MY 4 Different sets of settings, ALMOST like U1, U2, etc

kite55surfer

New member
Hi all,

I recently switched to the "dark side" (ex-Canon), after 2 weeks now feels like I was in the "dark side".

All joking aside, the first thing I looked for in my D850 was how to setup something like Canon C1, C2 (Nikon U1, U2) since it was by far my favorite
way of quickly switching from taking photos of (in my case) "birds" to "birds in flight", without having to manually adjust many settings.

To my surprise and according to a "Nikon Pro" in the store, there was not such a thing because this was a "professional" camera????

After spending a long time playing with the settings I discover that there is what turned up to be a very good alternative
(even if Nasim Mansurov and Ken Rockwell say they don't work properly, they do work, but they are not perfect)

FIRST THING TO DO: Turn ON "Custom Setting bank" in the "Photo Shooting Menu" (contrary to what many say)

Then rename the "Photo shooting menu banks", in my case: A=MANUAL, B=BIRDS, C=BIF, D=MACROS
Now rename the "Custom Setting banks", in my case: A=MANUAL CUSTOM, B=BIRDS CUSTOM, C=BIF CUSTOM, D=MACROS CUSTOM

Now make all the pertinent changes desired to the 4 modes by:

PRESSING the (i) button and MAKE SURE the "Photo shooting menu bank" and "Custom Setting bank are the same" e.g: A-A

REPEAT for B-B, C-C and D-D

NOTE: dig in, there is tons of adjustment that could be made to differentiate the 4 modes, as an example in MANUAL (A-A) I have Fn1 as "Viewfinder Virtual Horizon" and in
BIRDS (B-B) as "AF-area mode" (this settings are changed in the "Custom control assignment", located conveniently right under "Photo shooting menu bank" and "Custom Setting bank") WHEN YOU PRESS the (i) button.

One of my favorite is been able to have "Auto-ISO=ON" on certain modes, not others.THIS GETS EVEN BETTER:It is possible to adjust different Auto-ISO setting and assign them to the 4 different modes (A-A, etc)

This could be someone's favorite: if say B-B=Events the SD card can be set to "Backup", instead of "Overflow" and in other modes vice-versa.

I JUST FOUND OUT: also the shooting Mode gets saved (M,A,S) on different modes. I have Manual on A-A=Manual and Aperture Priority (A) on B-B=Birds (not that I use it like that-trying different things). Great!

I ALSO JUST FOUND OUT: the AF setting (AF-S or AF-C) can be customized, in my case I want the Macros mode (D-D) to be always AF-S (single autofocus) so making sure you are on D-D press the "menu" button and go to "Custom Setting Menu (pencil) and choose a=Autofocus, then a10 "Autofocus mode restrictions" and choose "AF-S". CAUTION: YOU MUST make changes to the other 3 modes (A-A,B-B,C-C) press the "menu" button and go to "Custom Setting Menu (pencil) and choose a=Autofocus, then a10 "Autofocus mode restrictions" and choose "AF-C" OTHERWISE every time you go from D-D to another mode the last setting will prevail.

CAVEAT: I did mention "not perfect" and yes some setting like shutter speed and aperture (even though I set them on each mode different), if you are in that mode and change them, next time they are at the last change made. THEY CANNOT BE LOCKED-SAVED (like in Canon C1, C2 or Nikon U1, U2)

EXAMPLE: if I have "MANUAL (A-A)" shutter speed at 125 and change it to 60, then move to another mode and come back to "MANUAL (A-A)" it will be at 60 (last change).
Inconvenient but a small price to pay, the advantages are too many in comparison.

The icing in the cake is that all this can be saved by "Save/Load settings" which I added to MY MENU (assigned to Fn2)

I hope is clear enough, if any question or anybody knows of a better way please let me know.

I can also make available my settings (to use as a starting point)

OF COURSE, this is only for enthusiast like me, "PROS" don't use this. :)
 
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Texas

Senior Member
Seems everything I read these days has the tone that everyone who owns a decent camera wants to be (or be like) a 'pro'. Whatever that is !
 

kite55surfer

New member
Like De Niro said: Are you talking to me?

I hope not. I made it quite clear when I signed-in that I am a HOBBYIST.

I also if you care to read said: OF COURSE, this is only for enthusiast like me, "PROS" don't use this.
(even Sheldon would have got the sarcasm)

Maybe you are dyslexic.


And thank you for your warm welcome to the forum.
 

Chucktin

Senior Member
Like De Niro said: Are you talking to me?

I hope not. I made it quite clear when I signed-in that I am a HOBBYIST.

I also if you care to read said: OF COURSE, this is only for enthusiast like me, "PROS" don't use this.
(even Sheldon would have got the sarcasm)

Maybe you are dyslexic.


And thank you for your warm welcome to the forum.
Hey kite55surfer don't sweat the small stuff. Browsers passing by may not fully grasp what you wrote but that's thier loss. I understood and I'm sure others will also.
I am recently retired after 50+ years in Photo and can say that calling a camera professional because it lacks a feature is just BS. That's just a "poor worker blames his tools".
Undoubtedly Nikon could clean up the menu options and give us multiple dedicated shooting modes and labels - they just don't. It's a (very bad) marketing decision nothing else.
Sidebar: I'd love to have dedicated (and label enabled) modes for all my digital Nikons. Give me Landscape, Sports, Portrature, Wildlife and Cityscapes for starters.
 

Texas

Senior Member
I get it too, I was making fun of the camera store droid explaining the 'pro' feature.

Oh, and you have two mistakes in your procedure.

And speaking for everyone on the forum: welcome.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
Welcome to the forum. :)

So the D850 doesn't have U1 and U2? Wow. They make for such quick changes. One day I was out taking landscape photos when some flying bird showed up. Switching to U1 was quick...certainly far quicker than going through any menu.

Nice to have you here. :encouragement:
 

Blade Canyon

Senior Member
I was always shooting in banks A, without saving any settings. Then I created banks B for a special event. When I switched back to the A banks, however, the camera reset itself to all default settings. I had assumed my original A settings would still be as I had left them, but because they were not specially saved banks, the camera just went back to default. Now I know.

You won't have this problem because you already named and saved each bank.
 

kite55surfer

New member
I was always shooting in banks A, without saving any settings. Then I created banks B for a special event. When I switched back to the A banks, however, the camera reset itself to all default settings. I had assumed my original A settings would still be as I had left them, but because they were not specially saved banks, the camera just went back to default. Now I know.

You won't have this problem because you already named and saved each bank.

I believe the key is to: Turn ON "Custom Setting bank"
And making sure that you keep the modes in sync: A-A, B-B, C-C, D-D whenever you make changes.
 

sharp shooter

Senior Member
I have a D500 and I find the Memory Banks to be a disaster. They do not remember your basic settings - they change as you modify your settings throughout the day.
The D500 is such a great camera, but I find myself very limited as there are so many settings to remember and change from one situation to another, so I find myself setting it up for Birds, and using my old D7100 with its U1, U2 for landscapes etc.
Give me back the U1, U2 settings please.
Better still, get a REAL set of user settings!
How about ...
Settings> User Settings>Choose from 0 to 99
So we would simply set up our camera to suit ourselves, and select 'save user settings' and press OK, then we are given the option of naming them on the touch screen.
I would set the Fn2 button to select 'User Settings'.
Having 100 user settings would be marvelous!
As it stands, changing from my 'birds in flight' to ... say ... 'night sky' to 'small JPEG snaps' throughout the day is a pain.
Being a 'bird' photographer, I would probably have a dozen or so 'bird' settings, ranging from birds in flight to perched birds, fast birds, slow birds, white birds etc.
I would then have Landscape, L'scape on tripod, Night Sky, small jpeg, --- the list goes on!
I imagine 'professionals' might feel more secure turning up to a wedding with User 1 'Wedding' selected, than fiddling about resetting the camera from the weekend landcape outing.
Please Nikon ... give me 100 user settings.
 
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Chucktin

Senior Member
I'm following this discussion and it's making me wonder why Nikon can't do a firmware update to make the current settings in the memory Banks "sticky" so that they don't change. Seems to me that sort of an update would only cost "chump change".
Ah well, there I go again, thinking. I keep forgetting that we are only end-users. Cash-cows not product drivers.
 

Texas

Senior Member
I like the U1 and U2 a lot but wish that once they are set up that there was an option to pick PAS or M while the mode dial is still in U1 or U2. And then save that new mode if you want to.
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
I like the U1 and U2 a lot but wish that once they are set up that there was an option to pick PAS or M while the mode dial is still in U1 or U2. And then save that new mode if you want to.

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. I have U1 saved as A (Aperture Priority) with BBF and U2 as M (Manual Mode) with BBF. Are you talking about some different type of setting?

EDIT: And when I'm not using BBF, then I simply use A or M which are pretty much the only two modes I use.
 
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Woodyg3

Senior Member
Contributor
Welcome to the forum, kite55surfer!

I've never used U1, U2 etc on my D7200, and haven't even looked at the memory bank feature on the D500. I shoot manual most of the time and just set the f-stop, shutter speed and exposure compensation when needed. I usually use auto-ISO. This way I have complete control and switching a couple of settings takes me a second or two at most after learning the camera layout. For me, there is just too much variation in different shooting situations to use a pre-configured set of settings. I guess it's a matter of personal style, but I thought I'd present the other side of the issue.
 

Texas

Senior Member
see my notes in orange below:

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. I have U1 saved as A (Aperture Priority) with BBF (Say you want to change from A to S and keep all the other settings)

and U2 as M (Manual Mode) with BBF. Are you talking about some different type of setting? (OK, here you are in U2 M and a bunch of favorite other settings, how do you change from M to say A or P and keep all the same settings you have in U2?)

Unless I've missed something very embarrassing (could be)....You have to exit the U setting and select pas or m on the mode dial then save it to your U1 or U2 (and overwrite ALL your other U settings)

A menu item, even if only available when in the U1 or U2 modes, that allows selection of PAS or M - would be nice


EDIT: And when I'm not using BBF, then I simply use A or M which are pretty much the only two modes I use.
 

Mark F

Senior Member
see my notes in orange below:

For me, I liked the banks when I had my d300s. With banks.. you can set up the camera for whatever type.. and still use PSAM There were so many variables. What I didn't like was that if you changed something, it didn't revert back to your saved setting.
I hear what you are saying though... it would be nice to chose u1 or u2 then switch to P S A or M on the fly using the other settings that you saved. But then I noticed that most of my settings are the same in U1 and U2 except S or A priority so I just use PSAM and change settings as I go. I can go back to U1 for landscape and U2 for sports/action but I just adjust on the fly in PSAM for most things since custom settings are virtually the same anyway.
 

kite55surfer

New member
Welcome to the forum, kite55surfer!
I've never used U1, U2 etc on my D7200, and haven't even looked at the memory bank feature on the D500. I shoot manual most of the time and just set the f-stop, shutter speed and exposure compensation when needed. I usually use auto-ISO. This way I have complete control and switching a couple of settings takes me a second or two at most after learning the camera layout. For me, there is just too much variation in different shooting situations to use a pre-configured set of settings. I guess it's a matter of personal style, but I thought I'd present the other side of the issue.

Thank you!
Whatever works best for you.

I was hoping there was somebody in this forum that thinks like me and I would have been able to learn something from them.

I still hope there is.

I believe so much can be achieved with this Nikon dysfunctional "memory banks", all Nikon need to do to fix them is a firmware update so aperture and shutter speed "can be saved or not" (choice a la Canon C1, C2, etc) whenever they are changed.
Then it would be perfect (almost).

I can always dream.
 
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sharp shooter

Senior Member
Welcome to the forum, kite55surfer!

Hi Woody
I've never used U1, U2 etc on my D7200, and haven't even looked at the memory bank feature on the D500. I shoot manual most of the time and just set the f-stop, shutter speed and exposure compensation when needed. I usually use auto-ISO. This way I have complete control and switching a couple of settings takes me a second or two at most after learning the camera layout. For me, there is just too much variation in different shooting situations to use a pre-configured set of settings. I guess it's a matter of personal style, but I thought I'd present the other side of the issue.
Yes, I guess my shooting style is different. Changing from say 'birds' ' to 'night sky' involves a lot of dial twiddling.
Changing from landscape to birds to studio to night sky to video to flash to jpeg snaps should be simple - just click on, and we are 'in the ball park' - then - as Woody says, it's just a matter of f-stop, shutter, and ev as needed
It's not the simple ISO, aperture and speed - it's the 'fine tuning' .. ie autofocus modes af-c, af-s, blocked shot response, subject motion -erratic, metering, centre-weighted area size, Matrix, etc, CH-CL-S, jpeg-NEF/image size, primary slot selection (jpeg in one, NEF in the other). etc etc The list of combinations is endless. The D500 (and the D5 and D850) are very versatile cameras, but the time it takes to change settings limits their versatility.
The issue is not only the time it takes to change settings, but actually remembering every setting without resorting to a spread sheet.
A 'User Memory' with - say - 99 memories would allow us to 'fine tune' our settings through a session and give us the option of keeping the old settings or overwriting with the new.
So come on Nikon - give us 99 user settings - all in software, as an update to the firmware. Free would be nice, but hey! I'd be happy to pay for it.
Mike
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
So come on Nikon - give us 99 user settings - all in software, as an update to the firmware. Free would be nice, but hey! I'd be happy to pay for it.
Mike

Why don't you call them and ask why it isn't being offered, and see if they will accept suggestions for consideration. It would be interesting to hear what they'd say. :)
 
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