The Nikon D3400, thanks to its brand
cachet and an aggressive price point,
is likely to find its way into many new
homes this holiday season.
Many of you may be first-time photographers,
so this combined how-to and review
is designed for novices.
I'll do my best to keep it simple while still
explaining the features of this complex
and interesting device. In the box you'll
find a manual - always useful when I have
trouble sleeping -
... the body, the lens, the charger and the battery.
I start by charging the battery.
Plug in the charger and place the
battery - it only fits one way.
The light flashes while it's charging,
solid when it's done. In the meantime unwrap
the camera and the lens.
For a DSLR, the D3400's body is plastic,
small and light with a nice deep hand grip.
Turn the cover on the camera to remove it,
find the white spot beside the lens mount.
Slide the cover from the back of the lens
and find its white spot.
Now is the tricky part - lineup the white spots,
slide the lens on and turn it until it clicks.
There's one more item in the box -
... the strap.
Not everyone likes to use the strap or
puts it on the same way. Here's how I go.
Take both things off the strap and put
the slider back on. With the top of the
strap and the Nikon logo on the clip
facing you, slide the strap thru the back and out again.
Then with the top of the strap
facing you, slide the strap under
the camera's eyelet, loosen the strap
to slide both through both sides of the clip.
Finally, position the slider to hold
the loose end - and repeat on the other side.
There is an essential accessory
that's not included - a memory card.
This camera supports SDHC and SDXC cards.
Use the UHS 3 type for recording video.
The card door, conveniently on the right side,
slide the card door
and insert the card - it only fits one way -
until it snaps into place. To remove it,
a little push pops it back out.
Battery door, on the bottom - far enough from
the tripod mount not to get in the way.
Turn the camera on. To highlight the language,
press the top or bottom of the big dial
on the right side of the back to select.
Press OK. We'll set up Snapbridge -
Nikon's smartphone app later. Press menu
on the left side to go on. Select a time zone,
date and time. The camera displays
the shooting settings screen. Press menu.
We're going to format the SD card,
so make sure to backup any existing images
on the card first.
If the wrench on the left side is not
highlighted, press the left side of the
back dial and navigate to it.
Press right and select Format memory card.
Press the center for OK, press up
and OK again.
Pinch and remove the lens cap,
press the button on the side of the lens
and turn the large barrel to unlock.
Place your eye on the viewfinder to see
the image. If it's not sharp, use the
diopter dial to adjust to your vision.
The D3400, like other DSLR cameras, has a mirror
which makes it ideal for shooting
with the viewfinder. For the moment it's
easier for me to show you how it works
using the LCD screen. The viewfinder
screen looks and works slightly differently.
Press the LV button to release the
mirror and view the scene.
Adjust the zoom barrel on the lens if needed.
For now I've left the mode dial in its
green auto position. Press lightly on the
shutter button (beep) the camera makes
automatic focus and exposure adjustments.
The focus rectangle turns green and the
camera beeps when it's ready.
Press the shutter down to take the picture.
Press the Play button to see the photo
you've just taken. Great Nikon colour,
perfect exposure and focus.
That's really all you need to know -
except that the camera can do better and
you may not be completely happy.
Oh, there's no need to be slow or
wait at the soft press stage. The D3400
reacts very quickly and can set both
focus and exposure about as fast as you can press.
Let's go back to the menu and
up to the camera settings.
By default, Image quality is NORMal.
The camera is capable of FINE, so let's
move up to that. The difference isn't the
size of the image, it's detail.
Fine saves twice as much information - more detail
and that's a good thing. There's also the
NEF (RAW) +JPEG fine setting.
RAW files capture all the information directly
from the sensor- bigger files, more detail
- but more work. More about raw later.
By default the D3400 takes
large 24 megapixel files,
that's good for me. Let's go back to the still life.
The camera decided to focus
on the orange in the bowl, but I'd like
to have the pear in focus.
Point the camera at the pear. Soft press
and while holding the soft press recompose
to get the shot before pressing all the way.
Or press on the back dial to move the focus point.
There's enough light on this scene
that the flash didn't fire, but the flash
may - rightly or wrongly - pop up when you
least expect it.
Turn the mode dial one past auto to suppress the flash.
In many cases the image
will turn out fine.
I've made several videos to help you master the D3400.
They're listed in the description below.
Thanks for watching. Please use the
comments area below to ask questions.
I do reply to all civil and relevant comments.