Help please with Nikon D3000. Absolute beginner over here.

[Lisabee812]

Good morning. Looking for some help please . I’ve just inherited a Nikon D3000 after my grandad passed away. There’s no box or instructions. I have 3 kids and will mainly photograph them ...... at events like birthdays /holidays. My problem is I’ve set the little circle to Auto , however the photographs are coming out very blurry and out of focus. Which settings should all the other little buttons be on please?? I know this post is perhaps in the wrong forum and I sounds so basic .... I apologise in advance , just didn’t know where to start.

Thank you
Lisa

 

[jaomul]

There should be a switch on the lens. Make sure that's in the af position, not the m position

 

[Designer]

First of all, download a user's manual here:

Nikon | Download center | D3000

Read it front to back, and maybe some sections more than once. Nikon's manuals seem to have been written by an engineer, so you'll need to dig a little and ask questions on here as you go.

Secondly; look the thing over to find the "AF" switch, probably located on the front of the camera, just to the left of where the lens attaches to the camera. Turn it to "AF" (auto focus).

Look on the barrel of the lens for another switch that says "A A/M". Switch it to "A".

Next; turn the wheel on top to "auto". But first; reset all settings to factory default. (find this in the manual)

When the camera is in factory default, almost everything will function pretty much without input from you, including the focus, exposure, etc.

If you did not receive a download cable with it, open the little door on the side where the SD card is inserted. a little press and release will release the card. Insert that card in a computer and download the images to the computer. Then, re-insert the card into the camera and go into the menus to find "format card". Reformat the card to wipe out all the images on the card and start fresh with a blank card.

At this point, do not try anything beyond that until you have read and understood the user's manual and feel the need to do more.

If you have more questions, be sure to come back and ask on here.

 

[Dave442]

Welcome to the forum. As noted above, the best start is spend some time with the manual. Check out the sections on Focus Mode and AF-Area Mode.

 

[ac12]

I second, download and READ the instruction manual, with the camera next to you so that you can see what the manual is saying.
Then keep the manual with you, put the PDF into your phone. Because you can never remember everything, and having the manual with you is important when you forget how to do something.

Warning, "Auto" exposure mode has a potential focusing issue.
On my D70, Auto = closest subject. This means that if there is anything between you and the subject (chair, table, etc), the camera will focus on that, rather than the subject. This caused many of my first DSLR shots to be out of focus.
So since then, I use P, instead of Auto. Then I can select what I want the camera to focus on.

As Dave said, focus mode is important. The camera is not connected to your brain, so it does not know what the subject is. In a group of kids/people, it could choose the wrong thing to focus on.
I personally use SINGLE point focus, center focus, because I got tired of the camera choosing the wrong thing to focus on.

gud luk with the camera

 

[KmH]

With auto focus you need to choose 2 settings - focus mode & focus area mode.
For shooting people you should also set the metering mode the center-weighted metering.
Indoors you're usually going to need to use the built-in flash unit, and you can adjust the power output level of the flash unit
Both the metering mode & the flash unit power are set in the D3000 Shooting Menus.