Lessons
Class Introduction
03:59 2Nikon D500 Overview
11:25 3Camera Basics
08:31 4Basic Camera Controls
03:22 5Top of Camera: Exposure Control
25:50 6Top of Camera: Buttons
16:33 7Back of Camera: Release Mode
05:55 8Back of Camera: Viewfinder Display
08:44Back of Camera: Play Back
10:18 10Back of Camera: Buttons
09:36 11Back of Camera: Live View
22:56 12Back of Camera: Movie Mode
09:48 13Left of Camera: Exposure Bracketing
03:19 14Left of Camera: Focus Mode
12:00 15Left & Right Sides of Camera
05:18 16Bottom of Camera
04:56 17Front of Camera
05:34 18Nikon Lenses Overview
09:26 19Playback Menu
08:24 20Photo Shooting Menu
14:26 21ISO: Photo Shooting Menu
26:14 22Movie Shooting Menu
14:01 23Custom Setting Menu: Autofocus
14:20 24Custom Setting Menu: Metering/Exposure
04:05 25Custom Setting Menu: Shooting/Display
07:33 26Custom Setting Menu: Bracketing/Flash
03:16 27Custom Setting Menu: Controls
11:38 28Setup Menu
16:00 29Setup Menu: Wi-Fi
06:47 30Retouch & My Menu
06:06 31Camera Operation Overview
08:13Lesson Info
Front of Camera
Over on the front of the camera, we have a little self-timer lamp that'll blink at us, and then turn steady for two seconds when it's time for the self-timer to fire, and if you don't like that light turning on, you can turn it off, by going into a and turn that off so that there's no distracting lights on the camera. We've been talking about our sub-command dial, we have a depth-of-field preview button, and if we're shooting in, video mode, this is what we were pressing to get those indexes. And in a normal shooting mode, what it does when you press the button is it stops the aperture down to the working aperture for that particular photo, and you can see how much depth of field you are going to get. This used to be a big-time professional feature back in the days of film, now with digital, you could just shoot a photo and you could look at the photo, and see how much depth of field you're gonna get but, it's still helpful in many other situations. Next up is our function one button, ...
this is another one of the buttons you get to program to do whatever you want it to do, and so we'll see that when we get around to the menu sections for customizing the buttons. The sensor in this camera is a 20.7 megapixel CMOS sensor with a 1.5 crop. We have stereo microphones, out in front. The CPU contacts are on the top side of the mount, which communicate with the lens. We have an AF drive shaft, which is used for the older lenses, Pre-AF-S auto-focus lenses, they use little, old-school drive shaft and that's how the lenses focus, they're a little bit slower and a little bit noisier, but it has that drive shaft so it can handle all of the, autofocus lenses back to 1986, and there's a little tiny ridge, a meter coupling lever up here, 'and this is used for the older manual-focus lenses from the 70s and 80s, so that the camera knows what's the maximum aperture on that particular lens. And, those older manual lenses will have a little ridge that sticks out a little bit, which matches up with that particular lever there. Next up in the ports on the front of the camera, we have our PC flash sync, so if you're gonna be hooking your camera up to studio strobes, or other synchronization equipment, good chance it's gonna plug in here. And then we have the ten-pin remote, which has multitudes of things that you can plug into it. So, the MC-30 is a real simple plunger-style cable release, and so if you wanna do bulb exposures, and not spend too much money, the 30(A) would get that done. The 36(A) has more fancy features, it's got dials and lights and extra features that you can kinda punch into that, and so that's kinda the premiere cable release for the camera. If you wanna get a little bit more extension because the cord's not long enough, there is a three meter extension cord that you can get, the MC-21(A). If you wanna connect up two cameras together, you can do that through the MC-23(A). If you want an adapter cord to hook up one of the older Nikon cable releases, which used, I believe, just three points of contact, to the 10 points, there is an adaptor for that. And then for somebody who's really handy, there is the banana cords, the MC-22(A) and this is nice if you wanna hook up a triggering device, of your own device, and so, I hooked up one of these, at one point I was doing a lot of sports photography, and I would mount a camera in the goal of a soccer area. And I was shooting with one camera, and I had another camera, and then I had the third camera on the goal-line, and how do I trigger that? Well, I got some of the banana cords, and I hooked it up into my own little device, and I had a foot pedal, so I had a foot pedal that I could click, and whenever I put my foot on that, it would trigger the camera taking pictures in the goal area, and so I could do that and the other at the same time if I was really good, but, usually I wasn't that good. And so it's a way for you to hook up your camera to trigger through infrared, through sound, other types of physical devices, and just allows you to be as creative as you want in a way to trigger the camera. One of the other devices that you can put in here is this WR-A10 wireless adapter, and the way this will work, is that'll be the receiver, and here is the sender, so you can have your own little wireless remote, and it has its own function button on it, so you can do special functions with it, and if you want, you can get a third piece that would plug into your flash units, so you could trigger your camera and your flash through this wireless unit that's completely separate, and you can buy either piece individually, if you need to, like if you have multiple flash units, or you can buy the whole thing as a kit. That sells for about 160 US dollars, and so it's a great way of triggering your camera, now it does have limited distance that it has, because it's a relatively small remote. We do also have a infrared remote as well, Nikon has had a lotta different types of remotes, but that would plug in through the ten-pin remote, as well as the GPS unit, and so if you wanna record GPS data, this would be the receiving unit, and that would send the information to the camera's metadata. If you wanna hook the camera up to your own GPS unit, they do have a MC-35 adapter cord, that will adapt it up to many common different GPS units available out on the market.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Carl Vanderweyden
John Greengo is the best! I purchased a Nikon D500 and this course around the same time. Because of this camera being so complex, I felt that a course would be beneficial. This course that John teaches is exactly what I needed. His knowledge of this camera as well as photography in general is exceptional. In fact, I own a couple of other courses presented by John and I also bought a couple of his books! I would highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to know the ins-and-outs of this D500! Thanks again John for a great course and your great way of explaining things with clear dialect and great visuals!
M Jo
Wow! What a great class! John is a natural teacher, moving at a good pace and explaining things carefully, never assuming you already know more than you might. I just got my D500 last week and am so pleased to have gone through this entire class. I learned a LOT and took some notes to refer back to. I've also just bought a Z6 and have purchased John's class for that. Can't wait to dive in!!!
Christina Brittain
By The class. John is the gold standard for teaching. He repairs lessons to perfection. He speaks in ways students comprehend all that he presents. Never waste words. Never bores. Always demonstrates his points. I will continue to purchase his classes as they provide the best learning I have found. He is making me a much better photographer, both technically and creatively. You can't make good images if you don't know your gear. Hope he teaches lessons in Portland Oregon one day. I know Pro Photo Supply would sponsor him.
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