Camera Labs

I thought maybe it is an idea to share your Nikon D7000 settings. The settings that gives you the best colors and sharpness. It is always a bit of a fiddle to find out which settings work best to get great pictures. So why not share your thoughts on it so we can learn from each other.

Maybe you change settings with different lenses? Would be nice to now why. I have a Nikon D7000 with a Nikkor 70-300mm VR f4.5-f5.6 lens. I have a Nikkor 35mm f1.8 on order so cant tell you results on that.

I set up my camera like this:
- Aperturemode
- (A,S,P,M) Auto iso on max 1600 ISO, 1/100 minimum shutter speed
- White balance Auto1
- Light measurements: Matrix (it either works or it doesnt, but spot
doesnt work that good either and weighted center weights only the center not the focus point, so pretty much useless most of the time if you work with rule of thirds compositions).
- Exposure compensation: -0.3
- RAW
- Picture control: Standard or landscape seem to work best (Neutral has to pale results, but could be my laptop screen isnt a good reference, maybe i should do a few foto prints).
- Picture controls: Sharpness +6
- Picture controls: Contrast +1.

With my 70-300mm lens i still need more sharpness sometimes, but i use ViewNX2 to correct if needed.

I gonna test my new 35mm lens this afternoon to see if i need more sharpness adjustments in the camera. Maybe i make a U1 and U2 setting for both lenses.

I hope to hear from you guys what picture control settings you used and what light measuring modes etc... I try to use ViewNX RAW histograms to analyse the results and tweak some more if needed.

If you're shooting RAW, you dont need to set your picture controls.

That's the whole point of shooting RAW.

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Nikon D5000 and D300 with 12-24mm, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4, 60mm f2.8 Macro, 18-200mm, 17-55mm f2.8 (all Nikon)

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Yes I know what RAW is. But it would be nice to get the photo's as good as possible even if it's in RAW.

Whats is wrong with everyone these days. They used to make SLR's with hardly any features and no photoshop and no computers and the photos looked amazing. So If DSLR is that great how come you cant get the same result without photoshop or ViewNX.

My goal is to fiddle with the settings until you get decent default pictures.
By default the D7000 gives unsharp and soft photos. And maybe some people like to shoot JPG, so then it would be helpfull for them to get the settings as good as possible.

I personally shoot in RAW al the time because sometimes if you made a great picture and it looks a bit washed out you can still rescue it and make it look great. But for the purpose of JPG users or for the purpose of "understanding your camera" i like to know what settings work best for you.

I think some people dont even understand what the camera does and just fiddle with some NXview2 scrollbars until it looks good. Whats wrong with a good picture right out of the box.

@dubaiphil.

I didnt set it at minimum 1600 ISO i set it up for maximum 1600 ISO.
If you just make picture outside it wont even use that high iso. Maybe it will be 200 ISO. Fast shutterspeed can be nice too. For example if you want to make a picture of a flower on a windy day. I like to make pictures of animals too and they tend to move a lot so I think fast shutter speed is better.

But i made some photos in a park of some deers. It was a cloudy day and a lot of trees in the area which didnt help with light either but it still did 1/400 shutter on ISO 160 at F5.6.

SO the maximum ISO 1600 is more for convinience (you never now) then that it will be used very often.

But of course you are free to set up the camera in a different way, but apperently you dont have a clue how the auto iso system works in aperture mode. You just set a maximum ISO (i.e. 1600) but the minimum ISO will still be 100. The camera then automatically sees if it can do 1/100 shutter (or faster) at 100 iso. If ISO is sufficient it will set the camera automatically to the fastest shutter speed (i.e. 1/1000 at ISO 100). If the light in not sufficient for 1/100 at ISO 100 it will increase the ISO trying to maintain the 1/100 shutter speed. So then it will be for example 1/100 at ISO 160, or ISO 400 or something.

And why would i buy a 35mm f1.8 if i wanted longer exposures. You usually want a 35mm f1.8 to get shorter exposures in low light, not longer exposures.

people move, birds move, clouds move everythings is on a move, the flowers move in the wind so the shorter exposure the better in my opinion.

Hmm doesnt sound like you do to be honest, but maybe Im misunderstanding you in which case the following is for others who dont understand RAW.

When you take a photo, a camera comes up with a RAW image. Whether you have selected to shoot RAW or Jpeg determines what the camera does next.

If you have selected Jpeg the camera then adds things like sharpening and contrast for you and then deletes the original RAW file. This photo is then ready to print straight out of camera. If shooing Jpeg and the camera adds too much sharpening for a particular photo, you are pretty much stuck and theres not much you can do.

If you have selected RAW, then this means that the camera will leave the photo in the state that it is in, ie it doesnt apply any picture controls or sharpening. Then it is up to you to add things like sharpening and contrast in post production to your personal taste. RAW photos are not ready to print straight out of camera and sharpening etc must be added in post production.



In this case, you are shooting RAW, so the photo looks flat and dull as there is not contrast or saturation added, this must be done in photoshop or similar.



Actually you probably need more sharpness all the time because if you are shooting RAW, the camera adds nothing

Hope Ive helped,
Jeremy

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Nikon D5000 and D300 with 12-24mm, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4, 60mm f2.8 Macro, 18-200mm, 17-55mm f2.8 (all Nikon)

Well according to ViewNX2 things are added even in RAW.
If you set sharpness to plus 6 and contrast on +1 in the camera picture controls it says in the ViewNX2 RAW Meta data information:
Sharpness: 6
Contrast 1.

As a matter of fact ViewNX2 even tells you which picture control was used (i.e. Neutral). Of course you can change it later but ViewNX2 put it on the picture control that was used in the camera. If you tell the camera to use Neutral picture control ViewNX puts it on neutral. If you tell the camera to use vivid, ViewNX defaults to Vivid on that particular RAW picture.

So if it doesn't add anything why is ViewNX2 telling me that my camera was set on +6 sharpness. If it is not used (according to you) how come
ViewNX2 know about these settings anyway because according to you picture control isn't used in RAW mode. Still ViewNX2 knows the picture controls, so that would be very strange if it doesnt use these settings in RAW.

But i am here to learn so if you can explain it to me i will be very happy.

View NX2 is just telling you what the camera would have added if it were set to Jpeg mode.

As you say you can change it all here so it doesnt matter what it was set to in camera.

I dont use that particular program, but I guess when you export it from that it then applies the picture controls to get a Jpeg.

A RAW file is difficult to explain, but basically when programs show you a RAW file it is really a Jpeg as otherwise there wouldnt be much to see.

Sorry for the quick explanation, Im about to pop out, Ill update this in a while if nobody else has in the mean time.

Jeremy

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Nikon D5000 and D300 with 12-24mm, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4, 60mm f2.8 Macro, 18-200mm, 17-55mm f2.8 (all Nikon)

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Well since you made a typo it all explains it why i think you didnt know how it worked. I was not rude to you. I am just very direct in my communication skills so i guess i wont be a good politician, then again it is really clear what i say to someone. Direct communication skills scare most people at first but you will get used to it.

I still think 1/30 is a bit slow shutter. 1/100 is safe to use in many situations.
But of course it depends on what lens and/or aperture you use too and what light conditions. But he D7000 has exellent ISO performance so ISO1600 isnt that big of a deal. I bet you dont even see any noise if you just gonna convert it to web srgb jpgs or small prints for the family album.

This thread started as a good suggestion before it got messed up with rights and wrongs.

I shoot Jpeg and my general setting for the D7000 are:

I park on P mode.
Aperture setting left on f8
Shutter setting left on 1/800s
ISO 100, ISO auto on
Max ISO set as 6400
Exposure compensation: -0.7EV
Matrix
Picture control, Standard
Picture control Sharpness +6
White balance, Auto
Active D lighting, Auto
Image quality, Fine & Large

U1 setting, f11, 1/40s, AF area 21 points. Hoping to catch a full circle on a helicopter rotor.

U2 setting, f6.3, 1/1600, AF area 21 points. For aircraft on a 6km final, set for my 70-300mm non VR lens, I have'nt tried this yet and may have to change the setting. Hopefully more D7000 uses will add to this thread.

Cheers

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Nikon D7000, D40X, Nikkor 18- 200 VR II, f3.5-5.6, 70-300 AF non VR, Kit Lenses.

This thread led me to test shoot in the garden and now I've included in my basic setting, picture control Contrast and Saturation to +1, they add a little sparkle from the basic shot and still look natural to my eye.

Are there any comments about number of shots per battery charge with the setting you use, Ken R apparently gets thousands, says he shoots Jpeg basic and a file size of 3mb. Just wondering, why buy a camera and not use it to it's full potential. With jpeg fine & large I get about 520 shots a charge.

Edit

I must have been using the menus quite a bit in my post. Normal use for me now I get around 1200 + shots from a battery. On the weekend I went to a marathon and shot 1,866 photos, the battery meter indicated 64% left in the charge. About 200 of these would have been continuous shooting.

I always shoot Jpeg large fine and certainly would not complain about batter power on the D7000.


Cheers

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Nikon D7000, D40X, Nikkor 18- 200 VR II, f3.5-5.6, 70-300 AF non VR, Kit Lenses.

Ken rockwell is great reading material, but perhaps not so great learning material. You just need to place it in the proper context. If something is right for him, it doesn't mean it's right for you

Which of course goes for this thread, too. A landscape shooter probably won't use your aircraft/chopper settings

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

There are many users now with the D7000 after about one year after it's release, would anyone else care to list their standard setting as above.

After reading the Nikon 70-300mm thread on the forum I did more reading on the lens and one comment was, "don't blame the lens, blame yourself" . To find out if it is me I took of my filter which is a Maurumi haze filter which I thought was UV and shot a few frames of people wearing bright contrast clothing. The colours results were sharp and the skin tones still looked soft but I need to do it again and get the same shot with the filter on to compare.

The long shots I took of surfers were ok on bright coloured shorts but the skin tones looked soft, I'm looking for any changes I can make in controls to improve the images hence the renewal of this post.


Cheers

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Nikon D7000, D40X, Nikkor 18- 200 VR II, f3.5-5.6, 70-300 AF non VR, Kit Lenses.