Can Some one please help me with my d300

J

joshjrmilne

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josh
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Hi i just bought a nikon D300. But all my life i have been using canon.

Can some one please help me to set my camera up to portrate mode and sports mode please

many thanks

J
 
Hi Josh and welcome to TP.

Your new D300 should have come with a manual. I'd suggest reading it. Nikons are VERY different beasts to Canons and they do lots of things in different ways. (I have a Nikon D70 and and Canon 350D, and switching from one to the other is always hard work.)

If you want to read it at work and look like you're working, there's one here.

Anyway, I'm not familiar with the D300 but from a quick look at the manual it looks like it doesn't have anything like "portrait" or "sports" mode. It's a professional camera designed for people who know what combination of ISO / aperture / shutter speed they need to achieve their desired effect.
 
Josh i have a D300 and as StewartR says they don't have modes I'm afraid all you get is

P - Programmed auto (and as the manual says 'For Snapshots or when you don't have time to change the camera settings')

A - aperture priority

S - shutter priority.

M - Manual
 
you best bet is to stick it into A-aperture priority and select the aperture you want for the disered effect you want.

as said the d300 is aimed at people who know how a camera works, portrait and spot modes are all "Auto" settings. which is something the d300 doesnt have.

welcome to the art of photography :)
 
Hi Josh!

Welcome to TP!
As Stewart has advised, read the manual, or as we say RTFM! :lol:
The initial reaction may be the classic "but it reads like japanese VCR instructions!" the truth is that it's highly informative and offers all the knowledge you will need to tame your new aquisition.
The quick start guides in particular, are very helpful.
Best of luck!
T.
 
Welcome to the forums and the dark side.

to get you going

Aperture Priority Lets you set the aperture to control DOF while camera selects the shutter speed. You can usr this for portraits.

Shutter priority allows you to set shutter speed while camera sets aperture. Useful for fast action.

Manual gives you complete control of both allowing you to adjust exposure in order to get the best out of the light and your subject.

Read "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson to learn more.
 
Best thing to do is sit down with a LARGE cup of coffee and read through the manual, although if you are intent on using portrait and sports modes to take your shots I get a feeling the D300 may not be the camera for you.........
 
Portrait mode on cameras is usually f5.6 to f8. Sports mode on cameras will be f5.6.
Set the camera to Aperture Priority and the aperture to f5.6 and you will not be disappointed.
 
Steve 7 said:
Portrait mode on cameras is usually f5.6 to f8. Sports mode on cameras will be f5.6.
Set the camera to Aperture Priority and the aperture to f5.6 and you will not be disappointed.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately I think he might be disappointed.

There are three key variables (aperture, shutter speed, and ISO), the values of at least two of which must be specified by the photographer. Specifying just the aperture is not enough.

Plus, I don't think your advice is very good anyway. For portraits I'd want something faster than f/5.6, to improve the separation of the subject from the background. For sports I wouldn't care about the aperture so much, but I would want to insist on a fast shutter speed.
 
StewartR said:
Unfortunately I think he might be disappointed.

There are three key variables (aperture, shutter speed, and ISO), the values of at least two of which must be specified by the photographer. Specifying just the aperture is not enough.

Plus, I don't think your advice is very good anyway. For portraits I'd want something faster than f/5.6, to improve the separation of the subject from the background. For sports I wouldn't care about the aperture so much, but I would want to insist on a fast shutter speed.
Click to expand...

There is always a young 'Einstein' who wants to show off his knowledge, okay, my advice was deliberately simplistic and doesn't cover Shutter Speed and ISO (or depth of field and its relationship to Aperture). So, over to you, I look forward to your explanation about the relationship of these 3 variables (as you didn't really manage to in your critique above) and how they relate to Portraiture and Sports Photography. I shall look forward to your comments re Sports Photography as it is something I have done for 25 years.
ps - not caring about the aperture in Sport's Photography is a seriously bad move....the comment 'separation of subject from background' springs to mind.
 
I dont think StewartR meant to insult you, I think he mainly meant to say that it was an inadequate advice for him to take sports photos, as im sure you would agree with if you were to review it.

If he was to photograph night football in poor lighting would f/5.6 still be right? Probably not without ramping up the iso! Something which you totally ignored. Also most people I know (some premiere league football photographers) use shutter priority ahead of aperture priority, but everyone is entitled to their own style and preferences.

I dont mean to insult you Steve 7 as I understand all you were trying to do is help (and all advice like that is good advice) but I think StewartR has realised that he may need more indepth knowledge than this is he is dependant entirely upon auto modes.
 
Hi there.

If you read the D300 manual you will find a section custom shooting and settings banks. You can set up such banks to simulate some of the modes on the "lesser professional" cameras by dialing in the settings shown in the spreadsheet available from the following link:

http://www.nikonians.org/dcfp/user_files/85767.zip

You'll need to unzip the download and open the extracted file in Excel.

The spreadsheet even tells you the page in the manual you need to read to find out how to modify each setting.

Good luck and enjoy the D300!
 
I never used any of the "modes" on my D80 so don't know how they are configured but on the D300 you could follow these steps I guess:

For a portrait style mode: Hold "mode" (by the shutter release) and rotate shutter dial until you see "A" in top left corner of LCD display (Aperture priority mode). Set aperture for required depth of field from around 2.8 to f11 with the aperture dial. ISO should be as low as you can get away with in available light (ideally ISO 200).

For a sports style mode: Hold "mode" and rotate shutter dial until you see "S" in top left of LCD display (Shutter Priority mode). Set your shutter speed fast enough to freeze action and to avoid camera shake at your chosen focal length. Go into the "Shooting Menu", select "ISO sensitivity settings" and choose "ISO sensitivity auto control" - set it to on.

Hope that helps. Good luck with the D300 - great camera, but boy is it heavy!
 
Even though there isn't a sports mode you can set the D300 to ensure that you have a minimum shutter speed for any given aperture by using the Auto ISO Sensitivity setting. Basically you set the camera to Aperture priority, go into the menu and set the minimum speed you want, say 1/250 and the max ISO you want, say ISO1600. The D300 will then automatically pick the lowest ISO it can to get a 1/250 exposure for any chosen aperture.

The main thing though is that you have to understand the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Once you have that, sports and portrait modes become pretty much redundant.
 
NorthernNikon said:
Even though there isn't a sports mode you can set the D300 to ensure that you have a minimum shutter speed for any given aperture by using the Auto ISO Sensitivity setting. Basically you set the camera to Aperture priority, go into the menu and set the minimum speed you want, say 1/250 and the max ISO you want, say ISO1600. The D300 will then automatically pick the lowest ISO it can to get a 1/250 exposure for any chosen aperture.

The main thing though is that you have to understand the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Once you have that, sports and portrait modes become pretty much redundant.
Click to expand...

Good advice there. Also, it's worth getting yourself a decent book and read up a bit and then just practice/experiment and those auto modes will soon be a distant memory! :)
 
I assume the D300 is similar to my D200 in as much as you can set up four stores of settings as a basis for the type of situation you are faced with. Eg one for weddings, one for motorsports, one for portraits etc. That way you can set for say Aperture priority, ISO 200, sharpening 0, saturation 0, bracketing 3f 0.7, flash settings etc etc. Then there's less to have to tune once at that particular event/situation.

Edit:
Just read Mart61's post... LOL.
 
Hi Josh - Not so much a "learning curve" here, than a "vertical learning wall" I think :)

The easiest way for you to get started is buy one of the excellent aftermarket books on the D300 (magic lantern guide etc)

In the meantime, if you look on the top right of the camera, just behind the shutter button, there's a button marked "MODE". If you press that, and simultaneously rotate the rear thumbwheel, you'll see the top display cycle through A, M, S & P (Aperture Priority, Manual, Shutter Priority & Program Mode)

Manual is just that - fully manual. Set the shutter speed and aperture using the thumbwheels.

Aperture Priority - You set the aperture you want, the camera selects the shutter speed required for correct exposure

Shutter Priority - You set the shutter speed, camera selects the aperture for correct exposure

Program Mode - You scroll through a selection of shutter speed/aperture combos that the camera has determined will give you the correct exposure.

There are no "modes" like you find on lower end cameras (sport, macro, portrait etc) You have to do all the work yourself;)
 
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