In This Chapter

Tagging files with image comments and copyright notices

Creating your own menu, custom folders, and filenames

Altering the camera's automatic shutdown timing

Customizing the Information display

Changing the function of some controls

As you’ve no doubt deduced, Nikon is more than eager to let you customize almost every aspect of the camera's operation. This chapter discusses customization options not considered in earlier chapters, including ways to embed a copyright notice in your picture files, create custom folder and file names, and even tweak the function of external controls.

Adding Hidden Image Comments and Copyright Notices

Through the Image Comment feature, you can add hidden text comments to your picture files. Suppose, for example, that you’re traveling on vacation and visiting a different destination every day. You can annotate all the pictures you take on a particular outing with the name of the location or attraction. Similarly, the Copyright Information option enables you to tag files with your name, date, and other copyright data.

The text doesn't appear on the photo itself; instead, it's stored with other metadata (hidden data, such as shutter speed, date and time, and so on). You can view metadata during playback in the Shooting Data display mode (see Chapter 8) or along with other metadata in Nikon ViewNX 2 (see Chapter 9).

The next two sections explain both features.

Adding an image comment

Select Image Comment from the Setup menu, as shown on the left in Figure 10-1. Select Input Comment as shown on the right in the figure, to display the keyboard screen shown on the left in Figure 10-2.

Enter text using these methods:

• Enter a character: If the touch screen is enabled (check the Touch Controls setting on the Setup menu), tap a character in the keyboard. You also can use the Multi Selector to highlight a character and then tap the OK Input symbol at the bottom of the screen or press the OK button. Your comment can be up to 36 characters long.

  To access lowercase characters, numbers, and symbols, select the last "key" in the keyboard. Select the empty box just to the left of that key to enter a space. I labeled these keys in Figure 10-2.

• Move the text cursor: Tap the cursor arrows (see figure) or rotate the Command dial. (The symbol just above the arrows represents the Command dial.) For big cursor moves, rotating the Command dial is the fastest option.

• Delete a letter: Move the cursor under the letter and tap the Delete symbol at the bottom of the screen or press the Delete button.

After entering your comment, tap the rightmost OK symbol (the one marked with a magnifying glass) or press the Zoom In button to display the screen shown on the right in Figure 10-2. You should see your text comment underneath the Input Comment line. Now place a checkmark in the Attach Comment box by tapping the box or pressing the Multi Selector right. Finally, press the OK button or tap the OK Done symbol to exit to the Setup menu. The Image Comment menu item should now read On.

To disable the feature, just revisit the screen shown on the right in Figure 10-2 and remove the checkmark from the Attach Comment box. Press or tap OK to make your decision official.

Adding a copyright notice

To add a copyright notice, choose Copyright Information from the Setup menu, as shown on the left in Figure 10-3. You see the screen shown on the right in the figure. (If you have not yet entered copyright data, the Artist and Copyright boxes will appear empty.)

From there, you take the same steps as when embedding comment text. Select Artist to display the keyboard screen and then use the techniques outlined in the preceding section to enter your name. Then select Copyright data to add that information. The Artist field can hold 36 characters; the Copyright field, 54 characters.

After entering your data, select Attach Copyright Information to turn on the checkmark in the accompanying box, as shown on the right in the figure. Then press the OK button or tap OK Done. To disable the copyright embedding, turn the Attach Copyright Information option off.

Creating a Custom Storage Folder

By default, your camera stores all images in one folder, which it names 100D5500. Folders have a storage limit of 999 images; when you exceed that number, or the last photo you stored in that folder had the file number 9,999, the camera creates a new folder, assigning a name that indicates the folder number — 101D5500, 102D5500, and so on.

If you choose, you can create your own folder-numbering scheme. For example, perhaps you sometimes use your camera for business and sometimes for personal use. To keep your images separate, you can set up one folder numbered 200D5500 for work images and use the regular 100D5500 folder for personal photos.

To create a new storage folder, follow these steps:

1. Display the Shooting menu and select Storage Folder.

   The number you see for the menu option reflects the first three numbers of the folder name. On the menu, you see only those three numbers; during playback, you see the entire folder name (100D5500, for example) in playback modes that show the folder name.

2. Choose Select Folder by Number.

   You see the screen shown in Figure 10-4, with the current folder number shown in the middle of the screen.

   A folder icon next to the folder number indicates that the folder already exists. A half-full icon like the one in Figure 10-4 shows that the folder contains images. A full icon means that the folder is stuffed to its capacity (999 images) or contains a picture with the file number 9999. Either way, that full icon means that you can't put any more pictures in the folder.

3. Assign the new folder a new number.

   After selecting a number box, tap the up/down arrows or press the Multi Selector up/down to change the number. When you create a new folder, the little folder icon disappears because the folder doesn't yet contain any photos.

4. Tap the OK symbol or press the OK button.

   The camera creates your new folder and automatically selects it as the current storage folder.

Each time you shoot, make sure to verify that the folder you want to use is shown for the Storage Folder option. If not, select that option and then choose Select Folder by Number to enter the folder number (if you know it) or choose Select Folder from List to pick from a list of all available folders.

Customizing Filenames

Normally, image filenames begin either with the characters DSC_, for photos captured in the sRGB color space, or _DSC, for images that use the Adobe RGB color space. (Chapter 5 explains color spaces.) But the D5500 enables you to change to any three-letter prefix your prefer. So, for example, you could replace DSC with TIM if you’re taking pictures of your brother Tim’s family and then change the characters to SUE when you move to cousin Sue’s house.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the Shooting menu and select File Naming, as shown on the left in Figure 10-5.

   You see the screen shown on the right in the figure. The current file naming structure for sRGB and Adobe RGB files appears on the screen.

2. Select File Naming to display the text entry screen shown in Figure 10-6.

3. Enter three custom characters.

   Use the same text-entry techniques as you do when adding image comments, explained at the start of this chapter. Note that your filename is limited to the characters shown in Figure 10-6. You can't use a space or underscore in the filename.

4. Press the Zoom In button or tap the rightmost OK symbol at the bottom of the screen.

   You return to the Shooting menu; the File Naming option should reflect the changes you just made.

Creating Your Own Menu

Keeping track of how to access all the D5500’s options can be a challenge, especially when it comes to those that you adjust through menus. To make things a little easier, you can build a custom menu that holds up to 20 of the options you use most frequently. Here's how:

1. Display the My Menu menu, shown in Figure 10-7.

   This menu shares a slot in the menu list with the Recent Settings menu. The menu icon for the My Menu menu is labeled in the figure. If the Recent Settings menu appears instead, scroll to the end of that menu, select Choose Tab and then select My Menu. The My Menu screen then appears.

2. Select Add Items.

   You see a list of the other camera menus.

3. Select the menu that contains an option you want to add to your menu.

   You see a list of all available options on that menu. For example, I chose the Shooting menu to display the options shown on the left in Figure 10-8.

   A few items can’t be added to a custom menu. A little box with a slash through it appears next to those items (for example, the Reset Shooting Menu option shown in Figure 10-8).

4. Select the item you want to add.

   Either tap the item or use the Multi Selector to highlight it and then press the OK button. You see the Choose Position screen, as shown on the right in Figure 10-8, where you can change the order of your menu items. For now, just press OK or tap the return arrow at the top of the screen to return to the My Menu screen; the item you just added appears at the top of that screen.

5. Repeat Steps 2–4 to add more items to your menu.

   When you get to Step 3, a check mark appears next to any item that’s already on your menu.

After creating your custom menu, you can reorder and remove menu items as follows:

• Change the order of menu options. Display the My Menu screen and highlight Rank Items, as shown in Figure 10-9. You see a screen that lists all your menu items in their current order. You can then use the touchscreen or Multi Selector and OK button to shuffle the list:

  • Touchscreen: Tap an item, tap the Move icon that appears at the bottom of the screen, and then tap the spot in the list where you want to put the item. Tap OK to lock the item in its new home.
  • Multi Selector: Highlight the item, press OK, press the Multi Selector up/down to choose the new list position, and then press OK again.

  When you’re happy with the order of the menu items, tap the return arrow or press the Multi Selector left to return to the My Menu screen.

• Remove menu items. On the My Menu screen (refer to Figure 10-9), select Remove Items and press OK. You see a list of current menu items, with an empty box next to each item. To remove an item, check its box. (You can tap the box or use the Multi Selector to highlight the item and then press the Multi Selector right.) After tagging all the items you want to remove, press or tap OK. You see a confirmation screen asking permission to remove the item; select OK to go forward.

Adjusting Automatic Shutdown Timing

When the camera is in shooting mode, its standby timer feature saves battery power by shutting off the Information display and viewfinder after a period of inactivity. Similarly, the camera limits the Image Review period (the length of time your picture appears immediately after you press the shutter button), the length of time the Live View display remains active, how long a picture appears in playback mode, and how long menus remain onscreen.

You can control the auto-shutdown timing through the Auto Off Timers option, found in the Timers/AE Lock section of the Custom Setting menu and shown on the left in Figure 10-10.

You get four choices, as shown on the right in the figure, which produce the following shutdown times:

• Short: Standby Timer (affects Information display and viewfinder), 4 seconds; Live View, 5 minutes; Image Review, 4 seconds; playback/menus, 20 seconds.
• Normal (default setting): Standby Timer, 8 seconds; Live View, 10 minutes; Image Review, 4 seconds; playback/menus, 5 minutes.
• Long: Standby Timer, 1 minute; Live View, 20 minutes; Image Review, 20 seconds; playback/menus, 10 minutes.
• Custom: Choose this setting to specify delay times for the Standby Timer, Live View display, Image Review period, and Playback/menu display individually.

To disable Image Review altogether, head for the Playback Menu and set the Image Review item to Off.

Changing the Look of the Information Display

By default, the Information display appears as shown on the left in Figure 10-11, with the three large circular graphics representing, from left to right, the shutter speed, f-stop, and ISO settings. As you adjust the f-stop setting, the center of its circle grows or shrinks to represent the opening and closing of the aperture. If you prefer, you can switch to the simpler design shown on the right in the figure. You also can change the background color from black to blue or light gray.

Select the design via the Info Display Format option on the Setup menu. You can specify the design used for the P, S, A, and M exposure modes separately from the one used for the other modes. Note that in this book, I use the black background for all Information screens, but the default background color for modes except P, S, A, and M is gray.

Keeping the Information Display Hidden

Also found on the Setup menu, the Auto Info Display option offers another way to customize the Information display. When this option is On, as it is by default, the Information display appears whenever you press the shutter button halfway and release it. If you disable the Image Review feature (via the Playback menu), the Information display also appears after you take a picture.

Turn off the Auto Info Display option, and the Information screen appears briefly when you first turn on the camera, but after that, you must press the Info button to display it. Instructions in this book assume that you stick with the default setting (On). But because the monitor is one of the biggest drains of battery power, you may want to set the option to Off if you have a lot of shooting left to do and the battery is running low.

Directly below this menu option is the similarly named Info Display Auto Off setting. This setting, when enabled, tells the camera to shut off the monitor display as soon as the eye sensor atop the viewfinder detects that you put your eye to the viewfinder. I see no reason to turn this option off. You can only look at one display at a time, and having the monitor turned on while you're looking through the viewfinder is just wasting battery power.

Customizing a Few Buttons

A few camera buttons can be modified to perform functions different from their default purposes. Again, instructions in this book assume that you haven't modified the buttons, but after you master your camera, you may want to take advantage of these options. You can customize the following buttons:

• Function (FN) button: Establish this button’s behavior via the Assign Fn Button option, found on the Controls submenu of the Custom Setting menu and shown in Figure 10-12.

  By default, pressing the button accesses the ISO setting; press the button while rotating the Command dial to change the ISO value. But you can choose from a list of other options, as shown on the right in Figure 10-12. (Be sure to scroll to the second page of the list to access all the options.)

  To see an information screen that tells you what each Fn button setting does, tap the question mark icon at the bottom of the screen or press the Zoom Out button. To exit the information screen, tap the return arrow or press the Zoom Out button again.

• AE-L/AF-L button: This button is related to the autoexposure and autofocusing systems. You can set the button to perform the following functions via the Assign AE-L/AF-L Button option, also found in the Controls section of the Custom Setting menu:
  • AE/AF Lock: This is the default setting. Focus and exposure remain locked as long as you press the button.
  • AE Lock Only: Autoexposure is locked as long as you press the button; autofocus isn’t affected. (You can still lock focus by pressing the shutter button halfway.)
  • AE Lock (Hold): This one locks exposure only with a single press of the button. The exposure lock remains in force until you press the button again or the exposure meters turn off.
  • AF Lock Only: Focus remains locked as long as you press the button. Exposure isn’t affected.
  • AF-On: Pressing the button activates the camera’s autofocus mechanism. If you choose this option, you can’t focus by pressing the shutter button halfway.

• Shutter button: The Timers/AE Lock section of the Custom Setting menu offers an option called Shutter-Release Button AE-Lock. This option determines whether pressing the shutter button halfway locks focus only or locks focus and exposure.

  At the default setting, Off, only focus is locked; exposure is adjusted up to the time you take the shot. If you change the setting to On, your half-press of the shutter button locks both focus and exposure. (Remember that you also have the option of using the AE-L/AF-L button to lock exposure and focus together, as outlined in Chapters 3 and 4.)

Assigning a Touch Function Role

You may be wondering about the purpose of the little Fn symbol that appears by default at the top of the Information display, labeled in Figure 10-13. Tapping the symbol does nothing, so what gives?

The symbol indicates that a feature Nikon refers to as Touch Function is enabled. That means that you can tap a specific region of the Information dispay to quickly adjust a setting. By default, your tap toggles the viewfinder grid display on and off.

Where you can tap to activate the assigned function depends on the position of the monitor. When the monitor is flat on the camera back, you can tap any empty area within the right half of the screen. If you swing the monitor out and away from the camera, you can tap any empty area throughout the whole screen.

To determine what functions you can assign, open the Controls submenu of the Custom Settings menu. Then choose Assign Touch Fn to display the list of settings, shown on the right in Figure 10-13. Again, you can tap the question mark symbol or press the Zoom Out button to find out the result of each option.

Scroll to the second page of the options list to reveal the None setting. If you select this setting, the Fn symbol disappears from the top of the Information display, indicating that tapping the Touch Function area of the screen has no result. This setting is perfect for those of us whose noses sometimes touch the screen, resulting in an unintended Touch Function action.

The Touch Function setting does not enable or disable the rest of the touchscreen functions. To control those functions, use the Touch Controls option on the Setup Menu. Choose Enable to enable all touch operations; Playback Only to turn on touch control only during playback; and Disable to turn off the touchscreen altogether.

Reversing the Command Dial Orientation

When you shoot in certain exposure modes, you rotate the Command dial when adjusting shutter speed, aperture, and Exposure Compensation. By default, rotating the dial to the right raises the value that's being adjusted. If that setup seems backward to you, you can tell the camera that you prefer to rotate the dial to the right to lower the values.

To do so, cruise to the Controls section of the Custom Setting menu and select Reverse Dial Rotation, as shown on the left in Figure 10-14. You see the second screen in the figure, where you can modify the dial orientation separately for Exposure Compensation and shutter speed/aperture adjustment. (Note that the Exposure Compensation setting also affects the dial’s performance when you adjust Flash Compensation.)

Placing a check mark in the box next to the option reverses the dial orientation. You can toggle the box on and off by tapping it or by highlighting it and then pressing the Multi Selector right. Tap OK or press the OK button to finalize things.