Mastering the Nikon D610 (2014)

7. My Menu and Recent Settings

Nature’s Beauty – Jackie Donaldson (bhpr)

As you have read through this book and experimented with your camera, you’ve probably exclaimed, “My goodness, this camera has a lot of settings!” The D610 does have a large number of menus, screens, functions, and settings. When I was done taking pictures of the camera’s menus and screens for this book, I had more than 1,000 images. That many screens can be somewhat complex to navigate. We need a shortcut menu for our most-used settings—a place to keep the functions we’re constantly changing.

Nikon has given us two specialty menus in the D610: My Menu and Recent Settings. These are both designed to give us exactly what we need—a menu that can be customized with only the most-used functions or a menu of recent changes to often-used functions.

For instance, I often turn Exposure delay mode on and off. Instead of having to search through all the Custom settings, trying to remember exactly where Exposure delay mode lives, I simply added that Custom setting to My Menu. Now, whenever I want to add a one- to three-second exposure delay after pressing the Shutter-release button so the mirror vibrations can settle down, I just go to My Menu and enable Exposure delay mode. I can do it quickly, without searching, since I added it to My Menu.

Settings Recommendation: I rarely use Recent Settings. I prefer the control I get with my own personally customizable menu—My Menu. The Recent Settings menu has very little flexibility since it’s an automatically updated, camera-controlled menu system. You really can’t do much in the way of configuring it. You just select it and use it. On the other hand, My Menu is a personal collection of links to my most-used settings. It is completely configurable.

We’ll consider both menus in this chapter, with heavy emphasis on My Menu. There is not much to configure for the Recent Settings menu; the camera maintains it by remembering the last 20 camera settings you have modified and listing them in a convenient place.

What’s the Difference between My Menu and Recent Settings?

The most important difference between the two menus is the level of control you have over what appears on the menu. My Menu is completely customizable and does not change unless you change it. You can add up to 20 settings from the Playback Menu, Shooting Menu, Custom Settings Menu, Setup Menu, and Retouch Menu to My Menu. Recent Settings simply shows the last 20 changes you’ve made to your camera’s settings, and it’s not configurable. It changes every time you change a different setting in your camera. However, since it shows the last 20 changes, you ought to be able to find the ones you change most often somewhere in the list. My Menu and Recent Changes are mutually exclusive and cannot appear on the D610 at the same time. One takes the place of the other when you select the Choose tab setting at the end of each menu and choose your favorite.

My Menu

(User’s Manual – Page 280)

My Menu is my menu! I can add virtually any camera setting from one of the primary menus to My Menu for convenient, quick access. When I use My Menu I don’t have to spend time looking for a function buried in the main menus system. Since I often use each function on My Menu, I’m glad to have it immediately available.

In figure 7.1 you can see that My Menu is the last selection on the D610 menu system. Its icon looks like a file folder tab turned sideways, with a check mark on it. Press the MENU button and scroll down with the Multi selector until the yellow highlight looks like figure 7.1.

Figure 7.1 – My Menu

When you first look at My Menu you’ll see nothing but the following selections:

• Add items

• Remove items

• Rank items

• Choose tab

Let’s examine each of these menu choices in detail.

Add Items

To add an item to My Menu, you’ll need to locate it first. Search through the menus until you find the setting you want to add, then make note of where it’s located. You could do this from within the Add items menu, but I find that it’s harder to locate what I’m looking for if I haven’t already confirmed where it lives. Is it under the Custom Setting Menu or the Shooting Menu?

Figure 7.2 – Add items to My Menu

Find the item you want to add and make note of its location, then use the following steps:

1. Select Add items from My Menu. Notice that I already have Set Picture Control and Active D-Lighting added to My Menu (figure 7.2, screen 1). I want to add something new.

2. Use the Multi selector to scroll to the right, and you’ll see a list of menus to choose from. The Add items screen shows all the menus in the D610 except My Menu and Recent Settings (figure 7.2, screen 2). Let’s add one of my favorites, Exposure delay mode.

3. Figure 7.3 picks up where figure 7.2 left off. I already know that Exposure delay mode is under the Custom setting menu, so let’s scroll down to it (figure 7.3, screen 1), then scroll to the right.

Figure 7.3 – Adding Exposure delay mode to My Menu

4. We now see the Custom setting menu and Custom settings a–g (figure 7.3, screen 2). Scroll down to d Shooting/display, and then scroll to the right.

5. Figure 7.3, screen 3, shows the d10 Exposure delay mode function that I want to add. All I have to do is highlight it and press the OK button. When I’ve done that, the D610 switches to the Choose position screen (figure 7.3, screen 4).

6. Figure 7.4 begins where figure 7.3 ends. Since I’ve already added a couple of other items to My Menu, I now have to decide the order in which I want them to be presented. The new d10 Exposure delay mode setting is on top because it is the newest entry (figure 7.4, screen 1). I think I’ll move it down two rows and put Set Picture Control in the top position.

Figure 7.4 – Choosing a position for Custom setting d10 Exposure delay mode on My Menu

7. To move the position of the selected item, simply scroll down. The d10 Exposure delay mode setting has a yellow box around it (figure 7.4, screen 2). As you scroll down, a yellow underline moves to the last position (figure 7.4, screen 2, red arrow). This yellow underline represents the location where I want to move d10 Exposure delay mode. When I’ve decided on the position and have the yellow underline in place, I just press the OK button. The screen pops back to the first My Menu screen, with the My Menu items arranged the way I want them (figure 7.4, screen 3). Notice that d10 Exposure delay mode is now at the bottom of the list (it was originally at the top of the list).

Remove Items

Now that we’ve figured out how to Add items, let’s examine how to Remove items. I’ve decided that Set Picture Control is redundant because the D610 has an external button for that item, so I’ll remove it from My Menu.

Use the following steps to Remove items from My Menu:

1. Select Remove items from My Menu and scroll to the right (figure 7.5, screen 1).

2. The Remove items screen presents a series of selections with check boxes. Whichever boxes I check will be deleted when I select Done (figure 7.5, screen 2). You can check the boxes by highlighting the line item you want to delete and scrolling right with the Multi selector. You can also simply press the OK button to place a check mark in a setting’s box. Pressing the OK button acts like a toggle and will check or uncheck a line item. In figure 7.5, screen 2, you can see that I’ve placed a check mark next to Set Picture Control.

3. When you’ve checked the settings you want to remove, simply scroll back up to Done and press the OK button (figure 7.5, screen 3). A message pops up and asks, Delete selected item? (figure 7.5, screen 4).

4. Press the OK button to remove the setting from My Menu. A message informs you that the item has been deleted, then the D610 switches back to the My Menu screen. You can press the MENU button to cancel if you decide you don’t want to remove an item.

Figure 7.5 – Remove an item from My Menu

Rank Items

Ranking items works very similarly to positioning new additions in My Menu. All the Rank items selection does is move an item up or down in My Menu. You can switch your most-used My Menu items to the top of the list.

Figure 7.6 – Rank items in My Menu

Use the following steps to Rank items:

1. Select Rank items from My Menu and scroll to the right (figure 7.6, screen 1).

2. Now you’ll see the Rank items screen and all the current My Menu items (figure 7.6, screen 2). I’ve decided that I use d10 Exposure delay mode more than Active D-Lighting, so I’ll move it to the top.

3. Highlight d10 Exposure delay mode, press the OK button, and a yellow box will appear around that item. Move appears at the bottom of the screen (figure 7.7, screen 1).

Figure 7.7 – Rank items in My Menu (continued)

4. Scroll up with the Multi selector. This action moves the yellow positioning underline to the top of the list (figure 7.7, screen 1, red arrow). Press the OK button to select the new position, and d10 Exposure delay mode will move to the top of the list (figure 7.7, screen 2).

5. This setting is now where we want it, so press the MENU button to return to the main My Menu screen (figure 7.7, screen 3).

Choose Tab

Choose tab allows you to switch between My Menu and Recent Settings. Both menus have the Choose tab selection as their last menu choice.

Use the following steps to switch between My Menu and Recent Settings:

1. At the bottom of My Menu, select Choose tab and scroll to the right (figure 7.8, screen 1).

2. You’ll now have a choice between My Menu and Recent Settings. Choose Recent Settings and press the OK button (figure 7.8, screen 2).

3. The Recent Settings screen will now appear, completely replacing My Menu on the main menu screen (figure 7.8, screen 3).

4. Select Choose tab and press the OK button to return to My Menu (figure 7.8, screen 3).

Figure 7.8 – Select My Menu or Recent Settings (Choose tab)

Notice that the Recent Settings menu has a Choose tab setting at the bottom, just like My Menu does (figure 7.8, screen 3). Clearly, this is a circular reference. You can use the Choose tab selection as a toggle between My Menu and Recent Settings to change which one appears as the last selection on the list of menus.

Settings Recommendation: My Menu gives you nice control over a customized menu that is entirely yours. Configure it however you want by choosing from selections in the primary menus. My Menu will save you a lot of time when you look for your 20 most-used selections.

If you’re inclined to use Recent Settings, just remember that after you pass 20 camera setting adjustments, the next setting you use will jump to the top of the list and move everything down by one position. The last item on the list will simply disappear.

Now, let’s take a look at Recent Settings in a little more detail.

Recent Settings

(User’s Manual – Page 280)

Recent Settings is very simple. The camera remembers the last 20 items you have modified in your camera and lists them in Recent Settings (figure 7.9).

If you change something in your camera that’s not already on the Recent Settings list, it will be added and will replace the oldest item. It will be added to the top of the list if there is no room left at the bottom (i.e., when you exceed 20 items).

This can be a convenient way to find something you’ve changed recently but can’t remember where it is in the main menu systems.

Figure 7.9 – Recent Settings menu

As mentioned in the previous section, you can switch the camera to My Menu by highlighting Choose tab at the bottom of the Recent Settings menu and pressing the OK button.

Settings Recommendation: If you want a more permanent menu for your favorite changes to the D610, you’ll need to enable the My Menu system instead of using Recent Settings. The Recent Settings option is fine, but I want to directly control what settings I have quick access to without searching. My Menu is my choice!

Author’s Conclusions

This is the last of the text-based menus we’ll cover in the D610. We’ve been through all of the menu screens!

Now it’s time to move into the chapters that pull everything together. You have stepped through the internal setup of every part of your D610. Let’s begin to see how best to use the controls we’ve configured. The next chapter takes up the subject of Metering, Exposure Modes, and Histogram. Please pay extra attention to the section on histograms if you want excellent exposures every time.