TIP: Want to switch between these 4 modes quickly? When the exposure mode dial is set to "Movie", access the "Shoot Mode" from the Fn menu (assuming you haven't reassigned it to "Quality" as I told you to do in Chapter 2 :-) ). Shoot mode may be useless in the Fn menu when you're shooting stills, but in movie mode it serves a useful purpose.

 

6.40 SteadyShot

Menu Position MENU --> Image 8 --> SteadyShot

What it Does Turns image stabilization ON or OFF.

Recommended Setting On (unless your camera’s on a tripod)

 

Image

Figure 6-90: Low light, 1/15th of a second handheld with SteadyShot ON. (This was to get the background pedestrian blurred on purpose.) This feature helps even more when you’re zoomed in all the way.

SteadyShot is an ingenious invention which is designed to give you a slight edge when it comes to eliminating the blur sometimes caused by shaky hands. Basically, when you’re zoomed in all the way, it’s more than just the subject that gets magnified – the shakiness of the hands is amplified as well. The camera’s engineers have cleverly incorporated sensors into the camera body which can not only detect when the camera is shaking, but can also measure how much and in which direction. Tiny motors in the lens will move specific optical elements up and down, left and right to compensate in real time. This is a phenomenal engineering achievement, and the photographic world has graced this invention with many accolades.

TIP: Only native E-Mount lenses with the letters “OSS” (Optical SteadyShot) in the title will stabilize images.

 

It should be noted that the SteadyShot feature, as brilliant as it is, is not a panacea. It will not nullify all camera shake in all situations, and it does not mean you can throw away your tripod. Before SteadyShot was invented, there was a rule of thumb in photography regarding how to get sharp-looking pictures: If you’re using a shutter speed above 1/(the focal length of the lens), your picture will probably not be affected by hand shakiness. For example, if you’re shooting with a 100mm telephoto lens, your shutter speed should be 1/100th of a second or faster to ensure a sharp image. (If there’s not enough light for that, you should use a tripod to ensure sharpness.) On the other hand, if you’re shooting with a 28mm wide angle lens, you can get sharp-looking handheld shots if your shutter speed is 1/28th of a second or faster.

With the SteadyShot feature engaged, it gives you the ability to shoot handheld at shutter speeds up to 3 stops slower (Sony’s marketing material says up to 4.5 stops) than with the established rule of thumb. In the example above, where you could only shoot at 1/100th of a second or faster, with SteadyShot you can safely shoot at 1/15th of a second or faster. When the available light is low, this can increase your chances of getting a sharp shot in such borderline situations, like the real-world example in Figure 6-90.

TIP 1: The owner’s manual says that SteadyShot should be turned off when the camera is mounted on a tripod. This is because control systems are inherently imperfect, and if there is no movement to counteract, then the actuators will likely react to some phantom noise coming from the pitch and yaw sensors, and otherwise move the sensor at times when it shouldn’t. This rule only applies to rock-solid, really good tripods, though. If you happen to own a cheapie tripod and use it with the center column all the way up and it’s a windy day, your image might just benefit a little by having it on. To be safe, try it both ways.

TIP 2: The flashing “SteadyShot Warning Indicator” that flashes during times of likely camera blur doesn’t show up in either Manual or Shutter Priority modes.

 

6.41 Color Space

Menu Position MENU --> Image 8 --> Color Space

What it Does Allows you to choose between sRGB and AdobeRGB color spaces

Recommended Setting sRGB unless you’re an expert

 

Digital cameras can only store numbers, not colors. And so it is very important that everyone agree on a way to represent colors so that what looks like red in the real world also looks like the same shade of red on your monitor and on your printer as well. It’s actually a harder problem than a reasonable person might think.

And so the concept of color space (or “gamut”) was invented to help everyone agree on a way to represent such colors using numbers. Both color space options in your camera (sRGB and AdobeRGB) will represent each pixel color using 3 8-bit numbers – one each for Red, Green, and Blue - and a lookup table that will translate the number triplet into a particular, previously-defined wavelength of color. You can see a good example of a color space for a computer screen in Figure 6-91.

There are many different color space definitions in use, but by far the two most popular are sRGB and AdobeRGB. sRGB is really the worldwide de-facto standard, being used by all point-and-shoots, computer monitors, and photo labs on the planet. A different standard, called AdobeRGB, provides a different assortment of colors designed specifically to emulate what a CMYK printer can produce (like your inkjet printer, or a conventional printing press).

 

Color Gamut example

Figure 6-91: An example of a color space: All the possible colors that can be represented by a program or printer.

AdobeRGB is essential if you’re a real stickler for color accuracy AND you know the final product will be printed by a commercial graphics house (or a high-end inkjet that knows how to handle AdobeRGB). Shooting in AdobeRGB and setting up your workflow to handle it is the only way to accurately preview how the colors will appear on the final printout, and that’s why most professionals use it.

There are a few downsides, though. Not all monitors (and not all inkjet printers) know how to work with AdobeRGB color spaces. If you choose to shoot in AdobeRGB format, you will still have to convert back to sRGB in your photo editor if you want to share the file electronically with non-professionals (email or web), or send it to most 1-hour photo printers. (And if you forget to convert it back, the image will tend to look faded, low-contrast and off-color.)

TIP: If you choose to shoot in AdobeRGB mode, you’ll notice that the file names begin with “_DSC”, whereas with sRGB the file names begin with “DSC0”. This is a visual cue to the folks in charge of post-processing images (in the event that that person is not you) that they still need to be tweaked into a more universally accepted color space so that they can be easily shared with others.

 

Not sure what to do? You can always shoot in RAW and then choose your color space on your computer when you open / convert the RAW file. One advantage to doing that is that RAW files represent colors using 14 bits per color instead of 8, so if you open the RAW file in Photoshop you can pull it in using 16-bit AdobeRGB and have a larger palette of colors to play with.

One thing to keep in mind is that shooting in AdobeRGB doesn’t mean your final output will necessarily look “better” or you’ll see more colors. It means only that the preview you see on your monitor will more accurately reflect what the printed output will look like if everything has been calibrated.

(Shameless plug: Color space is a very big topic – probably too big for this book. If you found this summary confusing, I explain the complex ideas of color space, ICC profiles, and color matching output at length in my ebooklet “Advanced Topics 2”, available at www.FriedmanArchives.com/ebooks).

Equal Time: While it’s true that most professionals shoot in AdobeRGB and have configured their software and calibrated their equipment to handle it, not every professional thinks it’s worth the trouble. See photography pundit Ken Rockwell’s (I know, I know… but this time he has a point!) treatise on the subject at: http://tinyurl.com/2yjdct)

 

6.42 Auto Slow Shutter

Menu Position MENU --> Image 8 --> Auto Slow Shutter

What it Does Enables / disables a slow video shutter speed in low light in limited circumstances

Recommended Setting On

 

This function appears to do two different things:

  1. When in movie mode and ISO = Auto, AND you’re in Aperture Priority mode, AND the light level is low, this feature gives the camera permission to use a shutter speed slower than 1/30th of a second (it will go down to 1/15th of a second instead).
  2. The camera’s manual says it produces movies of less noise when ISO = Auto and the light is low. (Translation: Using 1-stop slower shutter speed means the camera didn’t have to bump up the ISO 1 stop, resulting in lower noise.)

I can’t vouch for the usefulness of this feature; it seems to be designed for those shooting in low light and want the camera to do the best it can under this narrow set of circumstances. But again, we’re talking just one stop difference and slightly blurrier moving subjects.

 

TIP: Auto Slow Shutter doesn’t work when you’re in High Frame Rate (HFR) mode.

 

6.43 Audio Recording

Menu Position MENU --> Image 8 --> Audio Recording

What it Does Enables / disables a sound track when you’re shooting video

Recommended Setting On

 

The function is straightforward enough. And I have no special insights into situations where it might be desirable to turn the audio off. All major video editing packages provide the ability to discard the audio track, so it’s better to have it on.