Nikon® D5500™ For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and may not be used without written permission. Nikon and D5500 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nikon Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.
For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015937168
ISBN: 978-1-119-10211-3 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-10200-7 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-10192-5 (ebk)
Nikon. The name has been associated with top-flight photography equipment for generations. And the introduction of the D5500 has only enriched Nikon’s well-deserved reputation, offering all the control that a diehard photography enthusiast could want while providing easy-to-use, point-and-shoot features for the beginner.
In fact, the D5500 offers so many features that sorting them all out can be more than a little confusing, especially if you’re new to digital photography, SLR photography, or both. For starters, you may not even be sure what SLR means or how it affects your picture-taking, let alone have a clue about all the other techie terms you encounter in your camera manual — resolution, aperture, white balance, and so on. And if you’re like many people, you may be so overwhelmed by all the controls on your camera that you haven’t yet ventured beyond fully automatic picture-taking mode.
Therein lies the point of Nikon D5500 For Dummies. Throughout this book, you can discover not just what each bell and whistle on your camera does but also when, where, why, and how to put it to best use. Unlike many photography books, this one doesn’t require any previous knowledge of photography or digital imaging to make sense of things, either. In classic For Dummies style, everything is explained in easy-to-understand language, with lots of illustrations to help clear up any confusion.
In short, what you have in your hands is the paperback version of an in-depth photography workshop tailored specifically to your Nikon picture-taking powerhouse.
This book is organized into four parts, each devoted to a different aspect of using your camera. Although chapters flow in a sequence that’s designed to take you from absolute beginner to experienced user, I’ve also tried to make each chapter as self-standing as possible so that you can explore the topics that interest you in any order you please.
Here's a brief preview of what you can find in each part of the book:
If this isn’t your first For Dummies book, you may be familiar with the large, round icons that decorate its margins. If not, here’s your very own icon-decoder ring:
The Tip icon flags information that will save you time, effort, money, or some other valuable resource, including your sanity. Tips also point out techniques that help you get the best results from specific camera features.
When you see this icon, look alive. It indicates a potential danger zone that can result in much wailing and teeth-gnashing if ignored. In other words, this is stuff that you really don't want to learn the hard way.
Lots of information in this book is of a technical nature — digital photography is a technical animal, after all. But if I present a detail that is useful mainly for impressing your technology-geek friends, I mark it with this icon.
I apply this icon either to introduce information that is especially worth storing in your brain’s long-term memory or to remind you of a fact that may have been displaced from that memory by another pressing fact.
Additionally, I need to point out these extra details that will help you use this book effectively:
If you have Internet access, you can find a bit of extra content online, including this book's Cheat Sheet.
www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/nikond5500 contains a quick-reference guide to all the buttons, dials, switches, and exposure modes on your camera. Log on, print it out, and tuck it in your camera bag for times when you don’t want to carry this book with you.www.dummies.com/extras/nikon offering additional advice about your camera and photography in general. For example, you can find an article about the seven Picture Control settings that come with your camera.To wrap up this preamble, I want to stress that if you initially think that digital photography is too confusing or too technical for you, you’re in very good company. Everyone finds this stuff mind-boggling at first. So take it slowly, experimenting with just one or two new camera settings or techniques at first. Then, every time you go on a photo outing, make it a point to add one or two more shooting skills to your repertoire.
I know that it’s hard to believe when you’re just starting out, but it really won’t be long before everything starts to come together. With some time, patience, and practice, you’ll soon wield your camera like a pro, dialing in the necessary settings to capture your creative vision almost instinctively.
So without further ado, I invite you to grab your camera, a cup of whatever it is you prefer to sip while you read, and start exploring the rest of this book. Your D5500 is the perfect partner for your photographic journey, and I thank you for allowing me, through this book, to serve as your tour guide.
Part 1
Visit www.dummies.com for more great For Dummies content online.
In this part …
Familiarize yourself with the basics of using your camera, from attaching lenses to navigating menus.
Find step-by-step instructions for point-and-shoot photography in Auto mode.
Try out Live View shooting and customize the Live View display.
Find out how to select the shutter-release mode, exposure mode, Image Size (picture resolution), and Image Quality (file type, JPEG or Raw).
Discover options available for flash photography in different exposure modes.
1
In This Chapter
Preparing the camera for its first outing
Getting acquainted with the touchscreen and other camera features
Viewing and adjusting camera settings
Setting a few basic preferences
Taking a picture in Auto mode
Shooting for the first time with a camera as sophisticated as the Nikon D5500 can produce a blend of excitement and anxiety. On one hand, you can't wait to start using your new equipment, but on the other, you're a little intimidated by all its buttons, dials, and menu options.
Well, fear not: This chapter provides the information you need to start getting comfortable with your D5500. The first section walks you through initial camera setup; following that, you can discover how to view and adjust picture settings and get my take on some basic setup options. At the end of the chapter, I walk you step-by-step through taking your first pictures using Auto mode, which offers point-and-shoot simplicity until you're ready to step up to more advanced options.
After unpacking your camera, you have to assemble a few parts. In addition to the camera body and the supplied battery (be sure to charge it before the first use), you need a lens and a memory card. Later sections in this chapter provide details about working with lenses and memory cards, but here's what you need to know up front:
Lens: You can mount a wide range of lenses on your D5500, but some aren't compatible with all camera features. For example, to enjoy autofocusing, you need an AF-S or AF-I lens. (The 18–55mm and 18–140mm lenses available as a kit with the D5500 body are both AF-S lenses.) Your camera manual offers details about lens compatibility.
The AF in AF-S stands for autofocus, and the S stands for silent wave, a Nikon autofocus technology. AF-I lenses are older, professional-grade (expensive) lenses that are no longer made but may be available on the secondhand market.
With camera, lens, battery, and card within reach, take these steps:
Attach a lens.
First, remove the caps that cover the front of the camera and the back of the lens. Then align the mounting index (white dot) on the lens with the one on the camera body, as shown in Figure 1-1. After placing the lens on the camera mount, rotate the lens toward the shutter-button side of the camera. You should feel a solid click as the lens locks into place.
Insert a memory card.
Open the card-slot cover on the right side of the camera and orient the card as shown in Figure 1-2 (the label faces the back of the camera). Push the card gently into the slot and close the cover. The memory-card access light, labeled in the figure, illuminates briefly to let you know that the camera recognizes the card.
Rotate the monitor to the desired viewing position.
When you first take the camera out of its box, the monitor is positioned with the screen facing inward, protecting it from scratches and smudges. Gently lift the right side of the monitor up and away from the camera back. You can then rotate the monitor to move it into the traditional position on the camera back, as shown on the left in Figure 1-3, or swing the monitor out to get a different viewing angle, as shown on the right.
Set the language, time zone, and date.
When you power up the camera for the first time, you can't do anything until you respond to onscreen prompts asking you to select your language, time zone, date, and time. The date/time information is included as metadata (hidden data) in the picture file. You can view metadata in some playback display modes (see Chapter 8) and in certain photo programs, including Nikon ViewNX 2. (Refer to Chapter 9.)
The easiest way to adjust the settings is to use the touchscreen: Just tap an option to select it. On the final screen (date/time), tap OK to finalize your choices. You also can do things the old-fashioned way, using the Multi Selector and OK button, both labeled in Figure 1-3. Press the edge of the Multi Selector up and down to scroll the highlight cursor vertically; press right/left to travel horizontally. Again, press OK after making your selections on a screen.
(You can find more details about using the touchscreen and adjusting camera settings later in this chapter.)
Adjust the viewfinder to your eyesight.
This step is critical; if you don't set the viewfinder to your eyesight, subjects that appear out of focus in the viewfinder might actually be in focus, and vice versa. If you wear glasses while shooting, adjust the viewfinder with your glasses on — and don't forget to reset the viewfinder focus if you take off your glasses or your prescription changes.
You control viewfinder focus through the adjustment dial labeled in Figure 1-4. (In official lingo, it's called the diopter adjustment dial.) After taking off the lens cap and making sure that the camera is turned on, look through the viewfinder and press the shutter button halfway. In dim lighting, the flash may pop up. Ignore it for now and concentrate on the row of data that appears at the bottom of the viewfinder screen. Rotate the dial until that data appears sharpest. The markings in the center of the viewfinder, which relate to autofocusing, also become more or less sharp. Ignore the scene you see through the lens; that won't change because you're not actually focusing the camera. When you finish, press down on the flash unit to close it if necessary.
If using a retractable lens, unlock and extend the lens.
The 18–55mm kit lens sold with the D5500 (and featured in this book) is a retractable lens, sometimes called a pancake lens. The beauty of this type of lens is that when you're not shooting, you can retract the lens barrel so that the camera takes up less space in your camera bag. However, before you can take a picture, you must unlock and extend the lens. Figure 1-5 shows the lens in its retracted (left image) and extended (right image) positions.
To extend the lens, press the lens lock button, highlighted in Figure 1-5, while rotating the lens barrel toward the shutter button side of the camera. To retract the lens, press the button while rotating the lens in the other direction.
Figure 1-1: Align the white dot on the lens with the one on the camera body.
Figure 1-2: Insert the memory card with the label facing the back of the camera.
Figure 1-3: Here are just two possible monitor positions.
Figure 1-4: Rotate this dial to set the viewfinder focus for your eyesight.
Figure 1-5: If using a retractable lens, press the lens lock button while rotating the lens barrel to extend and retract the lens.
That's all there is to it — the camera is now ready to go. From here, my recommendation is that you keep reading this chapter to familiarize yourself with the main camera features and basic operation. But if you're anxious to take a picture right away, I won't think any less of you if you skip to the very last section of the chapter, which guides you through the process. Just promise that at some point, you'll read the pages in between, because they actually do contain important information.
Scattered across your camera's exterior are numerous features that you use to change picture-taking settings, review your photos, and perform various other operations. In later chapters, I discuss all your camera's functions in detail and provide the exact steps to follow to access them. This section provides just a basic “what's this thing do?” guide to each control. (Don't worry about memorizing the button names; throughout the book, I show pictures of buttons in the page margins to help you know exactly which one to press.)
Keep in mind, too, that you can adjust many settings by simply tapping the touchscreen, which is sometimes faster and easier than fiddling with the camera buttons. I provide an introduction to using the touchscreen later in this chapter.
Your virtual tour begins with the bird's-eye view shown in Figure 1-6. There are a number of features of note here:
Command dial: After you activate certain camera features, you rotate this dial, labeled in the figure, to select a setting. For example, to choose a shutter speed when shooting in shutter-priority (S) mode, you rotate the Command dial.
Exposure Compensation button: This button relates to Exposure Compensation, a feature that enables you to tweak exposure when using some autoexposure modes, including P, S, and A as well as many Scene modes. (I cover this feature in Chapter 3.) Press the button while rotating the Command dial to set the amount of Exposure Compensation.
In M (manual exposure) mode, pressing the button while rotating the Command dial adjusts the aperture setting.
Live View switch: Rotate this switch to turn Live View on and off. In Live View mode, the scene in front of the lens appears on the monitor, and you can't see anything through the viewfinder. You then can compose a still photo using the monitor or begin recording a movie. The last section of this chapter introduces you to Live View photography; see Chapter 7 for help with movie making.
Record button: After shifting to Live View mode, press this button to start recording a movie. Press again to stop recording.Focal plane indicator: When you need to know the exact distance between your subject and the camera, the focal plane indicator is the key. The mark indicates the plane at which light coming through the lens is focused onto the camera's image sensor. Basing your measurement on this mark produces a more accurate camera-to-subject distance than using the end of the lens or another external point on the camera body as your reference point.
Figure 1-6: Rotate the Live View switch to shift from viewfinder to Live View photography.
On the back of the camera, you find the following features, all labeled in Figure 1-7.
Figure 1-7: For quick access to primary picture settings, press the i button.
Eye sensor: This little window senses when you put your eye to the viewfinder and, in response, turns off the monitor to save battery power.
Info button: When using the viewfinder to compose photos, press this button to display the Information screen, which shows key camera settings and various bits of information, such as the battery status. To turn off the screen, press Info again.
You also can display the screen by pressing the shutter button halfway and releasing it.
In Live View mode, pressing the button changes the type and amount of data that appears on the preview.
AE-L/AF-L button: During shooting, pressing this button initiates autoexposure lock (AE-L) and autofocus lock (AF-L). Chapter 3 explains autoexposure lock; Chapter 4 talks about autofocus lock.
In playback mode, pressing the button activates the Protect feature, which locks the picture file — hence the little key symbol that appears near the button — so that it isn't erased if you use the picture-delete functions. See Chapter 9 for details. (The picture is erased if you format the memory card, however.)
Playback button: Press this button to switch the camera to picture-review mode. Chapter 8 details playback features.
i button: During shooting, pressing this button activates a control strip that enables quick access to certain picture settings. I provide details in the later section “Adjusting Settings via the Control Strip.” Press i
again to exit the control strip. In Playback mode, pressing the button brings up a menu that enables you to rate your photos, edit them using the Retouch menu features, and tag them for later wireless transmission to a smart phone or tablet.Multi Selector/OK button: This dual-natured control plays a role in many camera functions. You press the outer edges of the Multi Selector left, right, up, or down to navigate camera menus and access certain other options. At the center of the control is the OK button, which you press to finalize a menu selection or another camera adjustment.
In this book, the instruction “Press the Multi Selector left” means to press the left edge of the control. “Press the Multi Selector right” means to press the right edge, and so on.
Delete button: Sporting a trash can icon, the universal symbol for delete, this button enables you to erase pictures from your memory card. Chapter 9 explains the steps.
Zoom In button: In still-photo playback mode, pressing this button magnifies the currently displayed image and also reduces the number of thumbnails displayed at a time. Note the plus sign in the middle of the magnifying glass — plus means enlarge. During movie playback, press the button to increase audio volume.
Zoom Out button: This button has three primary purposes:
The Zoom Out button also comes into play when you use certain other camera features, such as applying changes from the Retouch menu. During movie playback, pressing the button lowers the sound volume.
The front-left side of the camera, shown in Figure 1-8, sports these features:
Figure 1-8: Press the Flash button to use the built-in flash in P, S, A, or M mode.
Flash button: In the advanced exposure modes (P, S, A, and M), as well as in Food Scene mode, pressing this button raises the built-in flash. (In other modes, the camera decides whether the flash is needed.) By holding down the button and rotating the Command dial, you can adjust the Flash mode (fill flash, red-eye reduction, and so on). In some exposure modes, you can adjust flash power by pressing the button while simultaneously pressing the Exposure Compensation button and rotating the Command dial. Check out Chapter 2 for details on flash options.
Function (Fn) button: By default, this button gives you quick access to the ISO setting, which controls the camera's sensitivity to light. (Chapter 3 explains.) If you don't adjust that setting often, you can use the button to perform a variety of other operations. Chapter 10 shows you how to change the button's purpose. (Note:
All instructions in this book assume that you haven't changed the function.)Lens-release button: Press this button to disengage the lens from the camera's lens mount so that you can remove the lens. (If you're using the retractable 18–55mm kit lens, be sure to collapse the lens first.)
Release Mode button: Press this button to display a screen where you can select the shutter-release mode. By default, the option is set to Single Frame, which results in one picture each time you press the shutter button. You can explore other options in Chapter 2.Hidden under covers on the left and right sides of the camera are ports for attaching various accessories and cables, as shown in Figure 1-9:
Figure 1-9: Open the covers on the sides of the camera to reveal these connections.
Just below the HMDI port is the memory-card slot, shown covered in the figure. (See the first section of this chapter for help installing a memory card.) If you turn the camera over, you find a tripod socket, which enables you to mount the camera on a tripod that uses a ¼ -inch screw, plus the battery chamber.
What about that Wi-Fi label on the top-left side of the camera? It's just there to remind you that you can transfer images to a tablet or smartphone via Wi-Fi, which I show you how to do in Chapter 9.
When manufacturers first started putting touchscreens on dSLRs, I thought, “Meh, just a gimmick.” But after discovering how much easier it is to adjust camera settings by using the touchscreen instead of pressing buttons and rotating dials — well, let's just say that I was wrong in my initial assessment. Yes, I said it: “I was wrong.”
If you've used a smartphone, tablet, or other touchscreen device, working with the camera's touchscreen will feel familiar. Just as with those devices, you communicate with the camera via these gestures, which are specific ways to touch the screen:
Figure 1-10: Enable or disable the touchscreen via this Setup menu option.
By default, the touchscreen is enabled for both shooting and playback. But you can disable it entirely or use it just for playback if you wish. The following steps walk you through the process of adjusting this option and give you some practice in using the touchscreen:
Press the Menu button to display the menus.
Sadly, there's no touchscreen control that takes you to the menus.
Tap the Touch Controls option, highlighted in the figure.
You see the screen shown on the right in Figure 1-10.
To turn the touchscreen off for shooting functions but leave it enabled for playback, tap Playback Only. To disable the touchscreen altogether, tap Disable.
On many screens, a return arrow icon appears in the top-right corner of the screen (refer to Figure 1-10). Tap this icon to exit the screen without making any changes to the current setting.
Keep in mind that if you choose Playback Only or Disable, you can't use the touchscreen to revert to the original, Enable, setting. Instead, you must use the Multi Selector and OK button to do the job. (See the next section for help navigating menus using these controls.)
A couple final tips about the touchscreen:
When looking through the viewfinder, you can tap your thumb anywhere on the right half of the screen to perform a specific function. Nikon refers to this feature as the Touch Function (thus the letters FN next to the touchscreen-enabled symbol). Try it: With your eye to the viewfinder, tap your right thumb on the right half of the screen. By default, your tap displays a grid in the viewfinder; tap again to hide the grid. Don't need a grid? Use the Assign Touch Fn option on the Custom Setting menu to make the camera perform a different task when you tap. Chapter 10 has details.
If you swing the monitor out to the left side of the camera, you can tap anywhere on the monitor to take advantage of the Touch Function. You still must have your eye to the viewfinder to make this feature work, however. It's not available for Live View photography or movie shooting.
Figure 1-11: This symbol tells you that the touchscreen is active for both shooting and playback.
Although you can change some settings by using the camera's external buttons or by tapping touchscreen symbols, other options are accessible only via the menus. To access the menus, press the Menu button. You see a screen similar to the one shown in Figure 1-12. The icons along the left side of the screen represent the available menus. To the right of the icon strip are options associated with the current menu. Table 1-1 offers a quick guide to the menus.
Figure 1-12: The scroll bar indicates that the menu is a multi-page affair.
Table 1-1 D5500 Menus
|
Symbol |
Open This Menu … |
To Access These Functions |
|
|
Playback |
Viewing, deleting, and protecting pictures |
|
|
Shooting |
Basic photography settings |
|
|
Custom Setting |
Advanced photography options and some basic camera operations |
|
|
Setup |
Additional basic camera operations |
|
|
Retouch |
Photo and movie editing options |
  |
My Menu/Recent Settings |
Your custom menu or 20 most recently used menu options |
Here's what you need to know to work your way though menu screens:
To select and adjust a menu option: Again, you can take advantage of the touchscreen or use the Multi Selector:
In some cases, a right-pointing triangle appears next to a menu item. That's your cue to tap that item or to press the Multi Selector right to display a submenu.
Items that are dimmed in a menu aren't available in the current exposure mode. For access to all settings, set the Mode dial to P, S, A, or M.
To select items from the Custom Setting menu: Displaying the Custom Setting menu, represented by the Pencil icon, takes you to a screen that contains six submenus that carry the labels A through F, as shown in Figure 1-13. Each submenu holds clusters of options related to a specific aspect of the camera's operation. To get to those options, tap the submenu name or highlight it with the Multi Selector and press OK.
In the Nikon manual, instructions reference the Custom Setting menu items by a menu letter and number. For example, “Custom Setting a1” refers to the first option on the a (Autofocus) submenu. I try to be more specific, however, so I use the actual setting names. (Really, we all have enough numbers to remember, don't you think?)
After you jump to the first submenu, you can simply scroll up and down the list to view options from other submenus. You don't have to keep going back to the initial menu screen and selecting a submenu.
Create a custom menu or view your 20 most recently adjusted menu items: The sixth menu is actually two menus that share an apartment: Recent Settings and My Menu, both shown in Figure 1-14. Each menu contains a Choose Tab option as the last item on the menu; select this option to shift between the two menus.
Here's what the two menus offer:
Recent Settings: This screen lists the 20 menu items you ordered most recently. To adjust those settings, you don't have to wade through all the other menus to look for them — head to the Recent Settings menu instead.
To remove an item from the Recent Settings menu, use the Multi Selector to highlight the item and press Delete. Press Delete again to confirm your decision. (If you tap the item in the menu, you pull up that item's options screen and you must tap the return arrow at the top of the screen to exit back to the menu. You can then press Delete.)
Figure 1-13: The Custom Setting menu contains six submenus of advanced options.
Figure 1-14: The Recent Settings menu offers quick access to the last 20 menu options you selected; the My Menu menu enables you to design a custom menu.
Your D5500 gives you the following ways to monitor important picture-taking settings:
Information display: The left screen in Figure 1-15 gives you a look at this display, which appears when you first turn on the camera and then disappears after a few seconds. To redisplay it, take either of these steps:
Press the Info button. Press once to display the screen; press again to turn off the monitor.If your Information screen appears different than the ones shown in this book, don't freak out: The camera actually offers six Information screen display styles. You choose your favorite via the Info Display Format option on the Setup menu; Chapter 10 has details.
Live View display: In Live View mode, where you compose pictures using the monitor, the shooting data appears atop the live preview (refer to the right side of Figure 1-15). To switch to Live View mode, rotate the Live View switch (top of the camera, next to the Mode dial).
You can vary the type of data displayed on the Live View screen by pressing the Info button. See the last section of this chapter for information about this issue and about Live View shooting in general.
Viewfinder: You also can view some settings at the bottom of the viewfinder, as shown in Figure 1-16. The information that appears depends on the exposure mode.
You can display gridlines in the viewfinder, as shown on the right in the figure. The gridlines help you ensure the alignment of objects in your photo — for example, to make sure that the horizon is level in a landscape. When your eye is up to the viewfinder and the touchscreen is enabled, tap the right half of the monitor to toggle the grid on and off. (If the monitor is swung to the side of the camera, you can tap anywhere on the screen.) This trick works only if you stick with the default Touch Function setting on the Setup menu, however. You also can hide and display the grid via the Viewfinder Grid Display option, found on the Shooting/Display section of the Custom Setting menu.
Figure 1-15: Press the Info button to view picture-taking settings on the monitor.
If what you see in Figures 1-15 and 1-16 looks like a confusing mess, don't worry. Many settings relate to options that won't mean anything to you until you explore the advanced exposure modes (P, S, A, and M). But make note of the following bits of data that are helpful in any exposure mode:
Battery status indicator: A full-battery icon (refer to Figure 1-15) shows that the battery is fully charged; if the icon appears empty, look for your battery charger.
Just for good measure, the camera also displays a low-battery symbol in the viewfinder (refer to the left image in Figure 1-16). If the symbol blinks, the camera won't take more pictures until you charge the battery.
Figure 1-16: Picture settings also appear at the bottom of the viewfinder (left); enable the grid for help with aligning objects in the frame (right).
Also, remember that the viewfinder display, Live View screen, and Information screen automatically shut off after a specific period of inactivity to preserve battery power. See Chapter 10 for details about altering these auto-shutdown times, which you accomplish through the Auto Off Timers option, found in the Timers/AE Lock section of the Custom Setting menu. Normal is the default setting.
