Nikon D100 Review: 6. Operation & Controls: Digital Photography Review

Rear of Camera Controls

The controls on the rear of the D100 can be split into two distinctive groups. Top (photographic) settings: Bracket mode, Flash compensation, Metering mode, AE-Lock & AF-Lock, Main command dial. Play / menu control (digital) buttons: Display, Menu, Thumbnail, Protect, Enter, Erase. In addition to these controls is the 4-way controller which performs functions in both shooting and playback / menu modes.

Photographic settings buttons

Button
BKT	Auto Bracketing Enable • On • Off	Auto Bracketing: Shots / EV Choose any combination of: • 2 or 3 shots of • 0.3, 0.7, 1.0, 1.3, 1.7, 2.0 steps
	Flash Output Compensation • -3.0 to +1.0 EV in 0.3 or 0.5 EV steps	No action

Metering Mode

Metering	Description
	3D Matrix Metering with 10-segment SPD Selects 3D matrix metering which uses a 10 segment sensor to calculate the best exposure for the frame.
	Center Weighted Metering The camera uses the entire frame for light measurement but assigns a greater weight to an area in the center of the frame (indicated in the viewfinder by the circle).
	Spot metering The camera measures light only in a circle 4 mm in diameter. This is tied to the currently selected AF area point unless dynamic AF or a non-CPU lens is used when it defaults to the center of the frame.

Other controls

Button	Description
AE-L AF-L	Auto Exposure and Auto Focus Lock Pressing this button locks the current exposure and focus, they remain locked for as long as you hold the button even if you press or release the shutter release button.
	4-way controller In shooting mode where AF point selection is enabled the 4-way controller is used to choose AF points. In playback mode this control reverts to image navigation / menu movement. The 4-way controller can be locked by turning the small lever below the dial to the 'L' position. This only locks its AF point selection feature, not menu navigation or image browsing.

Play / menu control buttons

Button	Description
	Monitor Displays the last image taken (or the last image on the storage card) in this mode you can browse through images and view various items of exposure information (detailed later in this review). In modes P, S, A or M the D100 is a shooting priority camera, a half-press of the shutter release will turn the monitor off and ready it for the next shot.
MENU	Camera menu Display or cancel the camera menu (detailed later in this review).
	Thumbnail view / Magnify In normal playback browsing mode hold this button and roll the main command dial to select between 2x2 or 3x3 thumbnail views. In 'magnify mode' (you have pressed ENTER) hold this button and roll the main command dial to magnify, roll the sub command dial (front) to switch between normal magnify and loupe magnify mode (example later in this review).
	Protect Protects or un-protects the current image. This places a read-only flag on the image file and stops it from being accidentally deleted or deleted using a 'delete all images' option. It does NOT protect the image from a card format.
ENTER	Magnify mode / Confirm With an image displayed in the LCD screen pressing the ENTER button switches to magnify mode, in this mode the thumbnail button is used to magnify the image, the 4-way controller scrolls around the magnified image. When using the camera menu the ENTER button is used to confirm settings.
	Delete When an image is displayed pressing delete will display a "Delete, No / Yes" prompt, unlike the D1, D1H or D1x (which simply use a double-press of the delete button) you must select the 'Yes' option and press ENTER to delete the image.

Front of camera controls

On the front of the camera are two controls, first on the right side (from the back) of the lens is the depth of field preview button, pressing this button stops the lens down to the selected (or metered) aperture allowing the photographer to preview the depth of field of the final shot (obviously the viewfinder view becomes dimmer when the lens is stopped down). On the left side of the lens mount is the focus mode selector (modes defined below).

Focus modes

Mode	Description
M	Manual Focus Focusing is carried out using the focus ring on the lens, the focus indicator on the viewfinder status bar will indicate 'o' when the manually focused subject distance matches that calculated by the camera's AF system.
S	Single servo AF (focus priority) If the subject is stationary, the camera focuses when the shutter release button is pressed halfway. Focus remains locked while the shutter release button is held in this position (focus lock). The shutter can only be released when the in-focus indicator is displayed.
C	Continuous servo AF (release priority) The camera adjusts focus continuously while the shutter release button is pressed halfway, automatically tracking moving subjects (focus tracking). The shutter can be released at any time, whether or not the camera is in focus (release priority). Focus is not locked when the in-focus indicator is displayed.

CCD Cleaning

The procedure for cleaning the CCD is summarized in the D100 manual. It requires the optional EH-5AC AC adapter and a blower. There is a dedicated menu option for locking up the mirror to expose the CCD (Low Pass Filter). Nikon do not recommend the use of wipes but do note that aerosol blowers can be used as long as they are not fired directly onto the CCD.

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