Setup menu72, The Complete Guide to Sony’s Alpha 6000 Digital Camera “The Friendly Manual with Professional Insights” BY GARY L. FRIEDMAN AND ROSS WARNER Version 2.0 ISBN 978-1-312-31879-3 Published by The Friedman Archives Press Copyright © 2014 Gary L. Friedman. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced either in print or in any digital format without express written permission. Contact the author at [email protected]. iii ON THE COVER Sony A6000, Zeiss FE 24-70 f/4 lens at 26mm, tripod. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special thanks goes out to David Redfearn and Larry Rose. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO BOUGHT THE PRINTED B&W OR E-READER VERSION The price of the printed book includes a free, full-color PDF version of the book. Just send me an email at [email protected], include the receipt of the book you bought (if you didn’t buy it from the FriedmanArchivesPress.com website, then I don’t have your customer information), and I’ll send you a download link. This also applies to those of you who bought this book for your B&W e-reader. ANDROID AND IOS READERS If you are reading the PDF version of this e-book on an Android or iOS platform, your reading experience might be enhanced if you view the PDF file using one of these free apps:  For iOS: GoodReader from www.goodreader.net  For Android: ezyPDF Reader (from the Google Play store) ABOUT GARY FRIEDMAN Gary L. Friedman is a professional photographer who has traveled the world with both film and digital cameras. He runs the stock image website www.FriedmanArchives.com, and gives digital photography seminars worldwide aimed primarily at beginners who want to learn the basics and improve their creative photography. (He conducts photo expeditions around the world too, geared especially for the unique needs of photographers.) Before graduating to photography he was a rocket scientist for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he patented the image authentication system used in high-end Canon and Nikon cameras. He has been published in books, newspapers and magazines worldwide, and was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records while in college (go ahead and search the FriedmanArchives.com website if you want to find out what he did to get included). Despite his mastery of the technical background, Mr. Is it true all photographers have beards? :-) Friedman has an approachable and easy-going teaching style that makes his books a pleasure to read. You can read more about his background at http://friedmanarchives.com/bio.htm. v ABOUT ROSS WARNER Note: Before you read about me, I want to thank Gary Friedman for giving me the opportunity to participate in this exciting project. Also, since this is a collaborative effort, you’ll frequently see the use of “I,” but please understand this is a collective term that refers to both Gary and me. Prior to becoming a full-time photographer, Ross was a musician, a music recording studio owner and engineer, and a computer software and hardware technical writer. His first two writing jobs were with Ray Kurzweil and at the Artificial Intelligence Technology Center at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Oh, yeah, before that, he was a reporter for his hometown weekly newspaper at age fifteen. He first became serious about photography in 1997 in preparation for his first photography trip to East Africa. After using Hasselblad and Minolta film cameras, scanning the film, working with the files in Photoshop and making digital prints, he moved to digital cameras when Sony finally took over from Minolta. After a series of shoulder operations he sold his DSLR equipment and heavy lenses and made the switch to Sony’s mirrorless camera system. He now spends his time shooting nature, landscape, and travel images. He sells prints through his website http://www.rosswarner.com and licenses stock images for publication through http://alamy.com. We hope you learn something while you’re here and have a good time doing it. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 THE ALPHA 6000 IN A NUTSHELL ............................. 21 1.1 NOTEWORTHY FEATURES OF THE ALPHA 6000 ................................. 24 1.1.1 Fast Hybrid AF .................................................................... 24 1.1.2 Electronic First-Curtain Shutter .......................................... 25 1.1.3 Great High-ISO Performance .............................................. 25 1.1.4 Excellent Electronic Viewfinder .......................................... 26 1.1.5 Supports Legacy Glass (with adapter) ................................ 27 1.1.6 Some of the Sharpest Lenses Around ................................. 28 1.1.7 Adaptive Noise Reduction .................................................. 30 1.1.8 Diffraction Reduction ......................................................... 30 1.1.9 Zebra Stripes....................................................................... 32 1.1.10 Eye AF ................................................................................. 33 1.1.11 HDMI and LCD at the Same Time ....................................... 33 1.1.12 High Dynamic Range (HDR) ................................................ 34 1.1.13 In-camera Lens Corrections ................................................ 35 1.1.14 Peaking Level/Peaking Color .............................................. 36 1.1.15 Pop-Up Flash ...................................................................... 36 1.1.16 Wireless flash ..................................................................... 37 1.1.17 No-Compression HDMI Output ........................................... 37 1.1.18 Auto ISO in Manual Exposure Mode................................... 38 1.1.19 Sweep Panorama ............................................................... 39 1.1.20 Lock-On AF ......................................................................... 40 1.1.21 New Hotshoe ...................................................................... 41 CHAPTER 2 MY PERSONAL CAMERA SETTINGS .......................... 43 2.1 CUSTOM KEY SETTINGS ................................................................. 43 2.2 FUNCTION (FN) MENU SETTINGS.................................................... 44 2.3 MEMORY REGISTER SETTINGS ........................................................ 46 2.4 MY PERSONAL MENU SETTINGS ..................................................... 50 2.5 WHAT’S INCOMPATIBLE WITH RAW? ............................................. 65 CHAPTER 3 QUICK GUIDE FOR THE IMPATIENT USER ................ 69 3.1 THE QUICK NAVI SCREEN .............................................................. 69 3.2 THE FN BUTTON .......................................................................... 70 viii Table of Contents 3.3 FOCUSING ESSENTIALS .................................................................. 70 3.3.1 Decoupling Focus Lock and/or Exposure Lock From the Shutter Release Button ................................................................................... 73 3.3.2 AF Setup Trick for Portraits ................................................ 74 3.3.3 DMF and Peaking Level ...................................................... 74 3.3.4 More About Face Detection ............................................... 75 3.3.5 Focus Modes ....................................................................... 76 3.3.6 Quickly Switching Between Wide and Center Focus Area .. 77 3.4 WHICH DISPLAY? ........................................................................ 78 3.5 ABOUT POWER CONSUMPTION ...................................................... 79 3.6 CONFIGURING THE DISPLAY ........................................................... 80 3.7 SETTING THE ISO ......................................................................... 81 3.7.1 ISO AUTO Settings .............................................................. 82 3.7.2 Multi-Frame Noise Reduction ............................................. 82 3.8 SCENE SELECTION MODES ............................................................. 83 3.8.1 Portrait ............................................................................... 84 3.8.2 Sports Action ...................................................................... 86 3.8.3 Macro ................................................................................. 87 3.8.4 Landscape........................................................................... 88 3.8.5 Sunset ................................................................................. 89 3.8.6 Night Scene ........................................................................ 90 3.8.7 Handheld Twilight .............................................................. 90 3.8.8 Night Portrait ..................................................................... 92 3.8.9 Anti-Motion Blur (AMB) ..................................................... 93 3.9 INTELLIGENT AUTO MODES ........................................................... 95 3.9.1 iAuto (Intelligent Auto) ....................................................... 96 3.9.2 iAuto+ (Superior Auto)........................................................ 97 3.9.3 Photo Creativity Mode ..................................................... 100 3.10 P-A-S-M MODE ....................................................................... 101 3.11 PANORAMA MODE .................................................................... 102 3.12 PROGRAM SHIFT ....................................................................... 103 3.13 QUICK SETUP FOR VIDEO ............................................................ 105 3.14 THREE LOW-LIGHT MODES ......................................................... 107 3.14.1 Handheld Twilight and Multi-Frame Noise Reduction ..... 107 3.14.2 Anti-Motion Blur ............................................................... 108 3.14.3 Low-Light Modes Compared ............................................ 109 3.15 FLASH ..................................................................................... 111 3.16 PLAYING BACK IMAGES ............................................................... 113 3.16.1 Variations on a Theme – The Display Button ................... 113 Table of Contents ix 3.16.2 Magnifying the image ...................................................... 116 3.16.3 Deleting an image (or multiple images) ........................... 117 3.16.4 Protecting an image ......................................................... 118 3.16.5 Viewing your images on an HDTV .................................... 119 3.16.6 Slide Show using the Optional Wireless Remote .............. 121 3.17 VIEWFINDER EYEPIECE DIOPTER CORRECTION ................................. 122 3.18 USB AND HDMI CONNECTORS .................................................... 123 3.19 THIRD-PARTY BATTERIES AND CHARGERS ....................................... 123 3.20 SONY’S SOFTWARE .................................................................... 124 CHAPTER 4 USING LEGACY GLASS ........................................... 127 4.1 MANUAL FOCUS LENSES ............................................................. 128 4.2 AUTOFOCUS LENSES ................................................................... 130 4.3 VIGNETTING AND MAGENTA CASTS ............................................... 131 4.4 BEWARE OF LIGHT LEAKS ............................................................. 132 4.5 A SHORT LIST OF THE MOST POPULAR ADAPTERS ............................ 133 4.5.1 Sony A-mount Lenses ....................................................... 133 4.5.2 M42/Pentax Screw Mount ............................................... 134 4.5.3 Leica M/Zeiss ZM .............................................................. 135 4.5.4 Leica R .............................................................................. 136 4.5.5 Canon EF (EOS) ................................................................. 136 4.5.6 Canon FD .......................................................................... 137 4.5.7 Nikon ................................................................................ 137 4.5.8 Minolta MC/MD ............................................................... 138 4.5.9 Pentax .............................................................................. 139 4.5.10 Medium Format Lenses .................................................... 139 4.5.11 Olympus OM..................................................................... 139 4.5.12 Contax .............................................................................. 140 CHAPTER 5 WI-FI, NFC, AND APPS ........................................... 143 5.1 WHAT IS NFC? ......................................................................... 143 5.2 SETTING THINGS UP FOR WI-FI UPLOAD ....................................... 145 5.2.1 Configuring PlayMemories Home .................................... 148 5.2.2 Initiate your Upload ......................................................... 150 5.2.3 Throughput Rates ............................................................. 151 5.3 SETTING UP SMARTPHONE FUNCTIONS .......................................... 151 5.3.1 Install PlayMemories Mobile ............................................ 151 5.3.2 Transferring an Image To your Smartphone .................... 152 5.3.3 Configuring NFC on your Smartphone .............................. 153 x Table of Contents 5.4 NOW WHAT? ........................................................................... 153 5.4.1 Upload images to your smartphone for social Media ...... 153 5.4.2 Remote Control with Viewfinder ...................................... 156 5.5 OTHER TETHERED SHOOTING OPTIONS .......................................... 160 5.5.1 Wi-Fi Upload ..................................................................... 160 5.5.2 Remote Camera Conrol Software ..................................... 162 5.5.3 Lightroom 5 add-on software........................................... 163 5.6 APPLICATIONS ........................................................................... 163 CHAPTER 6 THE RECORDING (CAMERA ICON) MENU .............. 169 6.1 IMAGE SIZE .............................................................................. 169 6.2 ASPECT RATIO........................................................................... 171 6.3 QUALITY .................................................................................. 172 6.4 PANORAMA FUNCTIONS ............................................................. 174 6.5 FILE FORMAT FOR MOVIES .......................................................... 179 6.6 RECORD SETTING FOR MOVIES .................................................... 179 6.7 DRIVE MODE ............................................................................ 180 6.7.1 Single-shooting ................................................................. 180 6.7.2 Continuous shooting......................................................... 180 6.7.3 10s and 2s Self-Timers ...................................................... 181 6.7.4 Self-Timer Continuous ...................................................... 181 6.7.5 Bracketing ........................................................................ 182 6.7.6 Bracketing for HDR ........................................................... 183 6.7.7 What exactly changes when you bracket? ....................... 184 6.7.8 White Balance Bracketing ................................................ 185 6.7.9 DRO Bracket ..................................................................... 185 6.8 FLASH MODE ............................................................................ 186 6.8.1 Flash Off ........................................................................... 187 6.8.2 AutoFlash ......................................................................... 187 6.8.3 Fill-Flash ........................................................................... 187 6.8.4 Slow Sync .......................................................................... 189 6.8.5 Rear Sync .......................................................................... 190 6.8.6 Wireless Flash ................................................................... 192 6.9 FLASH COMPENSATION ............................................................... 193 6.10 RED EYE REDUCTION .................................................................. 194 6.11 FOCUS MODE ........................................................................... 195 6.11.1 AF-S .................................................................................. 195 6.11.2 AF-A .................................................................................. 195 6.11.3 AF-C .................................................................................. 195