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What Am I Doing Wrong?

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TBP

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I am still getting familiar with this beast but I think that I have
a big problem with the camera. Since I have owned it (11/04)
I have not been able to use the Main Command Dial. As I have
been pretty busy with other things up until now I have been
mainly using it in auto and just snapping pics.

Now I am trying to get better aclimated to this and I have come
to realize that this has never worked since I have owned it (I think).

My question is:

Is there any reason at all (some settings perhaps) that do not allow
the use of this wheel? It moves but does not change any settings.

Thanks

TBP
 
By "main command dial" do you mean the one you spin with your thumb on the back, or the one you spin with your index finger on the front?
-Penguin
 
I could explain how it works, but I may miss something out. I would read the manual and see what it says, if what the manual say doesn't work then the dial could be broken. Check the manual first.
TBP said:
I am still getting familiar with this beast but I think that I have
a big problem with the camera. Since I have owned it (11/04)
I have not been able to use the Main Command Dial. As I have
been pretty busy with other things up until now I have been
mainly using it in auto and just snapping pics.

Now I am trying to get better aclimated to this and I have come
to realize that this has never worked since I have owned it (I think).

My question is:

Is there any reason at all (some settings perhaps) that do not allow
the use of this wheel? It moves but does not change any settings.

Thanks

TBP
Click to expand...
--
Lewis
http://chilipalmer.deviantart.com/gallery/
 
Try switching to A mode (Aperture priority), and spinning the command dial to see if the aperture changes (f4, f5.6, etc...).

You cannot change any of the settings if the camera is in Auto. PLEASE learn some more about the camera, instead of using Auto. You could be gettng better results using a high-end point and shoot if you just wanted to keep the camera on Auto mode.
TBP said:
I am still getting familiar with this beast but I think that I have
a big problem with the camera. Since I have owned it (11/04)
I have not been able to use the Main Command Dial. As I have
been pretty busy with other things up until now I have been
mainly using it in auto and just snapping pics.

Now I am trying to get better aclimated to this and I have come
to realize that this has never worked since I have owned it (I think).

My question is:

Is there any reason at all (some settings perhaps) that do not allow
the use of this wheel? It moves but does not change any settings.

Thanks

TBP
Click to expand...
--
ShutterBugin
http://www.exposureproductions.smugmug.com

 
Thanks,

Does this apply to switching to remote control as well? That is what
I was trying to do. I had the kit lens on and was experimenting with
the ML-3 and I couldn't put it into that mode. I could understand the
rest of the settings not working in auto (will try that tonight) but
I could not figure out why the remote function would not be
allowed to change.

TBP
Shutterbugin said:
Try switching to A mode (Aperture priority), and spinning the
command dial to see if the aperture changes (f4, f5.6, etc...).

You cannot change any of the settings if the camera is in Auto.
PLEASE learn some more about the camera, instead of using Auto. You
could be gettng better results using a high-end point and shoot if
you just wanted to keep the camera on Auto mode.
Click to expand...
 
Shutterbugin wrote:
[snip]
Shutterbugin said:
You cannot change any of the settings if the camera is in Auto.
PLEASE learn some more about the camera, instead of using Auto. You
could be gettng better results using a high-end point and shoot if
you just wanted to keep the camera on Auto mode.
Click to expand...
Off topic but...that's not true. A DSLR will give better results than any P&S even in auto mode. It's the nature of current digital cameras.

larsbc
 
It let me choose all the different remote/timer modes.
 
I agree that image quality is better with D-slr than P&S. My point was - the D70, being a $1,000 camera, should not be bought if it was only going to be used in Auto mode. You could get a Canon Pro-1 or the Nikon 8800 (??) and take wonderfully colorful, sharp photos is Auto mode. See my point?

Trust me it is the person behind the camera rather than the camera. Did you hear about the guy that won several photographer of the year awards, using a P&S camera?
larsbc said:
larsbc said:
You cannot change any of the settings if the camera is in Auto.
PLEASE learn some more about the camera, instead of using Auto. You
could be gettng better results using a high-end point and shoot if
you just wanted to keep the camera on Auto mode.
Click to expand...
Off topic but...that's not true. A DSLR will give better results
than any P&S even in auto mode. It's the nature of current digital
cameras.

larsbc
Click to expand...
--
ShutterBugin
http://www.exposureproductions.smugmug.com

 
Shutterbugin said:
I agree that image quality is better with D-slr than P&S. My point
was - the D70, being a $1,000 camera, should not be bought if it
was only going to be used in Auto mode. You could get a Canon Pro-1
or the Nikon 8800 (??) and take wonderfully colorful, sharp photos
is Auto mode. See my point?
Click to expand...
Given that a Canon 300D with kit lens is almost the same price (for a reduced focal range, of course), the 300D would be the better camera in all ways save for focal range and size. It will have faster focus, faster shutter response, better dynamic range, and less noise. So if you can live with the size/focal length restrictions, for about the same price, the low end DSLR is the better choice (IMO). That's why I think the high end digicam market might suffer over the next few years.

If we're talking about film cameras, then yeah, P&S cameras are the better choice for a lot of people. Fast focus, decent shutter response, decent zoom range, small, weatherproof, some had quite good lenses and produce extremely good results (can use the same film as the pros!). But with digital, the entry level DSLRs produce much better results than the high end digicams.

I've played around with my brother's 300D and it is a great P&S camera for him and his wife (that's all they use it for...it stays in AUTO mode). They're ecstatic with the results they get from it both in terms of image quality and fast response which lets them capture those fleeting shots of their two kids.

In short (too late, I know), the money spent on a DSLR will result in technically better pics and allow the photographer to capture some scenes which were difficult or impossible to do with a P&S digicam EVEN if the photographer sticks with AUTO mode. I would put the auto mode of a DSLR above the auto mode of P&S digicam anytime.

Whether any tyro should spend that much (high end P&S or DSLR) on a camera is up to them but the results will be noticeably better with the DSLR...even if the composition doesn't improve. ;-) Put another way, the crappy shots will have less noise, more dynamic range, and will probably capture the decisive moment of bland photography.
Shutterbugin said:
Trust me it is the person behind the camera rather than the camera.
Did you hear about the guy that won several photographer of the
year awards, using a P&S camera?
Click to expand...
I agree with you on that.

larsbc
 
Got it! On page 105 (IRTFM) where they say press the button and rotate
the dial, I believe it should say: "Hold the button in and rotate the
dial." Dooh! Damn, I am so literal sometimes that it hurts.
 
You have a marvelous tool in your hands and you leave it in AUTO??

Most of us play with all the bells and whistles on our cameras within the first few days of ownership just to see what everything does.

My suggestion is take it out of AUTO...... use P, A, S or M modes only

and see what your camera can do.... It's a tool, learn how to use it.

Don't mean to be harsh......but you have to love to learn and grow with your gear.
 
Not a problem. That is where I am heading.......

Personal interferences had limited any time I have had with
my camera. I am now getting around to what I had intended
some months ago. I work a long day and a long week and
family responsibilities have consumed the weekends for a while
so while it may seem that I have been indifferent to my gear,
not so. Been chomping at the bit, but before the race can be
run the gate has to open. ANDDDDDDDD, there OFF!!!!!!!!!

I am taking the advice of a poster in another thread and that was to set this up on a tripod and go through the various modes/settings/adjustments, etc. to familiarize myself with every
aspect of the camera/lens. That is what I am embarking on.
Hopefully when I am through, or should I say up, on the learning
curve I can take advantage of the tremendous capability of this
wonderful camera.

TBP
NNS said:
You have a marvelous tool in your hands and you leave it in AUTO??

Most of us play with all the bells and whistles on our cameras
within the first few days of ownership just to see what everything
does.

My suggestion is take it out of AUTO...... use P, A, S or M modes
only

and see what your camera can do.... It's a tool, learn how to use it.

Don't mean to be harsh......but you have to love to learn and grow
with your gear.
Click to expand...
 
The answer to all your questions can be found in the wonderful manual that Nikon provide in the box.
TBP said:
Personal interferences had limited any time I have had with
my camera. I am now getting around to what I had intended
some months ago. I work a long day and a long week and
family responsibilities have consumed the weekends for a while
so while it may seem that I have been indifferent to my gear,
not so. Been chomping at the bit, but before the race can be
run the gate has to open. ANDDDDDDDD, there OFF!!!!!!!!!

I am taking the advice of a poster in another thread and that was
to set this up on a tripod and go through the various
modes/settings/adjustments, etc. to familiarize myself with every
aspect of the camera/lens. That is what I am embarking on.
Hopefully when I am through, or should I say up, on the learning
curve I can take advantage of the tremendous capability of this
wonderful camera.

TBP
NNS said:
You have a marvelous tool in your hands and you leave it in AUTO??

Most of us play with all the bells and whistles on our cameras
within the first few days of ownership just to see what everything
does.

My suggestion is take it out of AUTO...... use P, A, S or M modes
only

and see what your camera can do.... It's a tool, learn how to use it.

Don't mean to be harsh......but you have to love to learn and grow
with your gear.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
Lewis
http://chilipalmer.deviantart.com/gallery/
 
This one wasn't...

Try finding a location in the book that says to hold the button down
while turning the main control dial. It says press the button and turn the
dial, not press and hold the button while turning the dial. For an oldtimer
to the world of DSLR's like yourself this might be intuative but for a novice

such as myself I read it lierally and it is not clear. I have read, and re-read,
the FM and it ain't perfect by a long shot! Maybe some day I will be able to
grasp all you seem to have. I can only hope!

TBP
chilipalmer said:
The answer to all your questions can be found in the wonderful
manual that Nikon provide in the box.
Click to expand...
 
And people wonder why teaching is such a difficult profession.

As much as I aspired to the position I recognized several serious flaws in my character: I can not stand by and watch someone make mistakes; I can not understand how someone with a different thought process can reach the same conclusion; I cannot understand how someone witht he same thought processes can reach a different conclusion; and, finally as in this case...

When something is crystal clear and obvious to me, why someone else doesn't see it.

Your point, litteral or not, is well taken. Many grasp that the D70 doesn't use stickey buttons (a common nomenclature for how you thought the buttons worked) but it is not implicit in the manual. The manual writers know how it works, why should they explain it to you (;-> )

The reason they couldn't work that way is it would be difficult to program the delay necessary to keep the button active while you were rotating the wheel back and forth. At some point it has to reset or bumping the wheel would continually change settings.

Ed (The only way to have a friend is to be one) W.
http://www.pbase.com/ewaldorph/
D70, etc.
 
Hi,

I was on the phone with Nikon a minute ago and I am really upset.

I read the messages in this thread and I read the comment on the AUTO mode. Someone said that if you bought the D70 for using only the AUTO mode then you should have bought something else. This sentence upsets me so much! My wife is not a photograph and is far from being an amateur. She wants to use only the AUTO mode and do not worry about any settings.

What upset me the most and I need your help there otherwise I will return immediately the D70 I have just bought, is the following:

On the Auto mode, when you take picture, does the camera control the ISO setting?

I spent the WE in New York.Saturday night, I took pictures at ISO=1000.The day after that, we were outdoor with friends. I did not want to do any manual settings. I just wanted to take picture and that's it.

All my pictures were taken at ISO=1000, AUTO mode, having the option ISO AUTO ON in the CSM menu!!!!! I threw them all!

Could you tell me that Nikon, in the AUTO mode can do a better job than a Point & Shoot, because the Nikon's technical service could not say so...

Thanks for having read this message
 
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