In the following ten minute video, I go over the most important menu options that you can use in your camera when photographing landscapes. I start off by going over RAW image quality settings, then go over long exposure noise reduction setting, then picture controls and their impact on your images. From there, I move on to explaining how you can reduce camera shake by using specific camera modes and settings like timer, Mirror Up and Electronic Front Curtain Shutter.
Being able to quickly evaluate the sharpness of photos is also important, which is why I also mention the ability to instantly zoom in to 100% of the image by pressing a single button, then back to full view (see Nikon’s One-Click Zoom Feature article). In addition, it always helps to have particular settings that you use the most be available in one area within the camera menu, which you can achieve by creating your own custom menu (sometimes referred to as “my menu”). Back-button focusing is a useful technique to decouple focus from the shutter button and re-assign it to another button on the back of the camera, and this is what I cover next. With back-button focusing, you can use one button for focusing and another for taking a picture, so that your camera does not refocus each time you change the frame (which can be useful when shooting panoramas, time-lapses, doing night photography, etc). Lastly, you might be wondering what camera mode works the best for shooting landscapes. This one is a matter of personal taste. While I often use Aperture Priority for landscapes, some situations call for using Manual mode.
I hope you find the above video useful. If you have some additional tips and recommendations for camera settings when doing landscape photography, please let me know in the comments section below!