Nikon D40 Camera Settings

Question What are the best settings to shoot old printed books and documents with my Nikon D40 camera?
I have some old books of more than 50 years old, which I want to digitize. I can't scan them with flat bed scanner, because the pages will damage. Can I shoot with my Nikon d40 camera. I had ml-l3 remote also. What is the easy method to shoot and the settings in camera, so that I can preserve these books by digitizing? Should I buy a tripod? how to position the books and the camera? etc.,

Best Answer First, your best set-up will be a copy stand and a macro lens like the Nikon AF-S Micro-Nikkor 60mm f2.8G ED. You want a macro lens for its flat field of focus and center to edge sharpness and reduced center to edge light fall-off. For lighting, you can use two 100 watt bulbs in reflectors at a 45 degree angle at both sides of the page you're copying. You may need a diffuser over the lights. Be sure to keep any cloth far enough away from the light source to avoid the danger of fire (those bulbs do get hot!). Set your white balance to incandescent. Your camera must be 100% parallel to the page being photographed. The flatter the book page the better so you'll probably need to rig up a way to keep the page flat. You might try a piece of glass - just check for any possible reflections although that shouldn't be a problem with your lights angled at 45 degrees. Check anyway though. I'd probably shoot in Aperture Priority at f8 or f11 using ISO 100 and let the camera worry about shutter speed. These sites should be helpful: http://www.subchaser.org/photographing-documents http://www.carlmcmillan.com/how_to_copy_with_digital_camera.htm

Question Good camera settings for using nikon d40 at talent show?
could anybody suggest good settings for a talent show Im shooting today. Nikon d40/35mm 1.8 lens. Thanks for help I do have a 18-55mm lens but will be sitting up front hopefully close enough to use the 35mm

Best Answer The 35 mm lens is rather short, so you will have to just about be in the area at the front of the stage to isolate any individual actors or performers. With your camera in the aperture priority mode and the aperture of the lens wide open (f/1.8), take a test shot. If the shutter speed is longer than 1/250th second, raise the ISO on the camera until it is. It is always better to have NO blur caused by camera or subject movement and put up with a little image noise, than the other way around.