Designing exposure experiements

[photobyfelix]

I now own a Nikon D200 and am transitioning from point and shoot although I was a film SLR user years ago. In the custom settings menu as well as other setting areas, this SLR has "layers" for any given variable - "white balance" being just one example. Overall, the number is huge.

Perhaps this is a a naive question, but my discussion point here is: if I am designing an experiment to begin to zero in on what "group" of settings is a good starting point for various types of scenes (beyond f-stop, etc.), what are primary, secondary and tertiary settings I want to incorporate? I know I can start with the basic "P" setting, but there are a few (at least) other settings that should be incorporated.

I plan to start with a landscape (conveniently, out my back door) and a 28mm lens shooting on a tripod, and at the same time each day (near sunset with the sun behind me).

Any thoughts? I am more looking for a method to approach this, not specific settings, although those could also be good starting points for a discusion.

In the future I plan to move inside to experiemnet with other light sources.

The goal is to bracket a starting point for future shoots. As an example, when shooting another landscape, I could possibly use the same starting point and adjust from there.

[hsroxas]

I think the techniques you were using with your film DSLR should also work with your new equipment. In my case, the transition to digital provided me with some tools that I did not have with my film DSLR. While I bracket my shots before either by dialing in smaller/ bigger aperture or slower/faster shutter speeds from my base setting, now I only have to do it in the menu. Likewise the white balance setting now allows me to get different color temperatures without changing roll of film. The feature I love most though is shooting RAW as it allows me to choose the color temperature during post processing plus so many other parameters I am able to adjust.
Hope this somehow addresses your point.