Nikon D5300 Digital Field Guide

Chapter 2: Nikon D5300 Essentials

After familiarizing yourself with the basic layout of the Nikon D5300’s various controls, you are ready to explore what all of these buttons, switches, and dials do. The settings you will change most frequently include the exposure, drive, metering modes, and ISO sensitivity. These settings are very important to learn because most of them deal with basic photographic theories. You need to learn when to use them and why, so you can capture your images effectively and creatively.

The essentials are the most important parts of the camera system. There are a lot of modes, menus, and settings to get acquainted with, and that’s where I go in this chapter. There’s also quite a bit of information packed in here, so I suggest that you grab your camera, sit down, and read this chapter thoroughly with the camera in your hand so you can become comfortable with where the important things are located on your camera.

Knowing which modes and features to use in any given situation allows you to get a good exposure, no matter what.

Exposure Modes

The exposure modes are the functions that dictate how the aperture and shutter speed are selected. There are four main exposure modes: Programmed auto (), Aperture-priority auto (), Shutter-priority auto (), and Manual ...