Viewing photos on my D3100

antlpl

Hi!

When I view my pictures on my camera there seems to be these black spots that go on and off. It's almost like it highlights lighter spots on the picture. Is this a setting I can remove?

Thanks in advance,
Angie

bluestar

Yes, I had that trouble when I first got my camera and wondered what I had done; in fact I thought I had broken it.

That flashing is telling you that the shot is overexposed, but can you turn that off if you wish.
Go into your menu and find Playback Mode, then Display mode and click that.
There you will see Detailed Photo Info and Transition Effects.
Click on Detailed Photo Info and uncheck Highlights but check RGB Histogram and Data.
After taking a photo you can check the histogram by using the Multi selector which turns it on or off and also the data depending on which arrow you touch.

The book supplied with the camera leaves a lot to be desired as far as explaining how the camera works, especially as the camera is aimed at people new to DSLR's.

I had to look up in my book bought afterwards to find the location on the menus, as it it is not where you expect initially. I suggest putting a note in your camera bag of how to find it again.

I had one professional photographer (though he shot with one of these 4/3rds cameras) who told me that flashing was caused by leaving the camera near my computer and picking up magnetic interference; that's rubbish.

I would recommend the book Nikon D3100 Digital Field Guide by J.Dennis Thomas, published by Wiley or similar. These books are written by photographers and go through every button and menu item in good detail, yet they are easy to understand with plenty of color photos and diagrams.

Good luck, it's a good camera and it will take some time to learn about it and its many wrinkles. The D3200 & D3300 are the same cameras, but with extra gizmos that you don't need.