D800 Custom Settings Guidance - Help Please

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mike_b
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p.1 #1 · D800 Custom Settings Guidance - Help Please

As an ex-Canon user (5D Mk2), an area of confusion is the Custom Settings bank, and the related Shooting menu bank - and how they work with My Menu. An overview of these would be greatly appreciated, together with some guidance on how best to use them. I have attempted to set up two test Custom Savings banks, but it appears that their initial configuration is over-written by later temporary adjustments.

The manual does not seem to give much guidance on how these features link to-gether, which may mean they don't! Does Shooting Menu bank 'A' always need to be used with Custom Settings bank 'A', or can they be mixed-n-matched? What is the best way to use these 'setups' to enable quick switching from one to another - is this from My Menu?

The D800 is producing some great results, but the 'learning curve' is steep! Help would be greatly appreciated.

Jul 30, 2012 at 02:02 PM

RRRoger
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p.1 #2 · D800 Custom Settings Guidance - Help Please

Best way to learn the camera is "Hands On" while reading the paper or PDF manual.
I've had the D1-4 and they are much easier to shoot because they are pretty much single purpose Photo Journalism and Sports.
The D800 is aimed at a much larger user base.
Some are buying it primarily for Video, some for Landscape, some for Studio, some even use it primarily for Event Photography.
I have been using the D800 for everything.
There are more settings and capabilities than any other camera made that I know of.
It took me a whole month to "dial" mine in, so be patient.

After three months use, we just did the SandMan Triathlon,
I only deleted 5 out of over 2,000 pictures and only edited 2, my highest keeper rate ever.

Edited on Jul 30, 2012 at 02:34 PM · View previous versions

Jul 30, 2012 at 02:32 PM

James R
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p.1 #3 · D800 Custom Settings Guidance - Help Please

The custom Settings and Shooting menu banks can be mixed and matched, since they each effect different aspect of the camera's operation.

It is hard to tell somebody the best way to setup the banks; however, I put often used menu items such as "Auto ISO sensitivity control", "ISO sensitivity control", "Clean image sensor", "Custom settings bank", and "Shooting menu bank" in My Menu. So, the menu button takes me to My Menu, which gives me quick access to these features.

I can mention that I don't setup multiple banks until I've used the camera for several months.

Jul 30, 2012 at 02:33 PM

mike_b
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p.1 #4 · D800 Custom Settings Guidance - Help Please

"Hands On" has got me further down the road than expected after a week, but how these banks/menus link together is still unclear. A little patience is indeed appropriate!

James - I'm clearer about the My Menu now. I will test adding one or two features that I would like quick access to. It sounds more straight-forward than I thought.

Jul 30, 2012 at 03:58 PM

Strobo
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p.1 #5 · D800 Custom Settings Guidance - Help Please

mike_b wrote:
I have attempted to set up two test Custom Savings banks, but it appears that their initial configuration is over-written by later temporary adjustments.

That's a new "feature" in the D800, which pretty much negates the whole purpose of having custom settings in the first place. Hopefully this is something that will be corrected in a future firmware update.

Jul 30, 2012 at 04:07 PM

ecidi
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p.1 #6 · D800 Custom Settings Guidance - Help Please

mike_b wrote:
As an ex-Canon user (5D Mk2), an area of confusion is the Custom Settings bank, and the related Shooting menu bank - and how they work with My Menu. An overview of these would be greatly appreciated, together with some guidance on how best to use them. I have attempted to set up two test Custom Savings banks, but it appears that their initial configuration is over-written by later temporary adjustments.

The manual does not seem to give much guidance on how these features link to-gether, which may mean they don't! Does Shooting Menu bank 'A' always need to be used with Custom Settings bank 'A', or can they be mixed-n-matched? What is the best way to use these 'setups' to enable quick switching from one to another - is this from My Menu?

The D800 is producing some great results, but the 'learning curve' is steep! Help would be greatly appreciated.

See if this helps:

http://www.outthereimages.com/images/D800_Setup_Guide.pdf

Jul 31, 2012 at 11:24 AM

rick_reno
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p.1 #7 · D800 Custom Settings Guidance - Help Please

There is this one too, you might find it helpful

http://www.moosepeterson.com/blog/2012/06/12/d800-settings/

Jul 31, 2012 at 01:39 PM

mike_b
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p.1 #8 · D800 Custom Settings Guidance - Help Please

Thanks guys, it's starting to come together, slowly. The outthereimages link gives a good guide to setting up for different styles of shooting - now down-loaded. I'm still working through the moosepeterson link. It has, though, given a useful pointer to My Menu, and I've been able to set it up with a few options, such as Auto ISO - which is now set to be directly accessed from the Fn button. My Menu promises to give fast access to frequently used options which may need to be switched on/off without having to navigate through layers of menus. Actually, it is beginning to look to be a way more flexible system than it appeared at first!

Jul 31, 2012 at 05:07 PM

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