D300 question about Menus???

bosco0633

Ok, so I was able to find an excellent excel sheet with all settings for the D300. It has really taught me alot about these menus of mine. For the last few weeks I have had no idea what they mean.

I created 4 shooting menus for Point and shoot, Landscape, Portrait and Sports. I followed the instructions and found it easy to do. I then did the same in the custom settings menu.

Now here is my question. If I select shooting menu C for example which is now for portraits, do I also have to select custom settings menu C for portraits? Both Cs are configured for portraits.

I am kind of confused how the two sections work. Have I now created 4 customs settings or 8? I have read the manual over and over and I am still confused with respect to this.

Does this make sense to any of you or am I screwing up what I am trying to say?

bosco0633

ok, so I actually read my Thom Hogan book for the D300. It makes a little more sense to me now.

My shooting menu bank can be used to set up 4 various file sizes etc, that can be used in conjunction with custom menu bank. So this creates 16 possible combinations.

Can anyone post some of there settings for these banks for me to view.

Thanks

MooreDriven

I may have replied to an earlier post on this, but if not, here is what I would recommend. I first started with the recommendations from Nikonians. I then read Thom's book and changed some of the settings based on his recommendations. Because you have his book, you can adapt the Nikonians spreadsheet to what you feel comfortable with, and how you shoot.

I too was, and still am, confused by the two banks. I realize the flexibility the different banks provide, but it seems overly complex for 90% of the shooting situations.

I need to go back through Thom's book and re-read some of these sections as a refresher. One huge benefit, as an owner of Thom's book, is access to him to answer your questions). He may be slow to respond, but when he does, you can bet it will be a thorough response.

bosco0633

I understand the concept of everything now thanks to both the nikonians excel sheet and Thoms book. I just am trying to decide how i want to set up my banks.

I think for shooting menu

A default like Thom says in his book. This makes sense
B will Be NEF/Jpeg settings for point and shoot
C here is where I will set up straight NEF high quality etc etc
D set for sports shooting or maybe portrait not sure yet.

So the way i understand it is that shooting banks are for setting up the basics, what type of file etc.

Then for the Custom settings banks

A will be default
B Point and shoot settings
C
D

C and D will be set for 2 of 4 things. Night shooting/indoor shooting, or sports, or portraits or landscapes. cant decide yet. The custom settings is actually how my picture will be captured part. At least that is what i think.

Am I close to understanding this??? So if I want to take say landscape shots and want great quality I will use shooting menu bank C for NEF and say custom setting C or D depending on what I decide.

So ultimately I have 16 variations to choose from.

Any thoughts on the default banks?? required or no

MooreDriven

I've set up my banks the following way;

Shooting Menu:
A) Point & Shoot - good for everyday shooting and when I ask my wife or family members to take a shot.
Landscape
C) Portrait - I probably use this setting the least often.
D) Action

Custom setting bank:
Same as above, but the settings are based on the types of shots I'm taking.

I also only shoot in RAW. Memory is too cheap, and I don't mind having the ability to fix any shots later then converting to JPG.

I consider myself an enthusiast. I don't get to shoot nearly as much as I would like, but more than the casual photographer. If I didn't have Nikonians or books like Thom Hogan's guide, I would be completely lost. I'm considering buying Nikonian's D300 guide as well, but sometimes its best to simply go out and shoot, experiment on your own to determine what works best.

Hopefully this helps.

Dale

bosco0633

that how I have mine set right now. I was thinking about removing the portraits as it requires more equipment than I have right now.

What I would really like is to set up one of my banks for macro photography settings. But I have yet to find anyhthning on the net to assist me..