Nikon D7100 recommended settings (2023)

WhileCanon 7D Mark II reviewI had to borrow the Nikon D7100 to compare image quality and other camera features. So I thought it would be helpful for our readers to write an article about recommended settings for the D7100. Although the Nikon D7100 is not a direct competitor to the 7D Mark II (it is more like theNikon D500roll), it's still a solid camera used by many photographers for a variety of different needs. And despite thatcrippled buffer capacity, the D7100 is widely used for wildlife and sports photography.

As the camera is quite sophisticated in terms of features and capabilities, with many different menus and settings, it might seem a bit difficult for a beginner. In this article I want to provide some background on what I personally use and briefly explain what some of the important settings do.

Keep in mind that while these camera settings work for me, that doesn't mean everyone else has to shoot with the exact same settings. The information below is a guide for those wanting to get started with a basic understanding of the camera and its many features.

Before we get into the camera menu, let's start with the external controls. The Nikon D7100 has a lot of menu options, but there are some things you can only control with external controls.

Autofocus, bracketing and flash modes

On the left front of the camera you'll find a lever that goes from AF to M, with a button in the middle (big red circle in the image below). Make sure this lever remains at "AF" or your lens will not autofocus. If for some reason your lens is no longer in focus, this is the first thing you need to check. Different focus modes can be selected by pressing the button in the middle of the lever.

To activate this change, you need to hold the button and then rotate the back button with your thumb. As you do so, look at the top LCD and the camera will switch between AF-A, AF-S and AF-C. I won't go into too much detail about each focus mode, as everything is explained in detail inThis articleI wrote some time ago. Here is a small summary:

1. AF-S- This mode is called "single autofocus" and is only used for stationary subjects that are not moving. Pressing the shutter halfway locks autofocus on the subject, and when the subject moves, the focus does not change, resulting in a blurred image. Use this mode only for photographing stationary subjects (landscapes, architecture, etc.).
2. AF-C– Known as “Continuous AF” in Nikon parlance, this setting is used for photographing moving subjects. If you press the shutter button halfway and the subject moves, the camera will restore focus. I usually keep my camera in AF-C autofocus mode when photographing people, especially my kids running around.
3. AF-A– This mode is only present on low-end cameras to make it easier for beginners. Basically, it's a combination of the above two modes in one setup. The camera assesses the subject/scene and automatically switches between the above two modes depending on what you are shooting.

If you don't know where to start, leave the setting at AF-A to let the camera decide how to focus in different situations.

Now, if you rotate the front dial with your index finger while holding down the same button, you'll get several different options, such as "S", "D 9", "D 21", "D 51", "3D" and "Auto ". . These settings are used to control the focus points you see in the viewfinder. Again, most of them are already explained in detail in myAutofocus modes explainedarticle, so I won't go into too much detail here. If you don't know where to start, leave it at "S" (single), which lets you choose a single focal point for the camera to use to focus. Let's move on to other external controls.

Just above the AF/M lever, you'll find two additional buttons: the Flash button, which lets you adjust flash compensation and set other flash parameters such as front/rear flash synchronization, and the BKT (Bracket Bracket) button for setting scaling on camera. Flash settings don't matter, but first make sure everything is off and shows "0.0" when you press and hold it. Likewise, make sure bracketing is off as well by holding the button and checking the rear LCD. "0F" should appear on the left, meaning bracketing is disabled (the letters "BKT" should also disappear). The front dial lets you change bracketing increments and the rear dial changes the number of shots taken in a bracketing sequence. The D7100 allows bracketing up to 5 frames and up to 3 stops (EV) away.

Dial for recording mode and camera mode

On the top left side of the camera, you'll find a dual wheel - the top part lets you switch between different camera modes (often referred to as the "PASM" wheel), while the bottom part lets you switch between different shooting modes. I have my top dial set to "A" (aperture priority mode) 90% of the time because the camera does such a great job of giving me good exposures. Once you get to know your camera better, I recommend exploring the "U1" / "U2" settings (more on this belowsettings menu) because they can save you time when switching between different shooting environments (for example, when switching between shooting landscapes and watching children running).

The lower dial features a variety of shooting modes, such as "S" (single frame), "Cl, Ch" (continuous low and continuous high), "Q" (silent), "Qc" (continuous silent), self-timer and mup (mirror). lock). Mine is usually set to "S", which only fires a single shot when I press the trigger. If I want the camera to shoot multiple shots when taking pictures, I change it to "Ch". I rarely use other settings, but they can be useful too, most notably the timer feature, which I use when shooting landscapes to reduce vibration (more on that below).

Aside from the above, don't worry about the camera's other buttons. Now let's move on to the camera settings menu.

playback menu

I rarely touch anything in the playback menu, as it's only used to display images on the rear LCD. The only two settings I've ever played with are "Playback Display Options" and "Boost". "Playback Display Options" can be helpful when reviewing images. By pressing the play button on the back of the camera, you can press the up/down buttons and view different types of information. To avoid confusion, I turned on three things: Focus Point, which lets me see what I'm focused on, Highlights, to show overexposure in photos (also known as Blinkies), and Overview, with which I get a summary of my exposure (shutter speed, aperture, ISO, focal length, etc.). I always turn the Rotate Up setting off because I don't want my camera to change vertical images to horizontal ones when I'm looking at them - it's much easier to rotate the camera to see a vertical image instead of each frame having to be zoomed in once. Now there is another setting that youAgainwant to keep and it's in the setup menu: It's called "Auto Image Rotation". This special feature writes the correct orientation into each image so that it is automatically rotated when the photo is imported into Lightroom or other post-processing software. If you disable this feature, you will have to manually rotate each image after import.

Everything else is preset in the playback menu.

photo capture menu

Now let's go to the photo capture menu, which is the first place I tend to go when checking my settings. I'll give my values ​​first and then get into the important settings:

• Redefine photo capture menu: —
• Save folder: default, do not change
• File naming: DSC (default), do not change
• Role played by the card in Slot 2: Overflow
• Image quality: NEF (RAW)
• image size: gray
• image area
  • DX (24×16): Default, do not change
  • 1.3x (18×12)
• JPEG compression: Best quality
• NEF recording (RAW):
  • Type: lossless compressed
  • NEF (RAW)-Bittiefe: 14 bits
• White balance: AUTO (AUTO1 Normal)
• Set Image Control: SD (default), default values
• Manage Image Controls: —
• Color Space: Adobe RGB
• Active D-Lighting: OFF
• HDR (High Dynamic Range): OFF (acinzentado)
• Auto Keystone Control: OFF
• Long Exposure NR: OFF
• High ISO NR: OFF
• ISO sensitivity settings
  • ISO sensitivity: 100
  • Auto ISO Sensitivity Control: ON
    • Max Sensitivity: 3200
    • Minimum shutter speed: Auto -> half scale
• Remote control mode (ML-L3): 2s
• Multiple exposure: OFF
• Interval shooting: OFF
• movie settings
  • Frame Size/Frame Rate: 1920×1080; 24p
  • Film quality: HIGH
  • Microphone: Manual sensitivity 10
  • Target: 1st place

While there are a lot of different settings here, don't worry - you won't be changing many settings very often. Let's go through some of the important settings. The first is Role Played by Card in Slot 2, which lets you choose what you want to do with the camera's two card slots. When shooting with multiple cards, you can set the camera to save images in three different ways. You can set it to "overflow" which basically saves the images to the first card. When the space is full, the camera will start saving to the second card. I usually set mine to burst unless I'm working on something really important and need to back up images. Speaking of backup/redundancy, use the second “Backup” setting for that. Once selected, the camera will save photos to both memory cards simultaneously. The last setting lets you save RAW files on one card and JPEG files on another. Just leave it on "Overflow" for your everyday photos, and if you really need to make sure your photos aren't lost if one of the cards fails, choose "Backup".

The "image quality" is obviously set to RAW, as I only shoot RAW. My NEF (RAW) capture is always set to 14-bit lossless compression. I want the best image quality the camera can offer. "White Balance" is "Auto" and all other settings like "Picture Controls", "Active D-Lighting", "HDR" etc. . Keep in mind that RAW files contain unmanipulated data and require post-processing, so the above settings only affect two things: Images that appear on the camera's LCD screen (every RAW file contains a full-size JPEG image used to display images) and when using Nikon proprietary software such as Capture NX, these settings can be automatically applied to RAW images. Since I use Lightroom to store and edit my images, the second part doesn't apply to me. Also, I don't care too much about how images appear on the camera's LCD, so I leave everything off.

While color space doesn't matter for RAW files, I now use AdobeRGB as it provides a slightly more accurate histogram for determining the correct exposure (since the camera displays the histogram based on the JPEG image rendered by the camera, even if I shoot in RAW only).

The big menu setting that I change a lot is "ISO Sensitivity Settings". Mostly I useAuto ISO, because it's a great feature that saves a lot of time. Instead of specifying the ISO for each shot, I just set it to "Auto", with the base ISO set to 100, the maximum sensitivity to 3200 (my personal threshold for "acceptable" noise levels), and the minimum shutter speed set to as "Auto". This will automatically adjust the minimum shutter speed based on the focal length I'm using. If I'm using an image stabilized (VR) lens, I can lower the minimum shutter speed from Auto to Slower, and if I'm shooting with a prime lens and want faster shutter speeds (e.g. when photographing wildlife), move the slider to "Faster". When shooting landscapes or architecture with the camera on a tripod, I turn Auto ISO off and use ISO 100 for the highest dynamic range and lowest noise level. By the way, you can easily turn Auto ISO on and off by pressing and holding the ISO button on the back of the camera and then turning the front dial.

custom settings menu

This is where many people get lost as there are so many different settings. Here are the settings I personally use:

• auto focus
  • AF-C priority selection: release
  • AF-S Priority Selection: Focus
  • Focus tracking with lock: AF 3 (Normal)
  • AF Point Illumination: Auto
  • Wrap Focus Point: OFF
  • Number of focus points: AF51
  • Built-in AF assist lamp: ON
• measurement/exposure
  • ISO sensitivity level value: 1/3
  • EV steps for exposure control: 1/3
  • Single Exposure Compensation: OFF
  • Weighted Center Area: 8mm
  • Fine-tune optimal exposure: —
• Timer/AE-Stop
  • AE-L Shutter: OFF
  • Standby timer: 6s
  • timer
    • Timer delay: 5s
    • Number of shots: 1
    • Interval between shots: 0.5s
  • Monitor off delay: 10s, 1m, 10s, 4s, 10m
  • Remote activated time (ML-L3): 1m
• Recording/Viewing
  • Bip
    • Volume: OFF
    • step: down
  • Viewfinder grid display: ON
  • ISO display and setting: OFF
  • Fabric tips: ON
  • Recording speed in CL mode: 3 fps
  • max continuous release: 100
  • File number sequence: ON
  • Information display: AUTO
  • LCD backlight: OFF
  • Exposure delay mode: OFF
  • Flash Warning: OFF
  • MB-D15 Bateriap: LR6
  • Battery order: MB-D15
• bracketing/flash
  • Flash sync speed: 1/320 (Auto FP)
  • Flash shutter speed: 1/60
  • Flash Control for Built-in Flash: TTL
  • Exposure Comp. for Flash: full image
  • Modeling flash: ON
  • Auto Variation Set: AE and Blitz
  • Order of brackets: Below > MTR > Above
• The control
  • OK key
    • Recording mode: RESET
    • Playback mode: zoom in/out -> medium magnification
    • Live view: RESET
  • Assign Fn Key: Access the top item in MY MENU
  • Assign preview button: Preview
  • AE-L/AF-L-Taste zuweisen: AE-L / AF-L-Taste drücken: AE/AF-Sperre
  • Customize dials: all default
  • Release the button to use the dial: OFF
  • Empty slot unlock lock: LOCK
  • Reverse indicators: – 0 +
  • MB-D15 AE-L/AF-L Button Assign: AE/AF Lock
• Film
  • Assign Fn key: OFF
  • Assign View Button: OFF
  • Tecla AE-L/AF-L Chave: AE/AF-Lock
  • Assign triggers: take pictures

There are many possibilities! Again, I won't go into detail about each setting, so let me run through the main ones you should know. The Auto Focus section is very important as it controls how your camera's autofocus is configured. The first two settings, AF-C Priority Selection and AF-S Priority Selection, are designed to support single or continuous mode shooting. The focus setting in the AF-S priority selection selection forces the camera to focus before the picture is taken. Unlike previous Nikon DSLRs, the D7100 still lets you shoot if "focus and reassemble“ no Modo AF-S.

The next setting is "Focus Tracking with Lock-On", which I usually leave at the default setting of "3". This setting controls how quickly autofocus reactivates when it detects focus errors. When photographing birds in flight, I tend to limit this setting to short delays because I want the autofocus to snap back into place for small changes. The rest of the time I keep it normal and almost never have long waits.

AF Point Illumination is used to illuminate the viewfinder focus point(s) and various grids in red when you press the shutter button halfway down. I usually leave it on Automatic, which doesn't light up in very bright environments where I can see everything clearly in the viewfinder, and only in darker environments (which helps to identify the position of my focus point). I don't like my focus points to scroll to the other side of the screen when I'm in corners, and I like to shoot with all focus points on, so the focus point outline is off and the number of focus points is set to 51 .

The "built-in AF-assist lamp" is the lamp on the front of the camera that is activated when shooting in AF-S focus mode. When your subject is dark, the front light turns on and illuminates your subject, helping the autofocus system to achieve proper focus. I find the light useful in low light situations, so I leave that setting on.

I never mess with any of the "Metering/Exposure" settings, so I recommend just leaving them at their default values. I would also skip the entire "Timer/AE Lock" subsection.

The first thing I always do is turn off the focus confirmation tone in “Shoot/View”. I tend to refocus several times and would hate to bother anyone with my camera beeping.

The "Viewfinder Grid Display" is a cool feature that creates vertical and horizontal lines on the display. I use these grids all the time when composing my shots - they are great tools to align the horizon horizontally or vertically and give my framing/composition a better visual look.

When shooting in modes other than manual (for example, aperture priority), the Nikon D7100 allows you to change the ISO using either the rear or front dial, which can come in handy when you need to quickly adjust ISO one-handed. This can be enabled by going to "Display and ISO Adjustment" and setting it to "Display ISO/Simple ISO". However, this feature has a rather annoying drawback - after you do this, the camera will stop showing the number of photos left on the memory card! Because of this, I usually disable this feature and choose "Show Frame Count". If you don't mind seeing how many photos are left on your card, I recommend using this feature. Nikon addressed this commitment in theNikon D750, which now has a dedicated "Easy ISO" setting - selecting this option no longer affects the image count display.

The big setting I tend to rely on when shooting landscapes is the "exposure delay mode". This feature is a gem of newer Nikon DSLRs, as it first raises the camera's mirror (which creates a lot of vibration), then waits a certain amount of time, and only then opens the shutter to take the picture. The good thing is that you can set a delay of up to 3 seconds, which can completely eliminate the dreaded "mirror mirror". When I run my landscape photography workshops, I often walk around the participants and check how they trigger their cameras. Those who don't have a camera remote control (remote shutter release) are frustrated at first, but once they discover this cool feature, they don't regret not having brought the remote triggers with them (note that remote triggers can be very useful for other purposes). although). The best part about this particular feature is that you can use it in conjunction with your camera timer! By setting the secondary dial on top of the camera to Timer and then setting the "Self Timer Delay" to about 5 seconds, you can completely eliminate camera shake. Basically, the 5 second start timer is for the camera to stabilize itself after you press the shutter button. After waiting 5 seconds, the Exposure Delay Mode feature will activate and the mirror will rise. The camera will wait another 3 seconds before finally opening the shutter and taking the picture. This is a great feature that I recommend when shooting landscapes and architecture in low light / very slow shutter speeds.

If you don't like the orange flash icon that keeps popping up in your viewfinder (I find it annoying), there's a place to turn it off - just toggle "Flash Alert" to Off and you won't see the flash alert icon again.

I won't get into the bracketing/flashing sections because that's a big subject in itself. The only thing I tend to change here is the exposure order - I like my images to be underexposed, normal and overexposed, so I set the exposure order to Under > MTR > Over.

I keep changing the Controls section because there are some time-saving features there. First, let's start with my favorite feature of Nikon's advanced cameras, which lets you instantly zoom in on an image by pressing the OK button on the multi selector. This menu item used to be called the “Multi Selector Center Button”, but Nikon has now renamed it the “OK Button”. It's a huge time saver and something I really wish all Nikon DSLR cameras could do. Basically, you can configure the middle OK button on the multi selector to zoom in and out at a set magnification level when viewing images with a single tap! If you're frustrated with constantly pressing the zoom button until you get the right magnification level, you'll love this feature. There are three magnification levels to choose from: Low magnification, Medium magnification, and High magnification. The best setting is medium magnification, as you can preview images at the 100%/pixel level. Saves 8 keystrokes to zoom!

The next important menu item "Assign Fn Button" allows programming of the "Fn" (function) button on the front of the camera. Since I shoot a lot in different environments, I want to be able to quickly change my auto ISO settings (not just turning auto ISO on or off, but also accessing settings like "Maximum Sensitivity" and "Minimum Shutter Speed"). Unfortunately Auto ISO is buried in the "shooting menu" and takes a long time to reach. I love being able to access Auto ISO just by pressing the Fn key and it's something you can configure very easily. First, go to the "My Menu" section of the menu. Then go to "Add Items" -> "Recording Menu". Find "ISO Sensitivity Settings" and just press "OK" button instead of entering that menu. The next screen should say "Select Position" and there it will say "ISO Sensitivity Settings". Just press "OK" again and you will see this at the top of the "My Menu" window. If you already have some favorites saved, be sure to move them to the top. Once you've done that, go back to the "Custom Setup Menu" and navigate to "Controls" -> "Assign Fn Button". From there, select “Access top item in MY MENU” and press OK. Try it now - close the menu and press the "Fn" button on the front of the camera. If you've done everything right, the rear LCD should take you straight to the ISO sensitivity settings! Very cool and saves a lot of time when you need to adjust the auto ISO feature!

If you're not particularly concerned about the "View" button for depth of field, you can program your D7100 to do the same via this button.

Now let's talk about another important menu setting which is Assign AE-L/AF-L Button. If you haven't read my article about them yetFocus and Recompose-Technik, now is a good time as this feature is explained in detail. Basically, you switch the autofocus function from the shutter button (half-pressed) to theAE-L/AF-L button on the back of the camera, as shown below:

Once you've done this, your camera will no longer autofocus on half-pressing the shutter button and will only respond to pressing the rear AE-L/AF-L button. It's a nifty feature that I always include by default on all my cameras (high-end DSLRs have a dedicated AF-ON button), so I recommend exploring this feature on your D7100 as well.

Also, I would leave the rest of the settings alone.

settings menu

There isn't much to cover here as this is the area you will only use for specific tasks like setting the time/date, adding image annotations, adjusting LCD brightness, formatting the memory card, etc. Once you're familiar with the camera's menu system, I recommend playing with the "User Settings", which allows you to save different settings for two different scenarios (U1 and U2). For example, I set mine up for two different roles - landscapes and people. When I'm shooting landscapes, I want my camera mode to be set to Manual. I want the "Exposure Delay Mode" to be on by default and set to 3 seconds. I want my auto ISO off and ISO set to ISO 100 by default. So I configure all these settings in the camera and go to "Save User Settings" -> "Save to U1". For photographing people I want my camera to be in aperture priority mode, I want "exposure delay mode" off because I'm shooting handheld and I want auto ISO on. I then save these settings to the “U2” slot. Once everything is set up, I can easily switch between the two using the PASM dial on top, which saves me a lot of time not having to remember which settings to change. I love this feature of the D7100 and really wish Nikon had implemented the same system in high end DSLRs like the D810/D4S! While Nikon has a way to save custom settings on the D810 and D4S, you have to do this separately for each menu item, which is just plain inefficient. Also, these cameras don't have an external setting on the dial to change modes quickly.

In addition to the above, I would just put an "image comment" and "copyright information". Basically, it's just text embedded in each photo. If you lose your memory card somewhere (which I personally have had in the past) and someone finds it (let's assume you don't have your information labels on the card), leaving your copyright or name behind can be very helpful when locate it locate his/you. Also write data to RAW files. Therefore, if you need to prove that you are the author of a photo, the RAW file along with your contact information can be a great proof.

Hope you found this article helpful. Again, these are settings that work for me and may not necessarily meet your needs. It's best to explore your camera and learn as much as you can about each setting to take advantage of all available features and tweaks!