Superior, US
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>Haven't gotten any responses to my request for help with the
>use of the menu settings. I'm still hoping that someone will
>come across this post and be able to offer some advice as to
>how to best use them.
>
>The "My Menu's" section seems very helpful and I am
>using that. I just adjust the settings as I need to make
>changes based on the images that I am shooting. In that way,
>I don't forget that changes have been made to banks that had
>been previously set up.
>
>I also use Lightroom to process my images and I shoot in RAW.
>I think that eliminates many of the picture control features
>in the camera so my actual number of adjustments are much less
>than a person processing with NX2 or shooting in jpeg.
>
>Any input would be helpful.
>
>Regards,
>
>Lance
Lance, I presume you still have no response. You post brings up several question as opposed to answers. The banks (I assuming you are referring to "Custom Setting Banks A, B, C, & D on the D700) are very cool, but are useful in very (VERY) specific circumstances. The beauty of a Photo System like the D700 is not only what you can control, but how fast you can get to that control. With that said, there are too many options to have buttons associated with, hence menus. The last couple of statements are the key here. With the D700 you can adapt quickly while on a shoot. Take that one step further, say you shoot often, then use the banks to configure the D700 for shooting . That needs to be something (I know, reusing the word, sorry), that is consistent in conditions that your settings would affect. In other words, you determine your setting and then don't change them!!!
Now to talk out of the other side of my mouth. Say you have a bank that is close to what you think you need. Call it up, adjust as necessary, enjoy the shoot, but do not try to save the settings.
Your banks are your base settings that you start with. Ideally, that base is right on the mark for your type of shoot. If your assignments are varied and general, then you probably would be better off taking notes and at most using the banks for lens & post processing combinations.
I have downloaded the mentioned speadsheet, but that is exactly what would come in handy.
Regarding the D700 (raw) & Lightroom (LR). Your experience is just the opposite of mine. I'm actually pretty happy with LR2. At least I know how to use it a little. One problem I've had, is that when I load an image, it looks good, but then after "generating higher quality image" it doesn't look good. I since learned that the first image, was the jpeg rendering included in the raw file. The final rendition was Adobe's raw conversion. You will see numerous complaints if you search the net, to the point, there are several beta camera profiles available to help. By the way LR3 does do a much better job. To really see the effects. When you get a chance, shoot RAW+JPEG. Download a trial copy of Capture NX2 and LR3, or use your current version. Use Capture NX2 (w/ Nikon Transfer) to copy the images to your system in some directory. Then use LR to import your images. Check your LR settings, depending it will only import the RAW, which is ok, but you can also import both Raw & Jpeg, like with the Nikon Transfer. Pull up the four images. Ray & Jpeg in both Capture NX2 and LR. As the images become more challenging (low light, white balance, etc), you will start to see a major difference between NX2 (Raw & Jpeg) and LR jpeg vs the LR Raw. In my case, I wouldn't let anyone see my raw images. They were way too off.
Because of this, I actually purchased Capture NX2 last week. Have no idea how to use it. After all the reviews, it basically boils down to, Capture NX2, is the best RAW converter for Nikon RAW files, and an excellent editor. Everything else, well lets just say, nobody has anything good to say about the rest.
I hope some of the above was kind of helpful.
Thanks, Cliff
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