Red Cathedral

All modern cameras show you during shooting perfectly where you are focusing. But I don't remember this of every picture during/after an event or at the end of a shoot. And sometimes you have to be sure the focus was on the right object/person/animal before going to the next view, or shot or part of the event. We've all made pictures of which during replay we wondered where the hell the focus point had been. In landscape pictures it happens sometimes. When photographing groups of people you might have to check them all to see who's eyes you had locked on.   In the Sony A7IV, A1 and A7SIII ( and all full frame Alpha cameras coming after these ) there is a solution called: In English: Focus Frame Display ("Foc Frame Disp Sel." to be more precise) In Dutch: Schrpst.kad.wrgv In French:  Aff cadre m.au pt  Sony engineers & translators really enjoy inventing strange abbreviations. In this video you see how to activate this option in the Sony A7IV:  And if you...

The Youtube video is embedded below or: https://youtu.be/6ZUNffYzWKc It is actually very easy to do a firmware update on a Sony camera .. you just put the firmware on an SD-card and insert it in your camera.. Go into the Menu > Yellow > 12/Setup option > Version > Update software > Scroll through+Accept conditions > .. Ow-no.. that only works on the A7IV, FX30, ZV-E1 & A7RV. For the other ( read: the previou s) cameras it's a bit more work. Let us go through all the different steps: 1. Surf to your local Sony site ( in Dutch or in French or in English ) 2. Choose the camera or lens you want to update ( Note : different Sony sites have sometimes different old items listed. For example on the UK-site you can still find A6300/A6500 ) 3. For this example I choose the eternal oldie: A6000 .     3.1 Search for a small tab " Support & Product registration "     3.2 Click on " Downloads "     3.3 Click on the latest fir...

A few days ago I got my private Sony A7IV after thoroughly testing a pre-production model from work. You can find those 1st pictures on Flickr . Fun fact: This home-coming of the A7IV was my very first video on Clapper ( look for Red Cathedral )  There are some quirks in the A7IV like cropped 4K 60p ( just like Nikon's Z6II ), it heats faster than the A7SIII ( I might you some tricks to minimise heating while filming in a later article ) and eats through batteries at the same speed as the A1 and A7SIII . ( You wanted more power than the A7III , you've got more power.. but that has a price ). However, for events this is an allround powerhouse.. at least: once I'll be doing events again.  For once a I did a complete video walk through of my changes and settings in the menu. It's in English but at the end I quickly show some  important parts in French & in Dutch. Some samples & experiments are already on Flickr (including lowlight, APS-C lens,.. why APS-C?...

A question I often get during events is: " Don't you find it just awful when you're filming a bit and suddenly you see an image that would have made a great photo? " But there is a solution to fix this: The Photo Capture function in the current generations of Sony cameras just might save you. ( Yes, this is a photo Capture from an A7III 4k 25p 8bit 4.2.0 video. ) Which cameras? I've been using this function since my A7III. It can also be activated on for example A7RIII, A7SIII, A7RIV, A7IV, A9, A9II, A1, A7RV, A7C, FX30, A6100, A6400, A6600, ZV-E10, ZV-1, ZV-1F, RX100VII, and even on some Sony video cameras . Full Youtube video Went live on February 10th 2023 ( Yes, 1.5 years after this article was written.. and I still don't enjoy watching/hearing/editing myself on the screen ) How does it work? 1. You shoot a video. ( 8k, 4k, 1080p, horizontal or vertical video orientation, S&Q-video , 8bit or 10bit, 4.2.0 or 4.2.2,.. ) 2. On a quiet moment you ...

 " Why? " You will probably ask while shaking your head. " Why would you do such a thing? " 1. WHAT? Let us start with the " What? " In Sony full frame mirrorless cameras you can always switch between using the camera full frame or in APS-C-mode. This changes your field of view into a " zoomed feel ". What really happens is that in this APS-C mode the processor uses only a part of the sensor. This part is the same size as an APS-C sensor as found in the A6000-series. For photo you always sacrifice megapixels in this "cropped" mode. For video this APS-C mode is called Super 35 mode and has several advantages. But this article is mostly about photography. In video you might want to read this article and consider that for example the full frame A7IV automatically snaps into Super35-mode when you switch it to 4k 50p/60p. In that latter case.. why not put your trust in a lighter, wider ( and often cheaper ) APS-C lens? Subtitles ar...

It's true: once you have completely set-up your Sony Alpha / FX-camera to your likings as I showed you in this video / article , you can save those settings in some of the cameras. This feature can be found on the following Sony cameras at the moment : A7RIV, A9II, A7SIII, A1, A7IV, FX6, FX3, FX30, A7RV. And it seems to be an overlooked feature, judging by the astonished reactions during the trainings I give. 1. What? Save/load settings means you can load a series of settings onto you camera from a memory card or from your phone via the free Sony Imaging Edge Mobile app. Other way around you can save some of your settings onto a memory card or onto your phone. On a memory card you can save 10 settings. ( SD or CFExpress A, depending on your camera) On your phone you can save 22 settings. ( Which are most of the important settings ) Some info you cannot save due to privacy regulations ( Copyright info for example ) You cannot swap settings between different camera types at ...

This article is about using (vintage) Minolta/Sigma/Sony/Tamron/.. A-mount lenses on contemporary Sony E-mount cameras. Since the Sony LA-EA5 adapter has been released I have been answering dozens of the same questions about compatibility issues from both retailers and end-users. Some questions & personal experiences with the different adapters were special, so I have tested some combinations and made a small list of my findings. Yes, at first -back in 2021- I wanted to make this into a Youtube video.. alas I don't like looking at myself so I stopped editing it. And then in 2023 I glued some of those old clips together into: https://youtu.be/-VLe6eBQpME 1. Sample images are in this Flickr folder ( always making more sample images) 2. Gear Used : 2.1. Adapters : LA-EA3, LA-EA4, LA-EA5 2.2. E-mount cameras cat1: A1, A7SIII, A7IV, A7RV, FX30, ZV-E1 2.3. E-mount cameras cat2: A9II, A7III, A7RIV, A7C, A6600, A6400, ZV-E10 ( also goes for A7RIII, A9, A6100 ) 2.4. E-...

During training with the Sony A7SIII a common question I get is: since you can't use Super 35 mode in 4k video,  can you still use APS-C lenses to film with? It's logical that you can't use Super 35 mode (= APS-C sized video mode) in 4k since the A7SIII films 4.2k in full sensor readout. Hence you can only use the Super 35 mode in FHD (1080p). In Sony full frame mirrorless cameras you can always switch between using the camera full frame or in APS-C. For photo you always sacrifice megapixels. The A9/A9II/A7II/A7III's 24MP becomes 10MP in APS-C, A7RIII's 42MP becomes a usuable 18MP in APS-C, A7RIV's 61MP becomes a very decent 26MP in APS-C. The advantage for photo is that you can turn a 600mm lens into a 900mm lens without teleconvertor. All info about this feature in this article + video The A7S-series have a 12MP sensor ( to be used as a lowlight behemoth with those giant-sized photocytes in the sensor - factcheck: https://www.digicamdb.com/specs/sony_a7s-iii/...

You can do crazy videothings with the new videocentric A7SIII camera without it overheating and I hope to be able to test several of those (Yes, including making a vertical TikTok or IG video in 4k 120fps or FHD 240fps.. speaking about overkill for those platforms 😇)  But my main focus is photography and while some say 12MP " just isn't enough to be considered as a pro photocamera ",  I still remember days when we were whowed by 8MP pro photocameras. Times have changed.. but if you want you can still make a picture that doesn't need cropping. Depends on the chosen subject and the in-camera framing. Just don't expect to be making large prints (I mean: larger than A3 chemical prints) and then the 12MP covers it perfectly. I'm off now, trying to get the most out of the crazy fast autofocus (even at EV -6), the nearly limitless RAW-buffer (+1000pix buffer with the CFExpress A), the 15+ stops of dynamic range and best of all: the ISO 40 to ISO 409600 (yes, you r...

Been testing this little beauty for a while now. It was as much fun to use as the RX100 VII  was last summer... However: the fully articulated LCD-screen on the ZV-1 was a huge bonus and on the downside:  for photo work ( 24fps is a blast! )  I really missed the pop-up EVF of the RX100's. Then again: this camera is aimed more at videographers ( I love the 4k vertical video feature and the HFR function --> 1000fps video is just crazy for such a tiny camera! ) Truth is: the only moments you really struggle to compose on the LCD-screen are in bright sunlight, in the rain and while wearing polarized sunglasses ( damn my RayBan addiction !) But if you're photographing humans or animals (or filming humans), you can simply trust the "Real Time Eye Auto Focus" to find the target. It's even faster & more acurate than on an A7III.   The audio you get out of this tiny body even without an external mic is fenomenal due to the 3 capsules who record sound in 3D stereo. T...

After spending some quality time with the new A7RIV & the new RX100VII , last week I was able to test pre-release models of the A6100 & A6600 .  Eventough the A6100 will be the replacement for Sony's mirrorless entry level APS-C A6000 and the A6600 will replace the current APS-C flagship camera (A6500)  both cameras were a pleasure to shoot with. They both have the super fast AF from the A6400 (with real time tracking & real time eye AF for human/animal like the A6400, A9, A7RIV, RX100VII), no video recording time limit (not even in 4K), the flip-up screen from the A6400, build in timelapse, slo-mo video and microphone-jacks. But the A6600 uses the Z-battery from the A7III/A7RIII/A7RIV/A9 (hence a bigger grip), has IBIS, has a headphone jack, has video picture profiles including S-log + HLG (like the A6400), better build quality, way more menu options and eye AF in video (like A7RIV & RX100VII). It actually combines the best of A6500 + A6400 + the new gen...