Sensor Cleaning - Nikon D5100 Experience Manual

Nikon D5100 Experience
Slow Sync is used with slow shutter speeds so that the background is illuminated by the longer
exposure and the subject or foreground is illuminated by a burst of the flash. This is typically
used for night time portraits or where the background is much darker than the foreground or
subject.
Slow Sync+Red-Eye Reduction combines the above two settings to prevent red eye when taking
an image such as a night time portrait.
Rear-Curtain Sync means the flash will fire just before the shutter closes rather than at the start
of the exposure. This is used when photographing moving objects when using a flash, so that the
light trails or motion streaks will appear behind the subject, thus appearing more realistic (or
perhaps cartoon-like).
All of these flash settings are available in P and in A modes, and Fill Flash, Red-Eye Reduction
and Rear-Curtain Sync are available in S and in M modes.
If you often need to use flash, invest in one of the external Speedlight flash units (see
Photography Accessories below) which will give you more flash power, control over output,
remote capabilities using the built-in flash as a commander, and versatility with direction,
diffusion, bounce-flash, and color correcting gels. Flash photography is a complex subject that
requires its own book, and there are several good ones on the subject. I suggest having a look at
On-Camera Flash Techniques for Digital Wedding and Portrait Photography by Neil van
Niekerk.
I think that covers every important button, control, and setting of the D5100 that is needed or
useful for everyday photography. There are certainly additional features that have not been
discussed, and those can be learned and experimented with after you have mastered all of these
primary advanced functions. It is important to learn all of the functions that you will need so that
they become second nature, and that you instinctively know which settings to use or how to
change them in shooting situations. Then you can begin to focus on the other important aspect of
photography: composition. While some of these settings and explanations may seem
complicated at first, just start shooting and attempting to make use of what you have learned.
You will gain a quicker understanding of them through use and mistakes and questions that arise
when the camera does not act as you expect or the images do not appear as you wish. You can
read about a difficult concept over and over and still not grasp it, but you might understand it
better and quicker through use, error, experimentation, and success.

Sensor Cleaning

If you wish to clean the Image Sensor manually, make sure you have a fully charged battery in
the camera. Remove the lens and put on the body cap. Select Lock mirror up for cleaning in the
Setup Menu and then select Start. This will raise the mirror and allow you to clean the sensor
(actually the Low-Pass Filter in front of the Image Sensor) after you remove the body cap and
press the Shutter-Release Button. Replace the body cap or lens and turn the camera off when
you are finished. Do not turn it off while you are cleaning because the mirror will come back
down and be damaged if it hits anything. Sensor cleaning is a very delicate operation and should
be done very carefully according to manufacturer's instructions. The way I do it is to use a
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