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Nikon Digital SLR Tutorial

Nikon is a company that produces cameras and related equipment. Digital SLRs are a type of camera that have interchangeable lenses, and adjustable shutter speed and aperture. These adjustable settings give the photographer more creative control over the image produced. You can choose from a variety of digital SLR models produced by Nikon but they all have the same basic camera body setup. Learn the placement of shooting adjustments and begin to use the Nikon digital SLR to get the shots you want.

Instructions

- 1
  Switch the camera on by pulling the ON/OFF ring, attached to the silver shutter release button, to the right.
- 2
  Select a shooting mode by turning the mode dial on the top, left of the camera body. Turn until the selection lines up with the white line on the right side of the dial. Auto, and all of the icons with images are automatic shooting modes. These require no further adjustments. Simply compose the shot and click the shutter release button.
  
  "M," "A," "S," and "P" are all manual, or semi-manual modes of operation. "M" stands for manual and requires adjustment of both aperture and shutter speed. "A" stands for aperture and allows the user to choose a desired aperture and the camera sets the shutter speed automatically. "S" stands for shutter speed and lets the photographer choose the shutter speed, while automatically selecting the aperture. "P" stands for program and can be changed to reflect specific shooting environments.
- 3
  Select aperture, shutter speed or both. Select aperture by turning the dial on the front of the camera, directly under the shutter release button. Turn the dial to the right to increase the aperture, and to the left to decrease it. Select shutter speed by turning the dial on the back of the camera, directly underneath the information screen, to the right or left. Turning to the right increases the shutter speed, and turning to the left decreases it.
- 4
  Compose the shot by looking through the viewfinder. Focus the lens manually by twisting the ring at the front of the lens until the subject is clear. Another option for focusing is to use auto-focus. Enable this feature by switch the dial on the left side of the lens to "AF."
- 5
  Press the shutter release button halfway down and look through the viewfinder. Read the meter at the bottom of the viewfinder. The green light should flash on the zero or right around it. Left of the zero signifies underexposure, right of the zero signifies overexposure. Adjust the aperture or shutter speed settings until the reading on the meter is close to zero.
- 6
  Press the shutter release button to take the picture. Review the image on the LCD screen at the back of the camera.

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