Now it’s time to fire up your Nikon D3400 and take some photos. The easy part is turning on the power—the Off-On switch is on the right side, concentric with the shutter release button. Turn on the camera, and, if you mounted a lens and inserted a fresh battery and memory card—as I prompted you in the last chapter—you’re ready to begin. You’ll need to select a release mode, exposure mode, metering mode, focus mode, and, if need be, elevate the D3400’s built-in flash.
But first, you need to learn how to use the screen that allows you to make most of the key adjustments and settings available with the D3400: the information edit display. Some of these choices can also be made using the menu system, as you’ll learn in Chapters 4 and 5, but the information edit display is almost always faster.
You can use the information edit display to change many of the D3400’s basic settings. You shouldn’t skip this section, because it provides basic information on how to change settings, including choosing exposure, metering, and autofocus modes.
There are two “information” buttons on the D3400, which can lead to confusion among new owners of this camera. The pair is shown in Figure 2.1. At right you can see the Info button; its sole function is to turn the rear-panel LCD display on (if it’s not visible) or off (if it is). Turning off the LCD information display when you’re using the viewfinder saves power and can avoid a distraction that can be annoying when shooting in dark surroundings, such as a concert.
At left in the figure is the information edit or i button, which is located in the lower-left corner of the back of the camera, next to the color LCD. The information edit (i) button is pressed once to produce the shooting information display (see Figure 2.2) if it is not visible, and then a second time to activate the information edit display (see Figure 2.3), which is the screen you can use to make many adjustments.
The difference between the two is simple: the Info button just turns the shooting information screen on or off; the information edit (i) button allows you to make changes to the settings shown. Throughout most of this book I will just refer to the information edit button as the i button. Here’s a breakdown of how they work:
The shooting information display is a useful status screen. (Shown in the figure is the “Classic” version. The default “Graphic” version is also available; in Chapter 5, I’ll show you how to switch between Classic and Graphic modes using the Info Display Format entry in the Setup menu.) For most of the changes described in this chapter, press the information edit (i) button again to access the information edit screen, which allows you to modify the most frequently accessed options as I describe.
To change any settings, follow these steps:
This section shows you how to choose from single-frame, continuous mode, quiet shutter release, self-timer mode, and remote control modes.
This shooting mode determines when (and how often) the D3400 makes an exposure. If you’re coming to the dSLR world from a point-and-shoot camera, you might have used a model that labels these options as drive modes, dating back to the film era when cameras could be set for single-shot or “motor drive” (continuous) shooting modes. Your D3400 has six release (shooting/drive) modes: Single frame, Continuous (Burst), Quiet Shutter Release, Self-timer, 2-Second Delayed Remote, and Quick Response Remote. Set any of these using the information edit screen.
Press the release mode button, located on the back of the camera, just southwest of the multi selector pad to access the release mode screen, which is similar to the ISO screen shown earlier in Figure 2.4. Scroll down to select the exact release mode you want. A thumbnail appears at left to provide a hint about what that release mode is used for. Press the i button to back out of the screen, or the OK button to confirm your highlighted choice and exit.
The self-timer is a good way to get into the picture yourself, or to allow the vibration induced in a tripod-mounted camera to settle down after you’ve “punched” the shutter release. A white lamp on the front of the camera will blink while the timer counts down, then remain on continuously for about two seconds just before the picture is taken. Any time you use the camera on a tripod (with the self-timer or otherwise) make sure there is no bright light shining on the viewfinder window; if so, cover it or replace the rubber eyecup with the DK-5 eyepiece cap and block the window.
Note
If you plan to dash in front of the camera to join the scene, consider using manual focus so the D3400 won’t refocus on your fleeing form and produce unintended results. (Nikon really needs to offer an option to autofocus at the end of the self-timer cycle.)
This section shows you how to choose an exposure mode. If you’d rather have the D3400 make all of the decisions for you, just rotate the mode dial to the green Auto setting and jump to the section titled “Reviewing the Images You’ve Taken.” If you’d rather choose one of the Scene modes, tailored to specific types of shooting situations, or try out the camera’s semi-automatic modes, continue reading this section.
The Nikon D3400 has three types of shooting modes, advanced modes/exposure modes, a second set, which Nikon labels Scene modes, and a third type of mode called Special Effects (represented by the EFFECTS position on the mode dial). The advanced modes include Programmed-auto (or Program mode), Aperture-priority auto, Shutter-priority auto, and Manual exposure mode. These are the modes you’ll use most often after you’ve learned all your D3400’s features, because they allow you to specify how the camera chooses its settings when making an exposure, for greater creative control.
The Scene modes take full control of the camera, make all the decisions for you, and don’t allow you to override the D3400’s settings. They are most useful while you’re learning to use the camera, because you can select an appropriate mode (Auto, Auto/No Flash, Portrait, Landscape, Child, Sports, Close-up, or Night Portrait) and fire away. You’ll end up with decent photos using appropriate settings, but your opportunities to use a little creativity (say, to overexpose an image to create a silhouette, or to deliberately use a slow shutter speed to add a little blur to an action shot) are minimal. The D3400 also has a Guide mode, with four simplified menus, Shoot, View/Delete, Retouch, and Setup, that provides fast access only to the most frequently used settings. I’ll explain Guide mode later in this chapter, after you’ve had an introduction to the three types of options that are available in its menus. I’ll cover EFFECTS in Chapter 4.
The eight Scene modes can be selected by rotating the mode dial on the top right of the Nikon D3400 to the appropriate icon (shown in Figure 2.5).
The Scene modes are:
If you’re very new to digital photography, you might want to set the camera to P (Program mode) and start snapping away. That mode will make all the appropriate settings for you for many shooting situations. If you have more photographic experience, you might want to opt for one of the semi-automatic modes, or even Manual mode. These advanced modes all let you apply a little more creativity to your camera’s settings. Figure 2.6 shows the position of the modes described next.
This section shows you how to choose the area the D3400 will use to measure exposure, giving emphasis to the center of the frame; evaluating many different areas of the frame; or measuring light from a small spot in the center of the frame.
The metering mode you select determines how the D3400 calculates exposure. You might want to select a particular metering mode for your first shots, although the default Matrix metering is probably the best choice as you get to know your camera. (It is used automatically in any of the D3400’s Scene modes.) I’ll explain when and how to use each of the three metering modes later. To change metering modes, use the information edit screen. (You can also specify metering mode using the Shooting menu, as I’ll describe in Chapter 6.)
You’ll find a detailed description of each of these modes in Chapter 6.
This section shows how to select when the D3400 calculates focus: all the time (continuously), only once when you press a control like the shutter release button (single autofocus), or manually when you rotate a focus ring on the lens.
The Nikon D3400 can focus your pictures for you, or allow you to manually focus the image using the focus ring on the lens (I’ll help you locate this ring in Chapter 3). Switching between automatic and manual focus is easy. You can move the AF/MF (autofocus/manual focus) or M/A-M (manual fine-tune autofocus/manual) switch found on most lenses (but not on some kit lenses) mounted on your camera. If you want to use manual focus and your lens does not have either type of switch, you can use the Shooting menu entry, described in Chapter 4, instead.
When using autofocus, you have additional choices. The D3400 has eleven autofocus zones that can be used to zero in on a particular subject area in your image. (See Figure 2.8.) In addition, you can select when the D3400 applies its focusing information to your image prior to exposure. I’ll describe both in the next two sections.
You can set the AF-area mode using the information edit screen.
The four modes, described in more detail in Chapter 7, are as follows:
When you are using Program, Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority, or Manual exposure mode, you can select the autofocus mode when the D3400 measures and locks in focus prior to pressing the shutter release down all the way and taking the picture. The focus mode is chosen using the information edit screen.
The four focus modes when not using live view are as follows (there are additional autofocus modes, including Face Priority, available when shooting in live view):
This section describes some optional features you can select if you feel you need to choose the white balance or change the camera’s sensitivity setting.
There are a few other settings you can make if you’re feeling ambitious, but don’t feel ashamed if you postpone using these features until you’ve racked up a little more experience with your D3400. If you like, you can custom-tailor your white balance (color balance) and ISO (sensitivity) settings. I’ll explain more about what these settings are, and why you might want to change them, in Chapter 4. To start out, it’s best to set white balance (WB) to Auto, and ISO to ISO 200 for daylight photos, and ISO 400 for pictures in dimmer light. (Don’t be afraid of ISO 1600, however; the D3400 does a much better job of producing low-noise photos at higher ISOs than many other cameras.) You’ll find complete recommendations for both of these settings in Chapter 4. You can adjust either one now using the information edit screen, as described multiple times in this chapter. I won’t repeat the instructions again. The WB (for white balance) and ISO settings are third and fifth from the left in the top row in the information edit screen (respectively).
Here you’ll discover how to review the images you’ve taken in a basic way. I’ll provide more detailed options for image review in Chapter 4.
The Nikon D3400 has a broad range of playback and image review options, and I’ll cover them in more detail in Chapter 4. For now, you’ll want to learn just the basics. Here is all you really need to know at this time, as shown in Figure 2.9:
You’ll find information on viewing thumbnail indexes of images, automated playback, and other options in Chapter 4.
This section provides a quick introduction to your camera’s built-in flash. You’ll find more information on flash photography in Chapter 11.
Working with the D3400’s built-in flash (as well as external flash units like the Nikon SB-500) deserves a chapter of its own, and I’m providing one (see Chapter 11). But the built-in flash is easy enough to work with that you can begin using it right away, either to provide the main lighting of a scene or as supplementary illumination to fill in the shadows.
The built-in flash will pop up automatically as required in Auto, Portrait, Child, Close-up, and Night Portrait Scene modes. To use the built-in flash in Manual, Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority, or Program modes, just press the flash pop-up button (shown in Figure 2.10). When the flash is fully charged, a lightning bolt symbol will appear at the right side of the viewfinder display. When using P (Program) and A (Aperture-priority) exposure modes, the D3400 will select a shutter speed for you automatically from the range of 1/200th to 1/60th seconds. In S (Shutter-priority) and M (Manual) modes, you select the shutter speed from 1/200th to 30 seconds.
When you’re ready to transfer your photos to your computer, you’ll find everything you need to know in this section.
The final step in your picture-taking session will be to transfer the photos you’ve taken to your computer for printing, further review, or image editing. Your D3400 allows you to print directly to PictBridge-compatible printers and to create print orders right in the camera, plus you can select which images to transfer to your computer. I’ll outline those options in Chapter 4.
I always recommend using a card reader attached to your computer to transfer files, because that process is generally a lot faster and doesn’t drain the D3400’s battery. However, you can also use a cable for direct transfer (an extra-cost option because Nikon no longer includes a USB cable in the box), which may be your only option when you have the cable and a computer, but no card reader (perhaps you’re using the computer of a friend or colleague, or at an Internet café).
To transfer images from the camera to a Mac or PC using the USB cable:
To transfer images from a Secure Digital card to the computer using a card reader, as shown in Figure 2.12, do the following:
The Nikon D3400 is one of the few Nikon digital SLRs to have a clever “mode” installed right on the mode dial in the form of the Guide mode, shown in Figure 2.13. This mode gives you fast access to some of the most-used commands, through an easy-to-navigate series of screens that lead you right through accessing the functions you need to shoot, view, or delete your photos, or set up the D3400 camera.
The Guide mode doesn’t really need much in the way of instructions—once you rotate the mode dial to the GUIDE position you can easily figure out what you want to do by following through the menus and prompts. But that’s the whole idea—the Guide mode is designed for absolute new-bies to the Nikon D3400, who want to do simple tasks without the need to read even the abbreviated instructions provided in the manual. Of course, I’m going to provide instructions for using this menu, anyway, because the mere thought of going out and taking pictures with nothing but training wheels for support is frightening for some who’ve purchased the D3400 camera as their first digital camera or digital SLR.
Rotate the mode dial to GUIDE and the LCD lights up with the screen, as shown in Figure 2.13. If it is not visible, press the MENU button located to the left of the LCD to make it appear. You can choose guides for shooting, viewing/deleting images, retouching photos, and setting up your camera. Use the left/right buttons on the multi selector pad to highlight Shoot, View/Delete, Retouch, or Set up, and then press the OK button in the center of the pad.
If you choose Shoot, you’ll see a simple menu like the one shown in Figure 2.14. There are only two options, Easy Operation and Advanced Operation. You can use the up/down buttons to highlight one, then press the multi selector right button to view that menu.
This mode lists functions like Auto, No Flash, Distant Subjects, Close-ups, Sleeping Faces, Moving Subjects, Landscapes, Portraits, Night Portraits, and Photograph Night Landscapes. (If you haven’t jumped directly to this section from the beginning of the chapter, you might recognize that some of these options correspond to the Scene modes that are also built into the mode dial.) Just follow these steps:
This choice is as easy to use as Easy Operation, but it may ask you to manually make some settings on the camera to get the effect you’re asking for. It includes eight options: Soften Backgrounds, Bring More into Focus, Freeze Motion (People), Freeze Motion (Vehicles), Show Water Flowing, Capture Reds in Sunsets, Take Bright Photos, and Take Dark (low key) Photos. (See Figure 2.17, left.)
Selecting any of them sets up the camera for that type of picture, and provides you with a screen of information explaining how to take the picture. For example, with Soften Backgrounds, the D3400 will ask you to choose a lower f/stop so the background will blur (Figure 2.17, right). Nikon’s choice of words isn’t always the best: by “lower f-number” they mean a larger f/stop, which happens to have a smaller absolute number. For example, f/6.3 is a “lower” number than f/8, which means it is a larger f/stop and provides less depth-of-field that results in a slightly blurrier background. Don’t worry: I’ll explain all about f/stops and exposure (Chapter 4) and depth-of-field (Chapter 5).
This screen has five options you can select to activate functions (when not in Guide mode). These include View Single Photos, View Multiple Photos, Choose a Date (select images to view from a calendar of dates), View a Slide Show, and Delete Photos.
This screen has six options for retouching functions: Trim, Filter Effects (cross screen), Filter Effects (soft), Photo Illustration, Miniature Effect, and Selective Color.
This screen has 13 options that correspond to the choices available in the Shooting and Setup menus that I’ll describe in detail in Chapters 4 and 5. The choices available include Image Quality, Image Size, Auto Off Timers, Date Stamp, Display and Sound Settings, Movie Settings, Playback Display Options, Clock and Language, Format Memory Card, HDMI, Airplane Mode, Smart Device Connection, and Slot Empty Release Lock. You can explore them in Guide mode if you like, or read how and why you might want to change these options in Chapters 4 and 5.
3.17.157.6