Nikon 25047 User Manual - Page 49

Setting Shooting Menus-continued Shooting Mode - Preset White Balance - In certain lighting, you may find that you can obtain a more accurate color balance by measuring the color temperature of the light manually. The Preset White Balance function allows you to photograph a neutral object (usually a piece of gray card) from which the camera calculates the color temperature. The camera then automatically recalibrates the white balance according to the result. • When White Bal Preset is selected, the camera will Zoom in and the preset white-balance menu will appear on the Monitor. Cancel Select Cancel to abort the Preset White Balance setting, and then press the > on the Multi selector to return the white balance to its most recent setting. The lens also returns to its previous position. Measure To measure the color temperature, select Measure and then place a flat neutral object such as a piece of gray card in the same lighting as the intended subject. Then press > on the Multi selector to take a sample image. The camera measures the color temperature and the recalibrates the white balance. Note: When you select Measure, the camera will beep and zoom out, but no photograph will be taken. METERING The METERING menu offers a choice of four metering methods. Choose the best metering method for your composition and lighting conditions. Matrix Good for most situations. Spot Best when you want to set the exposure based on a small area of the picture, (e.g. a subject surrounded by a dark background). A useful compromise between Spot and Center-Weighted Matrix. Useful when the lighting on the subject is to be used to define the exposure, but extends over a larger area. Spot AF Area Set Spot AF Area Metering when you want the exposure measurement to be defined by the selected AF area target. Metering system Characteristic Shooting situations Matrix Determines the exposure measurement by dividing up the image into 256 separate elements and creating an appropriate exposure calculation according to the particular balance of subject and background. Recommended for use in most situations. Spot The camera measures light in an area in the center of the frame occupying roughly 1/32 of the total Monitor area, indicated by the square in center of the Monitor. Best used when the subject is backlit or there is a pronounced contrast in the frame such that exposure should be based on a just a small area of the frame. Exposure is calculated based on the central Useful when you want to 1/4 of the entire frame contributing 80 base the exposure Center-Weighted percent of the exposure calculation. When measurement on the center you use the Digital zoom, Center-Weighted of the frame. Metering is automatically selected. * Metering method is automatically set to Center-Weighted when Digital zoom is activated. Menus 96 97