Top panel controls – Nikon D200 User Manual
Page 8
AF Mode Switch: I set it to S.
This is the little lever at the bottom of the lens marked
C, S and M (hidden in the above). This means AF-S, or Single Auto Focus. Once the
camera gets good focus, it locks until you take the picture. Use this to focus and then
compose without the subject in the center. I do this for almost every shot.
By default the D200 won't release the shutter until perfect focus is achieved and locked,
shown by the green focus confirmation dot on the bottom left of the viewfinder. This makes
some people think their D200 locked up.
C means AF-C, or Continuous AF. The D200 will track and keep tracking the subject for
as long as you hold the shutter. By default the D200 will shoot regardless of being in focus.
The D200 will fire any time you press the button, and you could get tons of fuzzy photos.
I explain in the menus how to change this so the D200 only goes off when in perfect focus.
It slows down the frame rate a little, and ensures all frames are in focus.
M means manual focus. In manual focus you have to twist the focus ring yourself and
look for a sharp image in the viewfinder. In manual you also can look for the green dot at
the bottom left in the viewfinder. The green dot lights up when you're in focus. It's not very
precise and you'll probably lose sharpness with f/1.4 lenses. With f/4 lenses it's good
enough.
TOP PANEL CONTROLS
The Three Kings: WB, QUAL and ISO:
Hold any of them and spin the control knobs
to adjust. In detail:
White Balance (WB):
spin the rear knob for broad changes. Spin the front knob to fine
tune. See my
page for the specifics.
Here is a run down of the individual settings from left to right, as shown on the bottom of
the top LCD:
Auto (A): I use this all the time. It makes its best guess for WB. It's usually very good.
Indoor tungsten can be too orange unless you have some bright tungsten light also in the
image. If you do, it removes the orange and compensates completely. If not, the D200 only
partly compensates and you have a nice warm image instead.
Tungsten (hanging light bulb that's easy to confuse with the sun): This makes the
picture very blue. Use this only for deliberate freezing Arctic effects, or under conventional
tungsten light bulbs.
Fluorescent (glowing tube icon): Used to make crappy fluorescent light look less
crappy. These settings rarely work; use the preset setting for better results.
Direct Sunlight (sun): Use this outdoors with sun on the subject. It looks great.
PDF by Paul Deakin - 8 - © 2006 KenRockwell.com