Nikon D300

It's a very versatile and sturdy built camera with a lot of features like Live View, High resulotion viewing on an HD-TV screen, built in sensor cleaning, 51-point auto focus system and 8 fps at 12 megapixel resulotion with optional MB-D10 grip and AA batteries or the Nikon EN-EL4a battery.

Go here for the D300 Shooting Menu Banks and...

Here for Custom Settings Menu Banks

Charge the battery

Before you can start using your camera you have to charge the battery by putting it in the provided MH-18a charger. The light starts flashing and turns into a steady light when the battery are fully charged.

You also need a (preferably UDMA) compact flash card and a lens. Align the white dot on the lens with the white dot on the camera body and turn the lens against the shutter button until it clicks in place.

If you are new to photography you might want to set the camera to P Mode and start taking pictures.

Nikon D300

Exposure Mode

If you want more control you have three more exposure modes to choose from. Manual, Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority.

Manual: You choose both shutter speed and aperture setting.

Aperture Priority: You choose the aperture and the camera will set the shutter speed.

Shutter Priority: You choose the shutter speed and the D300 set the aperture.

Release Mode

There is six release modes to choose from.

Single frame: The camera takes one picture everytime you press the shutter button all the way down.

Continuous low speed: You can choose a frame rate beetween 1-7 per second (custom settings menu d4). Seven frames per second can only be achieved if you have the battery grip MB-D10 and the battery EN-EL4a or AA batteries.

Continuous high speed: The camera take 6 images per second. With the battery grip MB-D10 and the battery EN-EL4a or AA batteries you can get a frame rate of 8 per second.

Nikon D300

Live View: This mode allows the D300's LCD display to be used for previewing the picture instead of the viewfinder. To activate Live View you have to press the Menu button, choose the Shooting Menu and scroll to Live View.

Here you have two options, Live View Mode or Release Mode. Choose Live View then select either Hand Held or Tripod Mode and press OK.

Back in the Live View option choose Release Mode and then select either Single Frame, Continuous low speed or Continuous high speed and press OK.

Push down the release mode dial lock button and turn the release mode dial to Live View (Lv).

Now you can press the shutter button all the way down and the mirror flips up and you can see the scene on the LCD monitor. You can now select a focus point with the multi selector.

If you have choosen AF-S or AF-C you can half press the shutter button and the mirror flips down while the camera calculates focus and exposure. When you release the button exposure and focus is locked and the mirror flips up and your back in Live View. Press the shutter button fully down to take the picture.

Self Timer: You can set the delay to 2, 5, 10 or 20 seconds with Custon Setting c3.

Mup: Mirror up moves the mirror up and blanks the viewfinder. Use this mode when working with long tele lenses or macro photography. To activate Mup press the release mode dial lock button and turn the dial to Mup.

Press the shutter button once to flip up the mirror, press it again to take the picture. If you don't press the shutter button a second time the camera will automatically take the picture after 30 seconds.

Metering Mode

Center-Weighted Averaging Metering: The camera meters the whole scene but emphasizes the center part, by default an 8 mm circle in the middle of the frame.

Matrix Metering: This is the default metering mode. It uses a 1005 pixel CCD to calculate exposure from most of the scene.

Spot Metering: Exposure is calculated from the choosen focus point, about 3 mm in diameter.

Wedding with Nikon D300

Focus Mode

Single Servo Autofocus: The camera locks focus when the shutter button is pressed half way down.At default settings,
shutter can only be released when in-focus indicator is
displayed (focus priority). You can change to release priority with Custom Setting a2. Use this mode for static objects like landscapes and portraits.

Continuous Servo Auto Focus: The camera continues to focus until the shutter button is pressed all the way down.At default settings,
shutter can be released whether or not subject is in focus
(release priority).

Manual Focus: The focus is achieved by turning the lens focusing ring.

Image Quality

Press the QUAL button and turn the main command dial to set the image quality.

ISO

You can set ISO from 100-3200. I am not comfortable using higher ISO than 800.
Use ISO 200-400 if it's possible.

White Balance

WB on the Nikon D300 can be set to Auto (default), Incandescent, Flourescent, Direct Sunlight, Flash, Cloudy, Shade, Choose Color Temperature and Preset Manual. Nikon D300:s Auto WB is poor in artificial light but excellent in daylight.

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