Lessons
Introduction to Nikon D5600
10:01 2Photo Basics
07:10 3Top Deck: Mode Dial
25:46 4Top Deck: Additional Buttons and Flash
13:19 5Backside: Live View & Movie Mode
20:38 6Backside: Viewfinder Display
06:33 7Backside: Additional Buttons
11:56 8Backside: I Button Top Row
13:26Backside: I Button Bottom Row
16:10 10Left & Right Sides of Camera
10:14 11Bottom & Front of Camera
03:26 12Lens for Nikon D5600
17:45 13Menu Overview
03:54 14Playback Menu
07:05 15Shooting Menu: Reset Shoot-White Balance
15:16 16Shooting Menu: Picture Control-High ISO NR
08:31 17Shooting Menu: Vignette Control-Manual Movie Settings
13:20 18Custom Setting Menu
19:52 19Setup Menu
11:22 20Setup Menu: SnapBridge & Wireless Controls
19:05 21Retouch Menu & Recent Settings
06:41 22Camera Operations
11:53Lesson Info
Photo Basics
Alright, this section is called photo basics and if you already know about the photo basics, feel free to jump to the next section. We're just gonna go over some shutter speeds, apertures and sensor size information here. But if you are new to photography, and I think there's a lot of people who use this type of camera that might be new to photography. Just wanna make sure that we're kinda of all up to the same playing field when it comes to certain topics. Alright, this is a digital, single lens, reflex camera. Single lens means we have one lens. That's kinda obvious, that's pretty easy. Lots of different lenses. I will talk a little bit about some of the lenses that are available and what I recommend out there, later on in the class. The reflex portion in this means there is a mirror in there which you're gonna see here in just a moment. Now in all the lenses, there is an aperture unit that controls the amount of light coming in the lens. So it can let in a lot of light or it can res...
trict it to just a little bit of light. So that's one of the many different ways that we have of controlling light coming in the camera. And we'll control that by setting the f/stop or the aperture settings. Some lenses go as wide open as 1. and some will stop down to f/22. Some will actually go even further than that. And so we talk about opening up our aperture to let in more light or stopping down our aperture to let in less light. Beyond just letting in more or less light, those aperture changes also affect our depth of field. A lens that opens up to 1. is gonna have a relatively shallow depth of field. Very little is in focus from foreground to background. As we stop the aperture down, the depth of field grows. It's not a huge amount with each aperture step that we take, but it does end up growing quite a bit. By the time we get to the other end of our aperture, stopped down all the way to f/22, we're gonna end up with great depth of field with most all lenses. And so that's a number of the things that are going on just in the lens portion of the whole system. Now the mirror, is what's reflecting the light upwards, which is where we get the reflex word. Projects an image onto the focusing screen that we can see using the prism system through the view finder. So that's what you're looking at when you look through the view finder. Which is really nice 'cause you get to see exactly what the lens sees. Whether it's in focus or out of focus or how wide a view or whether your lens cap is left on the camera. So, great viewing system. Now when it comes time to shoot a photo, the mirror needs to get up and out of the way so that the light can get back to the image sensor. Before it gets back there, it's gotta get past the shutter unit which has the first curtain and the second curtain. So the first curtain will move away. Actually, show it to you from two angles of view here. And so moves away, that's your exposure right there and then the second curtain afterwards, is gonna come in and block the light. And that way every pixel is exposed for exactly the same amount of time. And then the whole unit needs to reset back to the start position again for the next shot. And this camera will do that at several frames per second. Now those shutter speeds are available anywhere from 30 full seconds all the way up to 1/4000th of a second, and you can use those shutter speeds for controlling the amount of light coming in the camera. Or you can use them for controlling how much blur a subject that is moving will have. And so a variety of reasons for choosing different shutter speeds. One of the most important aspects in any camera, is the sensor. And one characteristic that is very important of the sensor is the size of the sensor. And there's lots of different cameras. And different sensors with different capabilities. The sensor used in this camera is kinda what I would consider a medium sized sensor. There are larger ones and there are smaller ones. The largest of the common sizes is based on the old standard of 35mm film. 35mm film was really popular, 'cause it was basically a Goldilocks size. It was small enough that you could put it in a camera and carry it around with you pretty easily. But it was big enough that you could make a decent size enlargement from it. And so there's a number of cameras on the market that use that full frame sensor, but they're kind of on the expensive side you might say. And so there's a lot of cameras that have smaller sized sensors, which are more affordable and makes the cameras a little bit smaller in size. And so this is using something called APS-C, which is a little bit smaller than full frame. Smaller by a factor of 1.5, and so images appear to be about 1.5 times as far as cropped in. And we'll talk a little bit more about that as we get into some of the lenses and so forth. But it's a very common size sensor. It's probably the most common for cameras with interchangeable lenses. If you are going to connect up a traditional shoulder strap on this camera, when you are using the strap adjuster, just make sure that that tail end goes kind of on the bottom side and that way it keeps pressure in on the strap there. I know a lot of people struggle to get their strap put on there correctly. I see a lot of people out walking around with their straps incorrectly attached. Which if they're done wrong, they could slip off and you don't want a camera like this dropping on the ground. If you wanna pick the camera up in your hands right now, take a look at how you are holding the camera. Obviously your right hand goes on the grip of the camera, but what is your left hand do and is the thumb on the bottom or is it on the top of the lens? And so the correct system is the thumb on the top. So remember thumb up is good. And that allows you to get your elbow a little bit closer into your torso for better, steady holding of the camera. So you'll be able to hold your camera under lower light conditions a little bit better. Now throughout this class, we're gonna be talking about a lot of different features. And many of these features can be put on automatic or you can get in and manually control them yourself. And if you wanna do 'em yourself, sometimes it takes a little more time, takes a little more effort and you've gotta have the knowledge on how to work it. And so I like trying to teach you how to work everything manually and when and where you think it's appropriate, then you can throw it into automatic. And if you can just kinda watch the settings in the background, you can see if it's doing what you want it to do. And so there's good reasons for using both of these and it's good to be comfortable using both. Everything in auto and everything in manual. And so in this class, we're gonna be teaching you how to do everything in manual. If you are interested in more information about basic photography, general photography, the two classes that I have, I have a nice quick, short one for people who wanna you know quickly dive into photography. The three hour class, The Photography Starter Kit for Beginners. Very popular one out there. But for those of you who really wanna dive into it and get in deep into all the details, The Fundamentals of Photography is a long series of talks, different topics. And so we get to go into a lot more depth in that class. And so those are some fun ones to take a look at. If you want information on general photography, not dealing specifically with a individual camera.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Margaret Lovell
I received my D5600 as a Christmas gift, and while I picked up a few things on my own, this class was wonderful. I learned more than I would have picked up just by reading a book about the camera. Thank you, John!
John Acklen
John is a fabulous teacher. So clear and easy to follow. I will take many of his classes as I learn photography! Thanks John!
Adrian Todd
Really great review as there was some features of my d5600 I wasn't too sure about. It's probably one of the best instructors I have come across as he's explains things in simple terms that I am able to understand.
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