Nikon manual Nikon D7000 Thinking Outside of the Box

Chapter 1 ■ Nikon D7000: Thinking Outside of the Box 11

laptop, a CD-ROM, or other media in case you want to access this reference when the paper version isn’t handy. If you have an old memory card that’s too small to be usable on a modern dSLR (I still have some 128MB and 256MB cards), you can store the PDF on that. But an even better choice is to put the manual on a low- capacity USB “thumb” drive, which you can buy for less than $10. You’ll then be able to access the reference anywhere you are, because you can always find some- one with a computer that has a USB port and Adobe Acrobat Reader available. You might not be lucky enough to locate a computer with a memory reader.

■Quick Start guide. This little booklet tucked away in the camera’s paperwork offers a reasonable summary of the Nikon D7000’s basic commands and settings, and can be stowed in your camera bag.

■Software CD-ROM.Here you’ll find the Nikon ViewNX2 software, a useful image management program. I’ll cover a variety of other software offerings later in Chapter 13 of this book.

■Warranty and registration card. Don’t lose these! You can register your Nikon D7000 by mail or online (in the USA, the URL is www.nikonusa.com/register), and you may need the information in this paperwork (plus the purchase receipt/invoice from your retailer) should you require Nikon service support.

Don’t bother rooting around in the box for anything beyond what I’ve listed previously. There are a few things Nikon classifies as optional accessories, even though you (and I) might consider some of them essential. Here’s a list of what you don’t get in the box, but might want to think about as an impending purchase. I’ll list them roughly in the order of importance:

■Secure Digital card. First-time digital camera buyers are sometimes shocked that their new tool doesn’t come with a memory card. Why should it? The manufacturer doesn’t have the slightest idea of what capacity or speed card you prefer, so why should they pack one in the box and charge you for it? That’s especially true for the Nikon D7000, which is likely to be purchased by photographers who have quite definite ideas about their ideal memory card. Perhaps you want to use tiny 4GB cards—and lots of them. I’ve met many paranoid wedding photographers who like to work with a horde of smaller cards (and then watch over them very protectively), on the theory that they are reducing their chances of losing a significant chunk of the event or reception at one time (of course, that’s why you hire a second shooter as backup). Others, especially sports photographers, instead prefer a 16GB or 32GB card with room to spare. If you are shooting fast action at high frame rates, or trans- fer lots of photos to your computer with a speedy card reader, you might opt for the speediest possible memory card. Buy one (or two, or three) of your own and have your flash memory ready when you unpack your D7000.