Sony A1 Video Capture Guide - The Complete Online Course: photoworkshopsandtours.com/index.php/product/sony-a1-video-capture-guide-the-definitive-online-course/
Thanks Mark. Not going to lie: it would be fantastic if you did an entire video on focus area modes and getting the most out of AF. I know you have a section on that in each of your setting videos, and they have been wonderful to see (over the years as your approaches have evolved). But this is such a deep topic, I think it could use an entire video on just that. Particularly if you make some demonstrations of when you tweak the AF settings and why. I think that would be a very popular video real fast.
omg these are some of the most helpful tips I have ever seen, and I spend hours fiddling around with my Sony camera menus, trying to understand every nuance. Sometimes I fall asleep with my cameras in bed because I am just spending so much time trying to uncover hidden tricks with the menu system. I have been shooting with Sony alpha cameras for about 2 years now, and I am kind of shocked to learn something new! Thank you!
Mark thanks for the great tips I have a two-part tip to add. The first part is from your A1 set up video and that is to disable the video record button and move that functionality to the shutter button. Having freed up the video record button I’ve reprogram that to become a playback button. This allows me to very quickly review a photo with very little movement of my thumb from the back button focus to playback.
Thank you for ANOHER great video. That ISO on the control wheel tip is awesome. I'd love to add a request as well. For those of us who shoot portraits, action (birds) and landscapes, it is common to set up the 1-2-3 dial on top of the camera for PAL, portrait, action and landscape camera presets. I'd love to see what your full set of "action" settings would be and give them a try with birds in flight. The theory here is that you flip the dial to "2" for action and get all those defaults like favorite focus mode, starting ISO, starting shutter speed, and all the other settings specific for bird action, and then quickly alter just the ones that differ specific to the scene you are shooting. Mark Gaeler has a video on just this. But since you shoot far more birds than he, and get such fantastic results, I think we all would love to see what you would come up with for Action presets, especially for the Sony A1.
Nice work as usual Mark, thanks. I had all of these except for hitting the playback and then Menu to get to the screen that let's you switch between cards for viewing...............had no idea on that one ................very handy! Also a good one I think will help lots of folks is the Menu screen that let's you uncheck which focus areas you can cycle through and then mapping that ability to a button of your choice. Keep up the great work and I look forward to more tips like this................I'm sure there's stuff in my A1 I'm missing that would help me.
@@MarkSmithphotography I'm one who loves this feature, but also one who accidently moves the wheel and changes it to, say, from Auto to 50, and I miss shots when I don't discover it until I try to take a photo. Is there a way to Lock and Unlock only this feature ? Thanks !
Hi Mark! I rented an A7iii but used your A9 or A7Riv setup guide to implement Dual Back Button Focus. 1 button was Zone for BIF and a different button was Flex Spot. Although I’m still saving up for a Sony and I’m not sure which models support it… This was the single most important selling feature for me. I owe you a debt of gratitude for uplifting my wildlife photo travel vacation!!! Thanks!!!
Greetings from Ballito ( South Africa) Thanks for the tip about the Zebras and Custom 2 / 107+ ... Great tip.. I have it dialled in now 😉 8Waiting for the adjusted courier charge invoice for your book. Take care and be safe out there. Best regards. Tim
Great video and I got the ISO joy stick set up and the center focus area. Am loving the book!!! Just snagged a t-shirt as one can never have too many. Design is awesome. Thanks for all you do.
Thanks for the tip on how to get the focus area back to the centre. Being a left eye operator i have problems with my face sometimes touching the buttons. It will save me.I set it up to the centre of the dial which hadn't been allocated. I had set my camera up according to your ARIV settings and note that it doesn't include setting up the zebras. Now I have it. Thanks. keep up the good work.
A very useful thing is when you made a burst and use the 'group' function so you see the whole burst in a folder you can also lock a few shots in the burst (the ones you like) and now go out of the burst mode and delete the whole folder.. it will delete all the images except the ones you have locked... On my A1 i now even for people/faces take bursts go into the burst and select the one i like, move out and delete the folder leaving me with the one i selected.
Hi Daniel. I tried the group option a few times and I just couldn't get used to it. I find the single view and using the scroll reel to quickly cycle through works best for me. Thank you for the tip as I am sure your method will work really well for others ( and you). Sharing experiences helps us try new things and to learn. I also don't trust myself to cull images in camera (the back screen quality is not good enough for my liking. Plus being a glasses wearer means the evf is not optimal when I smear my glasses)
The ability on the Alpha 1 evf as a glasses wearer the option to shift the screen forward is amazing. With my A7R IV and A9 II I was never able to view the whole evf at once.
I remember in one of your earlier videos giving the tip about using either the top c1 or c2 button to cycle through focus options. I limit my options to my most used few and this enables me to quickly change between them when my focussing needs or situation changes.
My a1 button/wheels selections are very similar to yours but in recent trip using cold weather globes when rotating the rear wheel for ISO adjustment accidentally pushed the East and South quadrants of the wheels, so moved them respectively to the C3 for the AF sensitivy and to the Function Button for the Face/Eye Subject selection. It will be great if Sony in future software updates for trhe a1 will allow the Exposure Compensation Wheel to be programmed for other functions as recently done in the new a7IV since for us Manual Exposure shutters is it of no use. Greatly enjoy your straight video talks.
Small tip that I dont recall seeing anywhere: in Menu mode, Fn switches category, i.e. Camera 1, Camera 2, World, Play, Toolbox, Star. Saves a few wheel presses. Works at least with a9 w/ firmware 6.0, no idea about other bodies.
@MarkSmithphotography Thank you, the tip about turning the back display off is very useful to me. I have one tip in exchange. I often shoot in burst. But copying all the files to computer is cumbersome. Especially when Macs have so limited disk space. So what I do is I enable grouping sequences. Then in preview I open the sequence, find images I like and lock them with key. Then I select to delete the group and it will delete all images except those locked by key. I have learned this tip after 5 years of shooting SONY and it literally blowed my mind.
My tip: I like to assign one of my lens buttons to a custom hold. I set it to 100 or 500 ISO and put it in Aperture priority so all I have to do to snag a quick low ISO shot is hold that button and when I release it, I'm right back to my normal manual settings. This works great if I'm primarily trying to get action shots, but want to get a perched shot without messing with all my settings.
@@clementstevens if you have A7-4 - go right to the bottom of the settings in yellow menu - select operation customise - custom key/dial set - then in the left hand pane go to 4th tab (Lens) - there you can choose the function you want to assign to Lens function button. I have assigned APS-C/Full frame there as it easy for me to just do it in a flash when I want to get closer to the subject
Hi Mark, your Osprey book is awesome as your few little tricks to make Sony cameras more personal. Here are my five cents to A1/A7R4: 1. Your suggestion to make the AEL button the AF/MF switch is great. I combined that by setting button C1 to focus magnifier. C3 or the unused start button for movies is then the APC/FF switch (NO=A7R4). That allows to see the subject magnified as long as you do manual focus without using the focus ring. Focus peeking works at magnification as well. You may want to increase the peeking level due to the magnification. Focus magnifier is set initial 4.2x with AF=ON during magnification. 2. I have selected only three focus areas: small, extended, and zone. Tracking is enabled by pushing the center of the Msl-btn. AFON is setup as in Mark's guide for the A1. The center button of the Mls-btn of the A1 is very stable. That isn't the case for the A7R4, which can make your AF-area floating around. So this may not work for every one. Keep taking pictures. Thanks
Thanks for sharing. It's been helfpfull during the period when I am expexting the Z9 to arrive. Pretty sure the basic principles are the same with Sony.
Hi Mark. I don’t know if you read comments on older videos. But here it goes. I have an A7rIII. I’m sure you know it struggles with BIF. I can’t justify and don’t want to spend the money on an A1 but I’m spoiled with the cropability of the A7RIII. Do you think it’s work it for me to get a used A9II? I’m hesitant because of the low megapixel count. Thank you.
I also would use the Wheel for quickly changing ISO but I would always accidentally change it during shoots. So my solution was to change the Wheel setting to "Not Set" and assign the Center Button to "Toggle My Dial 1" then allowing the Wheel and other Dials to change ISO. It's intuitive because its in the middle of the Wheel, so it's still a fast method to changing ISO. Basically hit the center button, turn the dial to change ISO, then hit the button again to lock the dial.
Great tips Mark! I keep that rear-wheel set to exposure compensation since I'm usually on auto ISO. I really like that card switching tip when reviewing your images.
Great tips. I use the back wheel for shutter speed as I have short stubby thumbs and also a bit of a carryover from my canon 6D configuration. Front wheel then becomes aperture control and ISO on top thumb wheel. Also depends I guess on how you shoot and which function you want quickest access to. With faster subjects I guess freezing the action is important and therefore faster shutter almost "fixed"
Mark, I have the new a7 IV and I thought the menu om my camera was the same as on the a1 in your video. I tried following you on having the Joy stick quickly put the focus back to center. I can't figure out why the screen is different or is it that I can't assign the joy stick the same way which does not make sense. By the way are you planning on producing a complete set up video for the a7 iv/. I find your setup videos to be the most comprehensive and helpful. Bob Lawner
On the charging the newer models A1, M4,S3 have a new in camera charging system they now can charge 3.5x faster as before. with a good charger its almost faster to charge inside the camera as it is with the external charger. The older models are slower....
C3 for me on my A7S III and A1 is mapped to MyMenu. MyMenu takes me to my most used and then the general menu is right next to it when I need to make a less frequent change.
Great tips! A lot of these were in your A7R IV setup guide, when that video come out I set my camera up exactly the same (other than back button focus) and my camera has stay the same since and it is perfect! Im always re-centering my focus point, im always disabling my re-screen to save battery. The ISO on the back dial is unreal, im always on auto ISO but to quickly change to a manual ISO within an instant is a life changer, but your right sometimes it can be bumped, it rarely happens but it will take me from auto ISO to 1 click over to ISO 50, this will basically turn my view to black, so in a case it does happen I can tell exactly what happened and I move back to auto ISO. Ah yes the good old zebras, in combo with using the exposure comp dial / auto ISO, ive basically got my thumb on the exposure compensation more then ive got it on the shutter dial! Sounds strange but it works wonders for rapidly changing lighting conditions. With using zebras a lot of my images are underexposed technically, but I might be photographing a dark bird with a white brow, and the whites will be blowing out, so I do EV comp to remove zebras and now the highlights are correctly exposed and I keep all the detail, then I can easily brighten the rest of the image in post without loosing the whites.
You can set two low limits for ISO. One is for how low auto-ISO is allowed to go. The other is where manual ISO starts. So my wheel will go from auto to ISO100, bypassing ISO50-ISO80. So switching to a manual ISO got 3 wheel clicks faster. I do that a lot...
@@daran0815 ah ok, I could litterally set mine at about iso 640. Under clouds my ISO is always 1000+, in full sun since my shutter speed is cranked my ISO is 640+ I can never get my iso any lower haha
Great tips Mark very useful employ all these ! Usually Auto ISO but likewise change on the back Wheel ! Double click delete button still one of my A1 favourites !
Mark , on your Sony A1 you use does that camera have a true three color line like the Nikon D series meaning the D4 the D5 and the D6 , as a Canon shooter I have to constantly change the exposure for Double -Crested Cormorant or A full frame photo of A Snowy egret and all of the other white colored Birds so getting the right exposure , you know exactly what I mean .
Hi mark I would like to know if it is worth me buying a a1 I /have a a9ii and 200-600. Is it worth it or would I be just trying to keep up with the smiths ?
Hello Mark, I use the left button on the rear wheel to switch between the rear screen and the viewfinder. I find it very quick and useful, no need to lift the screen or toggle through display modes. Any unused button can be assigned for this
HI Mark. I really enjoy your videos. I like to do landscape and wildlife phots ( including birds.) i'm going to upgrade from my a6400 and wanted to get your opinion. Which do you think overall would work for my style either the a7iii ( good price used ) or a7riii or save up some more money and get a7iv. thanks
As always, love your videos. But I also have a question. I got the Sony A1 and 200-600 lens last December. I bought your setup guide to help me and it did. Yesterday I was trying to get a still picture of a male cinnamon teal in mid-morning full sun, so he was very red. It was may 60-70 feet away. I was using spot focus with bird eye mode. I took at least 30 shots and maybe 5 were in focus. I used higher and higher shutter speeds to correct, but I think all the in focus shots were just luck. I got so frustrated I pulled away and shot some sparrows and a male northern shoveler. Same light, same camera settings, and all of those were in perfect focus. The teal has some interesting patterns on its body that I thought might confuse the camera, but in theory with the spot focus it should have at least focused on the head. Any ideas about what happened? This is the first time I with this camera I could not find a reason to blame myself for focus problems. Thanks!
Hey Mark, thanks for the awesome content and resources you provide ! I originally got the A7riv after watching the "A7riv vs a9" video. I had a lot of fun with it, but something always felt a little off to me. I've since switched from the RIV to the a7IV, and have been very impressed by the new Autofocus, in combination with the 200-600. (I can not comment on the 600f4, i belive you also said you only really liked the R4 with that one.) It's no A1, but a good option for birding without a 20000 budget. I think if you created a guide for the a7iv, it would be very popular. Ive gotten a lot of questions about the bird AF when posting my pictures. My favorite thing about the A7IV is having manual ISO on the dial that used to be Exposure Compensation wheel. Best wishes !
How do you do with the rolling shutter issue? I'm thinking of the A7IV/200-600 for my first intro to the Sony eco system. I feel shooting the Nikon D810/200-500 combo that it wouldn't (rolling shutter) be a big, or that big of a deal.
200-600 not a good match with r4, shooting fast subjects with 61 megapixels is very challenging and the light has to be just right along with your technique. Folks think more resolution is always better but it can also magnify problems in an image. After thousands of BIF images I switched to an A9. Sony even lists the 200-600 as "partially compatible" with R4
@@thomastuorto9929 You shouldn't shoot super high speed panning shots with the electronic shutter, but for stuff like perched birds it's great, to not make any noise. I have a hotkey set to turn silent mode on and off with the clickwheel, so i can quickly switch what i need.
Hi Mark, first of all thank you for the videos you're making-they're truly amazing👍. I have a question: Is there any software that can show you where you've focussed, because I find it really annoying to look through thousands of photos and zoom in every time to see if the photo is sharp. That would save me a lot of time and really improve my workflow. I hope you know what I mean🙂. Greetings from Hamburg, Germany Franz
I use the Fast Raw Viewer and wished for this feature to help spot the accurately focus shots of BIF = their support tech responded quickly that they had attempted this in the past but there was no standard for how this data was represented varying from camera to camera so they decided not to implement. My best guess would be Sony Imaging Edge software might support this.
Just got this from a friend and haven’t had time to check so I can’t validate it but this software apparently shows you everything including where the camera focused. soens.de/downloads.html
@@MarkSmithphotography Thanks - I'll give this a try - I really like using fast raw viewer, but when quickly reviewing 20-30 images of a BIF - having a fast way to find the best focused shot would be helpful. In addition to highlighting the spot - centering the image on the focus point would help when viewing images at higher resolution.
Is the fact that you don’t like shooting cameras that can’t change iso via a rear wheel a hint that you don’t like the Z9 ergonomics that much ;-) ? On the zebras, when you set the limit at 107+ do you try to get visible zebras on your whitest areas? I follow Mark Galen’s zebra at 109+ Which is sensor overexposure for the A1 and try to get rid of all zebras.
I too use 109+. I did some tests shooting in my darker apt putting bright windows and playing with the zebras and 109+ still brings whites that are fully recoverable. As a matter of fact I found that the you still need to up the whites a bit in post if you have gotten rid of all zebras.
What do you do when your camera is set up for sitting birds and suddenly a bird in flight appears? I set up a button to change shutter speed and focus area (recall custom setting) , but then your aperture will change automatically and steady shot will stay on. How do you solve this?
Mark, does the 107+ zebra setting take into account using RAW (which you can get more blown out highlights in post since this is a jpg preview)? Would we treat the zebra like blinkers, a small amount ok? I am using your A1 settings for my A1 BtW!
When the zebras come on, there *usually* still is some more headroom till the RAW clips. I would avoid going there, though. The zebras are based on the JPEGs (rather than evaluating the RAW data), so they aren't fully accurate. They also don't properly check the three color channels when colors are intense.
@@markus.herrmann.photography Agreed but its sony we are never sure, i would like sony to be more open on firmware releases for the A1 model. I also assume we get the eye-focus in video, lens breathing correction etc etc but until we see it we are not sure.
