Nikon f100 user advice

[darinwc]

I recently purchased a Nikon F100 and I must say WOW WHAT A CAMERA!

This is my first experience with a modern pro-level camera and I must say all the options are overwhelming.

I have allready fallen in love with the solid handling, fast Autofocus and 5 frames per second.

However the manual is over 50 pages long and it is packed full of info.
(this is different than other cameras manuals that are about 20 pages long but have only 5 actual sentances worth of usable info.)

While I try to make heads and tails of the manual..

Does anyone have any useful experiences to share about how they like to use the F100?
What features do you use often?
What features come in handy for hard subject matter?
What do you think is unnecessary?

 

[Sirius Glass]

I recently purchased a Nikon F100 and I must say WOW WHAT A CAMERA!

This is my first experience with a modern pro-level camera and I must say all the options are overwhelming.

I have allready fallen in love with the solid handling, fast Autofocus and 5 frames per second.

However the manual is over 50 pages long and it is packed full of info.
(this is different than other cameras manuals that are about 20 pages long but have only 5 actual sentances worth of usable info.)

While I try to make heads and tails of the manual..

Does anyone have any useful experiences to share about how they like to use the F100?
What features do you use often?
What features come in handy for hard subject matter?
What do you think is unnecessary?

I have set the autofocus and exposure to hold when I press the button half way, then I reframe and shoot the photograph.

I also use my F100 as a spot meter for my Hasselblads.

Steve

 

[erikg]

First, I'd like to welcome you to 1999. Second, it is a terrific camera. I like the silent rewind mode (Cs) on the dial and when I'm shooting copy slides (when I'm still asked to do so) I love the 1/3+- auto bracketing. I use that for film tests too. Hope you enjoy it.

 

[removed-user-1]

If you don't already have the MB-15 grip, it's worth getting for the vertical release alone. It also increases the frame rate (to 6 fps I think) and gives you some additional power options. Great camera and far less expensive than a D700 (which it closely resembles).

 

[Colin Corneau]

Honestly the best way to learn this or any camera is to USE it.

Shoot, shoot, shoot and shoot. You won't get any pointers here that will do you more good than the same amount of time reading the manual and using the camera.

It's not that big a book, and if you aren't willing to take 20 minutes to read the manual..?

Seriously, it's a very intuitive camera and you'll be on it before you know it.

 

[stradibarrius]

I just refer to the manual as I need particular info. I read it at first just to get familar with all it's features and then when I need to focus in on something I go back and study that part of the manual.
If I had to give up all of my cameras except for one My F100 would be on the short list. It is a great camera and will produce stunning results.

 

[dpurdy]

I got the magic lantern user guide and spent an evening looking at it. The camera is really simple once you get the hang of it. Go through all the options and set them. Most are where you want them on default. The camera serves me very well if I just set the metering to Matrix and use either shutter or aperture priority auto but keep an eye on what the setting is. It is a really nice camera for how it feels in your hand. I don't use the extra battery vertical grip because I prefer a smaller camera and I don't care about the vertical shutter release button. I use mine for shooting weddings and it is great for just putting the SB28 flash on and setting everything for matrix meter and program auto and forget it.
Dennis

 

[Pinholemaster]

Great camera. I sold my Nikon F5 cameras to switch to the F100. I usually shoot on manual set to center-weighted metering. That's about it. It's nice to have all the other features when they are needed, but the F100 is a rock solid basic camera if you want to ignore the 50 novel. HA!

 

[eddym]

I made the following variations from default settings on my F100:
Set the autofocus switch next to the lens on continuous focus (no lock);
set the shutter release to lock the AE setting but not AF;
focus with the AF button on the back of the camera.
By doing this, with a static subject you can point the AF target at whatever you want to focus on and press and release the AF button to focus, then point the lens at the subject area you want to meter (especially if you use spot metering), hold down the shutter release, then compose the picture and shoot. This is basically how I work with manual cameras, and it makes it easier to switch over to the F100 or other AF Nikons.
If you are shooting a moving subject, just hold down the AF button and the AF will track the subject.