Nikon D5200 User manual

Introduction
Throw away your cheat sheets and command cards! Are you tired of squinting
at tiny color-coded tables on fold-out camera cards? Do you wish you had the
most essential information extracted from my comprehensive David Busch’s
Nikon D5200 Guide to Digital SLR Photography in a size you could tuck away
in your camera bag? I’ve condensed the basic reference material you need in
this handy, lay-flat book, David Busch’s Compact Field Guide for the Nikon
D5200. In it, you’ll find the explanations of why to use each setting and
option—information that is missing from the cheat sheets and the book pack-
aged with the camera. You won’t find the generic information that pads out the
other compact guides. If you found this ready reference useful, I think you’ll
want to have my full-sized guide, too. This one will help you set up and use
your Nikon D5200, and the other an in-depth guide to explore as you master
the full range of things this great camera can do.
About the Author
With more than a million books in print, David D. Busch is the world’s #1
selling digital camera guide author, and the originator of popular digital pho-
tography series like David Busch’s Pro Secrets, David Busch’s Quick Snap
Guides, and David Busch’s Guides to Digital SLR Photography. As a roving
photojournalist for more than 20 years, he illustrated his books, magazine
articles, and newspaper reports with award-winning images. Busch operated
his own commercial studio, suffocated in formal dress while shooting wed-
dings-for-hire, and shot sports for a daily newspaper and upstate New York
college. His photos and articles have appeared in Popular Photography,
Rangefinder, Professional Photographer,and hundreds of other publications.
He’s also reviewed dozens of digital cameras for CNet and other Ziff-Davis
publications, and his advice has been featured on NPR’s All Tech Considered.
Visit his website at www.dslrguides.com/blog.
(c) 2014 Cengage Course Technology. All Rights Reserved.

Chapter 1
Quick Setup Guide
This chapter contains the essential information you need to get your Nikon
D5200 prepped and ready to go. You’ll learn how to use a few of the basic
controls and features, and how to transfer your photos to your computer. If you
want a more complete map of the functions of your camera, skip ahead to
Chapter 2. Live view is touched on only briefly in this chapter; if you want to
begin using live view or shoot movies immediately, check out Chapter 6.
Pre-Flight Checklist
The initial setup of your Nikon D5200 is fast and easy. You just need to learn
a few controls, charge the battery, attach a lens, and insert a memory card.
Charging the Battery
When the battery is inserted into the MH-24 charger properly (it’s impossible
to insert it incorrectly), an orange Charge light begins flashing, and remains
flashing until the status lamp glows steadily indicating that charging is fin-
ished, generally within about 90 minutes. When the battery is charged, slide
the latch on the bottom of the camera and ease the battery in, as shown in
Figure 1.1.
Figure 1.1
Insert the battery
in the camera; it
only fits one way.
(c) 2014 Cengage Course Technology. All Rights Reserved.

David Busch’s Compact Field Guide for the Nikon D52002
Introducing Menus and the Multi Selector
You’ll find descriptions of most of the controls used with the Nikon D5200 in
Chapter 2, which provides a complete “roadmap” of the camera’s buttons and
dials and switches. However, you may need to perform a few tasks during this
initial setup process, and most of them will require the MENU button and the
multi selector pad.
■ MENU button. It’s located to the left of the LCD monitor. When you
want to access a menu, press it. To exit most menus, press it again.
■ Multi selector pad. A thumbpad-sized button with projections at the
North, South, East, and West “navigational” positions, plus a button in
the center marked “OK” (see Figure 1.2). With the D5200, the multi
selector is used exclusively for navigation; for example, to navigate among
menus on the LCD monitor or to choose one of the 39 focus points, to
advance or reverse display of a series of images during picture review, or to
change the kind of photo information displayed on the screen. The OK
button is used to confirm your choices and send the image currently being
viewed to the Retouch menu for modification.
Setting the Clock
The in-camera clock might have been set for you by someone checking out
your camera prior to delivery. Press the MENU button to the left of the view-
finder, and then use the multi selector to scroll down to the Setup menu (it’s
marked with a wrench icon), press the multi selector button to the right, and
then press the down button to scroll down to Time Zone and Date, and press
the right button again. The options for setting the 24-hour clock will appear
on the screen that appears next. They include Time Zone, actual Date and
Time, Date Format, and Daylight Saving Time (on/off).
Figure 1.2
The multi
selector pad and
OK button.
(c) 2014 Cengage Course Technology. All Rights Reserved.

Chapter 1 ■Quick Setup Guide 3
Mounting the Lens
If your D5200 has no lens attached, you’ll need to mount one before
shooting:
1. Select the lens and loosen (but do not remove) the rear lens cap.
2. Remove the body cap on the camera by rotating the cap away from the
shutter release button.
3. Once the body cap has been removed, remove the rear lens cap from the
lens, set it aside, and then mount the lens on the camera by matching the
alignment indicator on the lens barrel with the white bump on the cam-
era’s lens mount (see Figure 1.3). Rotate the lens toward the shutter release
until it seats securely.
Figure 1.3 Match the indicator on the lens with the white dot on the camera mount
to properly align the lens with the bayonet mount.
4. Set the focus mode switch on the lens to AF or M/A (Autofocus with
manual adjustment possible). If the lens hood is bayoneted on the lens in
the reversed position, twist it off and remount with the “petals” (if pres-
ent) facing outward. A lens hood protects the front of the lens from acci-
dental bumps, and reduces flare caused by extraneous light arriving at the
front of the lens from outside the picture area.
Adjusting Diopter Correction
If you are a glasses wearer and want to use the D5200 without your glasses, or
to add further correction, you can take advantage of the camera’s built-in diop-
ter adjustment, which can be varied from –1.7 to +0.7 correction. Press the
(c) 2014 Cengage Course Technology. All Rights Reserved.