....But there's 412 pages of the manual to go through. What features should I make sure to notice?
Uhmmmm...all of them? If I got me one of those and Ryan was still around, he'd make me sit and study that manual for a week.
I wish they still had manuals. I sooooo much prefer reading a manual than reading it on the computer. I was going to print it out (before I realized it was 412 pages), luckily I only got to page 30 before I ran out of paper.
It's just so much easier to flip through a book. :)
I'll read the whole thing. It's just tempting to skip to the cool stuff first!
I find the guide books to be quite helpful. I've purchased one for most of my cameras over the years. The last two (for the Sony A77 and the Sony a7 II) were published by rockynook and authored by Roullard / Matsumoto.
The sony 6500 arrived today and the lenses I purchased. I think the boxes all together weigh less than my old camera with it's 24-105 lens.
The camera is tiny and feels like I'm using a camera when I had when I was 10!
Unbelievable!
Wow is technology changing!
You should have gotten the A7 ll. Now that is a nice weight. Total steel construction. The camera felt like the old time 35 mm film SLR's. When I held THAT camera I felt like it was a film camera. Hope you have good luck with it. I have tried the Peak mode and didn't get much out of it. It seems to primarily highlight aspects of the scene, probably connected to the histogram. Have fun exploring its many functions. The best way for me has always been try it to see what it does.
I have tried the Peak mode and didn't get much out of it. It seems to primarily highlight aspects of the scene, probably connected to the histogram. Have fun exploring its many functions. The best way for me has always been try it to see what it does.
Focus peaking highlights places of maximum edge contrast. When edges are in focus they are much contrastier. Layman's explanation...
Focus peaking is a great idea but I found I quickly moved on from using it and I did a lot of manual focus with the A7. My preferred method was using the focus magnification. Click one button to zoom in, focus then click again to zoom out and shoot. Sounds annoying but with some practice it's quite smooth and quick and better than peaking I found.
Focus peaking is a great idea but I found I quickly moved on from using it and I did a lot of manual focus with the A7. My preferred method was using the focus magnification. Click one button to zoom in, focus then click again to zoom out and shoot. Sounds annoying but with some practice it's quite smooth and quick and better than peaking I found.
I came across this by accident today, but I couldn't figure out what part of the image it was zooming in on. (I was taking a photo of a very small butterfly at distance with a 16-70 lens. So I needed to focus on a very small object in a very large field of view. )
The problem that I had when I rented it, and that I'm having now is that the 7d had good times and it was easy to switch from single to zone to wide focus areas. It keeps finding weird focus areas and I can't get it to focus on what I want. So I assume I want this expanded spot focusing, but I'll have to read up on how to switch it faster.
... I'm trying to shoot left eyed and my nose is activating the touch screen for auto focus! So it changes to focusing at the very bottom of the screen. ...
Sorry to be laughing at your current struggles, but I have to say the above line made me literally LOL. :-D
I wonder ... shouldn't the back screen be turned off / disabled when you put your eye to the viewfinder? There's a setting for that - may want to check it. Sometimes that can be annoying because if you get too close to the viewfinder sensor it will trigger the back screen to go dark.
... I'm trying to shoot left eyed and my nose is activating the touch screen for auto focus! So it changes to focusing at the very bottom of the screen. ...
Sorry to be laughing at your current struggles, but I have to say the above line made me literally LOL. :-D
I wonder ... shouldn't the back screen be turned off / disabled when you put your eye to the viewfinder? There's a setting for that - may want to check it. Sometimes that can be annoying because if you get too close to the viewfinder sensor it will trigger the back screen to go dark.
It was supposed to make you laugh out loud. It made me laugh when I realized it.
I'm sure I can turn it off, but I'm going to leave it on and see if I can train for right eye shooting.
I'm sure I can turn it off, but I'm going to leave it on and see if I can train for right eye shooting.
For action shooting (sports, wildlife) I try to use "both-eyes shooting"; the left eye monitoring the scene for impending action, and the right eye maintaining framing in the viewfinder.
You have absolutely NO reason to want the screen active when you use the viewfinder. Do what Barry said, and find the menu item that switches automatically when you get your eye to the viewfinder. It'll save battery power too :-)
It looks like it already is turned off when I put my eye up. But if I touch the back screen otherwise, it changes the focus point. I might just be touching it when I'm handling the camera. It is so much smaller than my 7D. I'll have to experiment some more.
