D7000 frustrated newbie

Bought a second-hand D7000 to improve image quality, but I am finding that the number of options in the menus is rather bewildering. I really enjoy getting out and about taking shots of road and fell races. It's the settings for exposure and focusing that are driving me mad. Which ones should I use? I like to use a prime 50mm lens to get up close rather than a telephoto. It gives me the opportunity to be different from the "normal" type of shot that is out there. Loads of things to ask but I'll leave it at that for the moment. I could do with a "sports" D7000 buddy to learn all the ins and outs. Mickleden Straddle 2014 - a set on Flickr This set was taken with the D7000 - other races with a D60

I'm not sure what a road and fell race is, but sports in general usually requires fast action. The easier way to do that is to use the sport mode - it'll set a fairly high shutter speed and let the aperture open as wide as it can for the lens you have and the zoom you are using. It'll also set it to focus continuously (AF-C) on one spot (by default the exact middle, but you can move it around) and disable the flash. This is a good starting point.

Next step would be to switch to "S" mode, and set a shutter speed that is fast enough to freeze the action (assuming that's what you want - but it's a good place to start). If you can get away with a lower shutter speed, the aperture can float a bit more, which is especially useful if you're taking pictures in darker situations (indoors, evening, etc.) or want blurry backgrounds. You'll want to set the autofocus mode (as you're holding the camera, hold the button on the AF/MF switch below the left side of the lens, and rotate the thumbwheel) to AF-C, continuous focus mode, then rotate the other wheel to set it to focus on one spot. Let go of the button, then use the thumbwheel to adjust your shutter speed.

Try starting with 500 (1/500th of a second), but you'll know pretty quickly if your subject is blurry. If it is, a faster shutter speed is required (larger number). If not, try reducing the shutter speed (smaller number). Don't be afraid to zoom in on the picture to see if it's sharp, but note it won't be sharp if you zoom in too far. It's free to take more pictures to try different settings!

It's really a trial and error process, and that's how you learn. One other general tip - usually you want to try to zoom in on the subject as much as possible, but note that as you zoom, with most lenses, you need a larger aperture to keep the same exposure, so if it starts getting too dark for the shutter speed you need, you might be better off to zoom out a bit, get the shutter speed you need, then crop the picture later.

I'd also set it for CL (using the lower part of the left wheel on top) - continuous shooting, low speed. High speed sounds great until you end up with 30 pictures of almost exactly the same thing to sort through - it's useful for things that are going REALLY fast and you're trying to catch it, but not so useful in most situations. I'll usually fire off between one and three shots of a sports subject that's moving, like a person.

willowdogger said:

Bought a second-hand D7000 to improve image quality, but I am finding that the number of options in the menus is rather bewildering. I really enjoy getting out and about taking shots of road and fell races. It's the settings for exposure and focusing that are driving me mad. Which ones should I use? I like to use a prime 50mm lens to get up close rather than a telephoto. It gives me the opportunity to be different from the "normal" type of shot that is out there. Loads of things to ask but I'll leave it at that for the moment. I could do with a "sports" D7000 buddy to learn all the ins and outs. Mickleden Straddle 2014 - a set on Flickr This set was taken with the D7000 - other races with a D60

Click to expand...

Well there IS a bit to learn so give yourself some time to learn the ropes; shooting with a DSLR gives you far more control than a cell phone camera or a dedicated point and shoot and that can be a little overwhelming. Second, shooting a fast moving sporting event is difficult even for a seasoned photographer. What you need to do is learn the some basic principles of photography and then apply that knowledge to what you're trying to do. There is no "best settings" for a particular type of photography because the answer will almost always start with, "Well, it depends..." And if you keep going out shooting without understanding some these foundational principles, you're going to get more and more frustrated because no matter how good you get as a photographer you NEVER get away from the foundational principles.

First and foremost you need to understand The Exposure Triangle. Proper exposure is the heart, the keystone, of all good photography. The importance of proper exposure can not be over-stated.

Secondly, read this document on how the autofocus system on your D7000 works. It's a bit confusing at first, but this is the best explanation I've found for this subject: D7000 Auto Focus Explained I still refer to this document because I still get confused about how some of the options work and work together.

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Thanks

Agreed with a number of previous posters.
First steps are to understand the Exposure Triangle and how they relate to YOUR photography.
Then, get to know your camera (AND lens(s). INTIMATELY.
Then, you'll be able to take 'better' photos.

Not sure if the D7000 is your first dslr or replaced another dslr. Learning it will take time and you will find lots of experienced users on this site; I certainly have. My learning has been incremental; starting with more automatic features and working towards some more manual settings; and I'm still learning. Right now I've set U1 with Shutter priority and AF-C; usually single point but may vary that. U2 with Aperture priority and AF-S; single point. You can also choose focus priority or release priority. One feature I quit using very quickly was the auto-area auto focus as the camera usually selected a different focus point than I wanted. There is a lot to grasp but I've found it can be fun to learn different things about the camera.

Once you learn the principles of exposure, your camera controls will make a lot more sense. I would say learning exposure should come before even attempting to make sense of the owner's manual. Most of the settings on your camera are to give you control over exposure and focus. Once you get the exposure figured out, hit the manual along with a printout of that autofocus document that Horoscope linked. Spend some time studying these things and you will feel a lot less frustrated. Keep that autofocus document with you and re-read it as needed.
There is some trial and error, but you must experiment with some knowledge of how things work. This will be the key to having fun rather than frustration.

Here is a nice video on exposure.
Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO, & Light Explained-Understanding Exposure & Camera Settings - YouTube

Welcome to nikonites and congrats on the new D7000!
I have to agree that learning a new DSLR's abilities and how to make the best use of them, can be a long process. But you've got a good starting point using some of the suggestions that the more experienced photographers mentioned, and then just make some adjustments as needed to dial it in.
I would recommend getting and reading the D7000 user manual, to help make learning your new Nikon's features and how to use them as needed easier. You can even download a PDF of the user manual for free.

Anyway I hope you'll have a blast with your D7000, and I hope you'll love it here as much as I do!

I agree with what's been said above, but I suggest trying shots with different settings and see what they do, then learn more about the exposure triangle - it'll make a lot more sense after you've seen the results of different settings firsthand.

I was very frustrated when I got the D3100, I couldn't get anything simple to work, so the &100 is even more of a steep learning curve

The best option, other than a photography course, is to play with the basic settings. A lot of people use the 'P' mode or 'A' as a good start, it helps me but I then use 'M' for final tweaks or changing things other than what the camera 'thinks' is correct

Big thank-you for all the advice. I do understand the exposure triangle bit and much prefer to shoot in A or S.
What I do find difficult to wrap my head round are the following:

If I shoot in RAW, can I forget about white balance and d lighting?

When photographing runners who wear a variety of colours from white to black, what is the best "metering" to use? Spot? Centre-weighted? Matrix?
If I use spot and it is focused on a runner wearing black, will the background be over exposed?

What focus should I use? 11points I don't suppose it would recognise faces in AF-C mode.

There are times when the background needs to be blurred, as it detracts from the runner. I use my 50mm lens because it gives me that "nearness" to the action rather than zooming in.
How close do I need to be to make sure it is blurred at 5.6? 2.8? If there is more than one runner, is it possible to have them both in focus but the background blurred? (Think I know what the reply will be.)


This is a shot from a race last week and one from a race where the background detracts from the image.

willowdogger said:

Big thank-you for all the advice. I do understand the exposure triangle bit and much prefer to shoot in A or S.
What I do find difficult to wrap my head round are the following:

What focus should I use? 11points I don't suppose it would recognise faces in AF-C mode.

This is a shot from a race last week and one from a race where the background detracts from the image.

View attachment 71202View attachment 71203

Click to expand...

If I shoot in RAW, can I forget about white balance and d lighting?

Click to expand...

Never forget about white balance, but Raw does allow you the freedom to adjust or fix it up.

When photographing runners who wear a variety of colours from white to black, what is the best "metering" to use? Spot? Centre-weighted? Matrix?
If I use spot and it is focused on a runner wearing black, will the background be over exposed?

Click to expand...

I would be using centre weighted or even spot depending on what you want out of the photo. If you want even exposure across the entire frame then Matrix is the way to go.

The question about black all depends an a variety of circumstances but it may mean that the background could be over exposed.

There are times when the background needs to be blurred, as it detracts from the runner. I use my 50mm lens because it gives me that "nearness" to the action rather than zooming in.
How close do I need to be to make sure it is blurred at 5.6? 2.8? If there is more than one runner, is it possible to have them both in focus but the background blurred? (Think I know what the reply will be.)

Click to expand...

A larger aperture (f/2.8) would be better but so would a longer lens if you had the space.

I leave white balance on auto for the most part. It will affect the jpg and your photo as it is viewed in camera. ViewNX will show your raw with white balance applied too. Lightroom and others will not show it. In any case you are free to adjust white balance on the raw file. No permanent changes to it with white balance.
Lots of talk about active d lighting. I think the final word is some levels will affect the initial exposure, so best to leave it off for raw.
The metering is tough. Matrix is really good. This is where you could experiment with meter modes, bracketing or +/- exposure comp. What I do, is I have programed my function and preview buttons for spot and center weighted metering. So I leave camera on matrix and if I quickly want to meter differently , its an easy hold of a button. And no problems forgetting and leaving the camera in spot or center metering.
The blurred background, low aperture of course, but it will also depend on the lens and distances. If you are panning that can add some background motion blur.

willowdogger said:

What I do find difficult to wrap my head round are the following:

If I shoot in RAW, can I forget about white balance and d lighting?

Click to expand...

Well if you're going to shoot RAW, you need software to do the post processing; something like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop, though there are other options. The point is, shooting RAW requires extra work and you'll need the software to do this. Shooting in RAW pretty much means you can use Auto White Balance and get on with life. ADL is, in my opinion, a bit gimmicky. You'll have a lot more flexibility using good software to pull out detail in your shadows and control exposure than you would using ADL. If you're going to shoot JPG then ADL can be used sparingly but I'm really not a big fan.

willowdogger said:

When photographing runners who wear a variety of colours from white to black, what is the best "metering" to use? Spot? Centre-weighted? Matrix?

Click to expand...

Use Matrix unless you have reason to move away from it. Matrix is really, really good. There will be times you'll be better off moving to Center Weighted or Spot, but Matrix is your go-to metering method.

willowdogger said:

If I use spot and it is focused on a runner wearing black, will the background be over exposed?

Click to expand...

Now you're thinking like a photographer! And the answer to this question, I think you already know, is yes, quite possibly. It depends...

willowdogger said:

What focus should I use? 11points I don't suppose it would recognise faces in AF-C mode.

Click to expand...

Well it would depend on the shot I wanted but generally speaking I'd suggest you use AF-C with 51 points. Don't worry about face recognition, worry about getting sharp focus and good exposure.

willowdogger said:

There are times when the background needs to be blurred, as it detracts from the runner. I use my 50mm lens because it gives me that "nearness" to the action rather than zooming in. How close do I need to be to make sure it is blurred at 5.6? 2.8? If there is more than one runner, is it possible to have them both in focus but the background blurred? (Think I know what the reply will be.)

Click to expand...

What will help blur your background will be enough distance between your subject and the background, the better the distance, the more blurry the background. Wider apertures make your depth of field shallower and thus easier to achieve this blurry background. The "right" aperture to use for this? Well, it depends... At 50mm you can shoot with a fairly wide aperture and still have a fairly deep depth of field (because focal length affects depth of field). I'd think you could probably shoot around f/3.5 or f/4 and have a good balance. Get out and take some test shots and experiment with these things and find out. Shooting a lot and experimenting will tell you everything you need to know and no one needs to see the shots. Experiment, learn from the shots and delete.

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willowdogger said:

This is a shot from a race last week and one from a race where the background detracts from the image.

View attachment 71202View attachment 71203

Click to expand...

I think the background has much to do with your positioning "before" you take the shots.

Before auto-focus even was conceived, this is how one would proceed:

1-Position yourself and frame the shot, anticipating where you want to click the shutter and have the full runner.
2-Pre-focus at the distance when you'd press the shutter.
3-Wait for the runner to be at your pre-focused spot.
4-Press the shutter.

Now with digital you can do just that as well, plus, you can get an actual preview of the depth of field you'd get with the chosen aperture.

So the problem of background is one that has to be thought of before the click happens, and the focus can be planned as well. Sometimes I think we give too much control over to the camera and better choices can humanly be made.

Just my 2 Canadian pennies that don't even exist anymore (yes, Canada has taken the pennies out of our monetary system).

Marcel said:

I think the background has much to do with your positioning "before" you take the shots.

Before auto-focus even was conceived, this is how one would proceed:

1-Position yourself and frame the shot, anticipating where you want to click the shutter and have the full runner.
2-Pre-focus at the distance when you'd press the shutter.
3-Wait for the runner to be at your pre-focused spot.
4-Press the shutter.

Now with digital you can do just that as well, plus, you can get an actual preview of the depth of field you'd get with the chosen aperture.

So the problem of background is one that has to be thought of before the click happens, and the focus can be planned as well. Sometimes I think we give too much control over to the camera and better choices can humanly be made.

Just my 2 Canadian pennies that don't even exist anymore (yes, Canada has taken the pennies out of our monetary system).

Click to expand...

I try to be different in my approach to photographing runners. There are a number of people who stick a camera on a tripod at these events and produce the same background on every shot. Every athlete posed head to toe. I want my camera in my hand, ready for the unexpected, dash across the road to obtain a different viewpoint, shoot from above or low down ...
Manual is far better, totally agree with this statement.
Thanks again for all the help.






This is my friend. I have more photos of her than anything else.

willowdogger said:

I try to be different in my approach to photographing runners. There are a number of people who stick a camera on a tripod at these events and produce the same background on every shot. Every athlete posed head to toe. I want my camera in my hand, ready for the unexpected, dash across the road to obtain a different viewpoint, shoot from above or low down ...

Click to expand...

You might want to consider panning the runner and using as slow a shutter speed as you think you can get away with. Maybe even waaay slower... This would introduce some motion blur in your background while keeping your subject (your runner) pretty much in focus. Although... If you shoot with a slow enough shutter speed, and your subject is moving fast enough, it might produce some interesting motion blur in the subject as well.

I think too much emphasis is placed on "freezing the action" when it comes to sports photography. Personally, I like a little dynamic in such shots and motion blur does that. This is purely an aesthetic thing, of course, and I only mention it as something to consider.

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Horoscope Fish said:

You might want to consider panning the runner and using as slow a shutter speed as you think you can get away with. Maybe even waaay slower... This would introduce some motion blur in your background while keeping your subject (your runner) pretty much in focus. Although... If you shoot with a slow enough shutter speed, and your subject is moving fast enough, it might produce some interesting motion blur in the subject as well.

I think too much emphasis is placed on "freezing the action" when it comes to sports photography. Personally, I like a little dynamic in such shots and motion blur does that. This is purely an aesthetic thing, of course, and I only mention it as something to consider.

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Click to expand...

I don't care what all the other people say about you....You do have some good ideas. I like the motion blur idea.

Dear frustrated newbie,

first of all, welcome to the forum and fantastic world of DSLR!
Dont make things more confusing by jumping in too deeply too soon. I strongly recommend joining a local club or attending a local course where step by step you will become more familiar with the technology and application in a controlled and structured environment. Study the manual also, youtube is also great for video tutorials which can in many cases explain a topic more effectively than just the written word.

Have fun learning!

Horoscope Fish said:

You might want to consider panning the runner and using as slow a shutter speed as you think you can get away with. Maybe even waaay slower... This would introduce some motion blur in your background while keeping your subject (your runner) pretty much in focus. Although... If you shoot with a slow enough shutter speed, and your subject is moving fast enough, it might produce some interesting motion blur in the subject as well.

I think too much emphasis is placed on "freezing the action" when it comes to sports photography. Personally, I like a little dynamic in such shots and motion blur does that. This is purely an aesthetic thing, of course, and I only mention it as something to consider.

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Click to expand...

Don Kuykendall said:

I don't care what all the other people say about you....You do have some good ideas. I like the motion blur idea.

Click to expand...

I agree this is a great idea and something that often gets overlooked for foot races but in car racing etc this is what you aim for.