I'm new and have a new person type question

Hey,


My name's Edward, I'm 27, from the UK and recently bought a D3300. This was my first proper camera, before that I'd just taken photos on my iPhone so this stuff is all pretty new to me. I mainly bought a camera because I was going on holiday and thought it'd be a good chance to take up a new hobby (I feel like I'm getting too old for all this alcohol consumption).

Took 492 photos while I was on holiday and I got a few good ones but definitely feel like I've got a lot to learn!

I have a really basic question if I may - I'm trying to use continuous shooting mode but I can't for the life of me figure out how it works. I've clicked on the button at the bottom left of the screen and selected continuous shooting mode but then when I press the release button it only takes one photo. I'm sure there's a really simple solution to this but I haven't been able to work it out hence my coming on here. The manual says you just hold the release button down until you want to stop taking photos but this doesn't seem to work for me.


Any help much appreciated!


Edd

You may have to select the number of frames using the button on the bottom right of the screen and the rotating toggle.

Button on the bottom left or is it bottom right. It should bring up the Release Mode Menu which you select the mode with the multi-selector and then select OK using the OK button.

There has to be enough room in the buffer for multiple shots. When the viewfinder display is active there will be a lower case "r" with a number after that gives the buffer size.

Is the flash popped up? That would prevent continuous shooting.

Welcome to the forum

First, welcome!
Are you selecting continuous auto focus (C-AF) or continuous drive mode? They are two separate, independent functions.

The continuous shooting button is at the bottom RIGHT, nearest to the screen. The delete button is to its right.
. Press this button - called release mode
. You will get options
- Single Frame
- Continuous
- Quiet shutter release
- Self Timer

Choose continuous by
- press the selector dial once to the right
- the option will be highlighted
- press OK to select, If you do not press OK it will not be selected.

nickt said:

Is the flash popped up? That would prevent continuous shooting.

Click to expand...

That's sorted it, thank you so much!

Weird thing though, I select continuous shooting while the flash thing is down and then when I focus it pops the flash up again. I had to go back in and manually turn flash off for it to work ok.

Thanks again! And to everyone else for their responses too.

EddceLLent said:

Weird thing though, I select continuous shooting while the flash thing is down and then when I focus it pops the flash up again. I had to go back in and manually turn flash off for it to work ok.
.

Click to expand...

That sounds like Auto mode or maybe a scene mode. In Auto, the flash pops up often unless you disable it. If you shoot in P, S, or A , you won't have the nuisance of the flash popping up. Eventually, you will want to move away from Auto mode anyway so you can get more control of your settings.

Welcome!

Use a Program mode ("P"), for the time being.

Welcome

It does take a little effort to get the hang of these DSLR's but hang in there, it really is not that difficult. Lots of help here and a gazillion youtube tutorials on photography to wade through.

While you will want to get out of "auto-everything" in short order it's where we all begin. Learn one element of your camera at a time. (handy to learn how to disable that pesky popup flash when you are in auto).

Once you are ready to move out of auto-everything just pick your pleasure and learn that new aspect. My first step past auto-everything was aperture mode (A) on the dial. But you'll want to learn what aperture is all about first and take it one step at a time.

It is a grand hobby.

BTW 492 pictures is a nice afternoon stroll for me. Especially if you get your continuous burst mode going shooting a half dozen per click.

In the mode dial, next to the "P" mode with a camera icon, there is a "Flash" ikon. That is for program mode with no flash.

Any way, try to shoot without program mode at ISO 100/200. I mostly shoot in Aperture Priority mode "A" at ISO 100 or 200. The camera adjusts the shutter speed, and I change the aperture with the (only) wheel. At times when I feel that the shutter speed is too low, I pop the flash up.

Also
- Shoot in RAW, with all the other extra features switched off - noise, lense correction etc. This will speed up the camera, and you can always apply the functions in post processing.
- If you have not, download the Nikon Capture NX-D beta and start using it. You will be surprised how much the RAW file contains, especially in those dark areas.
- Do not buy a high capacity SD card. 8GB is the optimum size. With larger card you may face camera slow down as it tries to write, and while down loading acessing the camera will also take longer with over a 1000 files that can populate a high capacity card.
- Do not use any software to copy files to your computer. Just connect the camera with the USB cable supplied and use the OS to copy files. Make sure to maintain a copy on another disk, as many software will over write the original file while you modify the RAW file. NX-D does not.

Sorry for the thread hijack, but aroy, are you saying some third-party software are able to not only open but *save* to nef raw format?! Not that I ever tried, I just took it for granted that they couldn't because I imagine Nikon, Canon et al. wouldn't distribute full codec, only what's necessary for reading... Learn something new every day.

Howdy Edd and welcome to Nikonites!


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Welcome to the forum

If you fill out your profile we can better answer any questions that you might have.
You can do that at http://nikonites.com/profile.php?do=editprofile

FAQ

Some useful links
http://support.nikonusa.com/app/ans.../nikon-product-manuals-available-for-download
Nikon | Imaging Products | Digitutor


Thanks

Become a Contributing Member

Thanks to everyone for being so welcoming and making lots of helpful suggestions. I'm sure I'll be able to learn a lot from these forums!

I've updated my profile as suggested. Tried to add a couple of photos to this post too but for some reason it's taking forever so I was only able to upload one of them. I took this while I was on a boat trip:



In relation to software I haven't downloaded anything extra; I just plugged the camera into my Macbook pro and it opened up a program called iPhoto which seems to be able to do what I need in relation to viewing and editing photos.

If I use aperture priority mode is that essentially me controlling the aperture settings manually but everything else remains automatic?

Thanks guys!

If I use aperture priority mode is that essentially me controlling the aperture settings manually but everything else remains automatic?

Click to expand...

It will control the shutter speed automatically. You can still control ISO and WB manual, unless you have those two set to automatic.

I normally shoot in aperture priority, and control the ISO manually, and the white balance automatically.

PaulPosition said:

Sorry for the thread hijack, but aroy, are you saying some third-party software are able to not only open but *save* to nef raw format?! Not that I ever tried, I just took it for granted that they couldn't because I imagine Nikon, Canon et al. wouldn't distribute full codec, only what's necessary for reading... Learn something new every day.

Click to expand...

There are two methods of applying the edits to the file
1. Modify the file using edit commands, but keep a log of all the commands. This may be in a separate file or in the same file. These are called non-destructive edits, as the original file remains as it was, and every time you open the software, it applies all the edit commands to display the file. Capture NX-D uses a separate file for the edit log, while some software embed the log within the NEF file while saving it.

2. Apply all the edit commands to the file and save only the final version. This is destructive edit, its only advantage is that the file is small and every time you open it it opens fast as there are no operations required.

SDK for file manipulation is available. Some times the manufacturer publishes them, some time third party, but they are available for developers who want to use the RAW files. Any way, once you can read the file you can also write it back.