Don’t panic if you opened this book to the “Getting Started . . .” chapter and realized that you’ve already taken several hundred or a thousand (or two) photos. The information in this chapter is designed to get the rawest beginner up and running with the a6000 quickly. However, you’ll find that the advice I’m about to offer is useful for those who have already become somewhat comfortable with this well-designed (yet complex) camera. You can zip right through the basics, and then dive into learning a few things you probably didn’t know about your a6000.
Fortunately, this very sophisticated camera is incredibly easy to use in many aspects, right out of the box. In fact, it was designed to allow even the novice to start taking great pictures with about five seconds of effort. Just flick the power switch to On; it’s concentric with the shutter release button on top of the camera. Then, rotate the mode dial located just aft of the switch to select the orange Superior Auto icon. (See Figure 1.1.) Frame the subject on the monitor (the rear LCD screen) or by looking through the viewfinder. Press the shutter release button when you’re ready to take your first shot.
Preparing for those steps by charging the battery, mounting a lens, and inserting a formatted Secure Digital or Memory Stick card isn’t exactly rocket science, either. If you rotate the mode dial to any position, such as P, A, or S mode, the camera displays a screen on the LCD indicating the mode’s name and purpose. If you set the mode dial to the SCN position, you can rotate the control dial (located to the immediate right of the mode dial) to select a scene mode. An icon will appear in the upper-left corner of the LCD monitor screen or viewfinder to indicate which mode you’ve selected. The scene modes automatically make all camera settings to make it easy to take excellent shots of people, landscapes, flowers, night scenes, and more.
Figure 1.1 Select Superior Auto and take a picture.
WAIT FOR IT . . .
I’ll explain the basic controls later in this chapter. Your a6000 has a lot of them, some with similar names. For example, the control dial next to the mode dial is different from the control wheel on the back panel of the camera. I’ll tell you what each does in this chapter and the next.
So, budding photographers are likely to muddle their way through getting the camera revved up and working well enough to take a bunch of pictures without the universe collapsing. Eventually, though, many may turn to this book when they realize that they can do an even better job with a little guidance.
Also, I realize that most of you didn’t buy this book at the same time you purchased your Sony. As much as I’d like to picture thousands of avid photographers marching out of their camera stores with an a6000 box under one arm, and my book in hand, I know that’s not going to happen all the time. A large number of you had your camera for a week, or two, or a month, became comfortable with it, and sought out this book in order to learn more. So, a chapter on “setup” seems like too little, too late, doesn’t it?
In practice, though, it’s not a bad idea, once you’ve taken a few orientation pictures with your camera, to go back and review the basic operations of the camera from the beginning, if only to see if you’ve missed something. This chapter is my opportunity to review the setup procedures for the camera for those among you who are already veteran users, and to help ease the more timid (and those who have never before worked with an interchangeable-lens camera) into the basic pre-flight checklist that needs to be completed before you really spread your wings and take off. For the uninitiated, as easy as it is to use initially, your Sony a6000 does have some dials, buttons, and menu items that might not make sense at first, but will surely become second nature after you’ve had a chance to review the instructions in this book.
But don’t fret about wading through a manual to find out what you must know to take those first few tentative snaps. I’m going to help you hit the ground running with this chapter (or keep on running if you’ve already jumped right in). If you haven’t had the opportunity to use your a6000 yet, I’ll help you set up your camera and begin shooting in minutes. You won’t find a lot of detail in this chapter. Indeed, I’m going to tell you just what you absolutely must understand, accompanied by some interesting tidbits that will help you become acclimated. I’ll go into more depth and even repeat some of what I explain here in later chapters, so you don’t have to memorize everything you see. Just relax, follow a few easy steps, and then go out and begin taking your best shots—ever.
Your Sony a6000 comes in an attractive box filled with stuff, including a multi-purpose USB/charging cable, basic instructions, some pamphlets, and a few other items. The most important components are the camera and lens, battery/charger, and, if you’re the nervous type, the neck strap. You’ll also need a Secure Digital or Memory Stick card, as one is not included. If you purchased your camera from a camera shop, a sales associate may have attached the neck strap for you, run through some basic operational advice that you’ve already forgotten, tried to sell you a memory card, and then, after they’d given you all the help you could absorb, sent you on your way with a handshake.
Perhaps you purchased your Sony camera from one of those mass merchandisers that also sell washing machines and vacuum cleaners. In that case, you might have been sent on your way with only the handshake, or, maybe, not even that if you resisted their efforts to sell you an extended warranty. You save a few bucks at the big-box stores, but you don’t get the personal service a professional photo retailer provides. It’s your choice. There’s a third alternative, of course. You might have purchased your camera from a mail order or Internet source, and your camera arrived in a big brown (or purple/red) truck. Your only interaction when you took possession of the a6000 was to scrawl your signature on an electronic clipboard.
In all three cases, the first thing to do is to carefully unpack the camera and double-check the contents with the checklist on one side of the box. While this level of setup detail may seem as superfluous as the instructions on a bottle of shampoo, checking the contents first is always a good idea. No matter who sells a camera, it’s common to open boxes, use a particular camera for a demonstration, and then repack the box without replacing all the pieces and parts afterward. Someone actually might have helpfully checked out your camera on your behalf—and then mispacked the box. It’s better to know now that something is missing so you can seek redress immediately, rather than discover a few days later before an important family event that the USB cable—essential for battery charging—was never in the box.
So, check the box or the listing on Page 9 of the basic manual at your earliest convenience, and make sure you have (at least) the following:
The USB cable can also be connected to the included AC adapter if you want to charge the battery using household power.
Figure 1.2 The AC Adapter AC-UB10 takes over four hours to provide a normal charge to a battery pack that was completely depleted.
Figure 1.3 The optional Sony BC-VW1 charger allows rejuvenating your battery outside the camera, so you can keep shooting with a spare battery.
Figure 1.4 Third-party neck straps, like this UPstrap model, are often preferable to the Sony-supplied strap.
The initial setup of your Sony is fast and easy. Basically, you just need to charge the battery, attach a lens (if that hasn’t already been done), and insert a memory card. I’ll address each of these steps separately, but if you already feel you can manage these setup tasks without further instructions, feel free to skip this section entirely. You should probably at least skim its contents, however, because I’m going to list a few options that you might not be aware of.
Your Sony a6000 is a sophisticated hunk of machinery and electronics, but it needs a charged battery to function, so rejuvenating the NP-FW50 lithium-ion battery pack should be your first step. A fully charged power source should be good for approximately 310 to 360 shots under normal temperature conditions. These estimates are based on standard tests defined by the Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA). If you often use the camera’s Wi-Fi feature (discussed later), you can expect to take fewer shots before it’s time for a recharge. This is an Info-Lithium battery so the camera can display the approximate power remaining with a graphic indicator.
Remember that all rechargeable batteries undergo some degree of self-discharge just sitting idle in the camera or in the original packaging. Lithium-ion power packs of this type typically lose a small amount of their charge every day, even when the camera isn’t turned on. Li-ion cells lose their power through a chemical reaction that continues when the camera is switched off. So, it’s very likely that the battery purchased with your camera, even if charged at the factory, has begun to poop out after the long sea voyage on a banana boat (or, more likely, a trip by jet plane followed by a sojourn in a warehouse), so you’ll want to revive it before going out for some serious shooting.
When you’re ready to charge the battery, turn the camera Off. Then, plug one end of the USB cable (with the smaller connector) into the top port under the door in the left end of the a6000; it will fit only when in the proper orientation. Plug the other end (with the familiar USB connector) into a computer’s USB port. Turn the camera On and you’ll see a note on the LCD screen, USB Mode; this confirms that the connection has been made. As discussed earlier, you can also connect the camera to the AC adapter and plug that into a wall socket.
Whether you charge from a computer’s USB port or household power, a Charge light next to the USB/charging port glows yellow-orange, without flashing. It continues to glow until the battery completes the charge and the lamp turns off. In truth, the full charge is complete about one hour after the charging lamp turns off, so if your battery was really dead, don’t remove it from the charger until the additional time has elapsed. Be sure to plan for charging time before your shooting sessions, because it takes about 280 minutes in a warm environment to fully restore a completely depleted battery. (With the optional Quick Charger BC-TRW accessory, that should take much less time; it sells for about $50 through major online photo retailers in the US.)
If the charging lamp flashes after you insert the battery into the camera, that indicates an error condition. Make sure you have the correct model number of battery; remove it and re-insert it. To insert/remove it, slide the latch on the bottom of the camera, open the battery door, and press a blue lever in the battery compartment that prevents the pack from slipping out when the door is opened; then, ease the battery out. To insert it, do so with the three contact openings facing down into the compartment (see Figure 1.5).
Fast flashing that can’t be stopped by re-inserting the battery indicates a problem with the battery. Slow flashing (about 1.5 seconds between flashes) means the ambient temperature is too high or low for charging to take place.
Figure 1.5 Insert the battery in the camera; it only fits one way.
Your Sony a6000 is almost ready to fire up and shoot. You’ll need to select and mount a lens (if not previously done) and insert a memory card. Each of these steps is easy, and if you’ve used any similar camera in the past, such as a Sony or other model, you already know exactly what to do. I’m going to provide a little extra detail for those of you who are new to the Sony or interchangeable-lens camera worlds.
Most buyers purchase the camera in a kit including a lens, but you may have bought it as a “body-only” configuration; that allows you to select any compatible (Sony E-mount) lens that you already own, as with any interchangeable lens camera. In any event, sooner or later you’re likely to want to switch to a different lens for other photographic uses, so it’s important to know how to do so.
As you’ll see, my recommended lens mounting procedure emphasizes protecting your equipment from accidental damage, and minimizing the intrusion of dust. If your camera has no lens attached, select the lens you want to use and loosen (but do not remove) the rear lens cap. I generally place the lens I am planning to mount vertically in a slot in my camera bag, where it’s protected from mishaps but ready to pick up quickly. By loosening the rear lens cap, you’ll be able to lift it off the back of the lens at the last instant, so the rear element of the lens is covered until then.
After that, remove the body cap that protects the camera’s exposed sensor by rotating the cap toward the shutter release button. You should always mount the body cap when there is no lens on the camera, because it helps keep dust out of the interior of the camera, where it potentially can find its way onto the sensor. This is a particular issue with the a6000, because, unlike dSLRs, there are no intermediate items protecting the sensor from exposure, such as the mirror that provides the dSLR with its view through the viewfinder or the shutter. (By the way, when buying my first Sony camera a few years ago, I found that a body cap was not included because the lens was already mounted on the camera. If your camera didn’t come with a body cap, you should try to locate one through Sony or another vendor if you possibly can; a camera body should never be left with its sensor exposed.)
Once the body cap has been removed, remove the rear lens cap from the lens, set the cap aside, and then mount the lens on the camera by matching the raised white alignment indicator on the lens barrel with the white dot on the camera’s lens mount (see Figure 1.6). Rotate the lens clockwise until it seats securely and clicks into place. (Don’t press the lens release button during mounting.) Some lenses ship with a hood. If that accessory is included, and if it’s bayoneted on the lens in the reversed position (which makes the lens/hood combination more compact for transport), twist it off and remount with the rim facing outward (see Figure 1.7). A lens hood protects the front of the lens from accidental bumps, and reduces flare caused by extraneous light arriving at the front element of the lens from outside the picture area.
Figure 1.6 Match the raised white dot on the lens with the white dot on the camera mount to properly align the lens with the bayonet mount.
Figure 1.7 A hood protects the lens from extraneous light and from accidental bumps but not all lenses include this accessory.
Locate the On/Off switch that is wrapped around the shutter release button and rotate it to the On position. The LCD display will be illuminated. If you bring the viewfinder up to your eye, a sensor will detect that action and switch the display to the built-in electronic viewfinder instead. (You can disable this automatic switching in the Custom 3 menu, as I’ll describe in Chapter 3.) After one minute of idling, the a6000 goes into the standby mode to save battery power. Just tap the shutter release button to bring it back to life. (The one-minute time is the default setting. You can select a longer time before power-save mode kicks in through the menu system, as I discuss in Chapter 4.)
When the camera first powers up, you may be asked to set the date and time. The procedure is fairly self-explanatory (although I’ll explain it in detail in Chapter 4). You can use the left/right direction buttons to navigate among the date, year, time, date format, and daylight savings time indicator, and use the up/down buttons to enter the correct settings. When finished, press the center button to confirm the settings and return to the menu system. If you need to change the date or time later, you can find the option in the Setup 4 menu.
Once the Sony Alpha is satisfied that it knows what time it is, you will be viewing a live view of the scene in front of the lens—on the LCD screen or in the viewfinder when that is held up to your eye—whenever you turn the camera on. The view is superimposed with many items of data over the display; these provide a quick method for checking many current camera settings, including current shutter speed and aperture (f/stop), shooting mode, ISO sensitivity, and other parameters.
The a6000 is equipped with a built-in electronic viewfinder or EVF, a small high-resolution OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screen that can be used instead of the LCD screen for framing your photos or movies. A sensor detects your eye at the viewfinder and shuts off power to the LCD when you are using the EVF. Usually, when you’re learning to use the camera’s many features, you’ll rely on the LCD screen’s display but when you’re actually taking photos, you’ll sometimes want to use the EVF instead. You can also use it to review your photos or video clips.
If you wear glasses and want to use the EVF without them, or if you find the viewfinder needs a bit of correction, rotate the diopter adjustment dial located to the right of the viewfinder window. For easiest access to the dial, pull the eyepiece cup back until it pops off. Then, adjust the dial while looking through the viewfinder until the image appears sharpest. Replace the eyepiece cup; for the most part it will prevent accidentally changing the setting as you use the camera.
You can’t take actual photos without a memory card inserted in your Sony camera. If you don’t have a card installed, the camera will sound as if it’s taking a photo and it will display that “photo.” However, the image is only in temporary memory and not actually stored; you’ll get a reminder about that with a flashing orange NO CARD warning at the upper left of the LCD. If you go back later and try to view that image, it will not be there. So, be sure you have inserted a compatible card with adequate capacity before you start shooting stills or videos.
The a6000 accepts Secure Digital (SD), Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC), Secure Digital Extra Capacity (SDXC), and Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo (or Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo) cards. The newest type of SD card, the super-high capacity (and super fast) SDXC type, at this writing, is available in capacities as high as 256GB. The SDXC cards are more expensive, but equally fast SDHC cards (with capacity up to 32GB) are quite affordable. Of course, at the time I wrote this, I had just purchased a Lexar Professional 600x 64GB SDXC card for less than $50; while the 600X 32GB SDHC version of the same card was selling for about $30, making the larger card a better deal. During the life of this book I expect similar cards to be available for half those prices; memory generally drops in price dramatically as the technology improves.
Note
If you decide to get a high-capacity SDXC card, you may find that your memory card reader accessory (or the one built into a computer) will not be compatible with this newer format. If you need the extra capacity that an SDXC card can provide, do some research to make sure there are no compatibility issues to surprise you.
Whichever card you decide on, it fits in the single slot underneath the battery compartment door on the bottom of the camera. You should remove the memory card only when the camera is switched off. Insert an SD card with the label facing toward the left side of the camera (as you hold it in shooting position as shown in Figure 1.8), or away from the lens if inserting any type of Memory Stick Pro card. In either case, the metal contacts go into the slot first; the card simply will not fit into the slot if it is incorrectly oriented.
Close the door, and your pre-flight checklist is done! (I’m going to assume you’ll remember to remove the lens cap when you’re ready to take a picture!) When you want to remove the memory card later, just press down on the card edge that protrudes from the slot, and the card will pop right out.
Figure 1.8 The memory card is inserted in the slot on the bottom of the camera.
There are three ways to create a blank SD or Memory Stick Pro card for your Sony a6000, and two of them are at least partially wrong. Here are your options, both correct and incorrect:
To format a memory card, just follow these steps:
Figure 1.9 Choose Settings in the tile menu.
Figure 1.10 Navigate to the Setup 5 menu.
Table 1.1 shows the typical number of shots you can expect using a good-sized 32GB memory card (which I expect will be a popular size card among camera users as prices continue to plummet). Take those numbers and cut them in half if you’re using a 16GB card; or multiply by 25 percent if you’re using an 8GB card. The numbers shown may differ from what you read in the camera’s manual. I obtained them by formatting my own 32GB SDHC card and writing down the number of shots available at each setting. Although the a6000 can shoot more than 10,000 images with a high-capacity card, the maximum number of recordable images displayed on the LCD or viewfinder will never exceed 9,999.
HOW MANY SHOTS?
The Sony a6000 provides a fairly accurate estimate of the number of shots that your memory card will hold. This number is visible near the top-left corner of the LCD (next to the memory card icon) in standard live view. It is only an estimate, because the actual number will vary, depending on the capacity of your memory card, the aspect ratio (proportions) of the image (the a6000 can use both traditional 3:2 proportions and 16:9—HDTV—aspect ratios), and the content of the image itself. (Some photos may contain large areas that can be more efficiently squeezed down to a smaller size.) If you change the file format (from JPEG to RAW or from a large JPEG to a small JPEG, for example), the number will change.
When it comes time to select the shooting mode and other settings on the a6000 camera, you may start to fully experience the “feel” of the user interface. Thanks to the mode dial shown earlier in Figure 1.1, it’s simple and quick to set a shooting mode. Just rotate the dial to the position you want, press the center button, and rotate the control wheel to spin the on-screen dial to a mode—such as P (Program Auto)—and a screen appears with a brief summary as to how that mode works.
Figure 1.11 The a6000 is equipped with a mode dial similar to one you’d find on a dSLR camera (left); choose SCN and you can select a scene mode (right).
When you rotate the dial to the SCN position (for the fully automatic scene modes) a brief description appears about Scene Selection, and now you get another option (see Figure 1.11, left). Press the center button and the Scene Selection screen appears (see Figure 1.11, right). If you later turn the camera on while it’s set for SCN, rotate the control dial or control wheel to reveal the screen that shows the available scene modes.
Scroll up or down to reveal the various available scene modes (Portrait, Landscape, Sports Action, Sunset, etc.). Stop scrolling when the mode you want appears. This scene mode will now be the one that’s active when you touch the shutter release button. Two specialized scene modes are particularly worth noting: Anti Motion Blur and Hand-held Twilight; they differ in some aspects but both can produce surprisingly fine JPEGs in low light when a high ISO level is used.
There are several fully automatic shooting modes, including Intelligent Auto and Superior Auto, in addition to scene modes, in which the camera makes most of the decisions for you (except when to press the shutter). You’ll also find four semi-automatic modes (Program, Aperture Priority, and Shutter Priority), which allow you to provide more input over the exposure and settings the camera uses. Sony also provided a fully Manual mode. The final mode that you can select with the dial is Sweep Panorama (an automatic mode that allows you to make an ultrawide image assembled from a series of photos). You’ll find a complete description of the various shooting modes in Chapter 5.
INSTANT HELP
The a6000 will display information about each of the modes when a mode is selected with the dial. You can turn this help off using the Setup 2 menu entry Mode Dial Guide, as I’ll explain in Chapter 4.
If you’re very new to digital photography, you might want to set the camera to Superior Auto (the yellow camera icon on the dial) or Intelligent Auto (the green camera icon) and start snapping away. Either of these Auto modes will make all the appropriate settings for you for many shooting situations. If you have a specific type of picture you want to shoot, you can try one of the scene modes indicated on the mode dial by SCN. If you want the camera to fire flash in a dark location, also raise the built-in flash by pressing the button marked with a lightning bolt symbol for about one second (this button is above the LCD screen). This is important because the a6000 will not automatically pop the flash into the up position in any shooting mode.
The camera will never fire flash in certain scene modes where flash would be inappropriate, such as Landscape, Sunset, Night Scene, Sports, etc. Hence, it won’t let you pop the flash up if you have set such a scene mode. If you had previously popped the flash up while using some other mode, it simply won’t fire it when you take a shot, no matter how dark the scene might be.
If you have more photographic experience, you might want to opt for one of the semi-automatic or manual modes, selecting it from the mode dial. These, too, are described in more detail in Chapter 5. These modes, which let you apply more creativity to your camera’s settings, are indicated by the letters P, A, S, and M. All overrides are available and flash will always fire if it’s in the up position in any of the following:
You might want to select a particular exposure metering mode for your first shots, although the default high-tech Multi (short for multi-zone or multi-segment) metering is probably the best choice while getting to know your camera. If you want to select a different metering pattern, you must not be using one of the scene modes, Superior Auto or Intelligent Auto; in these modes, the camera uses Multi metering and that cannot be changed. To change the metering mode, press the MENU button and navigate to the Camera Settings menu (upper left corner in Figure 1.9), and thence to the Camera Settings 4 menu to the Metering Mode entry. Press the center button, then scroll up/down with the directional buttons to reach Multi, Center (for center weighted), or Spot selections. Press the center button to confirm your choice and return the camera to shooting mode.
The three metering options are as follows:
OPTION OPTIONS
You’ll soon find that your a6000 gives you multiple ways to select options. In this Quick Start chapter, I’ll show you just one of them. For example, you can select a metering mode using the Camera Settings 4 menu, as described—or you can press the Fn button and specify the metering method from the 12-item Function menu that pops up. Alternatively, when the “Quick Navi” screen is shown on the LCD monitor, you can press the Fn button to change the metering mode as well as most of the other shooting settings. I’ll show you how to use the other options in Chapter 2.
The Camera Settings menu also has entries to allow you to choose Focus Mode (Camera Settings 2) and Focus Area (Camera Settings 3), and are accessed using the same navigation steps described earlier. Focus Mode is the easiest to understand; it determines when focus is established.
If you’re using a scene mode or one of the two Auto modes, you do not get any options under Autofocus Mode; in fact it is grayed out since it’s not available in these modes. The choices that are available when using P, A, S, or M mode are as follows:
The Sony a6000 is equipped with a hybrid autofocus system that I’ll explain in detail in Chapter 6. In scene modes, the focus area that will set focus is selected automatically by the camera; in other words, the AF system decides which part of the scene will be in sharpest focus. In the semi-automatic P, A, and S mode, and in the manual M mode, you can allow the camera to select the focus point automatically, or you can specify which focus point should be used with the Focus Area feature.
Set the camera to one of the four autofocus modes mentioned above (AF-S, AF-C, AF-A, or DMF), select Focus Area from the Camera Settings 3 menu. By default, it will be set to Wide (multi-point autofocus). Scroll up/down until you reach the option you want to use and press the center button to confirm your selection. There are four autofocus area options, described in Chapter 6. Once you’re in the Camera Settings menu, navigate to the Focus Area selection in the Camera Settings 4 tab, then press the center button, and select one of these four choices. Press the center button again to confirm. Here’s a brief overview of the four options.
There are a few other settings you can make if you’re feeling ambitious, but don’t feel bad if you postpone using these features until you’ve racked up a little more experience with your Sony a6000. By default, these camera features will be at Auto so the camera will make a suitable setting.
If you like, you can custom-tailor your white balance (overall color balance) and the ISO level (sensitivity) as long as you’re not using one of the Auto or SCN modes. To start out, it’s best to leave the white balance (WB) at Auto, and to set the ISO either to Auto or (if you prefer a fixed ISO) to ISO 200 for daylight photos or to ISO 400 for pictures on a dark, overcast day or indoors when you’ll be shooting with flash. You’ll find complete recommendations for both camera features in Chapters 5 (ISO) and 7 (white balance). You can adjust white balance with the White Balance entry in the Camera Settings 4 menu; the ISO can be set after pressing the ISO section of the control wheel (the right directional button). After accessing either feature, navigate (scroll) to make the desired setting with the direction buttons; that is the most convenient, but you can also scroll by rotating the control wheel or by rotating the control dial around the mode dial.
If you want to have time to get into the photo before the tripod-mounted camera takes the actual shot, the self-timer is what you need. You can get to this feature by pressing the drive mode button (the left direction button of the control wheel) and then scrolling up or down. The drive mode can also be selected from the Camera Settings menu, but it’s quicker to use the direct access button.
When the Drive Mode screen is visible, scroll up/down through the various options until you reach the Self-timer 10 Sec option, which will provide a ten-second delay. Press the center button to confirm your choice and a self-timer icon will appear on the live view display. Press the shutter release to lock focus and exposure and to start the timer. The self-timer lamp will blink and the beeper will sound (unless you’ve silenced it in the menu) until the final two seconds when the lamp remains on and the beeper beeps more rapidly until the picture is taken.
There are a few options you can select to vary the operation of the self-timer. When the self-timer option is first highlighted, press the left/right keys to choose between 10-second and 2-second options. Also, on the Drive Mode screen, just below self-timer, there is an option labeled C3/C5; scroll to it and you’ll see it’s called Self-timer (Cont.): 10 Sec. 3 Img (or 5 Img). That abbreviation means the camera will take three or five images after the self-timer’s 10-second delay has run out. The multiple image option is handy if you are taking family group pictures with a few known inveterate blinkers to be pictured. Note that the self-timer setting is “sticky” and will still be in effect for multiple shots, even if you turn the camera off and power up again. When you’re done using the self-timer, reset the camera to one of the other Drive Mode options.
In addition to the Self-timer, Continuous shooting, and Single-shot choices in the Drive menu, there also are exposure/white balance/dynamic range optimization bracketing options, discussed in Chapter 3.
Working with the built-in flash unit (see Figure 1.12) deserves a chapter of its own, and I’m providing one in Chapter 10. In basic operation, the a6000’s flash is easy enough to work with that you can begin using it right away, either to provide the main lighting for a scene, or as supplementary illumination to fill in (brighten) the shadows. The a6000 will automatically balance the amount of light emitted from the flash so that it illuminates the shadows nicely, without overwhelming the highlights and producing a glaring “flash” look. (Think Baywatch when they’re using too many reflectors on the lifeguards!)
Figure 1.12 The Sony a6000 includes a small built-in flash unit.
Now, as you may have noticed, in producing the series, Sony has marched to the beat of a different drummer. This camera is quite different from non-mirrorless models, in its construction, appearance, extensive use of menus, and the like. When designing the built-in flash unit, Sony has continued its trend toward the unconventional with a complex design for the mechanism. In many cases, you won’t need it, because the camera is equipped with strong tools for shooting in low light, including ISO settings that go all the way up to 25600 and the Anti Motion Blur and Hand-held Twilight modes. In both of those modes, the camera takes six shots in rapid succession to enhance its ability to capture images in low light that are not ruined by excessive visual noise (graininess or mottled color specks). However, there always will be occasions when flash is at least worthy of consideration as an option (as I’ll explain in Chapter 10).
To elevate the flash, press the flash pop-up button located on the back center edge, just to the left of the MENU button. You may need to press it for a second or more. If it still won’t elevate, allow the camera to focus first and beep in confirmation; afterward, press the button for up to a full second, and the mechanism should respond. Sometimes you’ll need to keep it depressed for longer or press it several times if it balks. The flash will refuse to pop up when the camera is set for Sports Action scene mode because flash will never fire in this mode. Surprisingly, it will pop up when you’re in other scene modes where flash will not actually fire, such as Anti Motion Blur, and Handheld Twilight mode, if you are persistent in pressing the button.
Once raised, the flash will automatically charge itself using the camera’s internal battery. The Flash Mode item in the Camera Settings 2 menu provides options for using the flash, but these differ depending on the mode the camera is set to. For example, in Intelligent or Superior Auto mode, you can choose to have the flash Off, or set to Auto flash, so the camera decides when to fire it, or to Fill-flash so flash will fire for every shot even on a sunny day. The same options are available in two of the scene modes: Portrait and Macro. In the other scene modes, you have only one or two flash options.
In the less automatic P, A, S, and M modes, you also get the Fill-flash option and two others: Slow Sync and Rear Sync, to be discussed in Chapter 10. In those shooting modes, you don’t get the Off option or the Auto flash option. That’s not a problem. If you don’t want flash to fire, simply push it down into its storage position; when you want it to fire, pop it up, and it will provide a burst of extra light for every photo.
I’m going to talk in more detail about your movie-making options with the a6000 camera in Chapter 8. For now, though, I’ll give you enough information to get started, in case a cinematic subject wanders into your field of view before you get to that chapter. The overrides you have set for certain aspects while shooting still photos will apply to the video clip that you’ll record; these include exposure compensation, white balance, any Picture Effect, and even the aperture if the camera is in A mode or the shutter speed if it’s in S mode. You also get access to the settings for the movie file formats (AVCHD or MP4) and the resolution in the Record Setting item of the Camera Settings section of the menu.
After you start recording, you can change the aperture or the shutter speed; either step will make your movie brighter or darker as you’ll notice while making the change. However, you can also set plus or minus exposure compensation for that purpose while filming. The a6000 provides an effective Continuous Autofocus in Movie mode and sound is recorded in stereo with the built-in mics located on the front of the camera above the lens.
Let’s save the discussion of those aspects for Chapter 8. For the moment, let’s just make a basic movie. With the camera turned on, aim at your subject and locate the red Movie record button in the right corner of the body. (You don’t have to switch to Movie mode using the mode dial; Movie mode simply gives you access to more movie-shooting controls.)
Compose as you wish and press that button once to start the recording, and again to stop it; don’t hold the button down. You can record for up to about 29 minutes consecutively if you have sufficient storage space on your memory card and charge in your battery. The camera will adjust the focus and exposure automatically, and you can zoom while recording, if you have a zoom lens attached to the camera.
After you finish recording a video clip, you can view it by pressing the Playback button located below the control wheel. Let’s say you have taken some still photos after making a movie; in that case, the movie is not the latest item available to play. In order to play it, you will need to use the index screen; see the last bullet of the section below on “Reviewing the Images You’ve Taken” for that procedure. While a movie is being played back, certain camera controls act like VCR buttons, as follows:
The Sony a6000 has a broad range of playback and image review options. I’ll cover them in more detail in Chapters 2 and 4. Initially, you’ll want to learn just the basics for viewing still photos, so I’ll assume you have taken only such images. After shooting some JPEG and/or RAW photos, here’s how to view them, using controls shown in Figure 1.13:
Figure 1.13 Review your images using the pertinent camera controls.
If you have shot both still photos as well as movie clips, the a6000 will show both in playback mode. Just press the control wheel’s center button to play the movie. However, if you want to browse through your images/movies using Index mode, the behavior changes slightly.
When you press the down button to display indexes, a screen like the one in Figure 1.14 appears, with stills and movies split into two panes—the upper for stills, and the lower for movie clips. The pane containing the last type of image/movie captured will be highlighted. To move between panes, just press the up/down button. There are additional review options, including movies only, stills only, choice of folders, and a calendar view that shows captures on specific dates. Once we leave Quick Start mode I’ll explain those options, specifically in Chapter 4.
Figure 1.14 Still/movie combined index mode.
The final step in your picture-taking session will be to transfer the photos and/or movies you’ve taken to your computer for printing, further review, or editing. (You can also take your memory card to a retailer for printing if you don’t want to go the do-it-yourself route.) Your a6000 allows you to print directly to PictBridge-compatible printers, without downloading the photos to a computer and to create print orders right in the camera. It also offers an option for selecting which images to transfer to your computer. I’ll discuss those camera features in Chapter 3.
For now, you’ll probably want to transfer your images by either using the USB cable from the camera to the computer or by removing the memory card from the a6000 and transferring the images with a card reader (shown in Figure 1.15). The latter option is ordinarily the best, because it’s usually much faster and doesn’t deplete the camera’s battery. However, you might need to use a cable transfer when you have the cable and a computer but no card reader. (You might be using the computer at a friend’s home or the one at an Internet café, for example.)
Here’s how to transfer images from a memory card to the computer using a card reader:
Figure 1.15 A card reader accessory offers the fastest way to transfer photos.
To transfer images from the camera to a Mac or PC computer using the USB cable:
Figure 1.16 Images can be transferred to your computer using a USB cable plugged into the USB port.
Your a6000 is also equipped with built-in Wi-Fi which provides many options, including a method for wireless transfer of image files to a Mac or Windows computer when connected to a wireless network. This is a multi-faceted topic, so I won’t begin to discuss it here; instead, you’ll find full coverage in Chapter 11.
The camera is also compatible with the Eye-Fi brand memory card that allows for wireless transfer of files to a computer. (It can also be used for wireless transfer to a smart device running a free app.) This card looks and acts exactly like an ordinary SDHC card, but with a big difference. Once you have the card set up with your local Wi-Fi (wireless) network, whenever you take a picture or record a movie with this card in the camera, the card wirelessly connects to your computer over that network and transmits the file to any location you have specified. For example, you might set the Eye-Fi card to send any new JPEG or RAW photos directly to the Pictures folder on your computer and video clips to the Movies folder.
Since the a6000 already offers a wealth of Wi-Fi features, there’s really no need to buy an Eye-Fi card. If you already own one for use with another camera, however, it will work well with your Sony too. This will initially preclude the need to learn how to use the camera’s own Wi-Fi features which can seem more complicated because of the sheer number of available options. If you decide that you want to buy an Eye-Fi card for wireless transfer to your computer, I strongly recommend getting the Pro X2 model; it’s now available in a fast Class 10 version. The Pro X2 card allows for wireless transfer of RAW files while the older Eye-Fi cards are capable of handling only JPEG photos.
