Some Newbie questions

Hello all again.

I purchased D7000 (kit), 70-300 after your advices and I'm loving my first DSLR. I will need to get prime lens, maybe 35 or 50 1.8 (leaning toward 50 because of cheaper price)

I have few newbie questions I would like to ask you. Bit lengthy but hope to get your advices again.

1. I want to learn D7000 so I'm ONLY using "M" mode to shoot all my pictures and have taken several hundred pictures so far. Someone on Youtube suggested I should pay attention to meter (on viewfinder, that - 0 + sign) and adjust my shutter speed, Aperture and ISO accordingly. I've been following this guide and pictures turn out good so far. Should I keep follow this guideline to take picture or try to remember what shutter speed, aperture, ISO I need to use depending on different condition? Ken Rockwell suggested using "P" mode only, no matter what people say.

2. I'm worried about dust getting inside of camera body while I change lenses. What cleaning kit do you suggest? Also, D7000 has cleaning option in menu (Menu>Setup>Clean Image sensor). How often I need to clean it (I'm bit worried it might damage with frequent use)?

3. How do I set Infinite focus on Kit 18-105 lens? my 70-300 has infinite focus sign ( ) but kit lens doesn't. ( I want to try BULB mode and want to set to infinite focus on kit lens but...)

4. Sometimes when I focus something that's close to each other but in different depth, I want to adjust focus manually while still in auto focus mode. Doing this will damage lens/camera? While shutter is half-pressed I manually focus by turning focus ring. Or with my 70-300 lens, to speed up focusing, after zooming in I first manually focus then let auto focus to fine focus. Someone said this is good idea while some said it can damage lens and camera so I'm bit confused.

5. Shutter count: D7000 has 150,000 shutter life. Does this mean something needs to be replaced/fixed when its near 150,000 shutter count? At first I didnt know about this and was taking lot of pictures to practice and now this got me little worried. 150,000 is lot of pictures but at my rate, I think I can hit that in 2-3 years.

Thanks for taking time to read my newbie questions and your advices. I'm sure I'll have more newbie questions for you down the road.

If you want to play with manual settings here's an older thread for you to read with an imbedded link.
http://nikonites.com/general-photography-forum/2248-sunny-16-rule.html

1) This is a good base starting point. From these settings you will have to adjust your f/stop to the - 0 + meter you were talking about. Keep in mind, just because it says "Rules" that does not mean you have to use these exact settings, rules were meant to be broken, play around with settings, you may find something you like.

You also can Google "Sunny 16 rule" and more charts and info will pop up.

As for shooting in "P" mode as "KR" recommends, I'm sure another member will give you "HIS" insight and opinion on the advice available on the "KR" Web site.

Personally I don't care for that site or the advice given there, but I can't offer you any better advice, so I'd rather someone else who really knows their stuff comment on using the "P" mode correctly.

5) Shutter counts mean nothing other than your model had been tested to that many shutter counts in the lab. I have heard many cameras going well past the tested shutter count, so at this time I would not worry.

The "P" (Program) mode gives you multiple exposure setting combinations of f/stop and shutter speeds for normal exposures (To the extent of your lens f/stop range). This is convenient when all of your shooting is in the normal exposure range. You can adjust this shooting range by moving the ISO up or down. Many people associate the Program Mode with point and shoot, not true. The "P" mode is actually a merger of the "A" (Aperture) priority mode and the "S" (Shutter speed) priority modes. It's convenient in that if you need more speed you can dial up to that speed or if a higher f/stop is needed you can dial to that as well. This works great if the shooting conditions are stable. It the conditions are constantly changing then the "A" mode or the "S" mode will probably be the better choice.

Thank you for your answers. Does anyone here have answer to my #4 question? That's my most concern and I can't seem to find definite answer to this problem.

TeddyBear said:

...Ken Rockwell suggested...

Click to expand...

Strike the words Ken Rockwell from your vocabulary if you ever expect to learn anything useful about photography. He's a hack with a really bad haircut who knows about as much about taking good photos as I know about flying to the moon. Which ain't much.

Unless you're insanely slow at changing lenses or you do so in a sawmill, don't worry about it. Yes, dust is going to get inside your camera. It's unavoidable no matter what precautions you take, aside from only taking photos in a microbiology lab. Clean it when it gets dirty. Trust me, you'll notice. Look for spots on your photos.

I wouldn't recommend trying to use manual focus while in autofocus mode, it could damage the AF motor or gears. These buttons are conveniently placed for a reason, and with practice, you will learn to manipulate every button on your camera without even looking or even thinking about it. Patience, young Padawan.

Your shutter could fail at #117,473 or #915 or #267,138. Shutters are factory tested for average life expectancy, and as with all things mechanical, what they're tested for and what they actually do can be very different. I have a friend who has a D40 with nearly half a million on it. Yours could lock up tomorrow. It's just not something to really worry about.

In answer to your question #4, yes you can override the auto focus with the manual ring on the lens. As far as I know and unless I missed it some where there is no dire warning from Nikon about overriding the auto focus with the manual focus ring. The one problem you can run into with manual focusing the lens while it's in auto focus is with the continuos focus, "C", mode. In that mode even if you override the auto focus the camera will refocus because that is what you are asking it to do in that mode. What I don't understand is why you want to override the auto focus. 99.9%, of the time auto focus is faster and a lot more accurate than your eyesight and your trying to find that ring and get it set to where you want it. It's faster to just move the view finder focus point over to the subject you want it to focus on, or, the technique I use is to put the focus point on the spot where I want it to focus, lock it in by pressing the shutter button half way down and recompose the shot in the view finder. That's a lot faster than trying to do it manually. I also use the Nikon 70-300mm VR lens and have taken many thousands of shots with it. At least 90% are nature shots, and believe me that lens is a lot faster focusing across it's range than you are trying to do it manually. I don't think you are making a significant difference in the life of the auto focus system by manually focusing first and then letting the auto focus finish. These auto focus systems are designed to give many years of service and it's very rare that one fails. Hope this helps.

About focus override, I'm not sure Joseph is right. I know for sure you can do it safely with the G lenses (I think) but not sure about the D lenses. I know I have lenses where the focus is permanently driven by the focus screw. With these, I know there is something in the manual that says you could damage the focusing drive if you use the focus without disengaging the focusing mechanism first. Some lenses have a switch and some like the 70-200 VR II can be focused on the run without the switch.
So just make sure you follow all the recommendations from the user's manual (camera and lenses).

Yep, I stand corrected. I assumed he was referring to a "G" lens and should not have done so. A AF-S lens auto focus can be overridden manually. Most of those have a M/A - M switch, which is auto focus with manual override or can be switched to manual only. Even the "G" (AF-S) lenses with a A - M switch will allow a manual override in auto focus. All of this changes with the "D" lenses. Their auto focus is driven by the body focus motor and most do not have a auto - manual switch. You have to set the camera body to manual to turn off the auto focus with a "D" lens. You can still override the auto focus even on a "D" type lens. However in doing so you are also driving the body auto focus servo motor. While a servo is designed to be moved in either direction it's probably not a good idea to put the additional stress on the focusing system. Good call Marcel.