Your in-camera settings?

[MRA]

I've been experimenting ever since I've gotten my D300s and thought I'd ask what people set their in-camera settings to? I'm talking about the picture control, the sharpening, the contrast, the ISO reduction etc..

My image quality is fine and my photo size is large. I set the JPEG compression to "optimal quality" rather than size priority. It just gives me really detailed photos and might drop from 1000 photos on the card to just over 700 when clear, but that doesn't worry me at all as I use an 8gb card and rarely take over 500 photos in one day.

My white balance is set on auto and I also turn active D-Lighting off which allows me to shoot at the full 8fps.

The best setting that I've found has to be "Set picture control". Rather than standard, I leave this set on "Vivid" with sharpening pushed up to 8, the contrast and saturation both pushed up one setting.

I just find that this gives me excellent colour and detail in all of my shots from sporting to landscapes to portraits and nearly completely eliminates the need to spend 5 minutes on each photo to try and pump the colours in post processing.

Finally, I change the file name of my images (the 3 letters) to MRA and also input copyright information.

I'm really a fan of the in-camera settings the D300s allows you to use and I'm very happy with the set picture control.

[twistednoodle]

Haven't tried changing the in camera setting to vivid and more sharp - could be the go since I too spend a bunch of time fiddling with the photos on the computer!

[Lost]

That interesting Matt; I found vivid too much for portraits. I prefer to have everything pretty flat and boring and use LR to correct each image to suit the subject

[jeff]

I use all 4 Banks in both my camera's, bank 1 is set up for P&S for so the or friends can use the camera, Bank 2 is “my” P&S settings (disconnected AF from shutter release etc), Bank 3 is for “Portrait's & Landscapes” and Bank 4 is ”BIF or Fast Movers”.

I usually set WB manually, D Lighting is on Low on the D300 and Auto on the D700, but all modes are set for neutral, although because I shoot exclusively in RAW it kind of does not really matter about picture settings, for me anyway, the camera setting are more important and these setting are the primary differences in how I set-up my banks.

If using Picrure COntrols though, my favourite rendering is “Portrait”, and for those Nikon users, I assume you have downloaded the Nikon pre-sets which you can find here, or a summary of the controls here.

MRA - setting the D Lighting to off has nothing to do with frame rate, and unless you are using a grip you are getting six frames per second, not eight. D Lighting is a really nice feature, BTW, and it is the one thing you set in-camera that you can't adjust later whilst editing in RAW, thats why I set my D300 D lighting to low, so its available to me if I need it during post. Given it has nothing to do with frame rate, why do you turn it off?



Regards


Jeff

[MRA]

I use all 4 Banks in both my camera's, bank 1 is set up for P&S for so the or friends can use the camera, Bank 2 is “my” P&S settings (disconnected AF from shutter release etc), Bank 3 is for “Portrait's & Landscapes” and Bank 4 is ”BIF or Fast Movers”.

I usually set WB manually, D Lighting is on Low on the D300 and Auto on the D700, but all modes are set for neutral, although because I shoot exclusively in RAW it kind of does not really matter about picture settings, for me anyway, the camera setting are more important and these setting are the primary differences in how I set-up my banks.

If using Picrure COntrols though, my favourite rendering is “Portrait”, and for those Nikon users, I assume you have downloaded the Nikon pre-sets which you can find here, or a summary of the controls here.

MRA - setting the D Lighting to off has nothing to do with frame rate, and unless you are using a grip you are getting six frames per second, not eight. D Lighting is a really nice feature, BTW, and it is the one thing you set in-camera that you can't adjust later whilst editing in RAW, thats why I set my D300 D lighting to low, so its available to me if I need it during post. Given it has nothing to do with frame rate, why do you turn it off?



Regards


Jeff

I use the MB-D10 with the D300s. When D-Lighting is on, it cuts the frame rate from 8 to 6. That's what the manual says, any way.

[jeff]

I use the MB-D10 with the D300s. When D-Lighting is on, it cuts the frame rate from 8 to 6. That's what the manual says, any way.

Really? Will check it out, thx.

[jeff]

I can find this in the manual:

"When Active D-Lighting is on, the capacity of the memory buffer drops
and additional time is required to record images (pg. 406). Matrix
metering is recommended (pg. 100). Although exposure is in fact
reduced to prevent loss of detail in highlights and shadows, highlights,
underexposed areas, and mid-tones are automatically adjusted to prevent
the resulting photograph from being underexposed. The [Brightness] and
[Contrast] Picture Control settings (pg. 151) can not be adjusted while active D-Lighting is in effect."

...which means the buffer fills (slightly) quicker than without Active D-Lighting which in turn reduces the burst rate, but I can't find anything about a reduced frame rate? I also looked up my BYTHOM D300 reference, nothing I can find there either.

I shoot with a grip on the D300, with Active D-Lighting on and (was) pretty sure I am getting 8fps. Although I to be honest I have never tested the actual frame rate, maybe I need to shoot a clock face over the weekend

Anyway, I reckon active D-Lighting is a beautiful thing, even if it levies a tax on the frame rate.


Cheers


Jeff

[jeff]

I know, it looks like I'm stalking this, but I'm not...I was bored and decided to re-aquiant myself with Thoms Guide, and renew my technical understanding of this wonderful camera

I think you are mistaken about Active D-Lighting slowing the frame rate, I can't find any reference to it, where do you think it is? I did find two references about the additional time an image sits in the buffer though, meaning the burst rate would be negatively impacted...so I tried it on my D300 and found the buffer estimate dropped by 2 – but in truth I didn't notice any real world difference in the burst rate, 15 frames in 12bit RAW before she slowed down. I think the the kind of card you use would have a bigger impact, but my observation is not science!

I also rediscovered how good Thom's reference manual is...I had completely forgotten that Active D-Lighting is feature to be used in conjunction with matrix metering. I often use centre weighted metering, so I might re-consider my setting in my Banks and check that Active D-Lighting is off where I am likely to use centre weighted metering (portraits, for example). And, since I now use LR much more than I use Capture NX, maybe its time to turn off Active D-Lighting since LR can't access the Nikon D-Lighting data inside the NEF file...

So, thanks for that MRA, I do love the technical elements of my photography and its time to re-familiarise myself with the esoteric aspects the D300 & D700.



Regards


Jeff

[MRA]

Either way I've switched D-Lighting to low. I can't really hear much of a frame rate difference so perhaps I'm mistaken in what I read when I first cracked open the manual.

If you have an iPhone or iTouch I would recommend downloading Ken Rockwells D300s guide. It's brilliant.

[Seesee]

Ken Rockwell.....hmmmmmmmm ?

I personally find too much emphasis is placed on frame rates { and megapixels }...not sure exactly what frame rate my D300 delivers in different modes, but doesn't seem to effect keeper rate very much....6 or 8 fps is still very respectable. For me I'd much prefer to decrease my fps rate a little in order to retain more useful image formats. I always shoot both RAW and jpeg fine but mostly edit in RAW, having jpeg as well makes for faster viewing and sorting through images. Often jpeg fine is quite adequate for most editing workflows, but RAW is always more controllable, and I'd hate to one day take that perfect image and not have the full editing capabilities of RAW if I needed it....I'd always advise shoot both RAW and jpeg

I always shoot in settings at standard/neutral and auto WB but never auto ISO and always set up least image compression in L size, D-lighting is always on and I generally use matrix metering under most situations.....I also shoot either in AV or full Manual. Mostly I will adjust colour saturation, sharpness, contrast etc in my editing program/s if need be rather than in camera for more precise control and effects depending on genre of photography. Some things of course like sharpness, exposure have to achieved right in camera

[jeff]

Ken Rockwell.....hmmmmmmmm ?

I personally find too much emphasis is placed on frame rates { and megapixels }...not sure exactly what frame rate my D300 delivers in different modes, but doesn't seem to effect keeper rate very much....6 or 8 fps is still very respectable. For me I'd much prefer to decrease my fps rate a little in order to retain more useful image formats.

Agree on Mr Rockwell, although I do think he does pretty well with lenses. And your also right about frame rates, there is not a lot between 6 and 8 fps, but I gotta say that works D3s at 11fps is impressive...

Frame rate for your D300 is 6 fps without a grip, and 8 fps with a grip and AA Batteries. My setting for BIF or Fast Movers is however set to Release + Focus, meaning the frame rate will be slowed if required to achieve a better AF Lock.