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Menu Page 14: Shooting Assist

Lesson 20 from: Sony A7 III Fast Start

John Greengo

Menu Page 14: Shooting Assist

Lesson 20 from: Sony A7 III Fast Start

John Greengo

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Lesson Info

20. Menu Page 14: Shooting Assist

Dig into game-changing tools you may not even realize exist by exploring the shooting assist menu. Learn how to turn on anti-flicker to get consistent results with lights that are flickering. This often happens at a speed too fast for you to perceive, but can create shots that are too dark because of the timing of the flicker and the image. Discover how to tell the face AF who to prioritize and more in the shooting assist menu.

Lesson Info

Menu Page 14: Shooting Assist

We have moved into Camera Settings Two rather than Camera Settings One. As I mentioned, there's no real difference other than the fact that Sony seems to have bunched up most of their video features in here, as well as some of their custom options. First up is the exposure mode. When you put the camera in the movie mode, how do you want to set your exposure? Manually program, aperture priority, or shutter priority? For mom-and-pop-type video, just simple little video clips, P is fine. The camera will figure out those settings for you. For those of you a little bit more serious, wanting to do editing, you're undoubtedly gonna wanna have that in manual exposure so you can have very specific control over your shutter speed, as well as your aperture. Exposure mode, when you are in the S&Q settings. So, once again, the serious photographers are gonna wanna get in here and manually control exactly where their settings are in this. The file format, when you are shooting video, we have 4K,...

we have HD, and then we have a second HD which is designed for Blu-ray recording. And so, most people are gonna be in 4K or HD depending on their needs. Recording setting is gonna set the frames per second and the bit rate, and this is gonna vary a little bit according to the previous file format that you have chosen. Those of you who have cameras in Europe are gonna have a 25-frame-per-second option, as well as other regions around the world. And so, for most people, 30 frames per second is your standard video. 24 has that cinematic look to it, or a part of that look, at least. And so, if you want to dive into the S&Q settings, there's gonna be a sub-menu in here where you can record, you can set first off what is the recording setting. And this is, what do you want your video to be played back at. Next up is the frame rate. You would choose something like 120 frames per second if you wanna slow down time. You'd choose one or two, four frames a second if you wanna speed up time. And so, this will vary according to what you've chosen in the recording setting, as well. Next up is the proxy recordings, which is a small movie attached to your, most likely, your 4K file, which is a very large video file and can be very difficult to transfer, for instance, to a mobile device. And so, one of the options, and this is the video version of recording RAW plus JPEG, and so, you're recording two video formats, and it's probably that one is just used for a quick preview of what's going on, or for emailing. And so, it's not even playable in the camera. It's just something that you download, 'cause you can play back any of the videos you shoot in the camera otherwise. More items on the movie in Tab Two, the AF drive speed. So, the lens focusing, how fast do you want it to be? Now, the uninitiated to video would say, well, I want it to be as fast as possible. But the people who shoot video, they think video scenes where the focus jumps too quickly can be jarring and look awkward in frame. And so, sometimes it's better to set it slow. And so, if you want to adjust it up or down from the normal setting, you can do so here. The tracking sensitivity is kind of like a feature that we talked about earlier. How quickly does the camera jump to a new subject when you are tracking a subject moving around? And so, it depends on what your priority is: to jump to that new subject or to stay with that old subject. And so, shoot with the video a little bit. See what works for you. Auto slow shutter. And so, what this does is, if the light levels get low, the camera will automatically, if you ask it to, go to a lower shutter speed, which, for somebody who doesn't know much about video and just wants basic video out of the camera and to look good under all light levels, is great. But, for serious photographers or people shooting movies, they have a specific shutter speed that they wanna be shooting at for the entire clip of video that they're shooting. If they want the exposure to adjust, maybe they'll do that with the ISO, or the aperture, or filters, or something else. Shutter speed can be really important in video, and they don't want that to change. And so, it really depends on what level you are shooting video and what you're doing with that video as to where you want that set. Audio recording can be turned off. Normally, it's fine to leave it on, but if you wanna turn it off, do so here. The recording level can be adjusted yourself, and so, if you wanna turn on the audio bars, you can see it on the back of the camera and adjust it if you're doing kind of run-and-gun-style recordings. So, if you wanna see that display, you can turn it on, and it's gonna have a couple of little mic levels in there, showing what you're getting with the built-in microphones. More movie items here. Audio out timing. And so, if you are sending audio out through headphones or other listening devices here, you can have it live or lip sync, and it depends on if you're wanting it to match the video or match what you're actually hearing in the environment. Depends on how you're monitoring the sound as to which one's gonna be most convenient for you in monitoring that audio. There is a wind noise reduction that can be turned on. When wind is blowing, it hits the side of the camera, and it can make a lot of noise with a built-in microphone. This is why external microphones are required for any sort of really decent-quality sound out of a small camera like this. But this can help out in windy conditions to reduce the amount of sound of wind buffeting the side of the camera. Marker displays can help people when shooting video. There are what are known as safe zones, and safe zones in video are there because sometimes, TVs have frames that cover up a little bit of the image area, and you wanna make sure that you're not too close to the edges in there. And so, if you wanna turn that on, you can do so in here. There's also gonna be a variety of options for grids that might help you in composition. So, the marker display is turning it on and off. Marker settings, we go into this little sub-menu, will show you all the different options, if you just wanna know where the center is, or different aspect ratios. They have a ton of different aspect ratios to match up with a lot of commercial and industrial standards out there. And there's our safety zones and guideframes, as well, so, a variety of reasons why you might want those to assist you in framing your subject. So, you get to choose which one under marker settings. Under marker display is a simple setting for turning it on and off. If you have a Sony video light, one of the things that you can attach onto the camera, you can set when that light is turned on and turned off. And so, it depends on how much battery power you wanna use for setting up your shots. Which shutter button, or which button do you want to use to start the movie recording? And so, normally, you use the thumb button with the red dot on the back of the camera, but if you would prefer to use the shutter release, you can use that. Sometimes, cameras are in cages, and they're kind of hard to reach, and that button is just easier to get to. Or, people just like that button and they would prefer to use it.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Sony A7 III Recommended Settings

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.

Student Work

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