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Lesson Info

Back Side: Viewfinder Display

All right, so, let's continue our way through the camera controls. So, over to the back side. Obviously, the view finder is where you're going to be putting your eye and looking through the viewfinder. Note, there is a diopter over there on the upper right hand side which will adjust the focus of the viewfinder. So what you want to do is look through the viewfinder, and then look at that line of information down below and make sure that that is sharp and clear for you to see, if not, just move that diopter and do note that it does get bumped from time to time so you may need to adjust it as time goes along. Now there is a removable eyecup, it's Eb, and could potentially wear out after time. It's really not that much, it's less than $ to purchase a replacement and there are optional wider cups that you can get as well to block out light and more. But that's a soft rubber piece so that you could use it with sun glasses or glasses, or just hold it up to your eye, normally. So let's talk a...

bout what you see through the viewfinder itself. First off, the frame that you see is virtually 100% accurate, so that it does very much lines up with the edges. In previous generations of this camera, as you remember back in the original D30 camera, it was 95% accurate, which means you were actually getting more than it was showing, just as a safety precaution when you got your prints made. So now, it is 100% accurate. We have already been talking about our focusing points. But, we will see those light up in red, as we focus on them. The focusing areas will be described up on top. And so we have our different areas of one point zone large AF, and 45, which is all 45 focusing points. So you can easily see which one you have currently activated by which one of those icons is turned on. Next up, is a partial circle, there in the middle. And this is the spot metering system, that the camera has in there if you choose your spot, that's where you know it'll be looking at. And just in case, those of you who are wondering, no, the spot is not linked to the focusing point. So if you move the focusing point off to the side, the spot metering does not follow. It is always right there in the middle. There is a grid option, and this can be very nice for people who are shooting architectural photography, or people who just like a compositional grid to line up their subjects with. It can be very good for landscape photographers who are wanting to make sure that the horizons are level, although there'll be other tools for that. And the grid, in any case, can be turned on in the setup menu, so we'll pass by that in the second half of the class and you'll have the choice of turning it on or off then. There are also aspect crops, and so, if you want to shoot this camera with different aspect ratios, you can. Now, the camera inherently has a three by two aspect ratio, because that is the aspect ratio of the sensor itself. But if you know your final image is going to be something different, for instance, you wanted it to match up to an HD TV, well that is 16 by nine, if you set it to the 16 by nine crop, you'll actually see those crop aspect ratios in the viewfinder, so you'll better be able to align your subject and compose it. And so if you wanted to shoot eight by ten, you can look at the four by three aspect ratio and then there's the square as well. So normally this is not something I would recommend going in and adjusting away from three point two, or three colon two, three by two, unless you're specifically working on a very specific project that needs that. Another option is the level device. And so there is a little tilting level that tells you if your camera is tilted left, or tilted right with a very simple icon of the camera and the line. And this is something, that, once again, you can turn on or off by jumping into the setup menu, number two the viewfinder display. And some people like to have that little warning in there, other people want to keep it clutter free. There is an option for a warning if you are shooting in a flicker situation, this will happen if you are shooting under certain types of fluorescent light which flicker, and they flicker so quickly that we don't see it with our own eyes. But, our cameras can capture photos in between these flickers and will get various... We'll get lighting that is different from shot to shot, so it'll vary a little bit from image to image. I'm gonna show you some examples of that when we get into the menu system then. So, there is two different systems to know about. One, is the flicker warning system, and second, there is actually a flicker detection system where it avoids shooting with those flicker problems. And this is just simply the warning, that you're being warned that there is a potential problem and then you can go in and choose to do something about it. And flicker is a major problem if you are shooting indoor sports, gymnasiums, for instance. And I have actually done some testing with the flicker system, and it works really well. And my recommendation is gonna be to leave it turned on, and leave the warning off, and just let it work in it's background. But, if you prefer to manually turn it on and off, this is just the warning for you. There is another warning down here, and this is gonna warn if something unusual is set on the camera. For instance, if the camera is in monochrome, if you have decided to shoot black and white, it's going to give you a warning that just the monochrome is turned on. But there are some other warnings that it will detect for you and let you know about. And you can decide which ones of these there are by jumping into the custom menu and selecting which items will cause the camera to give you this little warning symbol. And then down on the bottom is our LED information. And so this is our main line of information, so let's take a quick look at what we're looking at across the board here. So we have how full our batteries are, our auto exposure lock button, and we're gonna be talking about that lock button here in a bit, because that's on the back of the camera. We have a number of modes in the flash realm, whether the flash is on and it's charging, and it's ready to go. There some add on units where you can use a special hight-speed sync that gets you beyond a one two 50th of a second, it is a manual mode on the camera, but it allows you to shoot a faster shutter speed, and this lets you know when that mode is engaged. And that will be turned on in the flash unit itself. There is also something called flash exposure lock. And this is where you can press the button on the camera, it fires the flash to help determine what the exposure should be, and then you would take a photo during that time that the exposure is locked. So the camera has additional information about how much light is reflecting off your subject. We also have flash exposure compensation, which allows you to lighten and darken the flash. Basically pumping up the power, or reducing it. We will then get to our key numbers, shutter speed and aperture, as well as our exposure level, we'll know if we're underexposed or overexposed. And then if we are using the exposure compensation, that back dial on the camera, you will see the plus minus turned on. D plus is a highlight tone priority and I will cover this more when we get into the menu system. We have our ISO speed, and then finally the last two numbers is the maximum burst. This is how many images you can shoot right away. And this camera can shoot about 25 images in a raw burst of images. If you put the camera in a JPEG scenario, you'll get somewhere between 77 and 110 images, just depending on some of the variables. The faster the memory card might get you a little bit more cards on that, or more shots per card on that. But that's that number, just to let you know when you are shooting in burst, that number will eventually work it's way down to zero. In which case, the camera will slow down to shooting about one or two shots per second. But, you gotta work all the way through that buffer before it really slows down. So, the buffer on this camera has been improved over previous cameras quite a bit, and should be big enough to handle most people's sports and action bursting of shots, I'd say. Shooting rapid series shots in a row. And then finally, there is a focus confirmation light over on the right hand side, and this can be key for two reasons. Number one, the camera also has a little beeping confirmation that lets you know that are in focus. But, I find that a little irritating, both as a subject, and as a photographer, and a person just standing by. And so if you want confirmation that you are in focus, you can just kind of check to see if that green light is turned on. The second thing that's kind of interesting is that this green light works if you are manually focusing your lens. So it will still look at whatever focusing points you have activated, even if you're in manual focus. You can turn manual focus back and forth until that green light illuminates, and then you know that whatever is in the focused bracket area, is in proper focus, even though you have done it manually, rather than automatically. So that's what we're looking at in the viewfinder. Yes, can I help? We have a question from someone at home, Sues, who had asked, on the camera strap that came with the camera there is a cover for the viewfinder, what is that? And why would I use it, how would I use it? Okay, so if we look at the back of my camera here, I don't have the eye cap or the eye cover on this one right now. But, if we were doing either a self timer shot, or usually it's a self timer shot, where we're gonna run around and get in the shot ourselves on it. We're gonna be having this back exposed to light, and so if we don't have our eye covering this up, light is being let in there. And let's say we are in one of the automated modes like program, so light's coming in through the front of the lens, but light's also coming in through the back of the camera and that may throw off the shutter speed, and or aperture, and change our exposure. And so if you don't have your eye straight up to the viewfinder, and you want to block that light. That's what that little piece is for. Now, out of note, if you put the camera into live view mode, always helps to turn the camera on. When you put the camera into the live view mode, you don't need to worry about blocking that, because the mirror has come up, and is blocking the light coming from the viewfinder. So it's only when you are in the normal shooting mode, but you do not have the camera up to your eye. And so this could be either self timer, whenever it's on a tripod, or if it's mounted in a remote area, but, good question.