The Friedman Archives Guide to Sony's A6700

By Gary L. Friedman

Gary Friedman is the best selling author, known for his thorough and approachable books on Sony cameras. His new book on the Sony Alpha 6700 tackles every feature in every menu his clear, approachable style.

New features covered include:

* Auto Framing
* Log Shooting and LUTs
* The new Creators' App
* USB Streaming
* All the video features explained
* How to pull pictures from your camera even when it's off

Plus a host of others.

Get this ultimate guide to the A6700 and unlock the mysteries of your camera!!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Aug 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9781312157804

Book preview

For Those of You Who Bought the Printed or E-Reader Edition

This book is available in several different formats, including .pdf, printed (color and B&W), and Kindle versions.  If you purchased either of the last two, then this offer is for you:  This book contains a LOT of demonstrative illustrations that lose their effectiveness when converted to black-and-white.  And some are difficult to see on e-book reader screens like the original Kindle.

And so to offset these problems I’m offering a free, full-color, instantly-downloadable .pdf file of this ebook to all customers who bought printed books (be they color or black-and-white), or who purchased this work through the Amazon Kindle, Apple, Barnes and Noble, or any other e-reader store.  (The original .pdf file really does offer a superior user experience.  Think of it as the director’s cut regarding how the author intended the work to be seen.) 

To get your free .pdf file, just email me ([e-mail]) with a copy of your receipt and I’ll send you a download link.  Such a deal!

About the Photos

The photo pages preceding each chapter are images from the www.FriedmanArchives.com stock photo website, and were taken with a wide variety of different cameras over the past 45 years.

About the Author

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, is associate editor of CameraCraft magazine (a thoughtful photography periodical in the UK which provides tremendous insights as well as showcasing inspirational images), and gives highly-acclaimed digital photography seminars worldwide for those who wish to improve their creative photography and learn the essentials in an intuitive manner.  Because he teaches seminars (and gives Zoom lectures to photo clubs worldwide), Mr. Friedman stays in touch with the concerns and frustrations of serious shooters – the kinds of people who buy cameras like the Sony A6700.

Before graduating to photography he was a rocket scientist for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (you know, the ones who landed probes on Mars and sent robots like Pioneer, Voyager, Galileo, Pathfinder, Spirit, and Discovery to explore the outer solar system), where he patented the image authentication system used in high-end Canon, Nikon, and Sony 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. 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 https://www.friedmanarchives.com/about/ .

Table of Contents

For Those of You Who Bought the Printed or E-Reader Edition

About the Photos

About the Author

Table of Contents

Chapter 1      In a Nutshell

1.1

      

Major Features

1.1.1      Best Object Recognition and Subject Tracking Available

1.1.2      A Twistier and Flippier Display

1.1.3      New Menus / Touch Menus

1.1.4      Touch Function Icons

1.1.5      New Main Menu Screen

1.1.6      My Menu and My Dial

1.1.7      Auto Framing

1.1.8      LUTs!

1.1.9      Log Shooting Setting

1.1.10      S-Cinetone Color Profile

1.1.11      Two ways to make Time Lapse Movies

1.1.12      S&Q (Slow and Quick) movie modes

1.1.13      Focus Bracketing

1.1.14      BULB Timer Settings

1.1.15      What is HEIF?

1.1.16      Shot Marks and Divider Frames

1.1.17      Anti-Flicker TV Scan

1.1.18      USB Streaming

1.1.19      Focus Map

1.1.20      +/- 5 EV on Exposure Compensation

1.1.21      Gigabit Ethernet via USB

1.1.22      Soft Zoom assignable to buttons

1.1.23      4-channel audio recording

1.1.24      Tethered Shooting in Multiple Ways

1.1.25      Download Images While Your Camera’s Still In your Bag

1.1.26      Bluetooth-based GPS Alternative

1.1.27      Customization and Hidden Features

1.1.28      Expanded Metering Modes

1.1.29      RAW + XFINE JPEGS

1.1.30      Screen Reader

1.1.31      Can shoot 2 Kinds of videos simultaneously

1.1.32      14-bit RAW

1.2

      

Software

1.2.1      Imaging Edge Desktop Suite

1.2.2      Creator’s App

1.2.3      Capture One Express for Sony

1.2.4      Catalyst Browse Software

1.2.5      Visual Story Software

1.2.6      A Script to Pull All Media Files Off of a Memory Card

Chapter 2      Essential Configuration

2.1

      

My Personal Camera Settings

2.2

      

The Fn Menu

2.3

      

Variations on a Theme

2.3.1      Suggested Configuration for shooting Portraits

2.3.2      Suggested Configuration for Landscapes

2.3.3      Suggested Configuration for shooting Sports

2.3.4      Suggested Configuration for Shooting Kids and Pets

2.3.5      Suggested Configuration for Video

2.3.6      Suggested Configuration for Legacy Glass

2.4

      

My Button Assignments

2.5

      

My My Menu Configuration

2.6

      

Back Button Focus Suggestions

2.7

      

Just Pick Two

2.8

      

What's Incompatible with RAW?

Chapter 3      A Quick Guide for the Impatient

3.1

      

Names of Parts

3.2

      

Ways to Navigate

3.3

      

New Touchscreen Operations

3.4

      

Built-In Help Guide

3.5

      

Intelligent Auto

3.5.1      My Image Style

3.6

      

Exposure Mode Dials

3.7

      

Two Different Ways of doing Program Shift

3.8

      

The Fn Button

3.9

      

Focusing Essentials

3.9.1      Different Ways of Specifying a Focus Point

3.9.2      Subject Recognition

3.9.3      Touch Screen Operation

3.9.4      Touch Focus with LCD

3.9.5      Touch Focusing using the EVF

3.9.6      The Focus Area Setting (including Tracking)

3.9.7      Quickly Switching between Wide Area AF and Spot AF

3.9.8      Focus Confirmation

3.10

      

The Focus Mode

3.11

      

Drive Mode

3.11.1      Single-Shot Advance

3.11.2      Continuous Advance (4 speeds)

3.11.3      Self-Timers

3.11.4      Continuous and Single Bracket

3.11.5      What exactly changes when you bracket?

3.11.6      Focus Bracket

3.11.7      White Balance Bracketing

3.11.8      DRO Bracketing

3.11.9      Self-Timer During Bracket

3.12

      

Metering Modes

3.13

      

Methods of Customizing

3.14

      

Configuring the DISPlay

3.15

      

Flash

3.16

      

Things You Probably Didn’t Know about Playback Mode

3.17

      

Playing Back a burst

3.18

      

Quick Guide for Video

3.19

      

Shooting Tethered(ly)

3.20

      

Remote Triggering Methods

3.21

      

Sony Lens Nomenclature

3.22

      

Viewfinder Eyepiece Diopter Correction

3.23

      

If You’re Used to Shooting Nikon

3.24

      

If You’re Used to Shooting Canon

3.25

      

If you’re used to shooting Sony

3.26

      

Screen Icon Glossary

Chapter 4      Connectivity

4.1

      

Setting Things Up – Smartphone Functions

4.1.1      Install and Pair with Sony’s Creators’ App

4.1.2      Adding Encryption to your Smartphone connection (optional)

4.2

      

Transferring an Image To your Smartphone

4.2.1      Starting the process from your Phone

4.3

      

Remote Shooting on a Smartphone

4.4

      

Connecting to an Access Point

4.5

      

Upload to Desktop via the PC Remote Function

4.5.1      USB cable.

4.5.2      Wi-Fi Access Point

4.5.3      Wi-Fi Direct

4.5.4      Encrypting your Wi-Fi Connections

4.6

      

Geotagging your images via your smartphone

4.6.1      Setting up Bluetooth / Geo-Tag feature

4.6.2      How do I see the geo-tagged Coordinates?

4.7

      

Uploading via the Transfer and Tagging App

Chapter 5      The Shooting Menus

5.1

      

Image Quality/Rec

5.1.1       JPEG/HEIF Switch

5.1.2         (Image) File Format

5.1.3       RAW File Type

5.1.4       JPEG Quality / HEIF Quality

5.1.5       JPEG Image Size / HEIF Image Size

5.1.6       Aspect Ratio

5.1.7         (Movie) File Format

5.1.8       Movie Settings

5.1.9       Slow and Quick Settings

5.1.10       Time-Lapse Settings

5.1.11       Log Shooting Setting

5.1.12       Proxy Settings

5.1.13       Long Exposure NR

5.1.14       Hi ISO NR

5.1.15       HLG Still Image

5.1.16       Color Space

5.1.17       Lens Compensation

5.1.18      Shading

5.1.19      Chromatic Aberration

5.1.20      Distortion

5.1.21      Breathing Compensation

5.2

      

Media

5.2.1       Format

5.2.2       Recover Image DB

5.2.3       Display Media Info.

5.3

      

File

5.3.1       File/Folder Settings

5.3.2       Select RECording Folder

5.3.3       Create New Folder

5.3.4       Copyright Info

5.3.5       Write Serial Number

5.3.6         File Settings

5.4

      

Shooting Mode

5.4.1         Auto/Scene Selection

5.4.2         (S&Q) Time-Lapse Shoot Mode

5.4.3       Recall Camera Setting

5.4.4       Camera Setting Memory

5.4.5       Register Custom Shooting Set

5.5

      

Drive Mode

5.5.1       Drive Mode

5.5.2       Bracket Settings

5.5.3       Interval Shoot Function

5.6

      

Shutter/Silent

5.6.1      Some Background

5.6.2       Silent Mode Settings

5.6.3       Shutter Type

5.6.4       e-Front Curtain Shutter

5.6.5       Release w/o Lens

5.6.6       Release w/o Card

5.6.7      Tools to Help Prevent Banding from Flickering Lights

5.7

      

Audio Recording

5.7.1       Audio Recording

5.7.2       Audio Recording Level

5.7.3       Audio Out Timing

5.7.4       Wind Noise Reduction

5.7.5       Mi Shoe Audio Setting

5.8

      

TC/UB

5.8.1      Introduction

5.8.2       Time Code Preset

5.8.3       User Bit Preset

5.8.4       Time Code Format

5.8.5       Time Code Run

5.8.6       Time Code Make

5.8.7       User Bit Time Rec

5.9

      

Image Stabilization

5.9.1       (Image) SteadyShot

5.9.2         (Movies) SteadyShot

5.9.3       SteadyShot Adjustments

5.9.4       Focal Length

5.10

      

Zoom

5.10.1       Zoom

5.10.2       Zoom Range

5.10.3       Custom Key Zoom Speed

5.10.4       Remote Zoom Speed (for Bluetooth Remote Commander)

5.11

      

Shooting Display

5.11.1       Grid Line Display

5.11.2       Grid Line Type

5.11.3       Live View Display Settings

5.11.4       Emphasized RECord display

5.12

      

Marker Display

5.13

      

  Shooting Option

5.13.1         (Movie) Self Timer

5.13.2       Auto Framing Settings

Chapter 6      The Exposure/Color Menus

6.1

      

Exposure

6.1.1       BULB Timer Settings

6.1.2       Auto Slow Shutter

6.1.3       ISO

6.1.4       ISO Range Limit

6.1.5       ISO AUTO Min. SS

6.2

      

Exposure Comp

6.2.1       Exposure Comp.

6.2.2       Exposure Step

6.2.3       Exposure Standard Adjust

6.3

      

Metering

6.3.1       Metering Mode

6.3.2       Face Priority in Multi-Metering

6.3.3       Spot Metering Point

6.3.4       AEL w/ Shutter

6.4

      

Flash

6.4.1       Flash Mode

6.4.2       Flash Compensation

6.4.3       Exposure Compensation setting

6.4.4       Wireless Flash

6.4.5       Red Eye Reduction

6.4.6       External Flash Settings

6.4.7         Register. Flash Shooting Settings

6.5

      

White Balance

6.5.1       White Balance

6.5.2       Priority Setting in Auto White Balance

6.5.3       Shutter AWB Lock

6.5.4         Shockless WB

6.6

      

Color/Tone

6.6.1       D-Range Optimizer

6.6.2       Creative Look

6.6.3       Picture Profile

6.6.4       Select LUT

6.6.5       Manage User LUTs

6.6.6       Soft Skin Effect

6.7

      

Zebra Display

6.7.1       Zebra Display

6.7.2       Zebra Level

Chapter 7      Focus Menu Items

7.1

      

AF/MF

7.1.1       Focus Mode

7.1.2       Priority Set in AF-S / AF-C

7.1.3       AF Tracking Sensitivity

7.1.4       AF Illuminator

7.1.5       Aperture Drive in AF

7.1.6       AF w/ shutter

7.1.7         Full Time DMF

7.1.8       Pre-AF

7.1.9       AF Transition Speed

7.1.10       AF Subject Shift Sensitivity

7.1.11       AF Assist

7.2

      

Focus Area

7.2.1       Focus Area

7.2.2       Focus Area Limit

7.2.3       Switch V/H AF Area

7.2.4       Focus Area Color

7.2.5       AF Area Registration

7.2.6       Delete Registered AF Area

7.2.7       AF Area Auto Clear

7.2.8       Area Display During Tracking

7.2.9       AF-C Area Display

7.2.10       Phase Detection Area

7.2.11       Circulation Of Focus Point

7.2.12       AF Frame Move Amount

7.3

      

Subject Recognition

7.3.1       Subject Recog In AF

7.3.2       Recognition Target

7.3.3       Recognition Target Select Setting

7.3.4       Right/Left Eye Select

7.3.5       Subject Recognition Frame Display

7.3.6       Face Memory

7.3.7       Register Faces Priority

7.4

      

Focus Assistant

7.4.1       Focus Map

7.4.2       Auto Magnifier in MF

7.4.3       Focus Magnifier

7.4.4       Focus Magnification Time

7.4.5       Initial Focus Magnification

7.4.6       AF in Focus Magnifier

7.4.7       Initial Focus Magnification

7.5

      

Peaking Display

Chapter 8      The Playback Menu Settings

8.1

      

Playback Target

8.1.1       View Mode

8.2

      

Magnification

8.2.1       Enlarge Image

8.2.2       Enlarge Initial Magnification

8.2.3       Enlarge Initial Position

8.3

      

Selection / Memo

8.3.1       Protect

8.3.2       Rating

8.3.3       Rating Set(Custom Key)

8.4

      

Delete

8.4.1       Delete

8.4.2       Delete pressing twice

8.4.3       Delete Confirmation

8.5

      

Edit

8.5.1       Crop

8.5.2       Rotate

8.5.3       Photo Capture

8.5.4       JPEG/HEIF Switch

8.6

      

Viewing

8.6.1       Continuous Play for Interval

8.6.2       Play Speed for Interval

8.6.3       Slide show

8.7

      

Playback Option

8.7.1       Image Index

8.7.2       Display as Group

8.7.3       Display Rotation

8.7.4       Focus Frame Display

8.7.5       Display Specified Time Image

8.7.6       Image Jump Setting

Chapter 9      Network Menu

9.1

      

Smartphone Connect/PC Remote

9.1.1       Smartphone Connection

9.1.2      PC Remote Function

9.1.3       Select on Camera and Send

9.1.4       Reset Transfer Status

9.1.5       Connect While Power Off

9.1.6       Remote Shoot Setting

9.2

      

Streaming

9.2.1       Output Res/Frame Rate

9.2.2       Movie Recording During Streaming

9.3

      

Wi-Fi

9.3.1       Wi-Fi Connect

9.3.2       WPS Push

9.3.3       Access Point Settings

9.3.4       Wi-Fi Frequency Band

9.3.5       Display Wi-Fi Information

9.3.6       SSID / Password Reset

9.4

      

Bluetooth

9.4.1         Bluetooth Function

9.4.2         Pairing

9.4.3         Manage Paired Devices

9.4.4       Bluetooth Remote Control

9.4.5         Display Device Address

9.5

      

Wired LAN

9.5.1       IP Address Setting

9.5.2       Display wired LAN Info.

9.6

      

USB-LAN/Tethering

9.6.1       USB-LAN Connection

9.6.2       Tethering Connection

9.7

      

Network Option

9.7.1       Airplane Mode

9.7.2       Edit Device Name

9.7.3       Access Authen. Settings

9.7.4       Access Authen. Info

9.7.5       Reset Network Set.

Chapter 10      The Setup (Toolbox Icon) Menu Settings

10.1

      

Area/Date

10.1.1       Language

10.1.2       Area/Date/Time Setting

10.1.3       NTSC/PAL Selector

10.2

      

Reset/Save Settings

10.2.1       Setting Reset

10.2.2       Save/Load Settings

10.3

      

Operation Customize

10.3.1       (Images) Custom Key/Dial Setting

10.3.2       (Movie) Custom Key/Dial Setting

10.3.3       (Playback) Custom Key Setting

10.3.4       Function Menu Settings

10.3.5       Different Settings for Stills / Movies

10.3.6         DISPlay (Screen Display) Settings

10.3.7         (Movie) Rec w/ Shutter

10.3.8       Zoom Ring Rotate

10.4

      

Dial Customize

10.4.1       (Images) Custom Key/Dial Setting

10.4.2       (Movies) Custom Key/Dial Set.

10.4.3       My Dial Settings

10.4.4       Av/Tv Rotate

10.4.5       Dial/Wheel Lock

10.5

      

Touch Operation

10.5.1       Touch Operation

10.5.2       Touch Panel / Pad

10.5.3      Touch Panel Setings

10.5.4       Touch Pad Settings

10.6

      

Accessibility

10.6.1       Screen Reader

10.7

      

Finder/Monitor

10.7.1       Select Finder/Monitor

10.7.2       Monitor Brightness

10.7.3       Viewfinder Brightness

10.7.4         Finder Color temp.

10.7.5       Display Quality

10.7.6       Finder Frame Rate

10.7.7         Monitor Flip Direction

10.8

      

Display Option

10.8.1       TC/UB Disp. Setting

10.8.2       Gamma Display Assist / Gamma Display Assist Type

10.8.3       Display LUT

10.8.4       (Images) Remain Shoot Display

10.8.5       (Images) Auto Review

10.8.6       Shoot Mode Select Screen

10.9

      

Power Setting Option

10.9.1       Auto Monitor OFF

10.9.2       Power Save Start Time

10.9.3       Power Save by Monitor

10.9.4       Auto Power OFF Temp.

10.10

      

Sound Option

10.10.1       Volume Settings

10.10.2       (Movie) 4ch Audio Monitoring

10.10.3       Audio Signals

10.11

      

USB

10.11.1       USB Connection Mode

10.11.2       USB LUN Setting

10.11.3       USB Power Supply

10.12

      

External Output

10.12.1       HDMI Resolution

10.12.2       HDMI Output Settings

10.12.3       HDMI Information Display

10.12.4       Control FOR HDMI

10.13

      

Setup Option

10.13.1       Video Light Mode

10.13.2       Sensor Cleaning

10.13.3       Auto Pixel Mapping / Pixel Mapping

10.13.4       Version

10.13.5       Display Serial Number

10.13.6       Privacy Notice

Chapter 11      My Menu / Main Menu

11.1

      

My Menu

11.2

      

Main Menu

Chapter 12      Video Topics

12.1

      

Video Nomenclature Simplified

12.1.1      What is 4:2:2?

12.1.2      How Can I Choose The Best Setting?

12.2

      

Misc. Tidbits when shooting Video

12.3

      

Slow-Motion Videos – 2 Ways

12.3.1      The in-camera way

12.3.2      The higher quality way (Slowdown only)

12.4

      

S-Log3 and S-Cinetone Primer

12.4.1      The Gamma Curves

12.4.2      Gamma Curve Nomenclature

12.4.3      HDTVs have Much Less Dynamic Range

12.4.4      S-Log3

12.4.5      Grading

12.4.6      LUTs

12.5

      

Shooting 2 Video Formats At Once

12.6

      

Playing back Videos

12.7

      

External Microphones

12.8

      

Monitoring Video and Audio

12.9

      

Importing your Files to your Computer

Chapter 13      Wireless Flash and Advanced Flash Topics

13.1

      

Introduction

13.2

      

Flash Models

13.3

      

Bounce Flash

13.3.1      Diffusing your Light

13.4

      

Wireless Flash

13.5

      

Radio Wireless Flash

13.5.1      Pairing the Radio Flashes

13.6

      

As Simple As It Gets

13.7

      

Ratio Lighting

13.8

      

Groups and Channels

13.9

      

Will the Control Bursts Affect Exposure?

13.10

      

Manual Flash Mode

13.10.1      To Put the F60 Into Manual Slave Mode

13.10.2      To put the F43 into Manual Slave mode

13.11

      

A Portable Studio Setup

13.12

      

High Speed Sync (HSS) flash

13.12.1      How HSS works

13.12.2      How to Activate HSS

13.13

      

To Probe Further

Chapter 14      Digital Imaging Topics

14.1

      

An Introduction to RAW

14.2

      

The Bayer Filter and Demosaicing

14.3

      

How Your Camera Creates A JPG

14.4

      

RAW, TIF, and JPG Compared

14.5

      

JPG Compression Artifacts

14.6

      

Any Other Upsides to Shooting .JPG?

14.7

      

Image Size and Resolution

Chapter 15      Additional Resources

15.1

      

Memory Cards

15.1.1      Memory Card Corruption Issues

15.2

      

A6700 Facebook Group

15.3

      

3rd Party Batteries

15.4

      

Bluetooth Remote

15.5

      

Screen Protectors

15.6

      

Upsells

15.6.1      Books on Other Cameras

15.6.2      An Introduction to Sony’s Wireless Flash (video)

15.6.3      Ways to ‘Wow!’ with Wireless Flash

15.6.4      Cameracraft Magazine

15.6.5      The Friedman Archives Blog

15.6.6      Consulting – One-on-One Camera Help

15.6.7      The Road to China

15.6.8      The Maui Xaphoon

15.6.9      The Friedman Archives Seminars

15.7

      

Epilogue

Appendix  A       A Condensed Guide to the Basics

A.1

      

Shutter Speeds

A.2

      

F/Stops

A.3

      

ISO

A.4

      

Focal Length

A.5

      

Tradeoffs

A.6

      

Program Shift

A.7

      

Using a Grey Card to Nail Exposure and White Balance

A.8

      

The Histogram Display

Brightness range, sensors, and the human eye

Using the Histogram for a finer degree of control

A.9

      

The Secrets of Light and Composition

A.10

      

Writing with Light

A.11

      

Composition – The Rule of Thirds

Out of place shot

Texture

Classical Portrait

Environmental Portrait

Hey, Look at Me!

Appendix B      Using Legacy Glass

B.1

      

Essential Stuff – Read this First

B.1.1      For Manual Focus Lenses

B.1.2      For Autofocus Lenses

B.2

      

A Short List of the Most Popular Adapters

B.2.1      Sony / Minolta A-mount Lenses

B.2.2      M42 / Pentax Screw Mount

B.2.3      Leica M / Zeiss ZM

B.2.4      Leica R

B.2.5      Canon EF (EOS)

B.2.6      Canon FD

B.2.7      Nikon

B.2.8      Pentax

B.2.9      Minolta MC/MD

B.2.10      Olympus OM

B.2.11      Micro Four-Thirds Lenses

B.2.11      Contax

B.2.12      Sony E-mount lenses

Appendix C      A Cookbook for Special Shooting Situations

C.1

      

Introduction

C.2

      

Street Photography

C.3

      

Fireworks

C.4

      

Artistic Waterfalls

C.5

      

Stage Performances / Rock Concerts

C.6

      

Nighttime Time Exposures

C.7

      

Shooting in Snow

C.8

      

Outdoor Group Portraits

C.9

      

Sunsets and Silhouettes

C.10

      

Nighttime Sports

C.11

      

Christmas Lights

C.12

      

Product Shots

C.13

      

Candlelight Shots

C.14

      

Star Trails

Appendix D      Tip Cards for your Smartphone

Note: The various icons above (such as ) indicate which shooting mode the menu items will appear in. 

Chapter 1      In a Nutshell

As I look back I can only marvel about the evolution of the E-mount platform (Figure 1-1).  Originally imagined as a small and easily approachable upgrade to a phone camera, over time the platform has garnered increased capabilities: First in-camera image stabilization, then 4K video and the need to dissipate all that heat, then a higher-end processor and a specialized AI chip to provide all that subject recognition and tracking capability, then finally a bigger battery to drive it all.  Frankly, considering all the capability it’s amazing that they were able to get it as small as it is!

Not to mention the fact that the E-mount has grown to be the preferred lens mount of videographers and professional photographers the world over (I know of no other modern mount that is as supported by 3rd parties).  Anyway, you are now the proud owner of what can only be called a future-proof system. 

As always, there are a LOT of new and noteworthy features of this camera.  So many, in fact, that it would probably occupy an entire chapter to tell you about it!  (Oh, wait…)

1.1      Major Features

1.1.1      Best Object Recognition and Subject Tracking Available

Your camera inherits the world-class focusing and object recognition / tracking system from their flagship camera, the Sony A1.  What

impresses me technically is they did it with the f/stop closed down, another engineering triumph I didn’t think they would be able to achieve when I made this youtube video back in 2015 (but I was wrong!!) https://youtu.be/QlBWL_UVUS8

Since the A1 the capabilities have increased, to the point where it can recognize humans, animals, birds (which are animals, of course), insects, cars, trains, and automobiles.  And in the case of birds you can even specify which parts of the bird to focus on (Eye, Head, or Body).  Are you impressed, or what?

The feature is so good that I have permanently abandoned my previous technique of Spot Focus – Focus Lock – Recompose --> Shoot when shooting portraits. Now I just concentrate on getting the right expression and leave the automatedness (that’s a word!!) to the camera.

The number of parameters you can tweak with this feature is mind-numbing, though, and so I walk you through all the details and menu items in Section 7.3.2. 

1.1.2      A Twistier and Flippier Display

Earlier Sony cameras had a rear display that could only hinge in one direction (Figure 1-4) – it was great if you’re shooting in landscape

mode, but made portrait orientation shots awkward if you weren’t looking through the viewfinder.  Putting the hinge on the side of the display brings it into alignment with pretty much every other camera manufacturer.

Notice that the screen doesn’t flip out exactly 180 degrees – it’s something less like 174 degrees.  I think this was done intentionally to either avoid reflections from bright objects behind you (and shame on you for taking back-lit selfies!), or to avoid patent infringement.

1.1.3      New Menus / Touch Menus

For many years, online experts have chided the Sony menu system as being unintuitive, when in fact their actual complaint was It’s not like Canon or Nikon.  Well, in the world of marketing, customer feedback is never wrong.  And so Sony has completely re-designed the menu system, so that almost all of the like settings are grouped together.  This change has graced all Sony cameras since the A1.

Navigation in these new menus is quite fast: major categories can be selected by rotating the front dial; and sub-categories can be selected by rotating the rear dial.  The arrow buttons select the specific function you’re looking for.  With some practice, you can get to what you’re looking for rather quickly.

But wait!  The menus are now touch-sensitive!  Huzzah!!  Now things can be more intuitive than ever!  And I have to tell you, once you get used to it (takes some practice) navigating the menus is much faster using touch, despite the fact that the size of the menu buttons are quite tiny.

The unobvious thing you need to know about these new menus is they are exposure-mode-dial-position dependent.  Some items will appear or disappear entirely if the ring around the exposure mode dial switches from Images to Video.  (Not just greyed out, mind you – they will simply not be there.)

Worse, the numbers of the menus will change depending on the position of the exposure mode dial.  For example, in Figure 1-6 you can see that Menu 5 has different names depending on whether the ring around the exposure mode dial is set to Stills (left) or Movie (right).  That can be fine if your goal is to de-clutter the menus, but it’s awful if you’re writing a book and want to quickly instruct people what menu to go to.

So for this book, I will not use menu numbers when describing where to find things.  I’ll specify the valid exposure modes in the heading by using symbols like: (which means This feature is only available in the highlighted modes), and use something like MENU --> --> Drive Mode --> Bracket Settings to steer you to a function.  So, as you go through this book, I strongly recommend that you keep the camera in Imaging (Stills) mode to increase the chances of you finding the menu item on the first try, and move the ring around the Exposure Mode dial to Movie only when you see the symbol in the heading description.

1.1.4      Touch Function Icons

And here’s something new: There is an entirely different, ultra-simplified on-screen touch menu designed specifically for vloggers who are always in front of the camera and still want to control the basic operations without having to turn the camera around and futz with buttons.  You can bring up this new touch menu by swiping from the left edge toward the center.  (Or from the right edge toward the center).  You can see these menus in Figure 1-7.  Sony calls these Touch Function Icons.  Here’s what each one does when you touch it:

Left column:

•      Choose your Focus Mode: AF-S, AF-C, AF-A, DMF, MF (Section 3.10)

•      Choose your Focus Area (Section 3.9.6)

•      White Balance settings (Section 6.5.1)

•      Set the Creative Look (Section 6.6.2)

Right column:

•      Take a still image

•      Start/stop video

•      Change the Subject Recognition target (Section 7.3.2)

•      Bring up the Touch Function in Shooting menu (Section 10.5.3), where you can specify what happens when you touch the center of the screen.  The choices are:

o      Touch to Focus

o      Touch to Focus and Track your subject

o      Touch to focus and take the picture (just like your smartphone!)

o      Touch to spot meter and then lock the reading

o      Off – don’t take a picture when you touch in the picture area

•      Enter playback mode.

Bottom:

•      Adjust the exposure mode settings (f/stop, shutter speed, ISO)

To make the Touch Function icons go away, just swipe from the inside edge of the column to the outside edge of the screen.  This operation can be a little tricky; for example, if I wanted to swipe left to make the entire menu go away, I would start from just to the right of the left column.  Not on the column itself; for that would invoke a menu.  Not too far to the right of the column, for then the camera things you’re trying to specify a focus point.  There’s a very small thin vertical strip where the swipe left operation can be done successfully.  (Swipe right works the same way.)

Nuanced details about using the Touch Operation can be found in Section 3.9.3.

1.1.5      New Main Menu Screen

A new menu screen can be called up where you can see a dozen or so camera settings on one screen, all of which are quickly changeable just by touching or clicking on them.  (Less need for menu diving!)  There are different screens for shooting stills or video.  It’s kind of like the Fn menu but not customizable. 

This feature is incredibly similar to the For Viewfinder screen from MENU --> --> Operation Customize --> DISP (Screen Disp) Set --> Monitor --> For Viewfinder .  (Figure 1-8b).  Both screens present a lot of settings at-a-glance; you can touch both to change individual settings.  (Well, you have to double-tap the For Viewfinder icons.)  The For Viewfinder screen is actually handier, as you can have it showing on the LCD all the time and then use the EVF to compose your pictures.  No menu diving.

More about the Main Menu screen (well, not much more) can be found in Section 11.2.

1.1.6      My Menu and My Dial

After using the camera for a while you’ll find that there are only a handful of menu items you access on a regular basis.  You can add just those items to My Menu (the topmost menu) and create your own customized menu for fast access.  Chapter 11 goes into how to configure and use it.  You can even assign My Menu to a button for the fastest access to it.

There's also a feature called My Dial which allows you to temporarily reassign both dials and the control wheel at the push of a button.  (Section 10.4.3)

1.1.7      Auto Framing

This feature was designed with vloggers in mind, but I find it very handy for zoom calls as well.  The idea is you set your camera on a tripod with a wide-angle lens, and then get in front of the camera and move around.  The camera identifies you as a subject, and then does a digital zoom, filling the frame with you.  If you move around, the camera senses it and shifts the frame over, essentially following you around.  It’s like having your own camera operator.

I posted a very quick demonstration of this feature on youtube: https://youtu.be/ITY8DTnQbuU

More details about this function can be found in 5.13.2

1.1.8      LUTs!

Just when you thought that video configuration options couldn’t possibly get any more complicated, Sony has come up with another way to control the de-compression of gamma curves when shooting video.  They’re called Look-Up Tables (LUTs), and before I start getting into ridiculous detail that will make your eyes glaze over, here’s a video that explains their basic use using cats: https://vimeo.com/120318153

Chapter 12 goes into the basics of video and gamma curves and grading and all that, but at a high level:

1.      Professional videographers use gamma curves like S-Log3 to compress the dynamic range of the scene so it can be uncompressed later on in post using a process called grading.

2.      In the field, if you wanted to watch the video footage you just shot, it would look rather flat (because, you know, your video was compressed).  Earlier Sony cameras would allow you to apply the inverse-gamma curve when playing back so it would look normal to you.

3.      LUTs are another way of specifying an inverse gamma curve during playback, but instead of making it look normal, it makes it look close to how the cinematographer envisions the final scene after custom grading.  Will it look depressing like it was underexposed and shot under fluorescent light?  Will it look happy with lots of reds and yellows like a national park scene?  Will it look like it was shot with film?

LUTs of every look are available online or can be custom made using some of the popular video editing tools.  They are especially helpful for those working on-set, in dailies and in post-production. Specifically, how to review material shot in S-Log3/S-Gamut3.Cine on a standard monitor designed to operate in a conventional Rec.709 dynamic range and color space.  The LUT simply remaps the colors that were recorded in a compressed log format onto the color gamut of the screen viewing them. 

There are several camera features which control the use of LUTs, conveniently spread throughout the menu system. 😊  They are:

•      Log Shooting – Enable/Disable the use of LUTs (when disabled, the older Picture Profile function is enabled). (Section 5.1.11)

•      Select LUT – Choose from one of 3 built-in gamma curves, or one of 16 user-importable LUTs. (Section 6.6.4)

•      Manage User LUTs – Import, Edit, or Delete the custom LUTs.  (Section 6.6.5)

•      Display LUT – affects whether the LUTs are taken into account during playback on the camera. (Section 10.8.3)

I also provide more details on LUTs in Section 12.4.6. 

1.1.9      Log Shooting Setting

This new feature is an On/Off switch for the use of LUTs during playback of video.  This new feature tells the camera to switch between using Picture Profiles to determine the video gamma curve, and using a small handful of in-camera gamma curves along with Look-Up Tables (LUTs, previous section) for playback. 

More about this topic in Section 5.1.11.

1.1.10      S-Cinetone Color Profile

This is a relatively new Picture Profile borrowed from the Sony Venice pro video camera, renowned for its film-like appearance and for not requiring grading in post – you can get all the benefits of an expanded dynamic range (compared to standard video), and yet still use it straight from the camera.  I know of at least one sports photographer who uses this Picture Profile when shooting stills as well – he says it saves him the time of shooting RAW and lightening the shadows under athletes’ hats later on.

Sony produced a white paper explaining the technical aspects of this profile; you can download it here: https://bit.ly/3kthfZi .  I talk about the various gamma curves in the Picture Profile section, Section 6.6.3.

1.1.11      Two ways to make Time Lapse Movies

The A6700 gives you not one but TWO ways to make a time-lapse movie:

1.      There’s the Interval Shoot Function (Section 5.5.3) where the camera takes a series of still images, which you can convert to a movie on your computer using the Imaging Edge Desktop suite.  Check out this time-lapse video I made of our bird feeder doing its job for most of a day: https://youtu.be/Za1ZgCtwjHY . Here’s another one I took animating the Northern Lights from the back of a moving ship: https://bit.ly/2N4qgI6

2.      (New!) The 2nd option is the Time-Lapse function, where it does the same thing but converts the images into a video for you, saving a lot of memory and time. I used this function to shoot this cloudscape one afternoon using an 8mm lens: https://youtu.be/L-K72_v6i2s (Section 5.1.10)

Is one method better than another?  Well, there are two major differences:

1.      The interval shoot function gives you all the high-resolution images, allowing you to do a pan in the final video (as demonstrated in this blog post: https://friedmanarchives.blogspot.com/2023/04/how-to-create-time-lapse-videos-with.html

2.      The Time Lapse function makes the video for you and lets you shoot indefinitely; not just a fixed number of frames.  (It also can easily overheat if you tell the camera to make 4K time-lapse videos.)  But there are no individual high-res images to be had once the video is created.

With both features, your interval time is restricted to between 1s and 60s.

1.1.12      S&Q (Slow and Quick) movie modes

Another way to shoot in fast motion is the Slow and Quick Movie feature, which works for slow motion too.  It produces videos that play back in slow or fast motion organically, without the need to re-encode the video footage later on.  Now you can shoot your own Benny Hill chase scene without having to learn Final Cut Pro :-) (https://youtu.be/Zat9CRfUr-E ).  You can also use it for serious things, like analyzing a golf swing.

You can read more about S&Q Movie in Section 5.1.8.

1.1.13      Focus Bracketing

This is a feature I’ve wanted every time I shoot macro photography. If you're shooting macro images for catalogs (jewelry photography, for example), you can't just use a small f/stop and hope to get everything in focus.  Most of the time the depth-of-field won't be great enough, plus at the smallest f/stops something called diffraction kicks in, where the image actually gets a little bit fuzzier.  (That's why so many lens experts recommend shooting at the lens' sweet spot which is usually in the middle of it's f/stop range for sharpest results (but not the greatest depth-of-field).

Have a look at the close-up images of the top jewelry shot in Figure 1-11: both were shot with a Minolta 100mm macro lens (with the Sony LA-EA5 adapter) with the same lighting setup.  The left image was shot at f/32 (the smallest that lens can go), and the right image used a technique called Focus Stacking.  Notice how the left image isn't all that sharp even in the area toward the front (the lens was focused 1/3rd of the way between the closest part and the furthest part, which is considered best practice for maximum depth-of-field), whereas the right image is sharp from the front to the back.  (You can download the originals to compare them for yourself: https://bit.ly/3HZig9x .) 

Focus Stacking involves taking several different images, each focused at a different part of the subject.  Then all of the different images are merged on a computer, where only the sharpest parts of each image are composited into one really sharp, everything-is-in-focus final.  The first step of this process, that of taking several different images, is called Focus Bracketing.  The second part is merged using popular desktop software like Photoshop.

I talk about the process in detail in Section 3.11.6, where I’ll explain why I think Sony’s implementation could use some improvement.

1.1.14      BULB Timer Settings

Time exposures require you put the camera on a tripod and leave the shutter open for a long time.  In the past, if you wanted to leave the mechanical shutter open for longer than 30 seconds, you moved the exposure mode dial to M(anual) and chose a shutter speed called Bulb.  Bulb mode kept the shutter open for as long as you kept the shutter release button pressed.  (Or a proxy like the Bluetooth remote commander, or the Creators’ App on your phone). 

With the introduction of the Bulb Mode Timer feature, you can now dial in a long exposure time, anywhere from 2s to 5 minutes.  More details in Section 6.1.1.

1.1.15      What is HEIF?

HEIF is a new High Efficiency Image Format that may one day become as ubiquitous as .jpg.  It can represent still images at half the size of .jpgs, uses 10 bits per channel instead of 8 bits (allowing it to hold a wider dynamic range), and can also accommodate audio, video, and store more information than the conventional EXIF data fields.  Originally standardized in 2015 and officially embraced by Apple in 2017, HEIF (or specifically .HEIC files as output by iOS devices) is becoming the defacto standard for smartphone images not only for its small file size, but also for its ability to store distance information from newer smartphones that have time-of-flight sensors.  Smartphones can use this information to provide progressive levels of Gaussian Blur to areas of an image further away, allowing them to take pictures that look like they were taken by an expensive f/2.8 telephoto.

But there’s more to the story than that – the A6700 stores HEIF files in .hif format which most programs (including Photoshop) can’t open.  And Sony’s Imaging Edge Edit software can only do limited editing with them.  More details are provided in Section 5.1.1.

1.1.16      Shot Marks and Divider Frames

These features represent a new way to jump around.  There have been times in my life when I would be shooting a sequence of images (measuring frame rates for cameras I’m writing about, for example) and I’ll need to take a separator frame to let the future me know that what follows is a new batch of images.  The separator frame almost always entailed taking a picture of the floor or the ceiling.  Well, here’s a more sophisticated version that is actually useful: Sony calls it the Divider Frame, and it has one advantage over my floor shots: while playing back a day’s shooting in the camera, you can quickly jump to the next divider frame (or the image after the next divider frame).  Great time saver while out in the field.  In order to use it you have to assign Create Divider Frame to a button; then you can jump right to it as described in Section 8.7.6.

A similar tool for marking places in videos is called a Shot Mark – just assign Add / Delete Shot Mark 1/2 to a button, and press it while recording or playing back a movie.  A carefully-placed shot mark will allow the camera to shorten a video around the mark when transferring it to your smartphone.  Section 10.3.1.2 has more on this.

1.1.17      Anti-Flicker TV Scan

This feature is relatively new and it’s important and it’s buried in the Custom Key/Dial Set. Menu.  When you’re using the electronic shutter under older types of LED lighting (usually stage lighting), or under some types of sports stadium lighting, there can be a tendency to see banding in your images which is a result of an interference pattern – the LED lights aren’t actually continuous lights, and the electronic shutter doesn’t capture the entire frame all at once. 

To combat the problem in the past you had to lower your shutter speed, or perhaps change it to a fractional value as allowed in the Anti-Flicker Set. Menu (Section 5.6.7.1).  But finding the right fractional shutter speed to use is a hit-and-miss affair (shoot --> examine closely --> try another setting --> repeat).

Why couldn’t you use the camera’s intelligence to look at the non-continuous light, figure out what frequency it’s strobing at, and automatically calculate a shutter speed that won’t interfere with it? I used to ask out loud.  Apparently the folks at Sony were asking themselves the same thing, for they came up with the new Anti-Flicker Tv Scan function (which you have to assign to a button first).  The feature is covered in Section 5.6.7.3.

1.1.18      USB Streaming

Let’s face it, the webcam in your laptop is awful.  It has a wide-angle lens, probably 720p, low dynamic range, and probably looks up your nose.  (Want proof?  See my webcam shootout video at https://youtu.be/8fMn_BHx6K4 ).

People who are serious about how they look online (that’s me – I give Zoom lectures for photo clubs worldwide now) use good lighting and adapt their high-end cameras to become high-quality webcams.  To do this you once needed either an HDMI-to-USB converter (USD $80 or higher), or some Sony software which offered a lower-quality signal.

So how about this: All you Twitch and YouTube streamers can now use your camera to natively stream in 4K!  (HD also, if you want.)  And no special hardware or software drivers are needed!  Just a computer and a USB-C v3.2-complaiant cable.

Step-by-step instructions appear in Section 9.2. 

1.1.19      Focus Map

It looks pretty, but I’m not sure it’s actually helpful.  When shooting video, there are many focusing aids – Peaking Display (which thankfully is now on by default when autofocusing!), and the Auto Magnifier in MF function (which magnifies the area being focused upon for critical focusing). 

Then there’s this.  In the Focus Map mode, things that are closer than your focus point are highlighted in orange, and things that are further away than your focus point are highlighted in blue.  The further away from the focus point, the oranger and bluer they become.  Things you actually focused on are their original color.

Okay, but is it useful?  I haven’t come across anyone who seems to think so.  I certainly don’t; as I find the colors distracting and my eye has to actually work harder to identify what the actual subject is.  And when focusing manually it seems to take me significantly longer, and I’m considerably less sure of the sharpness.

I know you want to try it. :-)  Do the following:

•      Move the Ring around the Exposure Mode Dial to Movie ( )

•      Set Fn --> Focus Mode to MF

•      MENU --> --> Focus Assistant --> Focus Map --> On

•      Now try to focus manually on your intended subject.

This only works for autofocus lenses, be it Sony brand or 3rd party.  And a few more thoughts about this feature can be found in Section 7.4.1.

1.1.20      +/- 5 EV on Exposure Compensation

Once upon a time the physical dial controlling Exposure Compensation was limited to +/- 3 stops, whereas the Exposure Compensation menu allowed you to set it up to +/- 5 stops.  Now the rear physical dial (to which Exposure Compensation can be assigned) can go to 5 stops too.  Just keep in mind that the Live View screen will never go all white or all black – they do this to make sure that people who accidentally turn the knob won’t return the camera because they think the display is broken.

1.1.21      Gigabit Ethernet via USB

Need to offload data from the camera really fast?  Like up to 10 GB/s fast?  The A6700 can (in theory) communicate at gigabit speeds via a USB-C Ethernet Adapter.  This kind of network connection is much faster than transferring images and video via Wi-Fi or USB, and in use, you’d plug it in and transfer data to your computer on the same network.  (Section 9.6.1)

1.1.22      Soft Zoom assignable to buttons

This isn’t a big deal, but I like it.  If you don’t have a Power Zoom lens, you can get up to 4x power zoom-like behavior by doing a digital zoom during video.  With MENU --> --> Zoom --> Zoom --> On, I assigned Zoom Operation (W) and Zoom Operation (T) to the Left and Right arrow buttons respectively (Section 10.3.2).  When shooting video I just press the left and right arrows to zoom smoothly.  Nice! 

You can even specify the zoom speed in this mode (Section 5.10.3).

1.1.23      4-channel audio recording

Your A6700 can record up to four 24-bit digital audio channels in video, using an accessory called the XLR-K3M which mounts atop the camera’s Multi-function hot shoe.  The XLR-K3M has two XLR (conventional 3-conductor microphone) inputs and a 3.5mm phono plug for audio input. See section 12.7 for suggested microphone models.

You even have the option of specifying how the four channels are mixed in your monitor headphones.  Section 10.10.2 has details.

1.1.24      Tethered Shooting in Multiple Ways

Tethered Shooting refers to the ability to hook up your camera to your computer via a USB cable (the tether) and have the computer act as a full remote experience for your camera: You can see the Live View on the computer screen, you can adjust several shooting parameters, and you can have the image automatically download to your computer after each shot. 

The A6700 offers multiple ways to do this, both via a USB cable, a CAT 5e or CAT 6 cable (using a USB-to-Ethernet adapter, like this one https://tinyurl.com/278c6ycj ), and also wirelessly (with or without an access point).  The options available to you are:

1)      PC Remote Function specifies most of your image transfer parameters – wired vs. wireless,