Nikon® D3400 For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016959685
ISBN 978-1-119-33624-2 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-33623-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-33632-7 (ebk)
Nikon. The name has been associated with top-flight photography equipment for generations. And the introduction of the D3400 has only enriched Nikon’s well-deserved reputation, offering all a terrific blend of features for capturing both still photos and high-definition digital movies. You even get tools for cropping, resizing, and enhancing pictures right in the camera. The D3400 even has built-in Bluetooth technology, which enables you to transfer photos wirelessly to certain smartphones, tablets, and other devices.
In fact, the D3400 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 D3400 For Dummies. With the help of this book, you can take full advantage of everything the D3400 has to offer.
Unlike many photography books, this one doesn’t require any previous knowledge of photography or digital imaging to make sense of things. In classic For Dummies style, everything is explained in easy-to-understand language, with lots of illustrations to help clear up any confusion.
Even if you have some photography experience — or quite a bit of experience, for that matter — this book has plenty to offer, however. I provide detailed information about all the camera’s advanced exposure, focus, and color controls, explaining not just what each feature does but why and how to put it to best use.
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 made 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:
www.dummies.com and enter the name of this book in the search box. You’ll find a link to a cheat sheet, which provides a handy reference guide to important camera settings and terms.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:
Additionally, replicas of some of your camera’s buttons and onscreen graphics appear in the margins and in some tables. I include these images to provide quick reminders of the appearance of the button or option being discussed.
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 D3400 is the perfect partner for your photographic journey, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to act as your tour guide.
Part 1
IN THIS PART …
Familiarize yourself with the basics of using your camera, from attaching lenses to navigating menus.
Find out how to select the exposure mode, Release mode, Image Size (resolution), and Image Quality (JPEG or Raw file type).
Discover options available for flash photography.
Get step-by-step help with shooting your first pictures in Auto Mode, Flash Off Mode, and the Scene modes.
Chapter 1
IN THIS CHAPTER
Preparing the camera for its first outing
Getting acquainted with camera features
Viewing and adjusting camera settings
Setting a few basic preferences
Restoring original camera settings
Shooting for the first time with a camera as sophisticated as the Nikon D3400 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 D3400. The first section walks you through initial camera setup; following that, you can get an overview of camera controls, discover how to view and adjust camera settings, and get my take on some basic setup 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 D3400, but some aren’t compatible with all camera features. For example, to enjoy autofocusing, you need an AF-P or AF-S lens. (The 18-55mm lens featured in this book and sold in a kit with the D3400 body is an AF-P lens.) Your camera manual offers details about lens compatibility.
The AF in AF-S and AF-P stands for autofocus. The S in AF-S stands for a silent wave focusing motor; the P refers to an autofocusing technology known as a “stepping motor.” Both are designed to deliver faster and quieter autofocusing. How you implement autofocusing differs between the two types, however. Read more about this issue later in this chapter, in the section “Familiarizing Yourself with the Lens.”
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.
If using a retractable lens, unlock and extend the lens.
The lens barrels of AF-P kit lenses, as well as some AF-S lenses, extend and retract. When you’re not shooting, you can retract the lens so that it takes up less space in your camera bag. But before you can take a picture or even access most camera menu items, you must unlock and extend the lens. A message appears on the camera monitor to remind you of this step.
To extend the lens, press the retractable-lens barrel button, highlighted in Figure 1-3, 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.
Set the camera language, time zone, date, and time.
When you power up the camera for the first time, the monitor displays a message asking you to select the menu language and set the time zone, date, and time. Navigate the screens and adjust the settings by using the Multi Selector and the OK button (refer to Figure 1-2):
(The later section “Ordering from camera menus” provides more help with using menus.)
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 9) and in certain photo programs, including Nikon ViewNX-i and Nikon Capture NX-D. (Refer to Chapter 10.)
Adjust the viewfinder to your eyesight.
Tucked behind the right side of the rubber eyepiece that surrounds the viewfinder is a dial that enables you to adjust the viewfinder focus to accommodate your eyesight. I highlighted the dial in Figure 1-4.
This step is critical: If you don’t adjust the viewfinder to your eyesight, subjects may appear sharp in the viewfinder when they aren’t actually in focus, and vice versa.
To set the viewfinder focus, remove the lens cap, look through the viewfinder, and then press the shutter button halfway to display data at the bottom of the viewfinder. (In dim lighting, the flash may pop up; ignore it for now and close the unit after you adjust the viewfinder.) Now rotate the dial until the data appears sharpest. The markings in the center of the viewfinder, which relate to autofocusing, also become more or less sharp.
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: Press this button while rotating the lens barrel to extend and retract the lens.
FIGURE 1-4: Rotate this dial to set the viewfinder focus for your eyesight.
That's all there is to it — the camera is now ready to go. From here, my recommendation is that you keep reading the rest of this chapter to familiarize yourself with the main camera features. But if you’re anxious to take a picture right away, I won’t think any less of you if you skip to Chapter 3, which guides you through the process of using the camera’s automatic shooting modes. Just promise that at some point, you’ll read the pages in between, because they actually do contain important information.