Nikon® D7500™ For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2017953579
ISBN 978-1-119-44832-7 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-44806-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-44808-2 (ebk);
Nikon. The name has been associated with top-flight photography equipment for generations, and the D7500 only enriches that reputation, offering terrific features for capturing both still photos and high-definition digital movies. But the fun doesn’t stop after the shoot: On top of everything else, the D7500 enables you to transfer photos wirelessly to certain smartphones and tablets so that you can instantly share images online. You can even use your smart devices as a wireless remote control.
In fact, the D7500 offers so many features that sorting them all out can be more than a little confusing. And therein lies the point of Nikon D7500 For Dummies: With the help of this book, you can take full advantage of everything the camera has to offer, even if you’re brand new to photography.
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.
However, even if you have some photography experience — or quite a bit of experience, for that matter — this book has plenty to offer. 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 several 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 to your camera’s buttons, controls, and exposure modes.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 D7500 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.
Get step-by-step help with shooting your first pictures in Auto mode.
Find out how to select the exposure mode, Release mode, Image Size (resolution), Image Quality (JPEG or Raw file type), and Image Area.
Discover secrets to better flash photography, whether you stick with Auto mode or step up to advanced exposure modes.
Chapter 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 D7500 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.
Fear not: This chapter provides information to help you get comfortable with your D7500. 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 additional setup options. At the end of the chapter, I explain how to take pictures using Auto mode, which offers point-and-shoot simplicity until you're ready for more advanced options.
After unpacking your camera, you have to assemble a few parts. In addition to the camera body and the supplied battery (charge it before the first use), you need a lens and a memory card. Later sections in this chapter provide details about lenses and memory cards, but here's what you need to know up front:
With camera, lens, battery, and memory 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.
Set the language, time zone, and date.
When you power up the camera for the first time, you can't do anything until you take this step.
The easiest option is to use the touchscreen. To select an option, just tap it as you do on any touchscreen device. If you see an OK symbol in the lower-right corner of the screen, tap it to finalize your selection and return to the previous screen. To exit without making changes, tap the exit arrow in the upper-right corner of the screen.
You also can use the Multi Selector and OK button, labeled in Figure 1-2, to navigate menus. Press the edges of the Multi Selector up, down, right, or left to highlight an option; press OK to select it. You can find more details about selecting menu options 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.
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 labeled in Figure 1-3, officially known as the diopter adjustment dial, until the 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.
Adjust the monitor position as desired.
You can lift the monitor up and away from the back of the camera and then tilt it up or down to view the screen at different angles, as shown in Figure 1-4. To return the monitor to its original position, gently push it inward toward the back of the camera.
If you prefer to use the monitor instead of the viewfinder to compose your photos, switch to Live View mode.
Live View enables you to compose photos using the monitor rather than by looking through the viewfinder. You must use Live View to record movies. To shift to Live View for still photography, rotate the Live View switch to the still-camera icon, as shown in Figure 1-5. Then press the LV button in the center of the switch. The viewfinder goes dark, and the live preview appears on the monitor, as shown in the figure.
To set the camera to Movie mode, rotate the Live View switch to the movie-camera symbol and then press the LV button. You can then start and stop recording by pressing the red button on top of the camera.
To return to viewfinder shooting, press the LV button again.
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: Rotate this dial to set the viewfinder focus for your eyesight.
FIGURE 1-4: You can tilt the monitor up to view the screen from a variety of angles.
FIGURE 1-5: Press the LV button to toggle Live View on and off.
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 detail all these controls; this section provides just a basic “what's this thing do?” guide.
Starting in the upper-left corner and working clockwise around the camera back, you find these controls, shown in Figure 1-6:
FIGURE 1-6: Here’s a look at the backside controls.
Zoom Out/Thumbnails/Metering Mode: In playback mode, pressing the button enables you to display multiple image thumbnails on the screen and to reduce the magnification of the current photo. In Live View mode, the button reduces the magnification of the live preview.
During viewfinder photography, this button provides access to the Metering mode, which determines which part of the frame the autoexposure system uses to calculate exposure. Chapter 4 has details.
Zoom In/Qual (Quality): In playback mode, pressing the button magnifies the image and also reduces the number of thumbnails displayed at a time. Note the plus sign in the middle of the magnifying glass — plus for zoom in.
In picture-taking mode, pressing the button gives you fast access to the Image Quality and Image Size options, both of which you can explore in Chapter 2. However, this function works only for viewfinder photography; in Live View mode, pressing the button magnifies the display so that you can check focus closely.
Your virtual tour begins with the bird's-eye view shown in Figure 1-7. There are a number of features of note here:
Mode dial: Use this dial to select an exposure mode, which determines how much control you have over exposure and other camera features. See Chapter 2 for an introduction to each mode.
Before you can rotate the dial, you must press and hold the Mode dial unlock button, labeled in Figure 1-7.
Focal plane mark: Should you need to know the exact distance between your subject and the camera, the focal plane indicator labeled in Figure 1-7 is key. This mark indicates the plane at which light coming through the lens is focused onto the image sensor. Basing your measurement on this mark produces a more accurate camera-to-subject distance than using the end of the lens or some other external point on the camera body as your reference point.
FIGURE 1-7: Press and hold the Mode dial’s unlock button before rotating the dial.
Figure 1-8 offers a look at the front-right side of the camera, which sports the following features:
Function (Fn) buttons: The Fn1 and Fn2 buttons are customizable buttons that you can set up to access certain features that don’t already have their own buttons.
To find out how to assign other functions to the buttons, check out Chapter 11.
FIGURE 1-8: You get two Function buttons that can be set to perform a variety of operations.
The front-left side of the camera, shown in Figure 1-9, sports these features:
FIGURE 1-9: Press the Flash button to use the built-in flash in P, S, A, or M mode.
You can connect a variety of accessories by plugging them into the openings hidden under the two doors on the left side of the camera. Figure 1-10 offers a look at what’s behind each door.
FIGURE 1-10: You can connect a variety of devices, including an external microphone and headphone, to the camera.
The top panel has a jack for connecting an external microphone, a port for connecting a USB cable (for image download to your computer), and an HDMI-out port, for connecting your camera to a TV.
Under the lower door, you find a headphone jack and accessory terminal, where you can attach devices such as the Nikon GP-1/GP-1A GPS (Global Positioning System) unit; the ML-L3, WR-1, and WR-R10/WR-T10 wireless remote controllers; and the MC-DC2 wired remote control. I don’t cover these devices, so refer to the device instruction manuals to find out more.
On the bottom of the camera, you find the battery chamber and a socket that enables you to mount the camera on a tripod that uses a ¼-inch screw.
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 by tapping the screen or by dragging one or two fingers across the screen. For example, you can tap a menu option to select it. And during picture playback, you can magnify a photo by placing your thumb and forefinger in the center of the screen and then dragging outward — a maneuver Nikon refers to as a stretch. Dragging inward from the edges of the screen — pinching — reduces the image magnification.
Press the Menu button to display the camera menus.
Sadly, there's no touchscreen control that takes you to the menus.
Tap the Setup menu icon, labeled in the left screen in Figure 1-11.
The options on that menu appear to the right of the icons.
Set your touchscreen preferences.
First, tap Enable/Disable Touch Controls to display these choices:
Tap your choice to return to the Touch Controls screen. Or, to exit without making any changes, tap the exit arrow in the top-right corner of the screen, labeled on the right in Figure 1-11.
The Full-frame Playback Flicks setting on the Touch Controls screen determines which direction you flick to see photos in the order you took them. At the default setting, a right-to-left flick scrolls from photo 1 to photo 2, and a flick in the other direction takes you back to picture 1. Choose left-to-right to reverse things. Again, tap your choice or tap the exit arrow to leave the settings screen without making any changes.
FIGURE 1-11: Enable or disable the touchscreen via this Setup menu option.
Some final tips about the touchscreen:
Don't apply a screen protector. Applying a screen protector can actually damage the monitor and make it less responsive to your touch.
To display 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 menus. To the right of the icons 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 D7500 Menus
Symbol |
Open This Menu … |
To Access These Functions |
|
Playback |
Viewing, deleting, and protecting pictures |
|
Photo Shooting |
Basic photography settings |
|
Movie Shooting |
Options related to movie recording |
|
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 a menu listing the 20 most recently used menu options |
Here's how to work your way though the menu maze:
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 triangle or to press the Multi Selector right to display a submenu.
During shooting, 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. When you open the Retouch and Playback menus, the camera dims options that can’t be used with the currently selected photo.
Select items from the Custom Setting menu. Displaying the Custom Setting menu, represented by the Pencil icon, takes you to a screen that contains submenus that carry the labels A through G, 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, 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 seventh 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. The idea is to save you the time of wading through all the other menus to look for these options.
To remove an item from the Recent Settings menu, use the Multi Selector to highlight the item and press the Delete button. Press Delete again to confirm your decision. (If you tap the item in the menu, you pull up that item's options screen.)
FIGURE 1-13: The Custom Setting menu contains seven submenus of advanced options.
FIGURE 1-14: My Menu enables you to design a custom menu; Recent Settings offers quick access to the last 20 menu options you selected.