new firmware updates and a light metering tutori

Firmware updates are out for some of Nikon's older semi pro and prosumer cameras. This is to give support for their new Nikkor 800mm f5.6E FL ED VR lens.
Firmware updates are out for:
Nikon D700
Nikon D300s
Nikon D300

There is also an update for the Coolpix P7700 to sort an auto ISO issue it has been suffering from.
Other cameras including the D4, D3S, D3X, D3, D7000 and D3200 DSLR cameras were updated in April that somehow slipped our attention. Most were further updates to add the same lens support but the D4 and D3200 both had some extra tweaks so would be well worth the effort to download.
All updates can be found on the Nikon USA support site

in-my-viewfinder


If you have been hankering for a 35mm f1.2 lens for your Nikon 1 then hanker no more as you can now pop to the shops and buy one.
Nikon blogAmazon


in-my-viewfinder


We shared this on our Facebook page already but if you missed it here it is again.
Ever wondered just how tough your £3500 camera is? This guy clearly did so put his through the ultimate road test. Watch the video on You tube. Warning, may be upsetting to D3s owners.
in-my-viewfinder

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Introduction

One of the automatic features of your camera (should it be automatic) will be automatic light metering. Most people will use this for nearly all shooting as it takes away the need to use a separate light meter and working though charts to get the right aperture-shutter speed required for correct exposure.
Light metering sensors have become more advanced over the years giving you lots of control over your cameras exposure.
Basic settings that your DSLR will allow you to input are Matrix metering, centre weighted and spot metering. Again this will vary between cameras but as shown in the image above taken from a D700 the selection switch will offer these 3 settings. Simply rotate the outer dial of the AE-L/AF-L switch to the desired selection. On this model you will see your selection bottom right of the view finder. Some cameras may have these as a menu setting instead.  We will now take each of these settings and go in depth as to what they do and how/when you should use them.

Matrix metering

Matrix metering takes the whole image taking into account your chosen focus point, distance and light fall on all areas of the frame it will give an exposure. Coupled with this cameras with colour matrix metering will take into account colours in the scene to further improve exposure. The camera has present hundreds of model scenes that it refers to for the best exposure. If you ever read about 3D matrix metering it just means it takes into account the distance to the subject when using G or D type lenses. This is only really useful when using strobes.
Using a D3x for example we can see it uses TTL full-aperture exposure metering using 1005-pixel RGB sensor. Some older or lower camera models will use less matrix elements to achieve the same thing. Less precise but clearly less expensive and still far better than an average grey area sensor that you might find on much older film SLR's that were fazed out towards the end of the 90's.
So for a working example we can pretend we are trying to capture a head an shoulders portrait. With a large oval in the centre and plain background, supported by distance information from our lens, the camera will refer to its database and bring up correct exposure information to correctly capture our models face.
We would suggest you use this for everything. Only when the camera struggles like when your subject is in a small area of high contrast should you consider changing to one of the other exposure settings.

spot metering

The reason we are covering spot before centre weighted metering will become clear later.
If your camera is struggling to expose an image correctly you can try using one of the other two metering modes.
Spot metering only Meters a 4-mm circle (about 1.5% of frame) on the D3x and is similar on most other SLR's. In this cameras case it is centred on selected focus point (on centre focus point when non-CPU lens is used). Most older cameras will just have the centre of the frame as the metered circle  requiring you to place the centre of the viewfinder over your area you want correctly exposed, hold down AE-L then recompose. This is much the same as what you would do if you focus and recompose.
Use this when  there're big differences in brightness. This is great when you have a subject that is under a solo street light/stage light or you are trying to capture something in a dark window. Remember your subject may well be correctly exposed but the rest of the image may be left over/under exposed. So you will need to decide what is more important.

Centre weighted metering

Much the same as the above, centre weighted allows more control over the exposure. The only time I have ever used this setting is when trying to correctly expose a dark, fast moving object passing a brighter background. This way There is an amount of fudge compensation compared to spot where if you don't have the metering point exactly over the subject, the camera will meter for the background instead.  This is also great when you have a dark subject taking most of the frame up with a bright background or vice versa. This way prioritising your cameras metering to the subject and not the unimportant background.
This setting gives a priority of 75% to a 12-mm circle in centre of frame, diameter of circle can be changed to 8, 15 or 20 mm, the other 25% given to the average of the rest of the frame.
If you fit a non CPU lens to the camera it will default to this setting instead of matrix metering.

EV

Now we can't mention metering without talking about the Exposure Value (EV) button. Sat quietly net to your shutter button  and looks a bit like (+/-). Holding this down and spinning the thumb wheel will force your camera to over or under expose in automatic modes. This is very useful when your camera, for whatever reason isn't quite getting it right. Large areas of dark fabric for example will make your camera want to expose them correctly (Your camera likes everything to be middle grey) causing the photograph to be over exposed. Rather than cursing Nikon for being useless and going to manual, simply dial a few stops down and go again. This will make your life far easier. Just don't forget you did this or you will be shooting all day tomorrow wondering why your camera is under exposing everything!

All of these are great tools and have really put an end to the days of using a light meter allong side your camera or even simply praying to the light gods, slinging in your aperture and shutter speed and hoping for the best. There aren't allot of situations where your camera wont get it pretty dam close so long as you understand what the camera is seeing and give it the odd nudge in the right direction when it does struggle.
As always do leave your comments, experiences and spelling corrections on this journal or the poll and whilst you are at it don't forget to vote on the poll, submit more beatifully exposed photographs and enjoy snapping.

in-my-viewfinder


Well what can be said about focusing a camera that hasn't already?
Well mh-creative  highlighted his preference of manual focusing in video as the hunting on his D7000 was far to aggressive, hunting away.
Allot of people playing it by eye with manual focus. Hopefully the tutorial has given them some better focus techniques that will make their lives easier.

in-my-viewfinder