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    Nikon D5100 For Dummies
    Nikon D5100 For Dummies
    Nikon D5100 For Dummies
    Ebook600 pages5 hours

    Nikon D5100 For Dummies

    By Julie Adair King

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    About this ebook

    A picture-perfect beginner guide to the new Nikon D5100

    Eager to take a shot at using the exciting new Nikon D5100? Then this is the introductory book for you! Aimed at first-time DSLR shooters who need a friendly guide on how to use their camera, this straightforward book is packed with full-color images that help demonstrate how to use features of the Nikon D5100. Coverage explores the on-board effects, low-light settings, and automatic HDR shooting. Clear explanations detail the ways in which you can use the new features of the Nikon D5100 to add unique shots to your portfolio while an explanation of photography terms gets you confident and savvy with this fun DSLR camera.

    • Covers basic camera controls and functions, shooting in auto mode, setting photo quality, and navigating menus and the view screen
    • Introduces the basics of photography, including the settings that control lighting, exposure, focus, and color
    • Addresses the new low-light and HDR settings
    • Encourages you to use the new onboard effects features and shares tips for improving images with editing software

    Get a grasp on the fun Nikon D5100 with this fun and friendly guide!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWiley
    Release dateJul 15, 2011
    ISBN9781118160039
    Nikon D5100 For Dummies

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      Book preview

      Nikon D5100 For Dummies - Julie Adair King

      Part I

      Fast Track to Super Snaps

      9781118118191-pp0101.eps

      In this part . . .

      Making sense of all the controls on your D5100 isn’t something you can do in an afternoon — heck, in a week, or maybe even a month. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t take great pictures today. By using your camera’s point-and-shoot automatic modes, you can capture terrific images with very little effort. All you do is compose the scene, and the camera takes care of almost everything else.

      This part shows you how to take best advantage of your camera’s automatic features and also addresses some basic setup steps, such as adjusting the viewfinder to your eyesight and getting familiar with the camera menus, buttons, and other controls. In addition, chapters in this part explain how to obtain the very best picture quality, whether you shoot in an automatic or manual mode, and how to use your camera’s Live View and movie-making features.

      9781118118191-pp0103.tif9781118118191-pp0102.tif9781118118191-pp0104.tif
      Chapter 1

      Getting the Lay of the Land

      In This Chapter

      arrow Familiarizing yourself with the monitor, viewfinder, and lens

      arrow Working with a memory card

      arrow Exploring external controls and menus

      arrow Using the Shooting Information, Quick Settings, and help screens

      arrow Customizing basic operations

      arrow Restoring the camera’s default settings

      I still remember the day that I bought my first single-lens reflex (SLR) camera. I was excited to finally move up from my one-button point-and-shoot camera, but I was a little anxious, too. My new pride and joy sported several unfamiliar buttons and dials, and the explanations in the camera manual clearly were written for someone with an engineering degree.

      You may be feeling similarly insecure if your Nikon D5100 is your first SLR, and doubly so if it’s both your first SLR and first digital camera. So to help you get a little more comfortable, this chapter introduces you to each external camera control, explains how to navigate menus, and covers a few other important basics, such as how to work with lenses, memory cards, and the D5100’s cool articulating monitor.

      9781118118191-co0101.tif

      Using the Articulating Monitor

      When you first take the camera out of its box, the monitor is positioned with the screen facing inward, protecting it from scratches and smudges, as shown on the left in Figure 1-1. It’s a good idea to place the monitor in this position when you’re not using the camera. When you’re ready to start shooting or reviewing your photos, you can lock the monitor in the traditional position on the camera back, as shown on the right in Figure 1-1. Or for more flexibility, you can swing the monitor out and away from the camera body and then rotate it to find the best viewing angle, as shown in Figure 1-2.

      9781118118191-fg0101.eps

      Figure 1-1: Here you see just two of the possible monitor positions.

      9781118118191-fg0102.tif

      Figure 1-2: You can angle the monitor to get the best view of things.

      Because playing with the monitor is no doubt one of the first things you did after unpacking your new camera, I won’t waste space walking you through the process of adjusting the screen. (If you need help, the camera manual shows you what to do.) But I do want to offer a few monitor-related tips:

      check.png Don’t force things. Although the monitor assembly is sturdy, treat it with respect as you adjust the screen position. The monitor twists only in certain directions, and it’s easy to forget which way it’s supposed to move. So if you feel resistance, don’t force things — you could break the monitor. Instead, rely on that feeling of resistance to remind you to turn the screen the other way.

      check.png Watch the crunch factor. When positioning the monitor back into the camera (whether face in or face out), take care that nothing gets in the way. Use a lens brush or soft cloth to clean the monitor housing on the camera back so there’s nothing in the way that could damage the monitor.

      check.png Clean smart. It’s virtually impossible to keep nose prints and fingerprints off the monitor — well, it is for me, anyway. When you get the urge to clean the screen, use only the special cloths and cleaning solutions made for this purpose. (You can find them in any camera store.) Don’t use paper products, such as paper towels, because they can contain wood fibers that can scratch the LCD surface.

      One other housekeeping warning: Never use a can of compressed air to blow dust off the camera — the air is cold and can crack the monitor.

      check.png Live View photography has some drawbacks. The Live View feature enables you to compose your photos using the monitor rather than the viewfinder. Live View may feel more comfortable than using the viewfinder if you’re stepping up to the D5100 from a point-and-shoot camera that didn’t have a viewfinder. But the monitor is one of the biggest drains on battery power, and autofocusing in Live View mode is slower than when you use the viewfinder. For these reasons and a few others you can explore in Chapter 4, I stick with the viewfinder for most regular photography and reserve Live View for movie recording. (You can’t use the viewfinder when shooting movies.)

      Adjusting the Viewfinder to Your Eyesight

      Tucked behind the right side of the rubber eyepiece that surrounds the viewfinder is a tiny dial that enables you to adjust the focus of your viewfinder to accommodate your eyesight. Figure 1-3 offers a close-up look at the dial, which is officially known as the diopter adjustment control.

      9781118118191-fg0103.eps

      Figure 1-3: Use the diopter adjustment control to set the viewfinder focus for your eyesight.

      warning_4c.eps If you don’t adjust the viewfinder, scenes that appear out of focus through the viewfinder may actually be sharply focused through the lens, and vice versa. Here’s how to make the necessary adjustment:

      1. Remove the lens cap.

      2. Look through the viewfinder and concentrate on the little black marks clustered around the center portion of the screen.

      The marks represent the camera’s autofocusing points; the right side of Figure 1-3 shows you what they look like.

      3. Rotate the dial until the viewfinder marks appear sharp.

      Don’t worry about actually focusing the lens on your subject — just pay attention to the sharpness of the autofocus markings.

      tip_4c.eps If you have a hard time making out the autofocus points, give the shutter button a half press and release it. You then see some exposure data at the bottom of the viewfinder display. Some people find it easier to reference that data rather than the autofocus points when adjusting the viewfinder focus.

      warning_4c.eps The Nikon manual warns you not to poke yourself in the eye as you adjust the viewfinder focus. This warning seems so obvious that I laugh every time I read it — which makes me feel doubly stupid the next time I poke myself in the eye as I perform this maneuver.

      Looking at Lenses

      One of the biggest differences between a point-and-shoot camera and an SLR camera is the lens. With an SLR, you can swap out lenses to suit different photographic needs, going from a macro lens, which enables you to shoot extreme close-ups, to a telephoto lens, which lets you photograph subjects from a distance, for example. In addition, an SLR lens has a movable focusing ring that lets you focus manually instead of relying on the camera’s autofocus mechanism. The next few sections explain the basics of working with this critical part of your camera.

      Attaching and removing lenses

      You can mount a wide range of lenses on your D5100, but some lenses aren’t fully compatible with all camera features. For example, to enjoy autofocusing, you need an AF-S or AF-I lens. (If you bought the so-called kit lens — the 18–55mm zoom lens that Nikon offers as a bundle with the camera body — you own an AF-S lens.) Your camera manual offers more details about lens compatibility.

      technicalstuff_4c.eps The AF in AF-S stands for autofocus, and the S stands for silent wave, a Nikon autofocus technology. AF-I lenses are older, professional-grade (expensive) lenses that are no longer made but may be available on the secondhand market.

      Whatever lens you buy, follow these steps to mount it on the camera body:

      1. Turn off the camera and remove the cap that covers the lens mount on the front of the camera.

      2. Remove the cap that covers the back of the lens.

      3. Hold the lens in front of the camera so that the little white dot on the lens aligns with the matching dot on the camera body.

      Official photography lingo uses the term mounting index instead of little white dot. Either way, you can see the markings in question in Figure 1-4.

      9781118118191-fg0104.eps

      Figure 1-4: When attaching the lens, rotate it in the direction indicated by the arrow.

      remember_4c.eps Figures in this book show the D5100 with its kit lens. If you buy a different lens, check your lens manual for complete operating instructions.

      4. Keeping the dots aligned, position the lens on the camera’s lens mount.

      When you do so, grip the lens by its back collar, not the movable, forward end of the lens barrel.

      5. Turn the lens in a counterclockwise direction until the lens clicks into place.

      To put it another way, turn the lens toward the side of the camera that sports the shutter button, as indicated by the red arrow in the figure.

      6. On a lens that has an aperture ring, set and lock the ring so the aperture is set at the highest f-stop number.

      Check your lens manual to find out whether your lens sports an aperture ring and how to adjust it. (The D5100 kit lens doesn’t.) After locking the aperture on the lens, use the normal camera controls to adjust the f-stop setting. To find out more about apertures and f-stops, see Chapter 7.

      To remove a lens, press the lens-release button, labeled in Figure 1-4, and then turn the lens toward that button — that is, the opposite of what the arrow indicates in the figure — until it detaches from the lens mount. Put the rear protective cap onto the back of the lens and, if you aren’t putting another lens on the camera, cover the lens mount with its protective cap, too.

      warning_4c.eps Always attach or switch lenses in a clean environment to reduce the risk of getting dust, dirt, and other contaminants inside the camera or lens. Changing lenses on a sandy beach, for example, isn’t a good idea. For added safety, point the camera body slightly down when performing this maneuver; doing so helps prevent any flotsam in the air from being drawn into the camera by gravity.

      Choosing a focusing method (auto or manual)

      To take advantage of the D5100’s autofocusing system, you must use an AF-S or AF-I lens. For times when you attach a lens that doesn’t support autofocusing or the autofocus system has trouble locking on your subject, you can focus manually. (If you’ve never used manual focus, don’t be intimidated — there’s really nothing to it.)

      Set the focusing method via the A/M switch, labeled in Figure 1-5. Choose A for autofocusing; M for manual focusing. Again, the figure features the kit lens; if you use a different lens, check the lens instruction guide for information on how to set the focusing method.

      Chapter 8 offers complete details on focusing, but here are a few basics on focusing with the kit lens and others that use the same design:

      check.png To autofocus, press and hold the shutter button halfway. Whether focus is locked at that point and which area of the frame is used to set the focusing distance depends on two options you can explore in Chapter 8: Focus mode and AF-Area mode. At the default settings, the camera typically focuses on the closest object and locks focus with your half-press of the shutter button. However, for moving subjects, focus may be adjusted up to the time you take the shot.

      check.png To focus manually, rotate the focusing ring on the lens barrel. The location of the focusing ring varies from lens to lens; Figure 1-5 shows you where to find the ring on the kit lens.

      warning_4c.eps Remember to set the lens switch to the M position before you rotate the focusing ring! Otherwise, you can damage the lens.

      check.png If you have trouble focusing, you may be too close to your subject. Every lens has a minimum focusing distance, which you can find in your lens manual. For the kit lens, it’s about 11".

      9781118118191-fg0105.eps

      Figure 1-5: Set the focusing method (auto or manual) via the A/M switch.

      check.png Some subjects make autofocusing difficult. Highly reflective objects, subjects behind fences, scenes that contain little contrast, and dim lighting are just some causes of autofocus problems. The easiest solution when you can’t get the camera to target your subject is to focus manually.

      check.png remember_4c.eps Be sure to adjust the viewfinder to accommodate your eyesight. Otherwise, you can’t accurately gauge focus. The section Adjusting the Viewfinder to Your Eyesight, earlier in this chapter, provides help with this adjustment.

      Zooming in and out

      If you bought a zoom lens, it has a movable zoom ring. The location of the zoom ring on the D5100 kit lens is shown in Figure 1-5. To zoom in or out, rotate the ring.

      The numbers at the edge of the zoom ring, by the way, represent focal lengths. If that term is new to you, Chapter 8 explains it fully. In the meantime, just know that when the kit lens is mounted on the camera, the number that’s aligned with the lens mounting index (the white dot) represents the current focal length. In Figure 1-5, for example, the focal length is 45mm. Some lenses use a different marking, so check your lens manual if you use a lens other than the kit lens.

      Using a VR (Vibration Reduction) lens

      The 18–55mm kit lens, as well as many other Nikon lenses, offers Vibration Reduction, indicated by the initials VR in the lens name. Vibration Reduction attempts to compensate for small amounts of camera shake that are common when photographers handhold their cameras and use a slow shutter speed (long exposure time), a lens with a long focal length (telephoto lens), or both. That camera movement during the exposure can produce blurry images. Although Vibration Reduction can’t work miracles, it enables most people to capture sharper handheld shots in many situations than they otherwise could.

      Here’s what you need to know about taking best advantage of this feature:

      check.png Enabling Vibration Reduction on the kit lens: Turn Vibration Reduction on or off by using the VR switch, labeled in Figure 1-6.

      check.png For other lenses, check the lens manual to find out whether your lens offers a similar feature. On non-Nikon lenses, it may go by another name: image stabilization, optical stabilization, anti-shake, vibration compensation, and so on.

      check.png Vibration Reduction is initiated when you depress the shutter button halfway. If you pay close attention, the image in the viewfinder may appear to be a little blurry immediately after you take the picture. That’s a normal result of the Vibration Reduction operation and doesn’t indicate a problem with your camera or focus.

      check.png warning_4c.eps With the kit lens, turn off Vibration Reduction when you mount the camera on a tripod. When you use a tripod, Vibration Reduction can have detrimental effects because the system may try to adjust for movement that isn’t actually occurring. This recommendation assumes that the tripod is locked down so that the camera is immovable.

      check.png With other lenses, check the instruction manuals for recommendations about tripod shooting. In some cases, the manufacturers may recommend that you leave the system turned on or select a special setting when you use a tripod or pan the camera (move it horizontally or vertically as you take the picture). For the kit lens, however, you don’t need to disable Vibration Reduction when panning.

      9781118118191-fg0106.eps

      Figure 1-6: Turn off Vibration Reduction when you use a tripod.

      Working with Memory Cards

      Instead of recording images on film, digital cameras store pictures on memory cards. Your D5100 uses a specific type of memory card — an SD card (for Secure Digital).

      technicalstuff_4c.eps Most SD cards sold today carry the designation SDHC (for High Capacity) or SDXC (for eXtended Capacity), depending on how many gigabytes (GB) of data they hold. SDHC cards hold from 4GB to 32GB of data; the SDXC moniker is assigned to cards with capacities greater than 32GB.

      The following list offers a primer in the care and feeding of your memory cards:

      check.png Inserting a card: Turn off the camera and then put the card in the card slot with the label facing the back of the camera, as shown in Figure 1-7. Push the card into the slot until it clicks into place; the memory card access light (labeled in Figure 1-7) blinks for a second to let you know the card is inserted properly.

      9781118118191-fg0107.eps

      Figure 1-7: Insert the card with the label facing the camera back.

      check.png Formatting a card: The first time you use a new memory card or insert a card that’s been used in other devices (such as an MP3 player), you need to format it. Formatting ensures that the card is properly prepared to record your pictures. Here’s what you need to know about this important housekeeping task:

      warning_4c.eps • Formatting erases everything on your memory card. So before formatting, be sure that you have copied any pictures or other data to your computer.

      • Format the card by using the Format Memory Card option on the Setup menu. (The upcoming section Ordering from Camera Menus explains how to use the menus, if you need help.) Some computer programs enable you to format cards as well, but it’s not a good idea to go that route. Your camera is better equipped to optimally format cards.

      • The blinking letters For in the viewfinder mean that the card requires formatting. On the monitor, the camera displays a less subtle message: This card is not formatted. Format the card. Either way, the camera won’t let you take any pictures until you give in to its formatting demand.

      check.png Removing a card: After making sure that the memory card access light is off, indicating that the camera has finished recording your most recent photo, turn off the camera. Open the memory card door, depress the memory card slightly until you hear a little click, and then let go. The card pops halfway out of the slot, enabling you to grab it by the tail and remove it.

      remember_4c.eps If you turn on the camera when no card is installed, the symbol [-E-] blinks in the lower-right corner of the viewfinder. If the Shooting Information screen is displayed on the monitor, that screen also nudges you to insert a memory card. If you do have a card in the camera and you get these messages, try taking it out and reinserting it.

      check.png Handling cards: Don’t touch the gold contacts on the back of the card. (See the left card in Figure 1-8.) When cards aren’t in use, store them in the protective cases they came in or in a memory card wallet. Keep cards away from extreme heat and cold as well.

      check.png Locking cards: The tiny switch on the side of the card, labeled lock switch in Figure 1-8, enables you to lock your card, which prevents any data from being erased or recorded to the card. Press the switch toward the bottom of the card to lock the card contents; press it toward the top of the card to unlock the data. (If you insert a locked card into the camera, you see a message on the monitor alerting you to the fact, and the symbol [d blinks in the viewfinder.)

      9781118118191-fg0108.eps

      Figure 1-8: Avoid touching the gold contacts on the card.

      You also can protect individual images on a card from accidental erasure by using the camera’s Protect feature, which I cover in Chapter 5.

      check.png Using Eye-Fi memory cards: Your camera works with Eye-Fi memory cards, which are special cards that enable you to transmit your files wirelessly to other devices. That’s a cool feature, but unfortunately, the cards themselves are more expensive than regular cards and require some configuring that I don’t have room to cover in this book. For more details, visit www.eye.fi.

      Do you need high-speed memory cards?

      Secure Digital (SD) memory cards are rated according to speed classes: Class 2, Class 4, Class 6, and Class 10, with the number indicating the minimum number of megabytes (units of computer data) that can be transferred per second. A Class 2 card, for example, has a minimum transfer speed of 2 megabytes, or MB, per second. Of course, with the speed increase comes a price increase, which leads to the question: Do you really have a need for speed?

      The answer is maybe. If you shoot a lot of movies with the D5100, I recommend a Class 6 or 10 card, as does Nikon — the faster data-transfer rate helps ensure smooth movie-recording and playback performance. For still photography, users who shoot at the highest resolution or prefer the Raw (NEF) file format may also gain from high-speed cards; both options increase file size and, thus, the time needed to store the picture on the card. (See Chapter 2 for details.)

      As for picture downloading, how long it takes files to shuffle from card to computer depends not just on card speed, but also on the capabilities of your computer and, if you use a memory card reader to download files, on the speed of that device. (Chapter 6 covers the file-downloading process.)

      Long story short, if you want to push your camera to its performance limits, a high-speed card is worth the expense, especially for video recording. But if you’re primarily interested in still photography or you already own slower-speed cards, try using them first — you may find that they’re more than adequate for most shooting scenarios.

      remember_4c.eps If you do use Eye-Fi cards, enable and disable wireless transmission via the Eye-Fi Upload option on the Setup menu. When no Eye-Fi card is installed in the camera, this menu option disappears.

      Exploring External Camera Controls

      Scattered across your camera’s exterior are numerous controls that you use to change picture-taking settings, review and edit your photos, and perform various other operations. In later chapters, I discuss all your camera’s functions in detail and provide the exact steps to follow to access them. This section provides just a basic road map to the external controls plus a quick introduction to each.

      Topside controls

      Your virtual tour begins with the bird’s-eye view shown in Figure 1-9. There are a number of controls of note here:

      check.png On/Off switch and shutter button: Okay, I’m pretty sure you already figured out this combo button. But you may not be aware that you need to press the shutter button in two stages: Press and hold the button halfway and wait for the camera to initiate exposure metering and, if you’re using autofocusing, to set the focusing distance. Then press the button the rest of the way to take the picture. See the Chapter 3 section related to the Auto and Auto Flash Off exposure modes for more picture-taking basics.

      check.png 9781118118191-ma008.eps Exposure Compensation button: This button activates Exposure Compensation, a feature that enables you to tweak exposure when working in three of your camera’s autoexposure modes: P (programmed autoexposure), A (aperture-priority autoexposure), and S (shutter-priority autoexposure). Press the button while rotating the Command dial to set the amount of Exposure Compensation. (Chapter 7 explains.) In M (manual exposure) mode, you press this button while rotating the Command dial to adjust the aperture setting.

      check.png 9781118118191-ma050.eps Info button: Press this button to display the Shooting Information screen on the camera monitor. The screen not only enables you to easily view the current picture-taking settings but also is the pathway to the Quick Settings screen, through which you can adjust some settings more quickly than by using the camera menus. See the upcoming section Monitoring Shooting Settings for details. To turn off the screen, press the Info button again.

      tip_4c.eps You also can display the screen by pressing the Information Edit button (described in the next section) or by pressing the shutter button halfway and releasing it. I find these methods easier, so I use the Info button only when I want to turn off the screen.

      9781118118191-fg0109.eps

      Figure 1-9: The tiny pictures on the Mode dial represent the automatic exposure modes known as Scene modes.

      check.png Live View switch: As its name implies, this switch turns Live View on and off. As soon as you turn on Live View, the scene in front of the lens appears on the monitor, and you no longer can see anything through the viewfinder. You then can compose a still photo using the monitor or begin recording a movie. Turn off Live View to return to normal, through-the-viewfinder still photography. Chapter 4 details Live View photography and movie recording.

      check.png 9781118118191-ma114.eps Movie-record button: After shifting to Live View mode, press this button to start recording a movie using the default recording settings. (See Chapter 4 to find out how to adjust the settings.) Press again to stop recording.

      check.png Mode dial: With this dial, labeled in Figure 1-9, you set the camera to fully automatic, semi-automatic, or manual exposure mode. Setting the dial to Effects enables you to apply special effects as the image or movie is captured. Chapter 2 introduces you to all the exposure modes.

      check.png AF-assist lamp: In dim lighting, the camera may emit a beam of light from this lamp when you use autofocusing. The light helps the camera find its focusing target. If you’re shooting in a setting where the light is distracting or otherwise annoying, you can disable it via the Built-In AF-Assist Illuminator option, found in the Autofocus section of the Custom Setting menu. On the flip side, there are some situations in which the lamp is automatically disabled: It doesn’t light in Live View mode or during movie recording, for example.

      The AF-assist lamp also shoots out light when you use red-eye reduction flash and the Self-Timer shutter-release mode, both covered in Chapter 2. You can’t disable the lamp for these two functions.

      check.png Flash hot shoe: A hot shoe is a connection for attaching an external flash head. When not in use, the contacts on the shoe are protected by a little black cover; remove the cover to expose the contacts, as shown in Figure 1-9. Chapters 3 and 7 discuss flash photography.

      check.png Speaker: When you play movies that contain sound, the audio comes wafting through the cluster of little holes labeled Speaker in Figure 1-9.

      check.png Focal plane indicator: Should you need to know the exact distance between your subject and the camera, the focal plane mark labeled in Figure 1-9 is key. The mark indicates the plane at which light coming through the lens is focused onto the negative in a film camera or the image sensor in a digital camera. 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.

      Back-of-the-body controls

      Traveling over the top of the camera to its back side, as shown in Figure 1-10, you encounter the following controls:

      check.png Command dial: After you activate certain camera features, you rotate this dial, labeled in Figure 1-10, to select a specific setting. For example, to choose an f-stop when shooting in aperture-priority (A) mode, you rotate the Command dial. (Chapter 7 explains apertures and f-stops.)

      check.png 9781118118191-ma088.eps AE-L/AF-L button: Pressing this button initiates autoexposure lock (AE-L) and autofocus lock (AF-L). Chapter 7 explains autoexposure lock; Chapter 8 talks about autofocus lock.

      In playback mode, pressing the button activates the Protect feature, which locks the picture file — hence the little key symbol that appears above the button — so that it isn’t erased if you use the picture-delete functions. See Chapter 5 for details. (The picture is erased if you format the memory card, however.)

      You can adjust the performance of the button as it relates to locking focus and exposure, too. Instructions in this book assume that you stick with the default setting, but if you want to explore your options, see Chapter 11.

      9781118118191-fg0110.eps

      Figure 1-10: Use the Multi Selector to navigate menus and access certain other camera options.

      remember_4c.eps In sections of the Nikon manual that discuss the Protect feature, this button is sometimes referenced just with the little key symbol. To keep things simple, I always refer to it as the AE-L/AF-L button and show the button in the margin to avoid any confusion.

      check.png Multi Selector/OK button: This dual-natured control, labeled in Figure 1-10, plays a role in many camera functions. You press the outer edges of the Multi Selector left, right, up, or down to navigate camera menus and access certain other options. At the center of the control is OK, which you press to finalize a menu selection or other camera adjustment.

      check.png 9781118118191-ma001.eps Delete button: Sporting a trash can icon, the universal symbol for delete, this button enables you to erase pictures from your memory card. Chapter 5 has specifics.

      check.png 9781118118191-ma002.eps Playback button: Press this button to switch the camera into picture review mode. Chapter 5 details playback features.

      check.png 9781118118191-ma003.eps Menu button: Press this button to access menus of camera options. See the section Ordering from Camera Menus, later in this chapter, for details on navigating menus.

      See that green dot next to the button? It’s a clue that you can press the Menu button together with the Information Edit button — also sporting the green dot — to perform a two-button reset. This step reverts a batch of camera options to their default settings. See the last section of this chapter for details.

      check.png 9781118118191-ma071.eps Zoom Out button: As you can probably deduce from the three symbols that mark this button, it has not one, but three primary functions:

      • Display help screens: The little question mark symbol is a reminder that you can press this button to display helpful information about certain menu options. See Ordering from Camera Menus later in this chapter, for details.

      • Display thumbnails during playback: In playback mode, pressing the button enables you display multiple image thumbnails on the screen, thus the little thumbnail grid on the button face. Chapter 5 details picture playback.

      • Reduce image magnification during playback: If you

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