Nikon D70 - reset file numbering

Now that I've got the Nikon D300 (and what a great camera) I'm selling the D70. I've found most of the accessories for it and the deal is done.

But the new owner is not going to want to continue the file numbering from me, they will want to start from zero.

To do this you go to the menu, go down and select the 'spanner' (setup menu) and in there is an option 'File No. Seq.'

You have three options:

- Off which is the default. File numbering is reset to 0001 when a new folder is created, a memory card is formatted or a new memory card is inserted in camera.

- On - file numbering continues from the last number used, even if a new folder is created, memory card formatted, or a new memory card inserted in camera.

If a photograph is taken when the current folder contains photograph numbered 9999, a new folder will be created automatically and file numbering will begin again from 0001.

- Reset - As for On, except file numbering is reset to 0001 with next photograph taken (a new folder will be created if current the folder already contains photographs).

So for most people the best option would be to change to 'On' anyway.

What I will do is to select 'reset' when I hand it over.

Converting Nikon RAW files

For some time now, in fact since I owned my D70, I almost always capture in RAW+JPEG. Of course on the D300 this means each exposure consumes ~20Mb, but hey storage is cheap!

Anyway, I do this for three basic reasons:

- most of the time the JPEG is fine

- if the JPEG is not fine for some reason eg compression artifacts, colour balance etc, I can use the RAW

- using the Nikon software, currently NX, you can convert from NEF to TIF or 16 bit, with the settings the camera used to make the JPEG.

So since most of the time I am happy with the white balance and profile etc used by the camera to make the JPEG, this works really well.

No other RAW converter can do this even Bibble, Adobe etc.

Even better, you can adjust the following parameters in the NEF file without changing the underlying data:

white balance
color space
EV
sharpening
contrast
saturation

Nice!

Upgrading from a Nikon D70 to a Nikon D300

Having taken the decision to get a Nikon D300 as an upgrade and replacement for my D70, I am seeing quite a few differences as you would expect.

In no particular order:

1. The screen. The D300 allows you to zoom right in
2. File sizes. I always used raw+jpeg on the D70. I surveyed the files sizes generated from a trip to Switzerland (a small sample of pictures) and found that NEFs averaged 5.29Mb with a standard deviation of .29Mb, while the jpeg averaged 746Kb with a standard deviation of 52Kb. I don't have enough history on the D300 (yet), so I took these numbers from the manual: 14 bit cmpressed NEF - 16.7Mb, jpeg (normal) - 2.9Mb. So the 'combo' file size has gone from about 6Mb to about 20Mb.
3. CF card required. If the combo file size has gone from 6Mb to 20Mb then you need 3.5x card size to get the same number of photos per card. I got a 2Gb so I should get ~100 per card. The odd thing is that Nikon's own numbers on page 402 don't add up. ie how is that 14 bit lossless NEF at 16.7Mb fits 75 on a 2Gb card, the same as uncompressed 14 bit NEF at 25.3Mb. Longer term I am going to shoot 14 bit NEF compressed, so I'll get some history.
4. Grid lines. You'll probably want to turn these on - page 281 (Framing grid)
   
5. Display more information about the pictures - choose your options - page 250 in the manual
6. Bracketing. There's no autobracket ie one press takes all the pictures required. Set up bracketing from page 118

More as I find them