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© Ken Rockwell 2007

Nikon D80 User's Guide
© 2007 KenRockwell.com




CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.......................................................................... 2
BASICS: CAMERA SETTINGS .................................................. 3
TOP RIGHT PANEL CONTROLS.......................................... 11
REAR PANEL CONTROLS ................................................... 15
FRONT and SIDE CONTROLS ............................................. 23
FRONT RIGHT CONTROLS .................................................. 26
PLAYBACK MENU ("[ > ]" icon).............................................. 28
SHOOTING MENU (camera icon)............................................ 30
CUSTOM SETTING MENU (Pencil icon)................................. 36
SET UP MENU (wrench icon) .................................................. 49
RETOUCH MENU (brush icon)................................................ 55 Page 2 of 57
© Ken Rockwell 2007

INTRODUCTION

This will teach you to be an expert on the Nikon D80's controls
and menus. It also includes a lot of tips, tricks, and the settings I prefer to use.

To get great photos you still need to get yourself to the right place at the right
time and point the camera in the right direction, which is a lot harder than
mastering the D80. Right out of the box at default settings the D80 does a
great job so long as you preset the exposure compensation to -0.7. Making a
great photo involves locations, timing, patience and a whole lot more.

Below are the basics. Explicit details follow in later pages.

Many tricks are in the pages below. Feel free to skim to find these great tricks,
like inserting your © and contact info automatically into every file, preventing
blinking with flash photos, making the zoom preview image go away
immediately and Auto ISO.

I share this, free for the reading, because I love to help. This guide
is copyrighted and registered with the United States Library of Congress.

It is forbidden to reproduce, print or do anything else with
this without written permission, especially if you have any plans to hand it out
,
email or copy it
to anyone for any reason.

It's OK to make one print for your camera bag
, which is the only permitted
use of this PDF
.

It took me two months to write this D200 User's Guide. I work for tips.

If you find it as helpful as a book you might have had to buy or a workshop
you may have had to take, feel free to help me write more.

Feel free to send me a few bucks at KenRockwell.com/donate.htm,
or by mail at:

Ken Rockwell
PO Box 8778
La Jolla CA 92038

THANKS!
Ken

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© Ken Rockwell 2007

BASICS: CAMERA SETTINGS

I leave most settings at their defaults.

I shoot with the top left mode dial in P, Program Exposure mode.

Many of these menu options are shown only after you select the FULL
MENUS option in the Setup Menu and are often deactivated in anything
except the P, S, A and M modes.

I reset everything every time I use my camera, much as a pilot uses a
checklist before flight to prevent any switches from being in the wrong
position. When I don't check first, I often have left my D80 in some screwy
mode from shooting in the dark the night before.

Nikon has an easy reset feature. I use it every time! My standard operating
setting is only a few clicks different from the defaults.

RESET

Find the two buttons with
green
dots next to them on the top right of the D80.
They are the +/- * and AF * buttons. Hold them both down for a few seconds.
The top LCD blinks and everything is back to normal.

I do this every time I use my D80. If I forget, I may have the resolution or
White Balance or ISO or God knows what set to something screwy and spoil
all my shots. I'll see WB problems on the LCD, but I won't notice if I left my
D80 at ISO 1,600 from the night before. That's why I always use reset.

Reset leaves the detailed menu tweaks alone. It's smart enough to reset only
the big dumb things I might have moved overnight.

Reset resets flash exposure compensations and sync modes, but doesn't
reset any screwy settings you may have made in Custom Setting 22 for
remote or manual flash. Reset resets mostly everything tactical, which is
mostly you see on the top LCD. It leaves alone strategic items like languages,
file numbering and Optimize Image settings.
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© Ken Rockwell 2007

QUALity

I use Large, JPG, BASIC.

Reset brings you to NORMAL JPG. Once I've reset I'll immediately change to
my preferred QUAL setting: BASIC. Do this by pressing the QUAL button
(bottom left rear) and spinning the rear dial one click to the right. This shows
as L and BASIC on the top LCD. L stands for Large image size (3,872 x 2,592
pixels) and BASIC JPG compression.

I'm a data cheapskate. I prefer small files. For most people not shooting
hundreds of throw-away images a day, feel free to leave it in NORMAL.
NORMAL makes files twice as large with a tiny bit less blockiness if you're
looking closely at the files printed 3 feet (1m) wide. I prefer smaller files in
exchange for almost invisible levels of blockiness.

See my D200 Quality Settings page for more explicit detail and examples of
these settings on a D200. My D80 does the same thing, but lacks the
Optimize Quality JPG Compression mode I prefer on my D200.

Exposure Compensation

I set my exposure compensation to -0.7 because my D80's metering firmware
is defective. It usually overexposes.

Set -0.7 by holding the +/- button we just used for reset and turning the rear
dial two clicks to the right.

Sadly we'll often have to adjust this depending on the subject. It's no big deal:
just look at the image on the LCD and click it towards the left (+) to lighten the
image, and to the right (-) to darken it for the next shot. This is why I prefer my
D200, which has a superior meter because it rarely needs any fiddling.

Shutter Advance Mode

I use Continuous (the bearded rectangle). I get one shot with one press of the
shutter, and if I hold the shutter button my D80 shoots three frames per
second. I do this in dim light so I can pick the sharpest image. For most shots
of moving things I fire several rounds and pick the one with the best
expressions and gestures. Of course I use a professional sorting tool on a 30"
screen to make selecting files trivial.

These are the only things I change from the reset mode. Everything else I
tweak below is unchanged by reset.
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© Ken Rockwell 2007

ISO

I use 100 and Auto ISO. Auto ISO increases the ISO automatically as it gets
dark so I don't have to. It shoots at ISO 100 in good light, and at 1/15 of a
second (or any speed you choose) it starts ramping up the ISO to a maximum
of 1,600 (or any ISO you choose) as it gets darker. Only if it gets still darker
will it let the shutter speed go below 1/15 at ISO 1,600, exactly as I'd do
manually.

I explain how to set Auto ISO and select the shutter speed at which the ISO
starts to increase and the maximum ISO to which it will increase in the
Custom Setting 07.

I set Auto ISO to 1,600 max because the noise from the D80 at ISO 1,600
looks much better than blur. I set 1/15 because my Nikon 18-200mm gives
great results down to 1/15. I adjust the lowest shutter speed setting in the
AUTO ISO menu if I change conditions or lenses. Unlike film, my D80 looks
great at high ISOs, so I use them anytime I need them. More details, including
how to set ISO to 3,200, at the ISO Button.

WHITE BALANCE

I use AUTO and a clear UV filter to protect my lens. The D80 has a much
warmer color balance than earlier cameras like the D70 so I don't need the
81A filter or the -3 trim. See examples of different settings here and details on
my White Balance page. White balance is how you set the color balance, and
color is critical. It's also personal preference. Use whatever looks right to you.
My D80's LCD is very accurate. If it looks different in print or on your
computer, your printer or computer are out of calibration.

Luckily AUTO works great most of the time. I look at my LCD, and if it's not
right, I'll set it to whatever looks good. Usually that's the Direct Sun or Cloudy
positions. These settings give much warmer results than earlier cameras. I
rarely use the warmer Shade setting on my D80 while I used Shade often on
my D1H and D70.
Page 6 of 57
© Ken Rockwell 2007

OPTIMIZE IMAGE

This is set in the Shooting Menu. I crave vivid color! I tweak my D80 to give
color as vivid as I can get. If it went to 11 I'd use that, too.

I go to MENU > Shooting Menu (green camera icon) > Optimize Image >
Custom.

Here's how I set each item under Custom:

Image Sharpening: Auto (default).

Tone Compensation (contrast): Auto (default). The D80 automatically
adjusts its contrast and dynamic range to each and every shot. It works great.

Color Mode: IIIa (three-a). This is critical: this gives brighter colors than the
default of I. No, color mode II is pronounced "two" and not to be confused with
11 (eleven). You don't want Mode II even if you could use it. Details are here.