Julie Adair King is a veteran digital photography educator and the author of numerous bestselling books on digital cameras and photography. Along with all editions of Digital Photography For Dummies, she has written 20 books on Nikon dSLR cameras. Julie's books have sold more than a million copies.

Introduction 1

Part 1: Fast Track to Super Snaps 5

Chapter 1: First Steps, First Shots 7

Preparing the Camera for Use 7

Checking Out External Controls 11

Using the Touchscreen 19

Navigating Menus 21

Checking Out the Displays 24

Control panel (top LCD display) 24

Information display 25

Viewfinder display 26

Live View display 28

Saving Time with the i-Button Menu 30

Familiarizing Yourself with the Lens 31

Working with Memory Cards 34

Taking a Few Final Setup Steps 35

Restoring Default Settings 38

Shooting Pictures in Auto Mode 39

Chapter 2: Reviewing Five Essential Picture-Taking Options 45

Choosing an Exposure Mode 46

Fully automatic exposure modes 46

Semi-automatic modes (P, S, and A) 49

Manual exposure mode (M) 50

U1 and U2 50

Setting the Release Mode 50

Single Frame and Quiet Shutter modes 51

Continuous (burst mode) shooting 52

Self-timer shooting 54

Mirror lockup (MUP) 55

Off-the-dial shutter release features 56

Selecting Image Size and Image Quality 63

Considering Image Size (resolution) 63

Understanding Image Quality options (JPEG or Raw/NEF) 67

Adjusting the Image Size and Image Quality settings 73

Setting the Image Area 75

Chapter 3: Adding Flash 77

Turning the Built-in Flash On and Off 77

Comparing Built-in and External Flashes 78

Understanding Flash Modes 82

Adjusting Flash Strength 89

Applying Flash Compensation 89

Switching to manual flash-power control 92

Enabling High-Speed Flash (Auto FP) 93

Using Flash Value Lock (FV Lock) 94

Exploring Additional Flash Options 96

Part 2: Taking Creative Control 99

Chapter 4: Taking Charge of Exposure 101

Meeting the Exposure Trio: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO 102

Aperture affects depth of field 104

Shutter speed affects motion blur 105

ISO affects image noise 106

Doing the exposure balancing act 108

Stepping Up to Advanced Exposure Modes (P, S, A, and M) 109

Reading the Meter 112

Choosing an Exposure Metering Mode 116

Setting Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO 120

Adjusting aperture and shutter speed 120

Controlling ISO 123

Solving Exposure Problems 128

Applying Exposure Compensation 129

Expanding tonal range 132

Eliminating vignetting 139

Using autoexposure lock 141

Taking Advantage of Automatic Bracketing 142

Chapter 5: Controlling Focus and Depth of Field 147

Setting the Basic Focusing Method 147

Exploring Standard Focusing Options 149

Setting the Focus mode 149

Choosing an AF-area mode: One focus point or many? 151

Autofocusing for still subjects: AF-S + Single Point 156

Focusing on moving subjects: AF-C + Dynamic Area 157

Focusing manually 161

Mastering Live View Focusing 163

Controlling autofocus behavior 163

Manual focusing in Live View mode 168

Zooming in to check focus 169

Manipulating Depth of Field 169

Chapter 6: Mastering Color Controls 173

Understanding White Balance 173

Changing the White Balance setting 175

Fine-tuning white balance 180

Creating Custom White Balance Presets 183

Setting white balance with direct measurement 183

Matching white balance to an existing photo 185

Selecting the preset you want to use 187

Editing presets 187

Bracketing White Balance 189

Taking a Quick Look at Picture Controls 193

Chapter 7: Putting It All Together 197

Recapping Basic Picture Settings 198

Shooting Still Portraits 199

Capturing Action 204

Capturing Scenic Vistas 206

Capturing Dynamic Close-Ups 209

Chapter 8: Shooting, Viewing, and Trimming Movies 211

Understanding a Few Recording Basics 212

Shooting a Movie Using Default Settings 213

Choosing a Video Format: MOV or MP4 217

Setting Frame Size, Rate, and Quality 218

Picking the right frame size and rate (fps) 219

Understanding the Movie Quality setting 223

Controlling Audio 223

Controlling Movie Exposure 228

Exploring Other Recording Options 232

Screening Your Movies 234

Trimming Movies 237

Saving a Movie Frame As a Still Image 238

Part 3: After the Shot 239

Chapter 9: Playback Mode: Viewing Your Photos 241

Picture Playback 101 242

Choosing Which Images to View 243

Adjusting Playback Timing 244

Disabling Automatic Picture Rotation 245

Shifting to Thumbnail Display 246

Displaying Photos in Calendar View 248

Magnifying Photos During Playback 249

Viewing Picture Data 251

Enabling additional display modes 252

File Information mode 253

Highlights display mode 256

RGB Histogram mode 257

Shooting Data display mode 260

Overview mode 261

Chapter 10: Working with Picture and Movie Files 263

Rating Photos and Movies 264

Protecting Photos 266

Hiding Photos During Playback 267

Deleting Files 270

Deleting files one at a time 270

Deleting all files 271

Deleting a batch of selected files 271

Taking a Look a Nikon's Photo Software 274

Downloading Pictures to Your Computer 276

Processing Raw (NEF) Files 280

Processing Raw images in the camera 281

Processing Raw files in Capture NX-D 283

Preparing Pictures for Online Sharing 285

Prepping photos using ViewNX-i 286

Resizing pictures in the camera 287

Part 4: The Part of Tens 289

Chapter 11: Ten More Ways to Customize Your Camera 291

Chapter 12: Ten Features to Explore on a Rainy Day 307

Appendix: Intro to Nikon Snapbridge 325

Index 335