Nikon D7000 Setup: The Custom Settings Menu

Unlike the Shooting menu options, which you are likely to modify frequently as your

picture-taking environment changes, Custom Settings are slightly more stable sets of

preferences that let you tailor the behavior of your camera in a variety of different ways

for longer-term use.

Some options are minor tweaks useful for specific shooting situations. You can turn off

the autofocus assist lamp, the back-panel LCD’s shooting information display, and the

D7000’s built-in beeper when you are shooting an acoustic music concert, when you’d

rather not disrupt the environment. Others make the camera more convenient to use.

Perhaps you’d like to assign a frequently used feature to the Fn button, or turn on the

viewfinder grid display to make it easier to align vertical or horizontal shapes.

Best of all are the settings that actually improvethe way the D7000 operates. CSM #b5,

for example, provides a way to fine-tune the exposures your camera calculates for each

of the metering modes: Matrix, Center-weighted, and Spot. If you find that one or the

other consistently over- or underexposes more than you like, it’s easy to dial in a per-

manent correction. Should you feel that the D7000 is taking a few pictures that are out

of focus, you can tell it not to fire until optimum focus is achieved.

This chapter concentrates on explaining all the options of the Custom Settings menu

and, most importantly, when and why you might want to use each setting.

Setup: The CustomSettings Menu