Bone Tom - Mastering the Nikon D810

Darrell Young (DigitalDarrell) is a full-time author and professional photographer with a background in information technology engineering. He has been an avid photographer since 1968 when his mother gave him a Brownie Hawkeye camera.

Darrell has used Nikon cameras and Nikkor lenses since 1980. He has an incurable case of Nikon Acquisition Syndrome (NAS) and delights in working with Nikons newest digital cameras.

Living near Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway has given him a real concern for the natural environment and a deep interest in nature photography. Youll often find Darrell standing behind a tripod in the beautiful mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina.

He loves to write, as you can see in the Resources area of the Nikonians Online community (www.Nikonians.org) and at his Master Your Nikon blog (MasterYourNikon.com). He joined the Nikonians community in the year 2000, and his literary contributions led to his invitation to become the founding member of the Nikonians Writers Guild.

Darrell Young (aka Digital Darrell)

Editor (Rocky Nook): Jocelyn Howell

Editor (Nikonians): Tom Bon

Layout and Type: Almute Kraus, www.exclam.de

Cover Design: Helmut Kraus, www.exclam.de

Printer: Sheridan Books, Inc.

Printed in USA

Cover photo: Nikon USA

Back cover photo: Don Ridgway

1st Edition

Darrell Young 2015

Rocky Nook Inc.

802 E. Cota Street, 3rd Floor

Santa Barbara, CA 93103

www.rockynook.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014954977

Distributed by OReilly Media

1005 Gravenstein Highway North

Sebastopol, CA 95472

Many of the designations in this book used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks of their respective companies. Where those designations appear in this book, and Rocky Nook was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps. They are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefit of such companies. They are not intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.

No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the copyright owner. While reasonable care has been exercised in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

My wife of many years, Brenda; the love of my life and best friend

My children, Autumn, David, Emily, Hannah, and Ethan, five priceless gifts

My mother and father, Barbara and Vaughn, who brought me into this world and guided my early life, teaching me sound principles to live by

My Nikonians editor, Tom Bon, without whose assistance I could not possibly write books

My friends J. Ramon Palacios and Bo Stahlbrandt, who make it possible to belong to Nikonians.org, the worlds best Nikon Users Community

The wonderful staff of Rocky Nook, including Gerhard Rossbach, Scott Cowlin, Joan Dixon, Jocelyn Howell, Maggie Yates, and Matthias Rossmanith

And, finally, to Nikon, who makes the worlds best cameras and lenses.

Tony Trent of www.atomos.com (503-388-3236) for allowing me to use a powerful Atomos Ninja Blade external HDMI video recorder. The revolutionary Ninja Blade is the go-to Smart Production Weapon for Nikon HD-SLR camera owners who want to record the highest quality, uncompressed video their camera can output.

Brad Berger of www.Berger-Bros.com (800-542-8811) for helping me obtain a Nikon D810 early in its production cycle so that I could write this book. I personally buy from and recommend Berger-Bros.com for Nikon cameras, lenses, and accessories. They offer old-time service and classes for your photographic educational needs!

Through the past 12 Mastering the Nikon DSLR books authored by Nikonian Darrell Young (known to us as Digital Darrell), we have been delighted to witness an amazing evolution in the authors steadfast devotion to perfecting his craft, ever since becoming Founding Member of the Nikonians Writers Guild almost 15 years ago.

The new Nikon D810 is a world-standard-setting camera, like its predecessors the D800 and D800E. In addition to the many published official changes, the D810 has more upgrades internally than most readers will expect, with many new menu items and various improvements to previous camera systems. The D810 is one of the most flexible digital cameras ever made, with plenty of pixels for cropping capability in the medium-format range (36 MP), a fast enough frame rate for action photography (57 fps), and a deep feature set that makes it superior to other cameras for almost any type of personal, artistic, and commercial photography.

As engineers add and perfect features, each new camera introduced in the Nikon digital single-lens reflex inventory has exponentially become harder to describe in an easy-going and simple-to-understand manner. Yet Darrell has proven equal to the task by spending significant time with each camera in real-life photographic situations, discovering the unique personality of each new Nikon, and by adjusting his descriptive writing style to fit the needs of the reader. Camera complexity vanishes as the reader begins to understand each feature well and is able use his or her new Nikon to make superior images.

Before writing each book, Darrells first step is to read the users manual. Once he grasps the concepts and basic directions available through the manual, he takes those same concepts and directions into the field. He makes sure he understands how each feature works for basic photography and how it can be applied to specialty applications such as landscapes, weddings, events, and portraits. Once satisfied that he has mastered each new feature, he then translates his experience into a simple-to-understand sequence of profusely illustrated steps, and then goes on to recommend the best initial settings and shooting techniques to match. As you read the chapters that follow, you will be the beneficiary of his diligence and painstaking attention to detail.

This joint venture between nikonians.org and Rocky Nook has developed a strong following in the camera instruction genre, and Darrells fastidious attention to detail has been the key ingredient in that trend.

We are proud to include his impressive credentials and body of work in the ever-growing and never-ending resources for our community, such as the forums, The Nikonian eZine, Nikonians Academy Workshops, Nikonians News Blog, Nikonians podcasts, and our Wiki. Our community continues to grow as we now surpass 500,000 members on record.