Lesson Info
26. Camera Operation
Lessons
Class Overview
13:49 2Photo Basics
03:58 3Top Deck: Basic Controls
03:35 4Top Deck: Mode Dial and Exposure Compensation
24:50 5Custom Key Settings
08:43 6Focus Area
08:22 7Multi Interface Shoe, Audio, Focal Plane
02:15 8Back Side Controls: Focus Mode
06:14Back Side Controls: Viewfinder
08:27 10Additional Back Side Controls
07:55 11Back Side Controls: Function Button
19:31 12Back Side Controls: Control Wheel, Display, ISO, Drive Mode
03:22 13Back Side Controls: Playback Mode
04:54 14Left Side Controls
03:02 15Right Side Controls
05:15 16Bottom Controls
03:20 17Front Controls
03:12 18Sony Lenses
11:43 19Menu Functions: Camera Settings 1
31:10 20Menu Functions: Camera Settings 1 Continued
33:15 21Menu Functions: Camera Settings 2 - Video
27:43 22Menu Functions: Network
13:10 23Menu Functions: Playback
06:42 24Menu Functions: Set Up
26:04 25My Menu
11:55 26Camera Operation
10:16Lesson Info
Camera Operation
Our final little section here is camera operation. We learned about all the individual features and we're not gonna use those all on a regular basis. So what are the things that are most important in getting this camera out and shooting with it? Alright so first off, make sure you have a charged battery. They do have a much improved battery life on this, but it's still recommended that you charge it up and have a spare if you're going to be shooting for a long period of time. Get that memory card in there and format it. And, if I didn't say it clearly enough before, Sony cameras are a little bit different, format wise, than other cameras. And so if you're coming from Cannon or Nikon and you're just bringing your memory card over, it's really recommended that you format it to this camera. And that's generally true with most cameras but it's especially true in Sony cameras. It doesn't really behave well if you stick in a card from some other camera and don't do a formatting. Generally, w...
ants to do a format in any case. Make sure that your image quality is set where you want, confirm those proper settings in the menu if you've been in there playing around. And then if you're gonna be going out, doing something really important like shooting a wedding or taking a major trip, check to make sure that your sensor is clean. It's a lot easier to deal with those sorts of things at home than it is on the road. Alright, your key settings on the camera. Have nice big dials and buttons that you can turn and it change on the camera. So, those controlling the exposure, the focusing, and a few other things have a lot of direct control buttons on the camera, which is great, you don't really need to dive into any menus to get directly into this. But as I know, many of you are gonna be changing those custom buttons, you might be moving some of those around according to how important they are to you. So let's look at some different modes and how I would set the camera up for different types of scenario. And so these are the key settings on the camera that you're gonna be working with on a regular basis. And if you were gonna be doing a super simple set up, I'm talking about almost giving the camera to somebody who doesn't know about photography. You want to keep it as simple as possible. The program mode will take care of shutter speeds and apertures in most all situations quite well. I'm not a huge fan of auto ISO but in this scenario, it's gonna work out quite fine and give you easily decent results for most everything you shoot. Be careful about that exposure dial on the top left. It can get bumped. You normally want it at zero and adjust it on an as needed basis. Auto white balance will do the job most of the time. But if you do need to change it, get it in there and change it. Auto focus single will focus on a solid subject, a stationary subject and lock in. This allows you to recompose to have good composition and it's gonna be fine for most standard photography. The wide focusing area looks over almost the entire frame and is gonna pick up pretty much anything that's directly in front of the camera. It does tend to focus, tries to focus on whatever is closest to the camera. So if you have subjects at different distances, you may wanna try for a more advanced focusing system. But for simple focusing system, that's the simplest to go with. And as far as the drive, the single will get you one shot at a time. And this is just the really easiest way to just point the camera around and get decent results. But if you really wanna get specific, you need to start taking control and getting in there manually. So if you wanna do some landscape photography, you're probably gonna wanna have more depth of field. You might be using a tripod, hopefully. This is a good chance for you to be using manual exposure, checking those exposures to see if there're right. The first setting is actually over in ISO. I'd wanna have that setting at the lowest ISO 100. That's the native sensitivity on this camera where you're gonna get the cleanest results from the camera. Next up, I'm probably gonna want a fair bit of depth of field. It might be a 11, 16, 22, it depends on the situation and depends on the lens. When you set the aperture really small, you end up with slower shutter speeds that often puts you in the realm of the tripod. And so this is where tripods really help out if you were at slower shutter speeds like a 30th of a second. White balance, you could leave at auto or adjust as necessary. Since you're subject's not moving, single auto focus is gonna work fine. You're gonna wanna be a little bit more careful about where you focus in these cases and so the flexible spot with that small, medium or large size box that you can move around the frame would be handy to use here. And as far as the drive mode, you could use single and a cable release or the self timer option with that two second self timer. That way you're not touching the camera and there's no vibrations when the picture is actually being taken. Alright, how about doing a little bit of portrait photography? In this case, we're often shooting with shallower depth of field. And we are wanting a little bit faster shutter speed to make sure that our subjects are not blurry in the photograph. I still like working with manual in these cases and using a wider aperture 1.4, 2, 2.8, various situations will call for a slightly different number in there. I wanna have at least a 125th of a second to accommodate for my movement and my subject's movement. It could be more, it could be less, depending on the situation. I prefer to have ISO 100 but I'm willing to bump it up if necessary for the situation. Once again, auto white balance is probably fine, adjust as necessary. As long as my subject's are not moving around, single auto focus will be fine. I'll be able to compose with them and focus on them and then recompose into what I think is a good looking frame. For the focusing area, I wanna be very careful about where I'm focusing and so I'm probably gonna be choosing one of the smaller options on focusing points. And getting that right on their eye. And I'll probably be fine just with single drive getting one shot at a time. Now, as a bonus, the face detect or the IAF could be used kind of in lieu of the flexible spot. I think that's a really good option on this camera that I think a lot of people are gonna pre-program one of those customized buttons for cuz they do a lot of portrait photography. Alright, let's think about some action photography. We can shoot it upwards of 10 frames a second on this camera so it's gonna be very adept at doing this type of photography. I prefer to be in manual exposure so I get even exposures from one shot to the next. In this case, I'm setting fast shutter speeds like 500th of a second or faster, depending on the situation. This is where lenses that have a 2.8 aperture or faster become very very valuable because when you set fast shutter speeds, you need to let in a lot of light with the aperture. I prefer to have the lowest ISO but in most cases I need to be at 400 or higher, depending on the light levels of the scene. Auto ISO until it needs to be changed. And one of the most important settings for action photography is changing it to continuous auto focus, so that it contract and follow that subject change and keep it in focus as it moves closer or further away from you. For the focusing area, there's a couple different options. If it's pretty erratic movement, I would go with the zone which is a pretty large area. You might also try some of the lock-on AF options. And this may or may not work depending on how erratic that movement is. If it's a fairly consistent movement like a race car coming down a pre-determined track, that might be pretty easy to pick up. A bird in flight might be a little bit more difficult. And then of course, in the continuous option, there are further sub-options of low, medium, high and high plus. And high plus is gonna get you 10 frames a second or so and the high setting is gonna get you around eight, but allow you a live view between each of the images. And so if you're panning and having subjects move around real quickly, you might just set it in high and not the high plus. Alright, one more. This is what I just call basic photography. And so this is, what I kind of think of in travel photography where you just don't know what your next photo's going to be. I like a little bit of automation to help me out. Aperture priority is gonna be good here. I will set an aperture somewhere in the middle of the ballpark, you might say, to start with. And then I'll adjust it as necessary at the time. I'll keep my ISO at 100 unless it's getting dark and I'm needing faster shutter speeds and then I'll start bumping up that ISO on an as needed basis. I'll kep an eye on the exposure compensation, use it where necessary. Adjust the white balance as necessary. Most of the time, subjects are not moving around a lot for me, so I'm gonna keep it in auto focus single. If you are photographing a lot of subjects that are moving, then you'd switch this to AF-C continuous. Focus area, I like one of those flexible spots. I'm fluctuating, sometimes between the small, the medium and large. Kind of depends on what you're shooting and how precise you need to be in that area. And finally, in the drive, I'm fine with leaving it at single and getting one shot at a time. It's gonna be fine for most situations and I'll adjust of course, as necessary and when needed there. So there you go, folks. I think you are now all experts on the Sony A7RIII. I hope you enjoy your camera as much as I've been using mine. It's gonna be a great camera for many many years, I think. Very capable camera and most of all, get it out there, customize it and then get it out and shoot shoot shoot like crazy. Real quickly, if you didn't know this, I teach classes here at CreativeLive and I have a bunch of classes if you are interested in other classes, I have basic photography classes and ones on landscape and travel as well as special lens classes you can check out at CreativeLive. You can just type in my last name Greengo and you'll find all my classes there. So there you go folks. Enjoy your camera.
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Ratings and Reviews
Angela Sanchez
Super great clearly explained guide for the Sony a7r III. John is always a fantastic knowledgeable instructor who knows how to teach all about cameras in a super clear organized way. I love John Geengo classes!
Craig Markham
As always, John shines as a teacher extraordinaire! His visuals, pacing of presentation, clarity, and and adherence to the class objectives are all spot-on. As a devoted A7r II user for the past 2 years, this was a great review of the shared features, and gave me the best information for evaluating the cost/benefit of an upgrade to the A7r III now.
ufmystic
John Greengo is the man. I've been watching CreativeLive classes for years and there is no better instructor than him. I recently upgraded from the A7r II to the III and had been waiting for this course to be offered. John is incredibly knowledgeable and, with great dedication, provides all pertinent information related to operating and knowing your new camera. If it weren't for John, I wouldn't know the ins and outs of my new camera and would struggle with optimal settings which would decrease the best output possible. You rock, John. Thanks again!
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