Setting Up Your Nikon D200 For Shooting Underwater

Written by Bonnie Pelnar

Since there are many new underwater shooters using the D200 as their first digital camera there are a lot of questions about all those confusing menu options. Most the options have little to do with underwater photography, but others are critical. Hopefully this article will help to sort things out and answer some of your questions.

My previous experience was with the Nikon D100, also a great camera, so the learning curve was pretty similar. Other menu functions carry over from the Nikon film cameras.

Before using this information please be sure to read whatever documentation came with your underwater housing. Often they will have their own set of camera settings specific to their system.

Hardware Adjustments

I'm only pointing out those buttons or adjustments that might hang you up underwater.

Focus Mode Selector
On the front of the D200 you will find a focus mode selector. Rotating the selector until it clicks into the place you desire (C, S or M) lets you select the focus mode. Same as on a film SLR. Be aware with some Nikon lenses you need to change the focus setting on the lens too when changing from auto to manual. This requires a lens gear and knobs on your housing or port so you can turn it. If your housing does not support switching back and forth between the two in both places, you will not be able to use this feature at all. The 60 and older 105 macro lenses are an example of this.

LCD Image Display Modes
After you shoot an image it remains displayed on your LCD for a set amount of time. You can easily change what information is displayed with the Direction Pad (largest round button on the back of the camera to the right of the LCD). Pressing the top or bottom of the button changes and information displayed in the LCD for the image you are viewing on that media card. Pressing the left and right side of the button scrolls back and forth through all your images.

Familiarize yourself with these displays since they look very similar underwater.
HIGHLIGHT - I prefer to keep the display set to highlights. This creates a flashing black and white area where you have over-exposed your image. Very useful underwater.		RGB HISTOGRAM - The red, green and blue histograms are really irrelevant when you're shooting because you can't do anything to change the individual color channels anyway.
FOCUS AREA - Displays the active focus area in red.		HISTOGRAM - Displays the histogram, useful to you if you're very familiar with this way of viewing images.
DATA - Displays the image data including metering, shutter speed, aperture, exposure mode, exposure compensation, focal length, flash mode, development, ISO, white balance, tone, sharpness, color, hue, saturation, can custom comment.

If you would like to change the length of time the image is displayed go to the Custom Settings Menu - c5 Monitor Off.

If you would like to change which of the above menus appear for this option go to the Playback Menu - Display Mode.

S/CL/CH/Timer/MUP
The dial at the top left on the camera allows you to change the shooting mode. Always set this to S. You'll never need to shoot continuously underwater because your strobes won't refresh fast enough to keep up. Even if you're shooting natural light, most things aren't moving fast enough to warrant the high-speed settings. Many housings do not allow you to change this underwater so make sure its set correctly before you put your camera into the housing.

Quality, White Balance and ISO can be changed at the top of the camera or from the menus.

BKT - The Bracket Button
Very little use for this underwater. In most cases the adjustment you need to make after seeing the preview is pretty obvious. Using the Bracket feature is a bit overkill.

D200 Menu Settings

To activate the menus press the MENU button to the left of the D200 LCD.

Important: When a menu gives you multiple options with the word "Done" at the top of the list, be sure to select "Done" and "OK" before exiting the menu. Otherwise the change will not be entered.

THE PLAYBACK MENU

THE SHOOTING MENUS

Shooting Menu Bank - Allows you to store your current menu settings in case you need to get them back after a reset. You can also set up multiple menu sets up to 4.
Menu Reset - Sets the current shooting menu bank to factory defaults
Folders - No need to change
File Naming - No need to change unless you have more than one D200 body. Since you probably don't want to have two different sets of images with duplicate numbers you can change the File Naming on one camera to be different than the first. This way you'll also know which picture was taken with what camera.
Optimize Image - No need to change
Color Space - Adobe RGB. Most books tell you that if you're going to edit your images you should use Adobe RBG and sRGB if you don't plan to edit. I recommend Adobe RGB regardless because it is a broader color gamut into the blues and greens we see so much of underwater.

Image quality - The D200 supports several variations of image formats. Its important to understand why you are making the choices you do in this menu. Options are:

I recommend you shoot in RAW format. Don't ever sacrifice the quality of the image so that you can get more images onto your media card. There is no reason to do this. Media cards are cheap. If you don't have the software to process a RAW file, get online and buy Adobe Elements (about $90) Adobe Photoshop (about $650) or shoot RAW+JPEG so you can see your results with whatever software you are using, then go back to process your masterpiece shots using the RAW file later. Never use JPEG Normal or JPEG Basic unless you are also shooting RAW and using the JPEG files just for previewing.

Image Size - Only need to check this if you are shooting JPG. Does not apply to RAW
JPEG Compression - Set to Optimal Quality if you are shooting JPG.
RAW Compression - Visually lossless compression of the RAW images. OK to use.
White Balance - No need to mess with white balance. Auto works best. If you shoot RAW this is N/A.
Long Exp. NR - No need to change
High ISO NR - No need to change
ISO Sensitivity - No need to change
Image Overlay - No need to change
Multiple Exposure - No need to change
Intvl Timer Shooting - No need to change
Non-CPU Lens Data - No need to change

THE SET UP MENUS

Format - CAUTION! Reformats your media card
LCD Brightness - You may want to turn this down a couple of notches (-2). Compared to your surroundings underwater the LCD is very bright. Do this especially if you are finding your images to be under exposed when you view them on your laptop.
Mirror Lock-up - No need to change
Video Mode - No need to change
World Time - Easy to adjust to the time zone you're in. If you don't your images will all have the wrong dates assigned to them.
Language - Whatever you understand
Image Comment - Allows you to add a comment to the image EXIF data which remains with the image and can be read in Photoshop using File Info. For example "Copyright 2007 Bonnie Pelnar". Once you set it this comment will be added to every shot you take as long as you have checked the "Attach Comment" box in the menu.
Auto Image Rotation - Attempts to rotate the image for you when opened in Nikon Capture or Adobe Bridge. Doesn't always work so well with underwater images.
Recent Settings - Allows you to lock the menu setup so its not accidentally reset
USB - Mass storage or PTP - No need to change
Dust ref photo - Leave it alone. If you are seeing dust in the same place on all your images check the user manual on how to use this feature.
Battery info - FYI only
Firmware Version - FYI only - Most current version is 2

CUSTOM SETTINGS MENUS

This menu allows you to adjust or disable just about every hardware and software setting imaginable so be careful. Blue items are good to know, but not mandatory Red items are mandatory or highly recommended for underwater photography. Gray items give you more control over various camera functions but are things you might want to look into once you better understand how your camera works.

C Custom Settings Bank - Stores Custom Settings in up to 4 banks

R Custom Settings Reset - Resets the current Custom Setting banks to default

a Autofocus

a1 AF-C Mode Priority (Continuous Servo AF)
a2 AF-S Mode Priority (Single Servo AF)
a3 Focus Area Frame - Changes the size of the autofocus sensors
a4 Group Dynamic AF - Choose center area or closest subject for auto focus
aS Lock-On (Disables Focus Lock-On)
a6 AF-Activation - Shutter release or AF-ON button only
a7 Auto Focus Area Illumination
a8 Focus Area
a9 AF Assist - Turn this off. Built in illuminator lights for focus in low light. N/A for underwater
a10 AF-ON for MB-D200

b Metering/Exposure

b1 ISO Auto - OFF
b2 ISO Step Value
b3 EV Step - Exposure Control Increment
b4 Exp Comp/Fine Tune - If you use exposure compensation you can change the increments it changes at
b5 Exposure Comp. - Easy Exposure Compensation
b6 Center-Weighted - Changes the size of the center-weighted metering area. Nice if you prefer center-weighted metering over spot.
b7 Fine Tune Exposure

c Timers/AE&AF Lock

c1 AE Lock Behavior - Your housing may require a special setting. Check your manual
c2 AE-Lock Button Function - Your housing may require a special setting. Check your manual
c3 Meter/Camera Active Time
c4 Self Timer Delay Setting
c5 Color LCD Active Time - Changes the amount of time your image displays on the LCD after you shoot it

d Shooting/Display

d1 Sound Feedback Setting
d2 Grid Line Display in Viewfinder
d3 Viewfinder Warnings Display
d4 Continuous Low Shooting Speed
d5 Shutter Delay
d6 File Number Sequence - Turn this ON. Determines whether or not your image number resets to 0
    Off- File number always resets to 0001 (default)
    On - File number starts after last number
    Reset - Starts with the next file number in the folder
d7 LCD Illumination Control - Turn this ON. Turns on the top LCD backlight option when meter is active
d8 Battery Type in MB-13200

e Bracketing/Flash

e1 Flash Sync Speed
e2 Flash Shutter Speed
e3 Built-in Flash - Flash Mode for Internal Flash
e4 Modeling Flash - Nikon CLS
e5 Auto BKT Set - Bracketing Method
e6 Manual Mode Brkting
e7 Order BKT Order
e8 Auto BKT Selection

f Controls

f1 Center Button - Direction Pad Center Button
f2 Multi-Selector - Additional Direction Pad Control
f3 PhotoInfo/Playback - Direction Pad Scrolling during Playback
f4 FUNC. Button
f5 Command Dials
f6 Buttons and Dials
f7 No Memory Card?

RECENT SETTINGS MENU

The D200 has A LOT of menu items, which can cause you press a lot of buttons. Be careful that you don't press buttons just to see what will happen because you might not remember how to undo it. If you completely mess things up you can recall your 14 most recent settings from this menu list.

Yes, here it is...an on board description of most the menu functions. Simply highlight the item you wish to learn more about, then click the key button (fourth button down to the left of the screen) and you'll get a quick hint telling what that menu option does.

D200 Firmware 2.0.0 update for Macintosh is available from the Nikon support web site

Your camera firmware controls how the software works with the hardware. Nikon has updated the D200 firmware several times since the release of the camera. You can download it from the Nikon web site at http://support.nikon.net. It comes with easy instructions. The firmware update adds two options in the SET UP MENU.

• An Image authentication item has been added to the setup menu. The optional Image Authentication Software is required to authenticate images.
• A Wireless transmitter item has been added to the setup menu. This item is available only when the optional Wireless Transmitter WT-3 is connected to the camera.