D500 Extended Photo Banks

[Dmacfarl]

Hi
Does anyone use the Extended Photo Banks? And if so, what’s your set up ?
I find them a bit too restrictive…
Thanks!
Duncan

 

[vulpess]

Hi Duncan,
Just to make sure we are talking about the same things, the D500 offers three different "banks":

1. Photo Shooting Menu bank
This one includes all the settings that are adjusted by the Photo Shooting Menu (the one with the small camera symbol). Examples here are quality settings (RAW or JPEG), storage folder, file naming or ISO settings (AutoISO etc).

2. Custom Settings bank
This one includes all the settings that are changed in the Custom Settings Menu (the one with the small pencil symbol). This one includes a lot of settings like AF customization, metering settings, bracketing and self-timer settings as well as button customization, to name a few.

3. Extended Photo Menu banks
This last option is actually more of a special case of 1 (Photo Shooting Menu bank) and you can turn it on or off in the Photo Shooting Menu. When turned on, basic exposure settings are saved as part of the Photo Shooting Menu banks. Example: Photo Shooting Menu bank A can be set to Manual exposure while B can be set to Aperture Priority. If the setting is turned off, changing from Manual to Aperture Priority in one bank will also change the exposure mode in the other.
Personally, I don't understand why you want this to be turned off. Without this settings, the Photo Shooting Banks seem quite meaningless to me!

I hope this makes things a little clearer.

I too found this system in the beginning really confusing as I came from a camera that had different User modes on the mode dial (which I still think is the better solution).

I can offer you a quick overview over my use of these banks:

Photo Shooting Menu banks
(with Extended Photo Menu banks setting turned ON)

A: Standard wildlife mode
- Manual with Auto ISO
- Modest shutter speed (around 1/800s)

B: Action wildlife mode
- Manual with Auto ISO
- Fast shutter speed (around 1/3200s)

C: Standard/landscape mode
- Aperture priority
- ISO 100
- Different storage folder to differentiate wildlife and landscape photos

I have set the movie record button to allow switching between the Photo Shooting Menu banks, so pressing the button and turning one of the dials cycles between these modes. This way, I can quickly switch for example from a quite slow shutter speed to a fast shutter speed when there suddenly is some action.

Custom Settings bank
A: Wildlife
- Restricted AF to AF-C (meaning when I go to this setting, I always will have AF-C, so I don't need to check the setting)
- Pressing the joystick will activate Group AF

B: Standard
- No AF restrictions
- Pressing the joystick will activate Auto Area AF (which I like to use in some cases but never when doing wildlife)

(These are just two quick examples but maybe the most important ones to me)
Switching Custom Setting Banks is unfortunately not as quick as cycling through the Photo Shooting Menu banks. I have set up the Fn2 button to go to the first entry of My Menu which I have set to Custom Settings bank. So one click on Fn2 opens the list of the saved Custom Settings bank and I can quite quickly switch.

This got quite long and specific and your needs may be completely different but I hope you got some pointers on what is possible.
As I said in the beginning, I am not a huge fan of the banks but they can be quite useful when you configure them to fit your needs. This initial configuration can be a bit tedious but may be worth it in the end.

Cheers,
Lukas

 

[Dmacfarl]

Hi Duncan,
Just to make sure we are talking about the same things, the D500 offers three different "banks":

1. Photo Shooting Menu bank
This one includes all the settings that are adjusted by the Photo Shooting Menu (the one with the small camera symbol). Examples here are quality settings (RAW or JPEG), storage folder, file naming or ISO settings (AutoISO etc).

2. Custom Settings bank
This one includes all the settings that are changed in the Custom Settings Menu (the one with the small pencil symbol). This one includes a lot of settings like AF customization, metering settings, bracketing and self-timer settings as well as button customization, to name a few.

3. Extended Photo Menu banks
This last option is actually more of a special case of 1 (Photo Shooting Menu bank) and you can turn it on or off in the Photo Shooting Menu. When turned on, basic exposure settings are saved as part of the Photo Shooting Menu banks. Example: Photo Shooting Menu bank A can be set to Manual exposure while B can be set to Aperture Priority. If the setting is turned off, changing from Manual to Aperture Priority in one bank will also change the exposure mode in the other.
Personally, I don't understand why you want this to be turned off. Without this settings, the Photo Shooting Banks seem quite meaningless to me!

I hope this makes things a little clearer.

I too found this system in the beginning really confusing as I came from a camera that had different User modes on the mode dial (which I still think is the better solution).

I can offer you a quick overview over my use of these banks:

Photo Shooting Menu banks
(with Extended Photo Menu banks setting turned ON)

A: Standard wildlife mode
- Manual with Auto ISO
- Modest shutter speed (around 1/800s)

B: Action wildlife mode
- Manual with Auto ISO
- Fast shutter speed (around 1/3200s)

C: Standard/landscape mode
- Aperture priority
- ISO 100
- Different storage folder to differentiate wildlife and landscape photos

I have set the movie record button to allow switching between the Photo Shooting Menu banks, so pressing the button and turning one of the dials cycles between these modes. This way, I can quickly switch for example from a quite slow shutter speed to a fast shutter speed when there suddenly is some action.

Custom Settings bank
A: Wildlife
- Restricted AF to AF-C (meaning when I go to this setting, I always will have AF-C, so I don't need to check the setting)
- Pressing the joystick will activate Group AF

B: Standard
- No AF restrictions
- Pressing the joystick will activate Auto Area AF (which I like to use in some cases but never when doing wildlife)

(These are just two quick examples but maybe the most important ones to me)
Switching Custom Setting Banks is unfortunately not as quick as cycling through the Photo Shooting Menu banks. I have set up the Fn2 button to go to the first entry of My Menu which I have set to Custom Settings bank. So one click on Fn2 opens the list of the saved Custom Settings bank and I can quite quickly switch.

This got quite long and specific and your needs may be completely different but I hope you got some pointers on what is possible.
As I said in the beginning, I am not a huge fan of the banks but they can be quite useful when you configure them to fit your needs. This initial configuration can be a bit tedious but may be worth it in the end.

Cheers,
Lukas

Hi

Pretty close to what I do. I’m not keen on the Extended banks, as any change will be saved for next use - as they are not “sticky”.

I use a custom button for My Menu as well
Thanks very the detailed response. Very helpful.

Duncan

 

[jeffnles1]

When I first got my D500 I played around with the shooting banks a bit. I was hoping they would behave like the U1 and U2 settings on my D7200 or the M1 M2 etc. on my wife's Sony. Unfortunately they do not really behave like that. If a change to a setting is made (af mode, or AF area etc) going to another bank and coming back does not reset the changes are saved. Whatever settings one has in a bank at the time the camera is switched to another bank remain the same and do not go back to the user settings originally set.

I'm sure that is hard to follow but I don't know any other way to describe it. Hopefully someone can explain it better than I.

Since I learned it doesn't work the way the U1 and U2 settings worked. After a couple weeks, I got the camera set up with customizable buttons to do exactly what I wanted it to do and haven't looked back. I'm sure there is a good use for the photo shooting banks but I really don't use them. Hope this helps.

Jeff

 

[Dmacfarl]

When I first got my D500 I played around with the shooting banks a bit. I was hoping they would behave like the U1 and U2 settings on my D7200 or the M1 M2 etc. on my wife's Sony. Unfortunately they do not really behave like that. If a change to a setting is made (af mode, or AF area etc) going to another bank and coming back does not reset the changes are saved. Whatever settings one has in a bank at the time the camera is switched to another bank remain the same and do not go back to the user settings originally set.

I'm sure that is hard to follow but I don't know any other way to describe it. Hopefully someone can explain it better than I.

Since I learned it doesn't work the way the U1 and U2 settings worked. After a couple weeks, I got the camera set up with customizable buttons to do exactly what I wanted it to do and haven't looked back. I'm sure there is a good use for the photo shooting banks but I really don't use them. Hope this helps.

Jeff

That’s exactly what I ended up doing. A general set up of the Photo and Shooting Menus and adjust accordingly.
I’m not a fan of starting where I stopped…. The Extended banks seem awkward.
Anyway, thanks for the response!

 

[fcotterill]

Hello
Since posting this summary some months back, I've added a D5 to my hardworking D850, but I'm still using the same system of setting up and switching their Photo and Shooting banks

Custom Settings (Nikon DSLRs) for (Fleeting) Wildlife Subjects

I have refined the following Custom setups linking menus with control buttons on a D500 and latterly D850. These have proven to work rather well, particularly captures of fleeting animals and birds. However, Nikon has designed these features primarily to help Pro sports photographers capture...

bcgforums.com

 

[dabhand16]

I've used the shooting banks from when I had my D300. Yes, they are not 'sticky' but I don't mind that because it is not often that pre-set settings will be correct for the conditions you are in, so with or without the shooting banks you would be changing settings anyway. Why would you want a button/dial to be able to set your camera to unsuitable settings for your image?

My shooting banks are walkabout, studio, low light and action but I always have to change something. For me they just put the camera in the ball park for those conditions.

 

[Dmacfarl]

I've used the shooting banks from when I had my D300. Yes, they are not 'sticky' but I don't mind that because it is not often that pre-set settings will be correct for the conditions you are in, so with or without the shooting banks you would be changing settings anyway. Why would you want a button/dial to be able to set your camera to unsuitable settings for your image?

My shooting banks are walkabout, studio, low light and action but I always have to change something. For me they just put the camera in the ball park for those conditions.

That’s more or less how I use them “Ballpark” settings and adjust accordingly, as I said. I don’t set any button for “unsuitable settings”!

 

[MartyD]

The "Extended photo menu banks" option adds the exposure settings to what is saved in the Photo Shooting Menu banks. If it is off the exposure settings are not saved in the banks. I prefer the banks of the D500 over the U settings of my D7100 and now my z6ii. The D500 allows for 4 Shooting Banks and 4 Custom Setting Banks, which provides 16 different combinations of settings. I also like that I can add a descriptive label to the settings banks to remind me of the settings. I also prefer that the banks settings are saved on the fly as opposed to having to save the user settings into the U settings.

Here is what catches me when using the U settings. If I am shooting in changing lighting conditions, especially in the evening, then turn the camera off for a few moments, when I turn it back on it reverts to the original settings saved in the U mode. I prefer the camera to power back on in the state I just turned it off.