The Nikon D3400 DSLR camera is Nikon's offering to people who want to embark on a journey with DSLR photography. Whilst the camera can do most things automatically, it will require the user to have a greater understanding of the technology they have in their hands. This article is designed to help new owners fit lenses to the camera properly and also insert the memory card, and understand the ports which are on the side of the Nikon D3400.
The kit lens, which comes with this camera is the AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G lens and it a great lens to begin with. It is 3.1x normal zoom lens covering the 18-55mm range of focal lengths. It is a fast and accurate autofocus lens and is also pretty quiet – which is useful if you bought this camera to shoot videos. However, as will all camera equipment, it is really important that you take care of it. Fitting it to the camera properly will help protect your lens and your Nikon D3400. If you look on the side of the lens mount on the camera, there is a white dot and if you look on the side of the lens, near its bayonet fitting, you will see also there is a white dot. The objective is to take off the two caps very carefully and match up the two white dots, gently fitting it into the bayonet socket and then twisting it anti-clockwise until it clicks. The only other thing you need to do then, is open the lens by pressing the button on its side and turning the lens so that the front zooms out. you cannot use the camera to take pictures if the lens has not been opened this way.
Although you get nearly everything you need in the box when you buy the NIKON D3400 for you to take pictures pretty much straight away, the one thing you don't have when you get box is a memory card and of course you need a memory card to store the pictures and the videos that you shoot on the camera. I suggest getting a Sandisk card and the reason for that is that Sandisk will guarantee the life of the card. It is important to remember they won't guarantee what is on the card, but if the card fails Sandisk will replace the card. It is a little extra. I would also recommend you getting a 16GB or 32 GB card so that you have plenty of space. if you shoot videos, you will need it. However, I wouldn't use anything larger because you may be tempted to use the card as a drive and store images and video on it. You should really only use the memory card as temporary storage and save your files onto a computer or hard drive as soon as you can. The best kind of cards are either the SDHC or the SDXC. The port for the card is on the right side of the camera as you hold it in front of you. You open the door by pulling it slightly forward and you put the card in with the label facing you. It is a spring mechanism, so just push it in until it clicks. If it doesn't go in easily, then it may be the wrong way round. What you will notice is that when you push it in completely a green light flashes on the back of the camera to say that it's being done properly. If you need to take the card out then you just press the card and, as it is on a spring, it will just bounce out again.
On the other side are two ports, or sockets. These are very useful because they are a USB port which allows you to transfer your pictures directly from the camera to your laptop, which is really good if you don't have a computer that has a memory card port and you don't have a card reader, and beneath that an HDMI port which allows you to show your pictures on a TV. Neither of these leads are given to you in the box, so if you want to do either of those things you need to buy the leads separately.
