Lesson Info
29. Camera Operation
Lessons
Class Introduction
16:37 2Photo Basics
04:38 3Camera Controls: Control Wheel & Shutter Release
04:08 4Camera Controls: Mode Dial
26:05 5Camera Controls: Top Deck
18:35 6Camera Controls: Back Side Controls
15:00 7Back Side Controls: Function Button
25:35 8Back Side Controls: Wheel & Custom Buttons
10:58Left & Right Side Controls
07:02 10Bottom Controls
04:59 11Front Controls & Lenses
13:16 12Menu Page 1: Quality/Image Size 1
09:48 13Menu Page 2: Quality/Image Size 2
03:56 14Menu Pages 3-5: Shoot Mode/Drive 1/AF1
09:02 15Menu Page 6: AF2
05:42 16Menu Pages 7 & 8: AF3 & AF4
05:56 17Menu Pages 9-11: Exposure & Flash
06:33 18Menu Page 12: Color/WB/Img Processing
08:49 19Menu Page 13: Focus Assist
06:03 20Menu Page 14: Shooting Assist
06:29 21Camera Settings: Movie
07:43 22Camera Settings: Shutter & Steady Shot
08:37 23Camera Settings: Zoom & Display Auto Review
07:13 24Camera Settings: Custom Operation
11:55 25Network Menu
11:19 26Playback Menu
07:18 27Setup Menu
26:52 28My Menu Overview
08:13 29Camera Operation
10:14Lesson Info
Camera Operation
This final section is called Camera Operation. It's a bit of a summary 'cause we've gone through the camera detail by detail, but kinda looking at it in the big scope of how do we set the camera up for a variety of types of photography and what's most important when we're heading out for a shoot. So always, you gotta charge the battery. Make sure you have a card in the camera. Ideally, that's reformatted. Make sure the image quality is set to where you want it. You may need to go through some of the menu settings depending on how you last used the camera. And if you're gonna go shoot an important event, take a vacation, go on a photo shoot, you wanna shoot a couple of test shots and make sure that the sensor is clean. What I do is I shoot a white piece of paper or white wall, stop down F22, and look at the images and look for dust specks 'cause those will become very clear when you the stop the aperture down with a bright subject like that. Just plain white wall, no detail. Next up, ke...
y settings on the camera that's got a million settings, it seems like. But the ones that you're gonna come back to and use over and over again are related to exposure, to focus, and a few other things like white balance and the drive mode on it. So most of those are already pre-programmed into very convenient locations on the camera. And so it's got a good start right outta the gate in my mind. So those features look like this when we lay them out. And we're gonna take a look at how I would recommend setting the camera up for a few common types of scenarios. First up, let's just talk about super simple, this is where you wanna keep the camera just in the very, very simple mode, slightly more control than the full auto mode. The program mode is good for those quick shots. The camera controls shutter speeds and apertures. I'm not usually a big fan of auto ISO, but for simple, basic photography, it's gonna do a fine job. Leave exposure compensation at zero, unless necessary to move it around from there. Auto white balance is gonna work well in most cases. AF-S is single focus, where it focuses on a subject and then stops, which is good for subjects that are not moving around very much. Wide area focus is looking at the entire frame area. You do have to be careful of subjects that get pretty close to you 'cause it always wants to focus on whatever is closest to you. And a single drive mode will get you one shot at a time. So this is a nice, simple basic setup. All right, landscape photography. A lot of people like doing this and what this entails is in getting great depth of field, so there's things in the foreground as well as the background that are in focus. Maybe, hopefully, you're using a tripod and shutter speeds aren't gonna really matter to you. You have a little bit of time to work with your subject, so this is where being in manual exposure makes sense. If you want the highest resolution, you're gonna be setting your ISO at 100, so that you can get the greatest detail, the greatest dynamic range as well at 100. Typically, you're gonna want more depth of field. We're talking about a eight, 11, 16, 22. It depends on the exact composition that you are working with. And shutter speeds shouldn't matter too much in most cases 'cause there's usually not a lot moving around. And this is why tripods come in handy 'cause you're often at slower shutter speeds. But that will just depend exactly on what the light is. White balance can be left on auto or possibly another setting if it's not coming out exactly the way that you want. Subjects aren't moving around, so single auto focus, AF-S is gonna be fine. You're gonna wanna be pretty particular about where you focus here and so one of the smaller focusing points that you can adjust exactly where you want in the frame would probably be a wise choice. And then you could use the single with a cable release or you could use the self-timer if you don't wanna use a cable release. That way, there's no vibration when you're actually shooting the photograph. Next up, let's do a little portrait photography. In this case, we're gonna need to be a little bit more aware of our shutter speed, so that we're not getting blur. And we are often shooting with shallower depth of field, so that we can blur the background of our photos. I like to be set in manual, so I can set specifically where these settings are on the camera. Wide open apertures will be good for blurring the background. If you have a 1.4, it's nice to use it. You're gonna probably need a shutter speed of 125 or faster to stop your handheld movement and the movement of your subject potentially moving around. And of course, you wanna be at ISO 100, but sometimes you need to bump up because you're in lower light levels, but start off at 100. White balance can probably be at auto for most situations. As long as your subjects aren't moving around, single auto focus works good. You wanna be very careful about where you focus in, so getting a small focus point on the eye would be advisable here. Drive mode single, possibly continuous. And if you want a bonus, you can use the face detect or the eye detect to get even more accurate on the focusing, especially if there's a little bit of movement back and forth. And so this is how I would set the camera up for portrait photography. Next up, sports or action photography. This is where subjects are gonna be moving around. You need faster shutter speeds to stop their motion and you need a tracking system on the focus, so that it can adjust for that movement. I also like to be in manual on this. So as long as my subjects are in consistent lighting, I will get one set of settings for all of my photos. In this case, you're gonna want a faster shutter speed, 500 or faster, depending on the type of subject that you're shooting with. This is where those faster lenses that are 2. are really gonna pay off. I know they're more money, but that's why the professionals use them is that they can shoot this a little bit more easily. Now ideally, of course you would be at 100, but most times, when you are needing really fast shutter speeds, you're gonna need a higher ISO to compensate for that faster shutter speed. And so most sports photography is done at 400 or higher in an ISO setting. Set white balance, if necessary. Auto usually works. Important setting here is to AF-C, the continuous focusing, so the camera can adjust for the movements of you and your subject getting closer and further apart. It's hard to keep a very small focus area on your subject. I like using zone and it's a wider area can allow for a little bit of random movement of your subject. But the lock-on options of any of the focus options here are very good because then it's gonna recognize your subject and try to stay on it. Now, depending on how random your subject is, it may or not be able to stay locked on, so you may need to experiment with some of the different focusing area options to see what works best with the types of subjects that you are shooting. And of course, in the drive mode is when you're gonna wanna be in one of the continuous. Remember there's low, medium, and high options in there, depending on how many frames per second you wanna get. And so this way, it's gonna track the action. It's gonna use a fast enough shutter speed and you're gonna be able to get lots of shots in a relatively short period of time. All right, I'll leave you with one final one, which is what I call basic photography. And this is something that's gonna allow you some manual control for general situations. And this is where I do allow in just a tad bit of automation. Aperture priority is kinda nice because you can set an aperture of, you know, kind of middle, slightly wide open 5.6. It's gonna give you a reasonably fast shutter speed. If you need more depth of field or you need faster shutter speeds, you can quickly make that adjustment on the camera. Typically, I leave my camera at ISO unless I know I'm going to an environment that is darker and I'm going to need faster shutter speeds. At which point, I'll then bump it up. Make sure that that dial is at zero on the exposure compensation. Auto white balance should work fine in most cases. Unless you're shooting action, the AF-S option will work fine, so that you can focus and lock in on a subject. And I like the flexible spot option here and choosing small, medium, or large option, whatever is best for the situation and then using the joystick to move that around to the area that I want in focus. And for the drive mode, single shot is usually gonna be fine in most cases. You can kinda just pump your finger up and down on the shutter release if you do need to take several photos. And so I think this is a good setup for travel photography or anytime when you're not really sure what the next photo is going to be. All right, you've made it through, congratulations. I now consider all of you as Sony A7III experts in your camera. Granted, you may need to go back and review a few sections on the class, but you should hopefully get to know it pretty well there. So if anyone is interested in knowing more about what I do, I have a website, pretty easy to get to, johngreengo.com. Also, I'm on Facebook and Instagram. You can check me out there and see my photos. I do post quite a bit, quite a bit on there. So if you wanna see more about my tours and upcoming classes and stuff here at CreativeLive, that's a good place to tune in and find out more information. And as some of you know, I teach a great number of classes here at CreativeLive. And so if you wanna check those out, you can go onto CreativeLive and just look under my name, Greengo, and you can find a full listing of all my classes there.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
a Creativelive Student
John GreengO! What a wonderful teacher! As always to the point. You do all the testing for us and we get an amazing tour of the camera. Really thrilled with your class once again. Thanks a lot!
user-7002e3
Thanks John. Another great class! I appreciate the thorough explanations. I many never use all of the features on this camera but at least I know what they do. Love all of your classes and would definitely recommend them.
Mary
Wonderful class. John is a great instructor. Learned a lot. Only wish he'd include a bit more on using a7iii to shoot video, such as using Clear Image Zoom, and including video in the ending Camera Operation settings section. Loved the course though.
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