The course material arrived in the mid-week. Many thanks for Royal Mail for their express and quality service.
Ok here is the course book with exercises. Other things in the package are less interesting so I will look at it later.
The very first exercise has to do with reading the camera manual :P.
Where did I hide it, by the way?
I remember last time when I read it, I fell asleep at the 39 point AF system and it automatically track colour (ie, how the camera what to focus on). This is more of like a sales brochure; do you have the code or scientific journal on exactly how it recognizes the focus area?
Therefore, instead of camera manual, I read Ken Rockwell’s D7000 user’s guide in plain English. Here is the link
Not everybody likes Ken, but at least he has much more sense of humour than the guy who wrote the official Nikon manual. Also, he mentioned what does the button does in reality what he prefers. Of course, what Ken prefers is not always what I prefer. He prefers shooting in Jpeg normal, but I prefer shooting in raw and fix the white balance in the post process. I don’t use AutoISO either; I usually shoot mainly in manual mode if not aperture priority if I need a very quick snap (nothing special about aperture priority, but it is right next to manual mode on the dial).
This is something new I learn and (just) tried: set up copyright info © Siegfried Ip inside the camera.
These are several new things that I now know but still have not tried:
1) Bracking Button: maybe I should try shooting at least one HDR sometime in this course :D
2) U1 and U2 button: hmm, let me set something in U2 since it is also close the manual mode on the dial. But what should I put in?
3) Flash mode and sync speed: I should give it a try one day, but I am not a big fan of flash, especially not on camera flash. But then if you need flash and the only one you have is the one on your camera, what do you do?
I tried the mirror up before, but I don’t know if they make a difference in image quality. I only use limited amount of shutter speeds so I am not the best person to ask.
I think in the past I somehow manage to avoid learning many internal camera operations by shooting in raw with manual mode. Of course, if the camera is not doing it for you, you end up in doing it later. The questions pop up later in post processing. “To know your camera” is a very ambitious task. Try asking yourself this:
1) What colour space do you choose and why?
2) Have you calibrate your monitor so you see what you shoot and/or print?
3) Do you use noise filtering somewhere and what it is really doing?
Seriously, do you really want to know what your camera is doing? Jpeg did #1 and 3 for you. As long as it is not looking so bad, do you really want to know the details?
I don't blame the guy who shoots in auto everything. My phone does more or less the same.
Can we shoot yet?
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