Advanced Camera Settings for the A9 and A7RIII cameras

The release of the A9 and A7RIII cameras has heralded some powerful new custom settings to be found in the menus. Some of these options, however, may not be obvious to implement from reading the camera manual. With this in mind, I have made three movies to cover the following three menu items.

• Swt. V/H AF Area
• Reg Cust Shoot Set
• AF Area Regist.

If you are tired of moving your off-centre focus point every time you switch between a Vertical and Horizontal framing of your subject this option will make the process much more fluid.

The option to register an AF point or AF area, that can be recalled by simply pressing a custom key, is a great new feature. Changing AF area has previously been a two-step process (first selecting the AF area menu and then the AF Area). This can now be fast-tracked into a single press of a custom button. I personally use this to swiftly change from ‘Lock-on AF: Expand Variable Spot’ to ‘Lock-on AF: Wide’ when the subject I am trying to track becomes to erratic to nail with the variable spot.

This new custom setting would appear to duplicate the Memory option – the one where you can register a group of camera settings and then recall them by selecting 1, 2 or 3 from the Shooting Mode Dial on the top of the camera. This new custom setting, however, allows you to swiftly change to a group of settings by simply holding down a custom button and when you let go of the custom button you instantly change back to your previous settings. One of the primary advantages of this for A9 users is that you can register AF Mode and Drive Mode to these Registered Custom Settings which is not possible when using the older Memory menu (due to the hard dials on the top left of the A9 camera). As I do not use the AF-ON button for back-button AF I can now supercharge it to recall Shutter Priority with a 1/2000 second shutter speed, Auto ISO, AF-C, Lock-On AF: Wide + AF-ON.

A7RIII ONLY

When the A7RIII camera is set to Continuous Shooting Hi using the mechanical shutter. it behaves more like a full-frame A6500 rather than a slower A9. This movie runs through the optimum settings for capturing and freezing pin-sharp fast-moving subjects.

Mark Galer is a Global Imaging Ambassador for Sony, an experienced educator and an Imaging Ambassador for Adobe. As well as public speaking he offers training in the form of creative workshops and one-on-one training.