Top of camera controls
 |
Top of the camera are four control buttons, the
"shift dial" and shutter release button,
descriptions in more detail below.
One of my BIGGEST gripes about the D700 is that
all the text / icons printed on the body are white
against the silver body, under most circumstances
difficult to read, under others almost impossible.
This doesn't cause a problem once you're used
to the camera but it would have been nice to use
black (or a dark gray) print...
|
I found these buttons cleverly placed and always
within reach of my gripping hand (right hand), note that the
buttons which are combined with the shift dial are on the
left (under your thumb) and those which do require the shift
dial are under your fingers so you can use your thumb to rotate
the dial... Ah, a designer who CONSIDERS the ergonomics of
their camera!
Left side controls
 |
On the left side of the camera is the mode dial,
this is the "meat" of control when the
camera is in CAM (record) mode, next to it is
the Auto Focus / Manual Focus dial.
I quite liked this layout, the AF/MF switch being
convenient made it easy to let the camera autofocus
then turn the dial to MF to lock the focus position
for taking a sequence of shots (manual sequence).
|
The Mode Dial is used by rotating it to the
required option (eg. ISO) then pressing the center "shift
button" and rotating the shift dial (above) to pick a
particular option. Sounds cumbersome but is a much quicker
method than the menu systems used in many other digicams.
When scrolling through each option a menu is displayed on
the LCD (overlayed over the current view) if the LCD is switched
on, also the options are displayed on the top LCD - useful
if you work without the rear LCD. Examples of such menus:
 |
 |
 |
 |
(note:
background would not normally black but
would be showing the current "live" display) |
Detail of the Mode Dial:
| Option |
Hold
shift button and rotate shift dial to choose an option
|
| AE |
Auto Exposure mode:
Program - aperture and shutter calculated
by the camera
Aperture - aperture priority, aperture
can be manually set by rotating the shift dial,
camera calculates shutter speed, a flashing shutter
speed indicates out of range
Shutter - shutter priority, shutter speed
can be manually set by rotating the shift dial,
camera calculates aperture, a flashing aperture
indicates out of range
Manual - full manual exposure, shutter
speed is set by rotating shift dial, aperture
is set by holding the +/- EV compensate button
and rotating shift dial (allows for exposures
as slow as 8 seconds)
|
 |
Flash
mode :
Auto - assuming the flash is popped up the camera
will fire the flash if required
On - flash always fires (useful for fill purposes)
Off - flash never fires (even if popped up)
External - internal flash does not fire, external
flash (hotshoe) is fired instead (should be used in
combination with external flash WB described later) |
| WB |
White
Balance mode:
Auto - white balance is automatically calcuated
(typically inaccurate)
Hold - white balance is set manually by pointing
the camera at a neutral (gray or white) subject and
pressing the WB button on the front of the camera
- this is the option I ended up using most of the
time and produced good neutral colours and a perfectly
white, white
Outdoor - sets the white balance to outdoor
shooting
Indoor - sets the white balance to indoor shooting |
| DRIVE |
Continuous
shooting mode:
1Shot - take one shot (normal camera operation)
Cont1 - take continuous shots and re-calculate
exposure for each shot (slower)
Cont2 - take continuous shots based on the
exposure of the first shot (fast)
Self Timer - take a self-timer shot (self timer
pause time can be set)
Interval Rec - take shots every x interval
(set through menu) |
| QLTY |
Picture quality mode:
Super - uncompressed TIFF (4.7MB)
High - about 1:4 JPEG @ 1344x1024
Middle - about 1:8 JPEG @ 1344x1024
Low - about 1:16 JPEG @ 1344x1024
|
| SIZE |
Picture
size / digital zoom:
1344x1024 - take images at 1344 x 1024 pixels
640x480 - take images at 640 x 480 pixels
X2 D.Zoom - take images at 640 x 480 pixels
(cropped from the center of the CCD - thus a 2x digital
zoom) |
| USER |
Retreive
user settings / reset:
No.0 (reset) - resets all settings to factory
default
No.1-3 (date) - restore settings to previously
saved user file (through the custom menu) |
| ISO |
ISO
Sensitivty:
100 - default sensitivity
200 - equal to ISO200 (some noise)
400 - equal to ISO400 (noise apparent) |
Notes (for manual settings):
Available shutter speeds @ ISO100:
Only in manual exposure: 4s,
3.4s, 2.8s, 2.4s, 2s, 1.7s, 1.4s, 1.2s, 1s, 0.8s, 0.7s, 0.6s,
1/2s, 1/2.4s, 1/2.8s, 1/3.4s, 1/4s, 1/4.8s, 1/5.6s, 1/6.7s
In manual or shutter priority:
1/8s, 1/9.5s, 1/11s, 1/13s, 1/15s, 1/18s, 1/22s,
1/26s, 1/30s, 1/38s, 1/45s, 1/54s, 1/60s, 1/75s, 1/90s, 1/110s,
1/125s, 1/150s, 1/180s, 1/210s, 1/250s,1/300s, 1/360s, 1/430s,
1/500s, 1/610s, 1/720s, 1/860s, 1/1000s, 1/1200s, 1/1400s,
1/1700s, 1/2000s
@ ISO200 in shutter priority:
1/15s - 1/2000s (as above)
@ ISO400 in shutter priority:
1/30s - 1/2000s (as above)
Available apertures
@ wide (28mm):
F2.0, F2.2, F2.4, F2.6, F2.8, F3.1, F3.4, F3.7, F4.0, F4.4,
F4.8, F5.2, F5.6, F6.2, F6.7, F7.3, F8.0, F8.7, F9.5, F10,
F11
@ tele (140mm): F2.4 - F11 (as
above)
Which all adds up to an amazing amount of manual control over
exposure, in fact this has to be the most controllable prosumer
digital camera around.
Rear camera controls
 |
On th back of the camera we have an array of controls
starting with the main power/mode wheel which
chooses between OFF, CAM (record) and PLAY.
Below this are cursor keys and the MENU, EXECUTE
and EXIT buttons.
To the right (above the LCD) are DISP, INDEX and
LCD.
|
 |
Switching from OFF to either
CAM or PLAY displays this bootup screen while the
camera boots and prepares itself. |
| Control |
Description |
OFF/
CAM / PLAY |
Mode/Power wheel:
Obviously enough controls the camera power and
current mode, either CAM (record) or PLAY.
|
| MENU |
Menu
button:
Enters the camera menu system in either CAM or
PLAY modes |
| EXECUTE |
Execute
button:
Executes a menu option in the menus |
| EXIT |
Exit
button:
Exits submenus / menu |
| DISP |
Display
button:
In CAM or PLAY mode toggles the overlayed information
on the rear LCD |
| INDEX |
Index
button:
In PLAY mode switches between thumbnail view (10 on
a page) or single frame view |
| LCD |
LCD
button:
In CAM or PLAY mode turns the LCD on or off |
 |
In PLAY mode:
The INDEX button displays an index of thumbnails
which you can scroll through using the shift dial.
|
 |
In PLAY mode:
Holding the SHIFT button (center of the
mode dial) and rotating the shift dial allows
you to instantly scroll through small thumbnails
of your images (VERY fast way to locate a particular
image).
|
Front camera controls
 |
On the front of the camera is the lens structure
and the zoom ring (front) and manual focus ring
(rear). Manual focus is achieved by putting the
camera in MF mode (side dial) and rotating the
ring, unfortunately this is still "fly by
wire" focus control (although I didn't have
any problems using it).
Under your finger is the WB button which allows
you to preset white balance in WB-Hold mode.
|
|
