# D7100 ISO Button



## 0ptics (Apr 6, 2014)

Hello all,

I just received my D7100 from the mail today and moved up from the D3100; I am still trying to get familiar with this camera and learning its buttons. So far I am enjoying this camera a lot, but my concern is the ISO button which is on the bottom left corner. When I was shooting with my D3100, I used the FN button and set that up as my ISO button which worked out for me really well, but for the D7100, it does not let me set my FN button to be my ISO button which is really unfortunate.

I guess my question is, is there an alternative to the ISO button, again I just got this camera earlier today so I have not fully explored the beauty of this camera. The D7100's ISO is just extremely tight and it feels extremely awkward having my thumb between my face and my camera. It's not a deal breaker, but still would prefer if Nikon allowed me to set the FN to be my ISO button.

Thanks!!


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## bribrius (Apr 6, 2014)

you too? isn't that annoying as hell?


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## sleist (Apr 6, 2014)

Use easy ISO.  Command dial controls ISO - which dial depends on mode (A or S).

Menu Item d3 - Show ISO/Easy ISO.

You might change ISO accidentally until you get used to it, but it's easy and doesn't waste the function button.
ISO is displayed in VF.

My 2 cents.


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## goodguy (Apr 6, 2014)

Yep agreed, I think Nikon just makes little faults here and there in their DX and low level FX cameras to make you want to upgrade to their higher level pro cameras.
You will find there are ways around this issue.


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## bribrius (Apr 6, 2014)

sleist said:


> Use easy ISO. Command dial controls ISO - which dial depends on mode (A or S).
> 
> Menu Item d3 - Show ISO/Easy ISO.
> 
> ...



you have me wondering what you have on the function button


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## sonicbuffalo (Apr 6, 2014)

There is an ISO button on the D7100....left hand side lined up with the 3 other buttons.  It does have a triple purpose....not just ISO....also a zoom, or used as one of two buttons to hit for a reset.


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## 480sparky (Apr 6, 2014)

Who changes their ISO while looking through the VF?


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## bigal1000 (Apr 6, 2014)

480sparky said:


> Who changes their ISO while looking through the VF?



Ditto !!!!!!!


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## jkzo (Apr 6, 2014)

No way


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## bribrius (Apr 6, 2014)

480sparky said:


> Who changes their ISO while looking through the VF?


I do sometimes


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## 480sparky (Apr 6, 2014)

bribrius said:


> 480sparky said:
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> > Who changes their ISO while looking through the VF?
> ...



My ISO is set before I raise the camera to my eye.  It's either already set before I arrive, or I set it as soon as I turn the camera on when on-site.


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## bribrius (Apr 6, 2014)

480sparky said:


> bribrius said:
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depends on the instance for me and what im shooting. But if im looking through the viewfinder and framing my shot and notice my shutter speed is a little low or change the aperture ill bump the iso too. Or if im looking through and notice my iso on auto ill change it to take it off auto see where it goes then adjust it. Really just depends. if im doing a static shot ill do it before hand usually. 
im not real accustomed to having the top window or using live view either as im used to shooting on other cameras. sometimes ill forget where it is, go to take a shot and see it, then change it last minute. I have a issue with forgetting previous camera settings. Do the same with the shutter speed and af .
im wondering how you have it set before you get on site, im guessing you know before hand what you are shooting. I almost never do. totally random.


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## Derrel (Apr 6, 2014)

bribrius said:
			
		

> you have me wondering _what you have on the function button_



YES--we are ALL wondering! Sitting here with bated breath, awaiting your decision!

Here's a nice, short on-line article by Douglass Klostermann, who reviewed the D7100 and write a book called The D7100 Experience. He offers some tips and brief insights into the new *Button control*_ the D7100 offers, as well as a a list of his top ten tips for the D7100. Modern d-slrs have become sooooooo complicated that it really can pay off to have an expert's opinion on a single body, because some of the bodies have different approaches. It's true; not all the Nikon bodies offer the same control methods!

Nikon D7100 tips and tricks

For "me", with a different camera, I have the Function button set up to be the way I switch into crop-mode shooting._


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## bribrius (Apr 6, 2014)

Derrel said:


> bribrius said:
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thanks derrel, the only changes so far I made are the auto focus on the ael button (course then I missed a few shots forgetting I did that) and the iso change above. which oddly enough sometimes I still seem to have to hit the iso button then one of the command dials to change the iso im wondering if it is a mode thing. id rather have the command dials for just shutter and aperature anyway but the iso button is annoying, the body needs a third dial I think._


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## 480sparky (Apr 6, 2014)

bribrius said:


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To me, this is just totally bass ackwards.

I can't see _not_ having the ISO set before I even attempt to raise the camera to my eye, and more than a woodworker not marking a piece of wood and setting up his saw properly first.  I've never seen Norm Abram just toss a sheet of plywood onto a table saw and start tearing into it, only to stop and think, "Gee, maybe I should get a pencil, a tape measure and a straight-edge to mark where I want to cut this."

ISO, shutter speed, aperture, white balance and focal length can be decided before you even pull out the camera and you're looking at the scene.  Sorry, but that's just me.


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## SCraig (Apr 6, 2014)

480sparky said:


> ... ISO, shutter speed, aperture, white balance and focal length can be decided before you even pull out the camera and you're looking at the scene.  Sorry, but that's just me.


Not just you.  I've never had a need to change ISO while looking through the viewfinder.  It's the first thing I set when I take my camera out of the bag.


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## bribrius (Apr 6, 2014)

480sparky said:


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And you are totally correct. You are also preplanning your shots in your case and maybe you shoot the same type of things so your camera settings don't vary much? just guessing. me, not so much. 
if im looking at something planning on taking it before hand. ill adjust my ss ap exposure iso (depending on what mode or what is left floating) and whatever else just like you. Normally I ALWAYS forget something. Really there is just way too much **** to set over and over I need to start saving settings. Like if im drunk the night before and trying to take photos of the moon, wake up the next morning see a bird and grab the camera to snap a photo and then notice the settings are all a muck........

jk.


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## sleist (Apr 6, 2014)

bigal1000 said:


> 480sparky said:
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> > Who changes their ISO while looking through the VF?
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Just explaining what's available - I didn't build the camera.


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## bribrius (Apr 6, 2014)

what are you guys trying to say im weird? I just did this this morning. Looked through the viewfinder, saw the auto iso from yesterday and changed it back to manual looking through the viewfinder.


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## 480sparky (Apr 6, 2014)

bribrius said:


> what are you guys trying to say im weird? ........




May be.  I usually open the door to my truck and get in before I put the key into the ignition.


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## Derrel (Apr 6, 2014)

I think people who are using variable aperture zoom lenses that drop down to f/5.6 when zoomed to longer lengths often find themselves in need of a bit of ISO boost in marginal lighting conditions. And also, beginning shooters who are not as skilled in the whole so-called exposure triangle. I do read a LOT about ,"Seeing the ISO setting with the camera to my eye," and even Thom Hogan occasionally mentions the idea of , "Adjusting the ISO with my eye at the viewfinder," which I find kind of ridiculous. But the whole Function Button idea--it's one Nikon developed years ago, and it's a GREAT idea, since there are just sooooooo many controls these days, and a few of them are really handy to have placed on a specific USER-DESIGNATED "pedestal" for instant access to.

Just yesterday, I did some ISO bracketing with studio flash in a softbox, and did some f/stop brackets (f/13,f/16,f/18) and some ISO brackets 100,125,160,200, as a way to change exposures on a critical still life shot with my Tamron 90mm macro lens. I had the camera on a tripod, so I looked at the back of the camera as I adjusted the ISO levels. Even though diffraction might have cost me a bit of absolute sharpness, turned out that f/18 gave JUST enough extra depth of field that it provided the best "picture".

The flash was as low as it could go in power, 100 Watt-seconds, so ISO was the easiest way to bracket exposure while keeping the f/stop the same.


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## SCraig (Apr 6, 2014)

bribrius said:


> ... Really there is just way too much **** to set over and over I need to start saving settings.


So, simplify things.  Quit thinking of ISO as something that needs to be adjusted for each shot.  It's something that CAN be adjusted for each shot but seldom needs to be.  You'd have had  a tough time using film since the ASA (ISO) was determined by the film that you put in the camera.

Look at the light when you take your camera out of the bag.  Look at your meter and see what shutter speed and aperture RANGE you'll have with a particular ISO, and adjust it once so the range is what you need and then leave it alone.  If the light is relatively dim, as in just after dawn, I'll set my ISO to 800 or 1600 and never touch it again until things start to get brighter as the sun comes up.  When I start to see more shutter speed than I need I'll drop it down a stop and leave it alone again.


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## bribrius (Apr 6, 2014)

im not sure if it is seeing it or not preplanning. I just know if I look through the viewfinder and notice my iso is at 800 and im standing out in the sun ill reach to drop it down without lowering the camera or thinking about it.


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## Derrel (Apr 6, 2014)

If you "need to start saving settings", maybe you'd better read that article I linked to...the camera makers have provided multiple ways for users to group THEIR FAVORITE settings into distinct locations...


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## SCraig (Apr 6, 2014)

bribrius said:


> im not sure if it is seeing it or not preplanning. I just know if I look through the viewfinder and notice my iso is at 800 and im standing out in the sun ill reach to drop it down without lowering the camera or thinking about it.



Get in the habit EARLY of resetting your camera to what you consider to be your "Default" settings each and every time that you turn it off.  Reset the metering mode, the autofocus mode, the ISO, the shutter mode, everything to your "Standard" settings.  Once you get in that habit you never have to worry about how things are set when you take the camera ouf of the bag because you will KNOW how it is set.

Nikon makes that pretty easy.  Just save them as one of the two "User" settings, switch to that, and most things go back to the default that you established.


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## 480sparky (Apr 6, 2014)

SCraig said:


> Get in the habit EARLY of resetting your camera to what you consider to be your "Default" settings each and every time that you turn it off.  Reset the metering mode, the autofocus mode, the ISO, the shutter mode, everything to your "Standard" settings.  Once you get in that habit you never have to worry about how things are set when you take the camera ouf of the bag because you will KNOW how it is set.............



Bingo!  I learned that years ago shooting film.  Although you couldn't change the ASA, I always returned the camera to f/8 and 1/60 when I was done.  And I still do the same thing with my current new-fangled electronic cameras.  Both are sitting out in the living room, set to my 'default'.  If I need to change something, muscle memory will kick in when I pick it up and I'll have it changed without even thinking about it.


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## bribrius (Apr 6, 2014)

480sparky said:


> SCraig said:
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> > Get in the habit EARLY of resetting your camera to what you consider to be your "Default" settings each and every time that you turn it off. Reset the metering mode, the autofocus mode, the ISO, the shutter mode, everything to your "Standard" settings. Once you get in that habit you never have to worry about how things are set when you take the camera ouf of the bag because you will KNOW how it is set.............
> ...


call it inexperience, call it I don't even think about it. I really don't. Like this morning. went out for a cigarette (don't smoke in the house) grabbed the camera off the table on the way out (something to do) went out. Lit my cigarette. see a bird. hmm. wrong lens. Put the cigarette down, (still going) go back in, swap lenses. Back out, pick up cigarette. look through the viewfinder. hmm what the hell did I leave this on. Pull down camera, look. shutter priority. Okay. put camera back up af continuous. okay. shutter speed (looking through viewfinder now) drop. ap up. iso, hmm. change back to manual. drop iso. okay. 
course by then the bird had flew away.
put down camera. wth. finish my cigarette. Go back inside make my coffee.


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## SCraig (Apr 6, 2014)

bribrius said:


> call it inexperience, call it I don't even think about it. I really don't. Like this morning. went out for a cigarette (don't smoke in the house) grabbed the camera off the table on the way out (something to do) went out. Lit my cigarette. see a bird. hmm. wrong lens. Put the cigarette down, (still going) go back in, swap lenses. Back out, pick up cigarette. look through the viewfinder. hmm what the hell did I leave this on. Pull down camera, look. shutter priority. Okay. put camera back up af continuous. okay. shutter speed (looking through viewfinder now) drop. ap up. iso, hmm. change back to manual. drop iso. okay.
> course by then the bird had flew away.
> put down camera. wth. finish my cigarette. Go back inside make my coffee.



That's why I said "Get in the habit EARLY".  Otherwise you'll run into a situation where a once-in-a-lifetime shot presents itself with only a second or two to get it and you'll miss by a mile because of the previous settings you left on your camera.  Do everything you can so that in any situation you know what your camera is set to as you raise it.  Don't wait until it's in front of your face to set it, learn to adjust it while you lift it.  The only way you can do that reliably is to know ahead of time what it is set to.  That way all you have to do is focus and press the shutter release.


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## bribrius (Apr 6, 2014)

Derrel said:


> If you "need to start saving settings", maybe you'd better read that article I linked to...the camera makers have provided multiple ways for users to group THEIR FAVORITE settings into distinct locations...



already got it the article up. looking at it. My other cameras had/have savable user settings to. I just never used them. Probably should be eh?
stop thinking im weird though guys. I don't set out to actually shoot anything. I take one of my walks around here Ill change the camera settings a few times in the course of a couple hours. Buildings, birds, river, shadows and darks on trails, back into sunlight. Take them in the late afternoon the light changes fast too over that time.


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## bigal1000 (Apr 18, 2014)

bribrius said:


> what are you guys trying to say im weird? I just did this this morning. Looked through the viewfinder, saw the auto iso from yesterday and changed it back to manual looking through the viewfinder.



YES............


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## TheLost (Apr 18, 2014)

Um.. Just FYI..  The ISO button has been in the same place on Nikon's DX bodies for the past 10 years..  D70, D50, D80, D90, D7000, D7100.    

The only thing that changed is you bought a higher end body..


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## pdq5oh (Apr 18, 2014)

Guess I don't know what's so hard about pushing the ISO button and turning the wheel?


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