Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Info Display on a D40

If you are using a Nikon D40, this should be helpful.  When you press the info button (see two options below) your D40 displays a bunch of information on the LCD screen on the back of the camera.  If you've been following our blog for a while, much of that information may now be relevant to you in a way that it wasn't before.  So when using this information screen here are two things you should know:
  • You can change the way the information is displayed between what Nikon calls "Classic," "Graphic," or "Wallpaper."  I would probably call them "useful," "confusing," and "ridiculous," but that's just my opinion and you are free to form your own.  I use the "Classic" view because it is the plainest and makes the most sense to me.  When I press the info button I can see all the settings that I'm regularly interested in.  If you want to see what the different display modes look like press the menu button, go to the "SETUP MENU" (the wrench), and select "Info Display Format."  Then you have two choices which lead to the three selections listed above.  The two choices apply to different shooting modes, but I can't imagine why you would want your information to be displayed differently in different modes.  So I suggest figuring out which display option you like the best and setting it in both places.
  • While you have the information screen displayed, you can press the info button on the back (don't ask me why it doesn't work with the info button on the top,) and have direct access to adjusting many of the settings that are displayed on the screen.  Use the directional pad to pick an option and press OK to make changes.  Interestingly, when you enter this adjustment mode, the display assumes the "Classic" view no matter what you have set.  This is a great way to access relevant setting quickly.  You can change the following settings: