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.
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.
Last edited: