D700 firmware update to v1.01

This is old news, from January, but there has been a D700 firmware update. V1.01 (of boththe a and b portions) of the firmware are available from http://nikoneurope-en.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/26608

The issues fixed are very very minor, things that I had never noticed. If you are into long exposure shots and make use of Long exp. NR, then it might be an upgrade that you are particularly interested in:

An issue that, in extremely rare cases, resulted in noticeable black dots in images captured with Long exp. NR in the shooting menu set to On has been resolved.

Some SB800 and Battery Pack MB-D10 issues have also been fixed.

Something else not so good

As much as I like the Nikon D700, there are a few minor things that I think that are not so good. The D700 is fantastic in many ways and I didn’t think that I’d find anything else with that annoyed me, but after a few months of use, I have.

Now, I can pretty much drive the whole camera while my eye is up to the viewfinder, but this lead me to make mistake. I use my camera in full manual mode, and in this particular time, I wanted to change ISO. So while the camera was up to my eye, I just quickly pressed the ISO button and turned the back dial – but the ISO did not change in the viewfinder! Huh?

I lowered the camera, and successfully changed ISO. So what was wrong? Then I noticed that the image quality had changed from raw to large jpeg. Obviously, instead of pressing the ISO button, I had accidental pressed the QUAL button.

The WB, QUAL and ISO buttons are all very close together, and are pretty much flush. And all are operated in the same way – press it and use the back dial to change the option. Unfortunately, there is no viewfinder confirmation of which of the three buttons is being pressed. And changing the ISO is the only thing shows any status in the viewfinder. There is no viewfinder indication when dialling either WB or QUAL. :(

What I would like is a little more tactile indication of which button is being pressed – just putting a small raised point on the ISO button (similar to the F and J home keys on keyboard) would be great. Secondly, I’d like an indicator inside the viewfinder that shows what button is being pressed. ISO value is already shown in the viewfinder but by turning off all other display data except ISO, I would know that I have pressed the ISO button. Finally, and this may be asking for too much, along with the “which button is pressed indicator”, it would be brilliant to show the appropriate value. Again, the ISO value is already displayed (but there is no indication of that you have pressed the ISO button), but displaying the WB and QUAL settings while the button is pressed would be a dream feature!

In the meantime, I’m going to have a get a bit more practice at using these three buttons while the camera is up. Specifically, I’m going to have get practice at not using the WB and QUAL buttons while the camera is up – I can’t see the value that WB and QUAL would be set to through the viewfinder so those are strictly camera down operations.

This is just a minor gripe.

Why put the raised tactile point on the ISO button?
Because of the three, that’s just about the only button that I’d use while holding the camera up to my eye. Changing either white balance or quality are both more “considered” changes and not something I’ll do with such frequency as changing ISO.

A shot in the dark

A few days ago I zipped out to photograph a band who I meet last year at the Edinburgh Festival – Mayhew. It was enjoyable evening listening to them and others play, and also fun to meeting other people there enjoying the music.

I usually take shots in bright light, and with a flash, so shooting a band on a dark stage was something completely different. I had to rapidly discover how to take shots in such a dark environment.

The shot in the dark

For stage shooting I learned to use high ISO, large apertures, held holdable shutter speeds, spot metering and ignore colour.

Here’s the singer of Mayhew.

D700 + Nikkor 85mm f1.4 at ISO2000, 85mm, f1.4, 1/100sec

Camera settings

I am glad my even in such loud place, I was glad that I have camera set not to make any noise (d1 Beep: off). I was sometimes shooting over a person’s shoulder, so a camera going beep in their ear would have been disturbing. I also have the low light auto-focus assist light turned off (a9 Built-in AF-assistant illuminator: off). The musicians can’t see much because of the strobing stage lights but once again, it would have annoyed other people in the audience. And no way to a using a flash – that would have annoyed everyone! So I had use my camera in “dark-mode” :)

I made one setting change, I already have the LCD brightness very low (Setup menu, LCD brightness: -2) but I set it the lowest of -3. Even then it seemed bright in the darkness of the audience space. The LCD can only be adjusted from -3 darkness to +3 brightness. This range is fairly limited; you can still see the full gamma chart at -3 and at +3. It would be nice to be able to set it even darker and a lower contrast so that I can still see the images, but not light up myself at the same time! I only need to check composition and focus. For stage photography with crazy lighting, I don’t really care the colours, surprisingly.

Along with reducing the LCD brightness, I should have also made another setting change. Next time, I will also turn off the auto view of the images (current set to c4 Monitor off delay, Image review: 4 seconds) but instead, I simply half pressed the shutter immediately after taking photos to get turn the LCD off when it displayed an image. I would shot a series of images, then check them later – I didn’t want to check them immediately.

One thing that I did like was being able to press the function button, right where my fingers were on the body grip, and bring up the camera info display. When I needed to look at the camera settings, the info screen was a very fast and very clear way to see everything. The LCD displayed in night mode (black background, grey text) which was perfect. The function button is still set to let me change the focus area (f5 Assign FUNC button, FUNC button + dials: Dynamic AF area) but I’ve now added spot metering to it too (f5 Assign FUNC button, FUNC button: Spot metering). I used to have this setting do nothing, but quickly being able to do spot metering I sometimes find useful. I don’t do it often do spot metering using the function button while looking through the viewfinder, but when I do, I put up with the LCD suddenly coming to life below my eye. Of course, for the photographing of the musicians, I had the metering mode switched to spot metering anyway.

Shooting

Making the shots also involved a quick bit learning. The obvious was high ISO, large aperture (have I told you that I love my 85mm f1.4?) and shutter speeds that I could hand hold.

The stage was light by a few coloured stage lights, and then flickered in steaks of moving colour and strobes. I wanted the person well light, particularly their faces. Talk about impossible! I tried to spot any lighting pattern, but it seemed random. In the end, I spot metered for the face, fired off rapid shots, and quickly looked to see if anything was good. I was only looking for good focus, exposure and a good image. If the colours were something crazy, that didn’t really mater since I have so much flexibility in changing them during post-processing. If the colours were really wild, then that would probably make a good shot too.

Not so good

As good as the D700 is, there are some things that I don’t like about it. These are really minor but if Nikon want to make a D701, this is what I’d like to see improved.

• The worse problem is the thumb pad switch – it is more raised and requires more effort to drive than the more sensitise D300 thumb pad. Using it is actually getting to be a real paid.
• The compact memory card door is not locked by any mechanism or latch like on the D300. I sometime anciently open the hatch by dragging my hand backwards after placing the camrea down or into the bag. And on the opposite side of the camera, the rubber hatch for USB and all is very lose fitting and opens with the slightest of touches -this really is the second worst problem. On a D8 or D300 the fit is tight and secure, and probably also better weather sealed.
• The third worse problem is lack of information that the top LCD displays compared to the D300. The D300 top display showed the focus point and the focus area. Now I have to use the info display to see and set those.
• And finally, a viewfinder with only 95% coverage… eh? This means that I’m going to have check all my photos on the computer to determine if the composition is really what I wanted, and then probably crop the photo. I’m losing some of the precious pixels because of this. Please, give me a 100% viewfinder like on the D300.

These remaining observations are really searching for any small problem.

• Once the viewfinder shield is closed, the eye piece is very easily unscrewed without any resistance at all. I’ve already lost mine and it could be within a 300km radius :(

  I have placed another on order and see that there is an anti-fog version which immediately appealed to me for when climbing back into a warm car after standing outside freezing to death photographing deer. Sadly, the store didn’t have any in stock (I wonder if it is popular) so I’ve ordered a standard eyepiece.

  I have no idea of when or where it came off but since the D700 is larger than any camera I’ve had, I find that placing or extracting the camera from my bag, sometimes some of the switches are moved including the viewfinder shield and the focus mode.

• And this leads me straight to another thing that I find bothersome about it, it is so large. A 30mm film camera is tiny in comparison and maybe it is as best as can be manufactured now but lets hope that the next version is smaller.
• The shutter sound is loud. Much louder than a D80 or D300. This is again a minor quibble but when taking shots of people, I really don’t want a rifle firing sound as well.
• And finally, the strap, it’s just plain ugly with huge branded yellow letter and not even all that comfortable. I think I’ll replace it with a cut down guitar strap.
• Last of all, the price – I couldn’t leave that out. I would like it to be a lot cheaper. It would mean more sales for Nikon for one thing which would allow them to put the prices down but mostly, I would like to use the money for other important things… like lenses :)

And that’s it. So far, everything else has been utterly outstanding. Everything else includes quite a lot and the most import things, like picture quality, features and ease of use.

My new camera!

I got my camera today – a Nikon D700. Woohoo! So I quickly made some initial changes.

Of course, with a new camera, the first thing I had to do was set the date and time. Below are the settings that I changed from the default. They are for my usual kind of photography which is portraits but over time, I will make changes and new settings. This is just my initial settings.

Playback Menu

Display Mode, Basic photo info, Focus point: off

I find that having the focus points and focus area displayed which chimping very distracting and of no benefit. To check focus, I used the center button of the thumb pad and zoom into the image (by setting f2 Multi selector center button).

Display Mode, Detailed photo info, Highlights: off

Having the highlights displayed on the image are also distracting, and are no good at all when you want to show people your photos on the camera. Instead, I show highlights on the RGB histogram.

Display Mode, Detailed photo info, RGB histogram: on

This is a great setting to turn on. It shows your image and four histograms; one for each channel and a composite histogram. And then by using the Zoom Out button in conjunction with the Thumb Pad, you can select a histogram and have the highlights for that particular channel flash on the image. I have the composite histogram permanently selected.

Display Mode, Detailed photo info, Data: off

When this is enabled, and extra three screens of data is shown about the image including such things as white balance, colour space, lens specifications… For me, such info is of very little use when I’m out shooting – I shoot in raw and I’m not trying to replicate shots.

Image review: on

I often glance at my shots after taking them (called “chimping”) and so with this option turned on, the photo is displayed briefly on the screen after taking it. I have set the display time to be very short.

Shooting Menu

Shooting menu bank: D

D for default – this is what I’ll use most of the time for walkabouts. I’ll eventually set up other shooting banks for other situations. The next will be for landscapes taken using a tripod.

Active folder: 400

For the other A, B and C banks I’ll use 100, 200 and 300 respectively. This is a setting that I don’t actually use for anything but who knows, maybe, just maybe this separation of photos taken with different shooting settings will prove to be helpful. And there is no pain or penalty in having it set anyway.

File naming: 812

This is one my little tricks that really helps me. I prefix the photo filename all photos with the year and month. So any photos taken this month, December 2008, is prefixed with 812. This makes search for photos a breeze.

The rest of the filename is a number that auto-increments from 0000 to 9999. I haven’t yet got close to taken 10,000 photos in a month but even if I did, when I import the photos from my camera to my PC a folder is created for each day. Though I almost never browse for photos via folders, instead i search all folder for the filename (well actually, I use Lightroom). I’d have to be approaching 10,000 photos in a single day before I started to worry about conflicting names – no chance!

Image quality: RAW

I want to capture as much dynamic range of the scene as I can to manipulate in Photoshop, so I don’t want to use JPEG. And I want to capture as much of the colour possible so I don’t use RGB colour space, instead I use Adobe, so this rules out usig TIFF since that uses the RGB colour space.

JPEG compression: Optimal quality

But those times when I do capture images in JPEG (which would probably be a mistake or for some really special reason such as knowing that I’m not going to do any processing at all on the image), I want to capture the image in the best quality possible.

The other option Size Priority will jam more photos onto the memory card but at the expense of the quality. The quality difference isn’t noticeable for normal web photos but for high quality prints, it’s got to best to JPEG use images taken with Optimal Quality setting. Of course, it’s best of all to use RAW.

NEF (RAW) recording: Lossless compressed, 12 bit

Lossless compression reduces the size of the file without any reducing in image quality. 12 bit colour depth is fine for my walkabout default usage.

With Lossless Compressed the camera tells me it has room 403 photos in my 8 gig card. This is the same number as for Uncompressed. This number is exactly correct for Uncompressed but with Lossless Compressed more photos, perhaps 20% more, will ultimately been saved to the card.

For landscapes that I require ultimate quality for printing, then I’ll use 14bit.

Color space: Adobe

I want to capture as much of the image as I can, so I use Adobe colour space.

Custom Setting Menu

Custom setting bank: D

D for default – this is what I’ll use most of the time for walkabouts.

a3 Dynamic AF area: 21

The default is 9 – that is subjects can move within a space of nine focus points and the camera will track it. 21 covers a fairly large area of the focus space.

This setting was momentarily programmed on the Function button to allow me to rapidly change it but then I decided that it doesn’t my normal default style. This is one setting that I’d make different for a future Continuous, Custom setting bank C.

a7 Focus point wrap-around: on

I often move the focus point about while my eye is at the viewfinder so being able to move the focus point from opposite sides of the focus area is a speedy help.

a9 Built-in AF-assistant illuminator: off

It took me quite a while to find this setting but I’m glad that I did.

The AF-assistant illuminator is the light bulb on the front of the camera between the lens and shutter button. It lights up when the subject is too dark for the autofocus to work. But if you’re taking photos of people, this bright little light in their eyes is very unpleasant, so I turn it off. I don’t shot things in the dark that are so close that the light is of any use anyway.

c3 Self-timer delay: 2 seconds

The timer is set for a short because I don’t use it take self portraits, so I don’t need to give myself time to run around to be in front of the camera. The timer used for when the camera is on the tripod and I want to avoid camera shake caused my finger pressing the shutter, that is when I don’t have my cable or remote handy.

c4 Monitor off delay, Playback: 20 seconds

c4 Monitor off delay, Menus: 10 seconds

c4 Monitor off delay, Shooting info display: 4 seconds

c4 Monitor off delay, Image review: 4 seconds

The Playback time is set to 20 seconds which I personally find quite long, but it so that I can show the photos to others, particularly to the people in a photo, without the image turning off too fast.

All other settings are short for me to chimp with ease and speed.

d1 Beep: off

The beep is actually quite quiet but I don’t want it disturbing other people. It goes off every time the camera focuses but the camera is set not to take a photo unless focus is achieved (setting a1 AF-C priority selection: Release).

d2 Vewifinder grid display: On

This displays a handy grid in the view finder. It is useful for lining up things like make sure that buildings are straight, but sadly the grid is in quarters instead of thirds. For lining up people, there is the very handy virtual horizon (Setup menu, Virtual horizon).

e1 Flash sync speed: 1/320

With my SB800, why not use the fastest possible flash sync speed?

e3 Flash cntrl for built-in flash: C commander mode

More often than not, I use the SB800 off camera. But this is a setting that I often want to change so much, that this menu item is set up on My Menu so that I can get to it very easily and quickly.

f2 Multi selector center button, Shooting mode: Reset Select center focus point

While photographing, I use the thumb pad to drive the focus point around the screen. With this setting, I can instantaneously set the focus point back the to the default center point. Instead of moving the focus point, I could half press the shutter and recompose, but I tend to be look at the composition first and worry about focus second – it’s just the way that I do it.

f2 Multi selector center button, Playback mode: Zoom on/off, Medium magnification

This is one of the most used settings. While looking at a photo on the back LCD, with a press of the center button the image is zoomed into the focus point – I use this to rapidly and easily check focus. With such a nice screen, focus checking is at last a reality.

f5 Assign FUNC button, FUNC button press: Spot metering

It is wonderful to quickly be able to do spot metering. I usually have the metering mode set to center weighted; but using this button I quickly quickly perform spot metering without having to use the rear metering mode dial. By not using the metering mode dial it prevents me from taking the next photos before I suddenly remembered that I didn’t switch the dial back!

Unfortunately, with the dials setting (below), this lights up the back LCD which can be a bit of a pain with your eye at the viewfinder. The LCD brightness is set to -2 so it is quite dim. I also then need to half press the shutter to turn off the screen (or wait for it to time out). Having spot metering like this is very handy but having the screen come on with my current settings is a pain. I need to see if this is workable or if I need to make further changes. Best of all, I would really like a few more function buttons

f5 Assign FUNC button, FUNC button + dials: Dynamic AF area

There are various bits of information that is sadly not displayed on the top LCD such as the current focus point, and the focus area. This, and more, is shown on the back screen when the Info button is pressed. But I find this button hard to reach with my thumb.

By having this setting, I can press the function button and get the info displayed. I can then use the rear command dial to change the dynamic focus area. If I need to make any other changes, then I need to press the info button but this is required less frequently than checking and changing the focus point and area.

f6 Assign preview button, Preview button press: Virtual horizon

The virtual horizon indicates within the viewfinder weather the camera is horizontal or not. By using this feature programmed to this button, I can quickly correct any slight angle that I am holding the camera just before I take the photo.

I use this button instead of the function button for the simple reason that I find it easier to reach and press.

f6 Assign preview button, Preview + command dials: None

f9 Customize command dials, Reverse rotation: on

This is one my favourite settings. It is used in conjunction with f11 Reverse indicators.

f9 Customize command dials, Change main/sub: off

f9 Customize command dials, Aperture setting: on

f9 Customize command dials, Menus and playback: on

f11 No memory card?: lock

Why is the default setting for this OK Enable Release? This allows photos to be taken without a memory card in the camera, so all photos are of course lost! It’s probably so that shop staff can pull the camera out of the box and with making any changes to the camera, have it “take photos” for a demo. But for every other time of the cameras life, it this setting should be Lock; photos can not be taken without a card.

I think that this is a dangerous setting and is only for sales purposes. No one who owns the camera would want to spend time taking photos only to discover that they don’t actually have a memory card in the camera, would they? Nikon, please remove this setting from the camera!

f12 Reverse indicators: -o+

This reverses the exposure display in the viewfinder and top LCD so that negative is on the left, and positive is on the right. The left to right order is more logical for me, plus it matches the left to right order of the histograms.

And very nicely, by setting f9 Customize command dials, Reverse rotation to On, the aperture and shutter speed command dials work in the same orientation. Rotate the aperture button towards the negative side (to the left) and the aperture gets small, the exposure darkens and the exposure meter moves to the left. Similarly, rotate the shutter speed dial to the left, the shutter speed increases, and exposure darkens and the exposure meter moves to the left. And, of course, visa-versa.

It took me a day to get used to the different orientation from my last camera, but now I really like this.

Setup Menu

LCD brightness: -2

The back screen is fantastically sharp and clear, but a little to bright for me. Perhaps there is not enough brilliant daylight here.

Copyright information

I add copyright information to the the photos. This is overwritten when I import the photos into Lightroom but at least the info is there right from the very beginning.

In case it gets lost, anyone who finds the memory card, or the camera, should be able to find my name and me (I wish!).

Retouch Menu

I haven’t made any changes at all in this section.

My Menu

I’ve added the things that I use most frequently in this menu.

• e3 Flash cntrl for built-in flash
• Virtual horizon
• a3 Dynamic area