Camera Tip, Nikon: ISO in Viewfinder & "Green Dot Reset"

Green Dot Reset

One feature built into almost every Nikon DSLR is a feature called "green dot reset."¹ This is a VERY handy feature that allows you to return many shooting settings to their defaults. This helps to ensure that you do not use unusual settings from a prior shoot in a subsequent shoot (ISO 6400, for instance). The specifics vary, but as a general rule, these are the things that are changed and NOT changed by a "green dot" reset.

Changed:

• ISO value (base)
• Image Quality/Size (Normal/Large JPEG)
• Exposure Compensation (0)
• Flash Exposure Compensation (0)
• Bracketing (off)
• Active D-Lighting ("auto" or "on" depending on the model)
• White Balance (auto)
• Drive (single)
• Self-Timer (off)
• AF-S/C/A/MF (AF-A)



The back of my D5100. Notice the 2 buttons near the
viewfinder with the green dot, hold both down
to reset the shooting settings to their default values.

• AF Area Mode (Dynamic w/ Closest Priority--i.e., the camera choices the active AF point)

NOT Changed:

• Auto ISO Off/On
• Image Processing Settings/Preset Used
• Any Menu Settings that Aren't Any of the Above (Custom, My Menu etc)
• Shooting Mode (P/S/A/M)

The method for initiating "green dot reset" varies by model, but basically, look for the 2 buttons on your camera that have a green-dot icon beside them. Hold down 1 button, then hold down the other one, for approximately 2 seconds--afterwards, you should see the change. (On my Nikon D5100, the 2 buttons are "menu" and "i" both near the viewfinder.)

That way, you can be sure that you don't leave your camera set to ISO 12800, -1.7 exposure compensation, and fluorescent white balance from the prior shoot you used those settings with.

A feature I'd like to see--a custom setting in the menus that allows you to specify what these default values will be. With my D5100, I'd change Image Quality/Size to Raw+Basic/Small JPEG, AF Area Mode to Single (and have the center point be the active one) and Active D-Lighting to OFF.

ISO Displayed in the Viewfinder

Another handy feature of many recent Nikons, which to be me is a biggie--they allow you to set ISO to display in the viewfinder, even if it doesn't out-of-box. To me this is VERY important, as ISO is an important shooting parameter, almost as important as f-stop, shutter speed, active AF point etc.  For too long, many Nikon models, even fairly advanced ones like the D80, did not show ISO full-time anywhere (viewfinder or control panel), only if you specifically remembered to press the ISO button would you even know what the ISO setting was. (More advanced models like the D200 and D300 did show ISO full-time in the viewfinder.)

The D5100 viewfinder, section (15) is where ISO displays
if the setting is enabled. Image via imaging-resource.com

Thankfully, most recent Nikon models have addressed this, out of box they don't but a custom setting easily allows you to remedy this. The Nikon D90, D5000, D5100 and D7000 among others will, by default, instead always showing the number of images the buffer currently believes it can handle in quick succession, (appearing as something like "r12") but can easily be made to show ISO instead (except during the very brief period the shutter release is "half-pressed," at which time it does show "r12" etc).

To enable this: go to the custom settings, under "shooting, display" and look for "ISO display" and set it to "on." (On my D5100, it's under "d2.") Note: for the D90 and D7000, there is also an "easy ISO" option. What this does, in aperture-priority mode (not sure how it works in other shooting modes), is the front dial changes the f-stop/shutter-speed combination (as before), but the back dial is now a full-time control for ISO without having to press any buttons, just as the front-dial is a full-time control for f-stop. You may like it, or not.

I am not sure what the D3100 or D3200 are capable of, but if you remap the "Fn" button to ISO, the D3000 will display ISO in the viewfinder as you're changing it via the Fn button.

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¹. The Nikon D3000, D3100 and D3200 do not have "green dot" reset feature wired to 2 hard buttons, but have a similar feature within the menus. On the D3000, this feature also resets image-processing parameters-presets, not sure how it works on the other models.