are shown on this screen.

Figure 3.22 White balance data and Picture Control adjustments appear here.

Figure 3.23 Noise reduction, Active D-Lighting, Retouching, Comments, and other information are shown here.

Figure 3.24 GPS data is displayed if the image was taken using a GPS device.

Figure 3.25 Artist information and copyright notices, if enabled, are shown.

Figure 3.26 This is the first of two pages of IPTC information.

Figure 3.27 This overview screen includes a brightness histogram and basic information about the image.

Going Topside

The top surface of the Nikon D500 (see Figure 3.28) has its own set of frequently accessed controls. I’m going to divide them into two parts: those to the left side of the camera, and those on the right side. The left side controls offer some settings that you may change frequently, perhaps even during a shooting session (metering mode, exposure mode, white balance), and one that you’ll probably change once at the beginning: image quality (when you choose whether to shoot RAW, JPEG [and which compression level you want], or a combination of the two). Also on the left side of the camera is the release mode dial itself, the outside collar which you’ll rotate to flip among Single frame, Continuous shooting L, Continuous shooting H, Quiet shutter, Quiet Shutter continuous, Self-timer, and MUP modes. Figure 3.29 shows the left top side of the D500 up close.

Figure 3.28

• Release mode dial lock release. Before you can choose any of the release mode dial’s settings, you must hold down this button to free the dial so it can rotate. As illustrated earlier, your choices include S (Single frame), C_L (Continuous low speed), C_H (Continuous high speed), Quiet shutter release, Quiet shutter continuous, Self-timer, and MUP (Mirror Up).
• Direct Access buttons. These are available for Image Quality/Size, White Balance, Metering Mode, and Exposure Mode. Hold each button and rotate the main or sub-command dials to make your adjustment. The Qual button also serves as a reset button (used with the exposure compensation button on the top-right shoulder of the camera, and described next).

Figure 3.29

• Accessory shoe. Slide an electronic flash into this mount when you need a more powerful Speedlight. A dedicated flash unit, like the Nikon SB-5000, can use the multiple contact points shown to communicate exposure, zoom setting, white balance information, and other data between the flash and the camera. There’s more on using electronic flash in Chapter 9. You can also mount other accessories on this shoe, such as the Nikon GP-1 GPS adapter or Nikon ME-1 microphone.

On the right side of the camera is another batch of controls and a display panel, as shown in Figure 3.30:

• Power switch. Rotate this switch clockwise to turn on the Nikon D500 (and virtually all other Nikon dSLRs). Continue past the ON position to illuminate the monochrome control panel’s backlight for a few seconds. If you’d rather have the backlight remain on for the length of time the exposure meters are active, you can specify this using Custom Setting d9 (LCD Illumination: set to On). For this setting to be useful, you’ll need to set the automatic meter-off delay to something other than the default six seconds. If you’re carefree about battery usage, you can specify meter-off delays of four seconds to 10 minutes using Custom Setting c2 (Standby Timer), as described in Chapter 12.
• Shutter release button. Partially depress this button to activate the exposure meter (and the main and sub-command dials that adjust metering settings), lock in exposure, and focus (unless you’ve redefined the focus activation button, as outlined in Chapter 12). Press all the way to take the picture. Tapping the shutter release when the camera has turned off the autoexposure and autofocus mechanisms reactivates both. When a review image is displayed on the back-panel color monitor, tapping this button removes the image from the display and reactivates the autoexposure and autofocus mechanisms. You can also tap the button to exit image review and menus, readying the camera to take a picture.

Figure 3.30

• Exposure compensation/Reset #2 button. Hold down this button and spin the main command dial to add or subtract exposure when using Program, Aperture-priority, or Shutter-priority modes. (In Manual mode, the exposure remains the same, but the “ideal” exposure shown in the electronic analog display [more on that in the next section] is modified to reflect the extra/reduced exposure you’re calling for.) The exposure compensation amount is shown on the monochrome status panel as plus or minus values. This button is also used in conjunction with the QUAL button described earlier to provide a quick two-button reset of the camera to many of the factory default settings, as described in Chapter 2. Hold down the two buttons, each marked with a green dot, for about two seconds to affect the reset.
• Focal plane indicator. This indicator shows the plane of the sensor, for use in applications where exact measurement of the distance from the focal plane to the subject is necessary. (These are mostly scientific/close-up applications.)
• Movie-record button. Press to begin video capture; press a second time to stop.
• Control panel. This useful indicator shows the status of many settings. Unfortunately, because it’s on top of the camera, you may not be able to see those settings when the camera is elevated (especially on a tripod). In that case, use the shooting information display, described earlier in this chapter, which can show much of the same information on the back-panel color LCD monitor when you press the Info button.

Lens Components

The lens shown at left in Figure 3.31 is a typical G-type lens (learn about different lens types in Chapter 7). Unfortunately, this particular lens doesn’t include all the common features found on the various Nikon lenses available for your camera, so I am including a second lens (shown at right in the figure), an older model that does have some additional features. Components found on this pair of lenses include:

• Filter thread. Most lenses have a thread on the front for attaching filters and other add-ons. Some, generally older lenses, also use this thread for attaching a lens hood (you screw on the filter first, and then attach the hood to the screw thread on the front of the filter). Some lenses, such as the AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lens, have no front filter thread, either because their front elements are too curved to allow mounting a filter and/or because the front element is so large that huge filters would be prohibitively expensive. Some of these front-filter-hostile lenses allow using smaller filters that drop into a slot at the back of the lens.

Figure 3.31

• Lens hood bayonet. Lenses like the two zooms shown in the figure use this bayonet to mount the lens hood. Such lenses generally will have lens hood alignment indicator, a dot on the edge showing how to align the lens hood with the bayonet mount.
• Focus ring. This is the ring you turn when you manually focus the lens, or fine-tune autofocus adjustment. It’s a narrow ring at the very front of the lens (on the 18-300mm lens shown at left), or a wider ring located somewhere else (as shown on the 17-35mm zoom at right).
• Focus scale. This is a readout found on many lenses that rotates in unison with the lens’s focus mechanism to show the distance at which the lens has been focused. It’s a useful indicator for double-checking autofocus, roughly evaluating depth-of-field, and for setting manual focus guesstimates. Chapter 7 deals with the mysteries of lenses and their controls in more detail.
• Zoom setting. These markings on the lens show the current focal length selected.
• Zoom ring. Turn this ring to change the zoom setting.
• Autofocus/Manual focus switch. Allows you to change from automatic focus to manual focus.
• Aperture ring. Some lenses have a ring that allows you to set a specific f/stop manually, rather than use the camera’s internal electronic aperture control. An aperture ring is useful when a lens is mounted on a non-automatic extension ring, bellows, or other accessory that doesn’t couple electronically with the camera. Aperture rings also allow using a lens on an older camera that lacks electronic control. In recent years, Nikon has been replacing lenses that have aperture rings with versions that only allow setting the aperture with camera controls.
• Aperture lock. If you want your D500 (or other Nikon dSLR) to control the aperture of a lens with an aperture ring electronically, you must set the lens to its smallest aperture (usually f/22 or f/32) and lock it with this control.
• Focus limit switch. Some lenses have this switch, which limits the focus range of the lens, thus potentially reducing focus seeking when shooting distant subjects. The limiter stops the lens from trying to focus at closer distances (in this case, closer than 2.5 meters).
• Vibration reduction on/off switch. Lenses with Nikon’s Vibration Reduction (VR) feature include a switch for turning the stabilization feature on and off. You might want to disable VR when the camera is mounted on a tripod.
• VR mode switch. This control lets you change from normal vibration reduction to a more aggressive “active” VR mode useful for, say, shooting from moving vehicles. More on VR and other lens topics in Chapter 7.

The back end of a lens intended for use on a Nikon camera has other components that you seldom see (except when you swap lenses), shown in Figure 3.32, but still should know about:

• Lens bayonet mount. This is the mounting mechanism that attaches to a matching mount on the camera. Although the lens bayonet is usually metal, some lower-priced lenses use a rugged plastic for this key component.
• Automatic diaphragm lever. This lever is moved by a matching lever in the camera to adjust the f/stop from wide open (which makes for the brightest view) to the taking aperture, which is the f/stop that will be used to take the picture. The actual taking aperture is determined by the camera’s metering system (or by you when the D500 is in Manual mode), and is communicated to the lens through the electronic contacts described next. (An exception is when the aperture ring on the lens itself is unlocked and used to specify the f/stop.) However, the spring-loaded physical levers are what actually push the aperture to the selected f/stop—even with advanced cameras like the D500. The aperture lever is also activated when you press the PV (depth-of-field) button.

Figure 3.32

• Electronic contacts. These metal contacts pass information to matching contacts located in the camera body, allowing a firm electrical connection so that exposure, distance, and other information can be exchanged between the camera and lens.
• Lens type signal notch. This is a machined groove in the lens mount, designed to tell older (non-dSLR) cameras that the aperture stops were linear. Today, this information would be conveyed electronically, except that all current lenses already have linear f/stops.
• Indexing cutout. The base of any Nikon lens made after 1977 that has an aperture ring includes a cutout notch that mates with a ring around the lens mount of Nikon’s advanced cameras. It tells the camera what the maximum aperture is and what f/stop has been set. For a D500 owner, this means that older manual focus lenses (including pre-1977 lenses that have been converted to this system) can be used for automatic metering with the Aperture-priority exposure mode, and for manual metering in Manual exposure mode.
• Autofocus drive screw slot. (Not shown in the figure.) As you’ll learn in Chapter 7, older autofocus lenses (given the AF designation in Nikon nomenclature) lack an internal autofocus motor. Focus is set using a screw drive built into the camera body of every Nikon autofocus camera (film or digital) except entry-level models in the D5xxx and D3xxx series, plus earlier models like the Nikon D40/D40x and D60. Lenses given the AF-S designation lack this connection, because autofocus is achieved internally using a tiny motor.

Looking Inside the Viewfinder

Much of the important shooting status information is shown inside the viewfinder of the Nikon D500. As with the status LCD monitor up on top, not all of this information will be shown at any one time. Figure 3.33 shows what you can expect to see. These readouts include:

• Viewfinder alignment grid (not shown). This optional grid (it can be turned on and off in Custom Setting d8) can be useful when aligning horizontal or vertical shapes as you compose your image.
• Focus points. The 55 user-selectable focus points are shown as boxes in the figure. The camera can also work with additional points, represented by the smaller dots. The camera can select the appropriate focus zone for you, or you can manually choose from among the 55 user-selectable zones, as described in Chapter 5.
• Active focus point. The currently selected focus point can be highlighted with red illumination, depending on focus mode.
• AF area bracket. Shows the area covered by the autofocus sensors.
• Black-and-white mode warning indicator. Reminder that you’re shooting JPEGs in monochrome mode.

Figure 3.33

• Image crop/1.3x crop area. When you’ve selected the 1.3x crop option in the Image Area entry of the Photo Shooting menu, the crop area is shown in the viewfinder. (It appears as a black box, but is shown in gray in the figure for clarity.) The Image Crop warning appears in the upper-right corner of the viewfinder screen.
• Flicker warning. Appears when Flicker Reduction is active.
• Focus indicator. This dot glows steadily when the subject covered by the active autofocus zone is in sharp focus, whether focus was achieved by the AF system, or by you using manual focusing. Left and right arrows show whether focus is set ahead of or behind the subject.
• Autoexposure (AE) lock/Flash value lock indicator. Shows that exposure or flash exposure has been locked.
• Flash sync. Shows that the shutter speed has been locked in S or M modes at the x250 (1/250th second) setting (located, not between 1/125th and 1/500th second, but as the speed past bulb and 30 seconds).
• Shutter speed/AF mode. Displays the current shutter speed selected by the camera, or by you in Manual exposure mode.
• Aperture. Shows the current aperture chosen by the D500’s autoexposure system, or specified by you when using Manual exposure mode.
• Shutter speed lock. The L shows that the shutter speed has been locked at the current value. It’s available in Shutter-priority and Manual exposure modes. To use this feature, you’ll need to assign a button to the function Shutter Spd & Aperture Lock using Custom Setting f3, as I’ll describe in Chapter 12.
• Aperture lock. The L shows that the aperture has been locked at the current value, using a defined button, as previously noted. It’s available in Aperture-priority and Manual exposure modes.
• Automatic ISO indicator. Is shown as a reminder that the D500 has been set to adjust ISO sensitivity automatically.
• Flash compensation indicator. Appears when flash EV changes have been made.
• Exposure compensation indicator. This is shown when exposure compensation (EV) changes have been made. It’s easy to forget you’ve dialed in a little more or less exposure, and then shoot a whole series of pictures of a different scene that doesn’t require such compensation. Beware!
• Electronic analog exposure display/Exposure compensation display/Tilt indicator. This scale shows the current exposure level, with the bottom indicator centered when the exposure is correct as metered. The indicator may also move to the left or right to indicate over- or underexposure (respectively). The scale is also used to show the amount of exposure compensation dialed in. It also shows exposure compensation and degree of horizontal tilt.
• Exposures remaining/maximum burst available/other data. Normally displays the number of exposures remaining on your memory card, but while shooting it changes to show a number that indicates the number of frames that can be taken in continuous shooting mode using the current settings. This indicator also shows other information, such as ISO sensitivity, exposure compensation value, and Active D-Lighting amount.
• Thousands of exposures. Displayed when more than 999 exposures remaining; the readout to the left will then show number of shots remaining in thousands.
• Flash ready indicator. This icon appears when the flash is fully charged.
• Battery status. Shows amount of remaining power.
• Bracketing indicator. Shows when Active D-Lighting, exposure, flash, or white balance bracketing is underway.
• ISO sensitivity. This useful indicator shows the current ISO setting value. Those who have accidentally taken dozens of shots under bright sunlight at ISO 1600 because they forgot to change the setting back after some indoor shooting will treasure this addition.

Underneath Your Nikon D500

There’s not a lot going on with the bottom panel of your Nikon D500. You’ll find the battery compartment access door, and a tripod socket, which secures the camera to a tripod. The socket accepts other accessories, such as quick-release plates that allow rapid attaching and detaching the D500 from a matching platform affixed to your tripod. The socket is also used to secure the optional MB-D17 battery grip, which provides more juice to run your camera to take more exposures with a single charge. Figure 3.34 shows the underside view of the camera.

Figure 3.34

Using the MB-D17 Multi-Power Battery Pack (Vertical Grip)

One optional accessory that you might want to consider is the Nikon MB-D17 battery pack/vertical grip, which attaches to the underside of the D500 and provides extra power for those long shooting sessions. It also adds a vertically oriented shutter release, main command dial, sub-command dial, an AF-ON button, and a miniature joystick-like version of the multi selector, all arranged for easier shooting when the camera is rotated to a vertical position. There’s a terminal connector under a rubber cover to provide a connection between the D500 and accessories that fasten to the underside. This accessory (see Figure 3.35 for front and back views) is available for about $450.

Figure 3.35 The Nikon MB-D17 Multi-Power Grip can double the length of your battery-powered shooting session, while adding convenient vertically oriented controls.

To use the MB-D17, just follow these steps:

1. Expose contacts. Remove the rubber protective cover over the contacts on the bottom of the D500 body. (See Figure 3.34.) Don’t worry about losing the cover: it fits in a matching well inside the MB-D17. Retrieve the cover from that safe location when you remove the grip. Next, remove the white plastic protective cover from the terminal contacts on the MB-D17. Unfortunately, there is no built-in spot to store that cover, so take care not to lose it.
2. Line up the camera and grip. There are two holes on the underside surface of the D500 that mate with matching pins on the MB-D17. Line up those components, the tripod socket and tripod screw, and the contacts (as shown in Figure 3.34) and slide the MB-D17 onto the underside of the camera.
3. Tighten the connection. When the grip and D500 are fit snugly together, rotate the large wheel under the base of the MB-D17 to lock the device onto the D500.
4. Add batteries. The MB-D17 is furnished with two trays to hold batteries. You can add a second EN-EL15 battery to one tray to double your available power. Or you can use eight AA alkaline, nickel-metal hydride, nickel-manganese, or lithium batteries with the supplied holder. Slide the battery tray inside the base of the grip, and rotate the locking knob. Use the MB-D17 Battery Type entry in the Setup menu to tell the D500 which type of AA batteries you are using. You can also use the EN-EL18a battery furnished with Nikon’s D4/D5 product line (and available separately), but you’ll need a charger. Unless you already own one of Nikon’s top-of-the-line pro cameras, be prepared to spend $450 or more for a battery and charger, plus another $25 for the BL-5 battery chamber cover.

   Fire away. To use the shutter release on the vertical grip, you must turn the rotating switch so the dot aligns with the line on the grip, indicating that the shutter release is unlocked. If you’re holding the camera in horizontal orientation and using the regular shutter release, it’s easy to accidentally trip the vertical release with the palm of your right hand. (This “phantom” shutter releases can mystify new users of this grip.) See Figure 3.35 for the key controls.

5. Remove the grip. To remove the grip, reverse these steps.