H. Live view and movies | Nikon D5100 guide

Switching live view on and off | Drag the live view next to the camera mode wheel back with your index finger to switch on an image preview on the camera monitor. A second time switches it off again.

The viewfinder image turns black as long as live-view is on. The mirror, which otherwise directs light upwards into the viewfinder, flips up to let it hit the image sensor.

Zooming in picture preview | The two buttons with the magnifying glass symbol let you zoom in and out of the image preview, just like in image playback.

Information displayed on the monitor | The info button switches between a couple of possible views with differing additional information:

• Pure image preview, (almost) only supplemented by autofocus marking as well as aperture, exposure time, ISO at the bottom edge.
• Grid lines − as in the viewfinder, with three additional vertical and three additional horizontal guide lines.
• Photo display with information for taking photos, recognisable by the file format at the top right.
  
• Movie display with information for recording movies, recognisable by the camera symbol with remaining recording time at the top right.

When photographing in Live View mode, the autofocus works completely different than when photographing through the viewfinder. In practice, this means above all: slower .

The D5100 focuses based on the preview from the image sensor instead of using special autofocus sensors.

Starting autofocus | The D5100 starts focusing when you tap the shutter button, as when shooting through the viewfinder. And possibly when you press the AE-L/AF-L button if you have configured it to start autofocus.

Focus tracking | The focus tracking is to be selected in the shooting information, just as when shooting through the viewfinder. However, the options are different:

• AF-S: The D5100 focuses once as soon as you press the shutter button.
• AF-F: The D5100 focuses continuously until you press the shutter button. Then it may take a moment until it is ready, the red mark turns green and after that, as with AF-S, the D5100 will not change focus as long as you keep the shutter button pressed.

AF-F is for recording moview, so if you start a movie shot, the autofocus will continue even if the camera is panned. And before filming, the D5100 tries to be permanently ready to start recording with proper focus.

Focus point selection | In Live View mode the D5100 always focuses on where there is a coloured mark in the image.

The focus point control to set this mark is in the shooting information as when using the viewfinder, but offers a completely different selection:

Face-priority AF: The D5100 automatically detects faces facing the camera and focuses on them.

If it doesn't detect any, you can move the focus marker across the monitor with the direction buttons − even in diagonal − and immediately return it to the centre with the OK button.

The colour of the autofocus mark means:

• Red: That is where the D5100 will focus at the next opportunity, it has not yet been able to focus successfully.
• Green: It has been able to focus there successfully.
• Yellow: The autofocus is tracking an automatically detected face.

Wide/normal area AF: Focuses on the rectangular mark.

The smaller focus area can be positioned more precisely, but gets caught more easily on places with low contrast where autofocus has problems.

The mark is red or green, with the same meaning as before.

Subject-tracking AF: The D5100 tracks a moving subject more or less reliably.

The colour of the autofocus mark means:

• White: The D5100 is not yet focusing, aim the mark at your subject and press the OK button.
• Yellow: The autofocus tracks the selected spot, the mark stays on it even when your subject moves back and forth in the frame.

The OK button also ends the subject tracking, then the mark turns white again and you can restart.

The OK button immediately returns the autofocus marker from anywhere to the centre of the screen.

Also in live view mode you take a photo in live view mode with the shutter release button. It is normal that the shutter takes longer to release in live view mode.

You can adjust shooting settings such as white balance, exposure compensation, etc. in live view mode as when shooting through the viewfinder.

Start and stop movie recording | Movie recording is only possible in Live View mode.

The red button next to the shutter release button starts and stops the recording. 

The movie recording starts independently of the autofocus, you must ensure correct focus before and during filming.

During recording, it can also be useful to press the AE-L/AF-L button to start the exposure lock and, for example, to keep the brightness unchanged during a camera pan.

Movie settings | Several settings for video recordings are bundled in the shooting menu Movie settings:

• Frame size/frame rate = video resolution and number of pictures per second

The available frame rates depend on the video mode in the setup menu.

• Movie quality: Controls the data compression. High quality produces files about 50% bigger in size with minimal or no visible quality improvement.
• Microphone: Set microphone sensitivity – automatic, to a fixed value or microphone off.

Lastly, there is a menu that is relevant if you are filming abroad, where the frequency of the mains power is different from 50 Hz as in Europe: the setup menu Flicker reduction.

Electric light can flicker with the frequency of the mains power, which the human eye does not perceive, but it can cause flickering on movies. Telling the D5100 the correct mains frequency will help it to reduce flicker. The other frequency of 60 Hz is common in North America.