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Nikon
D300s User's Guide:
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© 2009 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.
Nikon D300s and 35mm f/1.8 AF-S. enlarge.
October 2009 D300s Review More Nikon Reviews
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How to Get Here
Press MENU, scrolling to the left and selecting the bottom option which has an icon resembling another menu with a check. You'll see MY MENU on the color LCD.
What it Does
My Menu lets you put all the menu items you actually use in one place.
You may change this menu to be the common RECENT SETTINGS menu. TO do this, press MENU, get to the bottom left MY MENU tab, go down to CHOOSE TAB, and select RECENT SETTINGS.
If you choose RECENT SETTINGS, the D300s populates this menu for you and you cannot chose and remove your own items.
What I Do with It
This feature helps immensely, since Nikon hides so many important menu items in weird locations.
I have my My Menu menu programmed to: top
ISO sensitivity auto control
I turn ISO AUTO on and off here as I go between auto and manual exposure. I'll be able to remove this whenever Nikon patches the firmware defect that leaves AUTO ISO active in manual exposure mode.
ISO sensitivity settings
In this menu I set the lowest shutter speed depending on what I'm shooting. I set 1/100 if shooting people, 1/250 if shooting a long tele, and 1/8 if shooting wide landscapes.
Set Picture Control
My top item, to which I can get by assigning the FUNC button, lets me select among the various picture controls. I use my VIVID setting with +3 saturation for photos of things, and NEUTRAL with +1 saturation for photos of people.
Active folder
I use this to create a new folder for each subject I shoot.
Image review
Sometimes I want to see each shot when shooting slowly, some times when shooting bursts I don't want the monitor popping in by itself. Here is where I set this.
Ideally Nikon needs a firmware improvement whereby we can switch between these by holding the Play button for several seconds, but Nikon hasn't gotten there yet.
Non-CPU lens data
Here is where I set and select among my various manual focus lenses. You can skip this if you only shoot AF lenses, or just one manual lens. The D300s recalls the last setting whenever you pop on a manual lens, so if you only have one, set it and the D300s recognizes it by magic. If you use two or more (or use a manual-focus zoom), this lets you select which lens or focal length.
Battery info
If you're the sort of person like me who watches your digital clocks to be sure they count up properly, this menu lets you read your battery power to the nearest single percent. It also tells you how many shots you've already made on this charge, which can help you predict how many shots are left. You'll need Algebra to calculate remaining shots; the D300s doesn't do it for you.
To calculate, remaining shots = (pic meter) / (1-(bat. meter/100))
Charging life is the health of your battery. I've made many tens of thousands of shots on my many Nikons, and have never seen it read anything other than 0 (new). See How to Keep Your Batteries Healthy.
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Thanks for reading!
Ken
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