Nikon D3100 User manual

Nikon D3100 User Manual
Nikon D3100 .
September 2010 More Nikon Reviews Nikon Lens Reviews

Initial Set Up
As I go through the menus, I set these away from their defaults:
PLAYBA K MENU
Display Mode
Detailed photo info > he k RGB histogram and Data > DONE > OK.
Transition effe ts > OFF > DONE > OK. By default, there are some time-wasting animations as you
move among your photos
Be sure to sele t DONE and li k OK, otherwise your Display Mode preferen es won't be saved.
SHOOTING MENU (next green amera tab)
Set Picture ontrol
Standard > +2 Saturation > OK. (used for people.)
Vivid > +3 Saturation > OK. (use for pla es and things.)
Be sure to press OK after hanging or sele ting either, otherwise your Pi ture Control hanges won't be
saved.
Image Quality
Basi .
BASIC JPGS look the same as FINE or NORMAL JPGs, but take up only 1/2 to 1/4 the spa e.
White Balance
Auto > li k right to A3 > OK.
This gives warmer (more Amber) images. Adjust this to your personal taste; it is one of the biggest
hanges you an make to your images.
ISO Sensitivity Settings
Auto ISO Sensitivity > ON.
Min. Shutter Speed: leave at 1/30 for still subje ts. Set to 1/125 for moving people. Set to 1/8 for wide-
angle or VR lenses. Set to 1/60 with VR teles, or 1/125 with non-VR teles.
I leave the Max ISO at its default of 3,200 and the standard ISO at its default of 100.
Active D-Lighting
This lightens shadows and ontrols washed-out highlights. I set it ON.

Auto Distortion ontrol
This keeps straight lines from urving, if aused by lens limitations.
I set it ON.
AF Area Mode
This ontrols how the D3100 uses its 11 AF sensors.
Default is MENU > SHOOTING > Viewfinder > Auto-Area AF, whi h is perfe t for most things, and
espe ially if you hand your D3100 to a non-photographer to take a pi ture.
If I'm photographing something more diffi ult, like moving kids or subje t behind other things, I set [
3D ] > OK. Now you sele t an AF point with the big rear ontrol, and if the subje t moves, the D3100
moves the AF point to tra k the motion of either the amera or your subje t!
Movie Settings
By default, the D3100 makes large 1080/24p HD files. For more reasonably-sized files, use the
640x424 quality setting.
SETUP MENU
Format ard
I do this every time I insert a ard. It erases all the previous images, and gives me a lean, orderly ard
on whi h to re ord more with the least risk of data orruption.
Info Display Format
This ontrols the look of the rear Info LCD that we see when setting the amera.
I prefer Classi Blue.
Auto Info Display
I set this OFF.
If ON, the rear settings s reen on the LCD (a.k.a. the Info Display) turns on every time you tap the
shutter halfway.
Image omment
I set this to re ord my © name, website and phone number in the EXIF of every shot.
It's easy to do this: first sele t Input Comment, and enter what you'd like to have added to every file's
EXIF. Then li k Atta h Comment, and then remember to li k DONE and OK, otherwise the D3100
will forget everything you just entered.

Beep
I set this OFF.
It is rude to beep when you're in publi , and it doesn't tell us anything anyway.
Professional ameras default to OFF, while the D3100 defaults to ON.
Rangefinder
This is a bar-graph on the bottom of the viewfinder when fo using lenses manually.
I set this ON.
File Number Sequence
Set this ON. It defaults to off due to a firmware defe t.
If left OFF, files will start at 0001.JPG every time a ard is formatted, or a blank ard is inserted.
If left off, as time goes on you will have a hundred files with the same number, like DSC_0024.JPG on
your hard drive, and never be able to sear h or atalog them properly.
By setting this to ON, the D3100 numbers files up to DSC_9999.JPG, and only then does it repeat.
This prevents too mu h file name dupli ation on your hard drive, or on your online galleries.
Buttons
I prefer my Fn button to set the white Balan e.
I prefer my AEL-AFL button only to lo k auto exposure, not fo us.
I set AE lo k OFF, sin e I prefer to lo k it with the AEL-AFL button when needed.
I let the amera fo us and lo k, then point the amera as needed for proper exposure and hold the lo k
button, if needed.
Picture ontrols
I an't find a Manage Pi ture Controls menu option, and it may not be in the D3100's simplified
menus, ompared to more omplex Nikons.
Therefore, you may alter any of the preset STANDARD, NEUTRAL, VIVID, B&W, PORTRAIT or
LANDSCAPE Pi ture Controls to your liking, but you annot save, re all and rename them as you an
on other more omplex Nikons.
I photograph produ ts that need a urate olor reprodu tion in the STANDARD pi ture ontrol, I
photograph people in the STANDARD pi ture ontrol with +2 saturation, and photograph other things
in the VIVID pi ture ontrol with +3 saturation.

Movies
Fli k the lever (around the red dot) to the right.
The s reen lights, and the viewfinder goes bla k.
Press the lower left < i > button, sele t the fo us modes on the right, press OK, and sele t AF-F, for
ontinuous fo us. Press < i > to get ba k to the pi ture on the s reen.
If you leave the fo us at its default, the D3100 will fo us a movie only as you hold the shutter button,
and leave it fixed the rest of the time.
Press the red button to start and stop.
Fli k the lever to the right again to get out of the movie re ording mode. The s reen turns off and the
viewfinder is working again.
Playback
Nikon uses a new tri k to allow us to sele t other images during Image Review right after shooting, but
prevent inadvertent dial-motion from resetting our shooting settings.
If we want to see a previous image while a just-shot image is on the LCD, first tap the left or right
button on the big rear ontrol swit h, and then the dial and /or that swit h will let us hange to the other
images.
If you fail to tap left or right, the dial is ignored during image review, whi h prevents inadvertent
settings hanges.
You may hit Zoom and it works, but if you hit Zoom first, the dial will be lo ked until you ome out of
zoom and hit left or right to a tivate the rear dial. (Hitting left or right during zoom s rolls around the
image, instead of sele ting another image.)