Lessons
Class Overview
10:11 2Photo Basics
07:01 3Top Deck: Mode Dial
27:20 4Top Deck: Custom Settings and Focus Mode
16:55 5Backside:Camera Controls
09:01 6Backside: Function Button Part 1
18:28 7Backside: Function Button Part 2
13:05 8Backside: Control Wheel &
10:53Left & Right Sides
06:19 10Bottom & Front
28:50 11Camera Settings: Pages 1-3
13:02 12Camera Settings: Pages 4-6
24:31 13Camera Settings: Pages 7-9
07:38 14Custom Settings: Pages 1-4
23:12 15Custom Settings: Pages 5-8
24:11 16Wireless Settings, Applications & Playback Menu
10:21 17Setup Menu
20:21 18Camera Operation
15:04Lesson Info
Photo Basics
Alright, so this next section is just a little bit of photo basics and if you already know about shutter speeds and apertures and sensor sizes, feel free to jump ahead to the camera control section, but I just wanna take a few minutes to make sure somebody who is new to, kinda, the serious world of photography 'cause I think this might be a really good camera for somebody from a point-and-shoot camera to jump up to. Just a little bit of what we're gonna be dealing with in the world of more manual photography. So, this is a mirrorless camera, it does not have the mirror that a single-lens reflex camera has in it which helps make it really small. We do have interchangeable lenses and in those lenses is gonna be an aperture unit that controls the amount of light getting through that lens. And so, we're gonna be working with these apertures, or f-stops as they are known, to control the light. Every time we stop it down an aperture, it lets in half as much light and so, we get down to the s...
mallest opening, in many cases, it's around f-22. As we open up these apertures, it's letting in twice as much light with each one of these settings and many of the lenses will kind of max out, or at least some of the lenses will max out, at around 1.4 on the aperture setting. Now, the aperture controls not only how much light it lets through the lens, but it controls the depth of field. So, as you can see in this example, the yardstick is very out of focus at the top of the screen and at the bottom of the screen 'cause we have very shallow depth of field, but as we stop our aperture down, our depth of field is growing. The depth of field is the area that is in focus and so, as we get this stop down to f-22, you can see more and more of that yardstick is coming into focus. And there we go, at f-22. So, multiple reasons on why and how to change your aperture. So, as light comes into this camera, it goes directly onto the sensor which then sends the information electronically to the LCD on the back of the camera for easy viewing, but this camera also has an EVF which allows you to look through the View Finder to see what's going on, which works out really well under bright light situations. Now, what's happening at the sensor is kind of interesting, so let's take a closer look at that. Light's coming into the sensor, that's how you're viewing and composing your image. When it's time to take a photo and you press down on the shutter release, what will happen is that the first shutter curtain will need to close and block the light to the sensor so that the sensor can charge and be ready for the actual exposure, which is happening right now. And then the second curtain comes in and closes it and turns the exposure off, but then the second curtain needs to open again so that you can see what's going on. And so, there's a lot of opening and closing each time you take a photo. Now, I will tell you, later in the class, there's gonna be some adjustments that you can make to this operation that will change the way this works, but this is how it works by default as we get started with the camera. Now, the shutter speeds are another way of controlling the light that's coming in, but it also controls the action stopping capabilities of the camera. So, choosing very fast shutter speeds like 1/2000th of a second for very fast action, 1/500th works pretty good for a lot of fast human action, 1/125th is more of a middle of the road shutter speed. And then as we photograph stuff that is moving at slower shutter speeds, like 1/30th of a second, we're gonna start to get blurring and blurring can be good or it can be bad, really depends on how it is used in that particular photograph. If you like waterfalls and streams to get that blurry cotton candy look, that's gonna be around one second. You wanna do nighttime photography, you can do light painting and star shots at around 30 full seconds. So, that's what's going on at the image sensor level. And so that's just a little bit about how a mirrorless camera works. So, in the camera, the sensor size plays a big role into the capabilities of the camera, what sort of lenses will work with it, and the overall quality of the image that you're gonna get out of it. Now, there are a wide variety of sensors available on the different cameras out there, and the sensor used in this camera is what I would call a moderate size. It's not on the large size, it's not on the small size. It is a little bit smaller than kind of the... Well, not most popular, but most notable frame sizes which is the full frame sensor, which is based off of 35 millimeter film. This is just a little bit smaller and it allows the camera to be smaller, and maybe even more importantly, it allows the lenses to be smaller, which makes the entire package a little bit smaller in size. And so, it is much bigger than a lot of the point-and-shoots and other smaller cameras. And this is one of the smallest cameras that you can get that has this size sensor in it. Quick note for anyone using the camera strap on this camera. One of the things you wanna make sure is that the tail end of the strap is on the underside as it goes through the strap adjuster, that way, there's a little bit more pressure on that end and it's less likely to slip out and come off of the camera, so make sure, use that sort of technique. Now, as far as holding the camera, there is two common ways of holding the camera. Your right hand is usually gonna grab the grip of the camera, the question is, what's your left hand doing? Is the thumb on the upper side of the lens or on the lower side of the lens? The best system here is to be putting the thumb in the upward position because that'll bring your elbow down into your torso, give you a little bit steadier hold on the camera, so that is a good technique and it will enable you to shoot with a little bit lower shutter speeds. Throughout this class, we're gonna be having lots of options where you can set a feature into an automatic mode or to a manual mode. And every once in a while, it is nice to let the camera do things for you in the automatic mode, but to really understand what you are doing, it is best to be able to understand what all those settings are going on in the manual mode. And so, if you can master something manually, then you can kind of really take control by letting it go automatically, but kind of keeping an eye on it so that you know what it's doing, and if something goes wrong, you can jump in and change it over manually. And so this class is a lot about learning how to use the camera manually so that you can pick and choose how you wanna have your camera setup. So, if any of this more basic information is interesting to you, you might wanna check out my class called Fundamentals of Photography. It's my most comprehensive class on photography and we'll cover pretty much everything that you will want to know about the basics of photography and quite a bit more beyond that. And so, take a look for that class at CreativeLive.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Cassandra Mcd
This was so much better than having to read a manual that often times is not helpful in terms of pointing out tips on when would be the best time times to use a particular function. Love the graphics, the recommendations provided for both new and advanced users and mostly I love the fact that I can go back and watch different segments as I get more use to shooting with this camera. Great Course and I'm really glad I bought it! Thanks John!
Priscilla Read
I'm still working my way through the lessons, trying out everything as I go. I like how John shows everything with great visuals and demos. Also like that he explains when to use the various options available on the camera. Really great! Thanks!
a Creativelive Student
I wanted to learn more about using my SONY. I was not disappointed in this fast-start class on how to use this camera. Jon is a great teacher. He answered my question about photo problems. He also had some great graphics that reinforced what he was teaching. TY! Rosa
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