Young - Mastering the Nikon D600

Darrell Young (Digital Darrell) is an information technology engineer by trade. Hes 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 has given him a real concern for the natural environment and a deep interest in nature photography.

He loves to write, as you can see in the Resources area of the Nikonians Online community (www.Nikonians.org). He joined the community in the year 2000, and his literary contributions led to his invitation to become a Founding Member of the Nikonians Writers Guild.

Darrell Young

Darrell Young (aka Digital Darrell)

Editor: Jocelyn Howell
Copyeditor: Jeanne Hansen
Layout: Petra Strauch
Cover Design: Helmut Kraus, www.exclam.de
Printer: Friesens Corporation
Printed in Canada

ISBN 978-1-937538-19-4

1st Edition 2013
2013 Darrell Young

Rocky Nook, Inc.
802 E. Cota Street, 3rd Floor
Santa Barbara, CA 93103

www.rockynook.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Young, Darrell, 1958
Mastering the Nikon D600/by Darrell Young. -- 1st edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-937538-19-4 (softcover : alk. paper)
1. Nikon digital cameras. 2. Single-lens reflex cameras. 3. Photography--Digital techniques. I.
Title.
TR263.N5Y683 2013
771.32--dc23

2013002606

Distributed by OReilly Media
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Sebastopol, CA 95472

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This book is printed on acid-free paper.

This book is dedicated to:

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, Joan Dixon, Jocelyn Howell, and Matthias Rossmanith ...

My copy editor, Jeanne Hansen (www.hansenedits.com), whose eye for detail and knowledge of the English language made this book much nicer for its readers ...

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

Special Thanks to:

Brad Berger of www.Berger-Bros.com (800-542-8811) for helping me obtain a Nikon D600 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 too!

Steve Wise of www.atomos.com (503-388-3236) for allowing me to use a powerful Atomos Ninja-2 external HDMI video recorder. The revolutionary Ninja-2 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.

Michael Tapes of mtapesdesign.com (321-752-9700) for providing samples of their excellent products: WhiBal for white balance ambient light (PRE) readings and accurate white balance control, and LensAlign and FocusTune for calibrating and fine-tuning autofocus in Nikon DSLRs.

The Nikon D600 is hard to define compared to previous Nikon digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras.

Nikons announcement of the D800 (February 2012) was followed by the unveiling of the D600 a short seven months later. This new camera is smaller and lighter, and instead of being compared to the D800, it is often reviewed as a D7000 on steroids.

The D600 is not a D800, nor is it a DX sensor equipped D7000. It is more like an upgraded combination of the two, making it a very clever merger of a semipro and enthusiast camera with features that surpass some recent professional models.

Imagine the dilemma faced by the author of the past eight Mastering the Nikon DSLR series books. Nikonian Darrell Youngknown to us as Digital Darrellhad just published the most successful (and profuse at almost 600 pages) edition of our books, on the Nikon D800/800E. It was preceded by our Nikon D7000 book (now in its fifth printing). Many of the features from both the D800 and D7000 were combined into the amazing Nikon D600. How could Darrell describe this new, powerful, hybrid digital single-lens reflex in a way that would most benefit his readers?

Working with the camera, Darrells first step is the same as the one he recommends to all new Nikon users. He reads the users manual as many times as it takes to understand important concepts. Once he grasps the concepts and the basic directions available through the users manual, he takes those concepts and directions into the field. He makes sure he understands how each feature works in 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 in a simple-to-understand sequence of profusely illustrated steps, and goes on to recommend the best initial settings and shooting techniques to match.