Nikon D300 settings

[nbennett38]

My hubby surprised me with a Nikon D300 - quite an upgrade from my D100!
I just received it yesterday and just straight out of the box on P mode I'm amazed at the quality. I'd like to fine tune the settings and I'm a bit overwhelmed because there are sooooo many! - I'm looking to set mine mainly for portrature, outside and inside (studio).

Tell me if I'm understanding this right, are the banks, A, B, C, etc...there to store your settings for different environments?

Also, if you have reccomended settings that you use for portraits, I'd be so thankful if you'd share! I found Moose Peterson's reccomended settings for the D300 but I don't plan to shoot any wildlife any time soon : )

Any suggestions, tips very much appreciated

[SAHMom]

Congrats on your new camera! It's fabulous!
I guess I'm not completely understanding your question. I don't have any specific settings that I always use... I just meter the situation and use those settings accordingly.
In studio, I usually start with ISO 200, f/5.6 and always have 1/125 as my shutter speed... then change the power on my lights or my aperture accordingly (I just a light meter).

[nbennett38]

Thanks for responding Kim - yes, the D300 ROCKS, I love my hubby : )

I was having trouble in the beginning with photos look flat/soft, a little overexposed - I looked up reccomended settings and followed Thom Hogan's advice of how he set his D300 and a couple of others advice - and got the results I was speaking of above - honestly I was overwhelmed by the different opinions - I ended setting it back to the default settings and used my own judgement and tinkered with what I thought needed to be done and I'm pleased with it now. I realized there really is no perfect setting, to each his own - I guess I'm not so ignorant after all, haha.

I appreciate your tips regarding studio - I have a shoot today with a couple and a baby, we're doing the black on black look I posted about a while ago - wish me luck! Do you depend on your meter on your camera or do you have a seperate light meter?

I looked at your website, beautiful work - I love your fake wall, have already got that on my "honey do" list : ) You'r props are so cute, love the scale and the teddy bear chair!

One more question for you - I've been on several forums on flickr and most folks prefer Nikon Capture NX over photoshop and light room for post processing - I got it free with my camera - is it your preference as well?
Thanks for all your help!