Nikon D800 and D800E Playback Menu

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Nikon D800 and D800E User's Guide:
Playback Menu
© 2012 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved.

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July 2012 D800 and D800E Review Nikon Reviews Nikon Lenses All Reviews

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Playback Menu

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How to Get Here

Press MENU, click to the left and then up to select the top "[ > ] " (play) icon. You'll then see PLAYBACK MENU on the top of the color LCD.

What it Does

It sets various playback options, including what data you see on playback.

What I Change

I activate the color histograms, the data, and set the image to show after every shot.

Delete top

I don't use this.

I do all my editing and selection in my computer and I do my in-camera deletions one-by-one with the trash can key.

This menu option is helpful if you want to delete all images while saving those for which you pressed the "? / Key" button to lock.

Playback Folder top

I set ALL.

The camera can record and play to and from from different folders.

D800 or D800E

This option plays all the shots made on your D800 or D800E, but ignores shots made on other cameras.

You shouldn't be using cards with data from other cameras since that might lead to errors. Always format a card anytime it's put into a camera.

All

All shows you everything on the card. I always leave my D800 and D800E set to ALL so I can see what's on there.

Current

Current ignores photos in folders other than the one to which you're recording.

If you create new folders for different scenes as you shoot, you won't see the other shots on the card!

Hide Image top

This is used to hide embarrassing photos of your friends from playing back before you get to download them.

The images are on the D800 and D800E, however when marked this way they will be skipped on playback just as if you deleted them.

Choose Select/set, and move the cursor around to select images, press the center to mark as Hide or Unhide, and press OK to save your preferences.

Now the camera won't play these images, even though it still tallies them in it's counter on the top right that reads "34/284."

You can detect a hidden image because this counter will skip as you select among them!

Playback Display Options top

This lets you select which data screens come up in rotation when you look at each image. By default, these are all OFF.

In order to set them, you have to select them in the usual way, and then remember to go to the top of the menu and click DONE. If you forget the DONE step, it completely ignores whatever you just set.

I tend to use all of these, but that's often because I'm testing something and need to see al their details as I shoot. For normal people the OVERVIEW and RGB HISOGRAM are probably all you want.

You can choose or refuse:

Basic Photo Info

Focus Point

I don't use this.

This shows which focus areas were active.

It shows the area you set, or the area(s) chosen by the D800 and D800E in it's clever dynamic modes.

It shows them as little red rectangles on the LCD as you play back. It only shows them for some modes, not all of them.

Additional Photo Info

None

This adds a screen that shows just the image full-screen, with no other junk on-screen.

It shows the image slightly larger than the usual display that puts some basic data along the bottom and a frame count at the top right.

I don't use this, but I'm tempted.

Highlights

I don't use this.

This is useless because even when set to RGB, it's really only reading the luminance channel and doesn't show when just one channel overloads, which is the nastiest sort of overexposure you're trying to see. Use the RGB histogram option below to see this properly.

RGB histogram

Yes, I use this!

See my Color Histogram page. This is the only way to see your exposure precisely; the regular histogram and blinking highlights are useless.

Data

This shows three pages of f/stop, white balance and other data to come up as you play back.

I use this.

Overview

This shows an abbreviated summary of the three pages of f/stop, white balance and other data shown in the DATA option above, but shows it all on one page along with a small image.

I use this as well. It's a very informative screen.

Copy Images top

Use this to copy images from card-to-card.

Image Review top

This sets the LCD to show each image after you shot it. Nikon hid this well!

It defaults to OFF to save the battery and annoy people.

I leave mine ON; the whole point of having a digital camera.

After Delete top

This is an odd one. You may choose to see the next or the previous image after you delete one. The third choice, "continue" keeps going in the same direction as you were going.

I leave this alone, at its Show Next default.

Rotate Tall top

Who translates these? I leave this off.

If you set it ON, your vertical shots, if shot with Auto Rotate ON, will playback as tiny little vertical images. Luckily the D800 and D800E are smart enough to magnify using the whole screen if you choose this mode.

The D800 and D800E are not smart enough to use the rotation sensor during playback, as Canon's point-and-shoots are. Many Canon point-and-shoots expand these images to full screen if you rotate the camera during playback! The D800 and D800E don't.

I don't use Rotate Tall.

Slide Show top

This must be hot in Japan. It lets you amaze your friends with an exciting slide show on the tiny screen.

I don't bother with this.

The best use of this is with an HDTV and the HDMI outputs. You could plug the D800 or D800E into a TV, HDTV or video projector with the conventional video output, but the conventional video resolution output is so bad everything will look awful.

Use the HDMI output with your HDTV or projector, and it will look better than displayed on most computers!

DPOF print order top

I never use this.

This lets you mark images for printing if you sorted and then printed directly from your D800 or D800E, and had a lab which could read this data.

I guess it's popular in Japan.

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Nikon D800 and D800E Review

AUTOFOCUS

Setting the D800 and D800E's Autofocus System

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