Lessons
Class Introduction
03:00 2Nikon D5 Overview
14:16 3Photo Basics
04:58 4Basic Camera Controls
03:40 5Exposure Modes
21:34 6Top Deck Additional Features
07:34 7Release Mode
09:18 8Lesson
06:30Play Back
11:21 10Backside Controls
18:12 11Live View
19:18 12Movie Settings
11:15 13Focus
12:41 14Left and Right Camera Features
04:59 15Bottom and Front Camera Features
06:41 16Lenses
09:31 17Menu Functions
07:15 18Photo Shooting Menu
06:39 19Image Area
04:45 20NEF Recording
05:54 21ISO Sensitivity Settings
04:50 22White Balance
06:35 23Active D Lighting and Noise Reduction
05:57 24Flicker Reduction
04:36 25Multiple Exposure And High Dynamic Range
05:42 26Interval Timer Shooting And Silent Live View Photography
07:19 27Movie Shooting Menu
09:01 28Autofocus
13:08 29Metering Exposure
03:52 30Timers AE Loc kAnd Shooting Display
08:28 31Bracketing Flash And Controls
18:34 32Setup Menu
17:27 33Retouch Menu
03:47 34Camera Operation
09:08Lesson Info
NEF Recording
Next up is image size and this is for JPEGs and TIFFs, as well as RAWS. We can change our JPEGs on this from large, medium, and small which is basically a 20 megapixel, a 12, and a five megapixel file depending on your file size needs. We also have the option of changing the NEF sizes or the RAW recording. And here's where we get to see the nerdiness of Nikon. Nikon has some people who really like to get into the details and I like to get into the details, too. And so I've done a bunch of testing on this camera to see how good of results we get with a variety of settings and let me kind of show and walk you through some of this. So with the RAW recording on this camera, the NEFs, there are a variety of ways that you can set the RAW. One of the options is with 14-bit information which gives us 4.4 trillions of colors. Alright? And this option has three different versions, the first of it is uncompressed which gives us a 44 megabit file, at least in my test case here. We also have a loss...
less compressed and then we have a compressed. So let's talk about these three options. Uncompressed, lossless compressed, and compressed. Okay so uncompressed is pretty obvious. There is no compression to the data at all. Compressed is pretty easy, they compress and what's not really said there, when it's just compressed, there is information that is thrown away and I just don't like throwing things away that we may want later. And so lossless compressed is this kind of magical way where they've reduced the data but they're not throwing anything away. And so you can see the file sizes of lossless compressed are noticeably smaller than uncompressed. Next up, is we also have 12-bit and we have this in the same three options. And so these are the six different types of RAWs that you should shoot with and the question of course is, where should I set my camera? Well, if you wanted the largest file, you would set it for 14-bit uncompressed. That's gonna give you a 44 megabit file but is that 44 megabits gonna give you really anything significantly more than the other files? Well, these are very large crops, you might say. I've magnified these quite a bit to go in and look at them. And I just can't see, I mean I can see a difference but I can't see anything significant between the difference. And so what I recommend for setting on your camera is the lossless compressed 12-bit. Now I'm choosing lossless compressed because it's a relatively small file size and we're not losing data. The compressed, we are throwing away a little bit of data and it's not much data that we're getting, it's not that much bigger than the compressed data so I'm not worry about, you know, using too much data there. Now, 12-bit only has 68 billion colors. You have to ask yourself, how many colors does your printer print, does your monitor show you, how many different colors can you see? I doubt that I can see and really notice a difference between 68 billion and 4.4 trillion. And so that's why I'm recommending 12-bit. It's smaller file sizes but you're not going to see any difference. If you don't believe me, I'm fine with that. Do your own task, come to your own conclusions. There is one final test because I thought, well, I couldn't see anything here. Let me try pushing the camera to absolute extremes. So in this case, I underexposed my subject by five stops and then I pushed it and corrected it in post and I did this in all six different styles of RAW to see if there was more information in the uncompressed or the 14-bit files that I could make use of when I'm correcting an image in post-production. And I looked at these, all six of them, 14-bit, 12-bit, all the versions, and I couldn't see any significant difference in any manner at all. So then I tried it the other direction. I overexposed by five stops, shot it in all six different systems of RAW, magnified it, compared it. These are my results. Look closely as you want, I got an 80 inch screen here folks and I am not seeing much difference at all. And I'm really hard pressed to see any noticeable difference at all. And so once again, I think the lossless compressed at 12-bit is gonna get you files that are just as workable and pliable as a 14-bit uncompressed but they're at about one third the size. So you're gonna use up less data on your memory cards and in your hard drives but you're gonna still get great image quality out of the camera. So, recommendation is lossless compressed at 12-bit. If you have examples where you are getting notable more information in 14-bit I welcome you to send me that information and I will amend that in future classes or updates to this class but I have yet to see any noticeable difference in actual images and exposure, latitude for instance. Okay, so that's getting a little nerdy there on the RAW recording, so lossless compressed at 12-bit.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Dave Safley
John Greengo does a fantastic job of going over all the great features of this camera. Yes, there is a lot of information, but the format of the class enabled me to drive right into the features I needed for an upcoming shoot. I am new to Creative Live but this class is showing me the fantastic value of this platform. Happy Shooting!
a Creativelive Student
Already set the Fn3 button for Voice Memo - easy peasy thanks to this and so many other "buried" ( in the manual ) treasures. Notwithstanding three years with the D4 and one year with the D5, I am substantially more familiar and comfortable with the available tools / features of this amazing camera, Nikon's D5. Thank you, John, for the relaxed, easy-to-follow yet informative, professional instruction - well done!
Michelle Mealing
As usual, John Greengo has provided me with a wealth of information, this time to decide on my next Nikon camera purchase. John has a talent for explaining technical aspects in a simply to understand, yet intelligent, language. I feel very lucky to be able to tap into the knowledge of such experts and thank the day I found out about Creative Live. Unfortunately I had to miss a little part of the live broadcast due to international time differences. I will definitely be watching the class again and again (there's so much content). Thanks John and Creative Live. Looking forward to my next class.