Nikon D7000 manual C2 Auto Meter-Off Delay, C3 Self-Timer

290 David Busch’s Nikon D7000 Guide to Digital SLR Photography

All you need to know is:

■Off. Exposure is locked only when the AE-L/AF-L button is pressed. This is the default.

■On. Exposure locks when either the shutter release button is depressed halfway or the AE-L/AF-L button is held down.

c2 Auto Meter-Off Delay

Use this setting to determine how long the D7000’s exposure meter continues to oper- ate after the last operation, such as autofocusing, focus point selection, and so forth, was performed. The default value is 6 seconds, but you can also select 4, 8, 16, and 30 seconds, as well as 1, 5, 10, and 30 minutes, or No limit, which keeps the meter active until the camera is switched off.

To save power, you should select an intermediate value, such as 8, 16, or 30 seconds if the default 6 seconds is not long enough. When the Nikon EH5a/EP5b AC adapter is connected to the D7000, the exposure meter will remain on indefinitely, just as if you’d specified No limit. Absent an external power source, any setting longer than 8 seconds will definitely eat up power.

Even so, sports shooters and some others prefer a longer delay, because they are able to keep their camera always “at the ready” with no delay to interfere with taking an action shot that unexpectedly presents itself. Extra battery consumption is just part of the price paid. For example, when I am shooting football, a meter-off delay of 16 seconds is plenty, because the players lining up for the snap is my signal to get ready to shoot. But for basketball or soccer, I typically set the meter-off delay for No Limit, because action is virtually continuous. I typically use the MB-D11 battery pack/grip at these events, so my D7000 has plenty of power, and I carry two sets of spare batteries. I rarely shoot much more than 1000-1200 shots at any sports event, so that’s sufficient juice even with meter-off delay set for No Limit.

Of course, if the meters have shut off, and the power switch remains in the On posi- tion, you can bring the camera back to life by tapping the shutter button.

c3 Self-Timer

This setting lets you choose the length of the self-timer shutter release delay, the num- ber of shots taken, and the interval between those shots. Your options include:

■Self-timer delay. The default value is 10 seconds. You can also choose 2, 5, 10, or 20 seconds. If I have the camera mounted on a tripod or other support and am too lazy to dig around for my wired or IR remote, I can set a two-second delay that is sufficient to let the camera stop vibrating after I’ve pressed the shutter release. I use a longer delay time if I am racing to get into the picture myself and am not sure I can make it in 10 seconds.