Heya MSGWolf...For general settings, jpeg fine, large, Optimal quality; Long exposure NR ON; HIgh ISo NR OFF; high sharpening, and color mode 1 for most shots, color mode III for landscapes. Also, color space Adobe rather than the default; I try to use ISO 100 whenever possible - but flip on occasion to 200 or higher, but in general I keep it at 100. I turn autoISO OFF -- I have found that the autoISO does NOT always interpret the ISO correctly, escpecially in outdoor settings. I have set up 4 banks - the first for Default; the second for Sports/Action; the third for Landscape; and the fourth for Portrait -- that allows me to make subtle changes in the color modes and slight adjustments to sharpening based on what I find works.
I adjust single servo ver continuous for each shooting situation -easy to do from the front of the camera - for the most part I leave matrix metering in place, but change it for still versus moving shots.
I do a WB check for shooting situations, but then generally leave it alone - sunshine for outdoors works great - flourescent for indoors works great - I usually don't touch the shade setting, they come out a bit too overexposed.
When in doubt, I bracket for WB - but I usually find that the camera chooses the best option right off the bat.
One of the things that I love most about the 10 megapixels is that you can worry less about photo compostion and crop crop crop...and still end up with a stunning 10 x 8 when printed. I tend to shoot a lot of nature shorts, and that seems to do the trick in a lot of ways.
Finally - I have found that reading other peoples setting's works only as a guideline, and I have to play with each camera I get a bit myself to see what works best for me.
One upon a time I watched one of those Blue Crane DVD's for another digital SLR that I had...I didn't take much from the DVD, but what I did take from it was the message to really "learn your camera" -- I had a previous SLR class a dozen years ago in which the teacher turned off the lights and said "Now set your camera to aperture mode fStop 8"
That was a real eye-opener...if you have your camera memorized, you won't miss those "what a cool moment" moments...you will spend less time setting up, and more time shooting...unfortunately, I wish I had taken my own advise on the following...blur cause I tried in panic to get the shot before he sat down...still...here's looking at you from Wolverine Country...
