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Drive Mode 141

 Since this feature implements a Program mode for you, you can’t
formally specify an f/stop or a shutter speed as you shoot. However,
you DO have access to “Program Shift”, where you rotate one of the
control dials and you begin to cycle through different f/stop and
shutter speed combinations (which all let in the same amount of light,
as described in Section A.6)
 Yes, it can autofocus between shots; however don’t expect it to
perform miracles. This is not a $6,000 camera. It probably won’t
track a Formula 1 race car, but it can easily track a car moving at 45
MPH or a soccer game (See my blog post at http://bit.ly/1rUQdWy
for a test which apparently hits this camera’s limits).
 If you want the camera to track a moving object, you’ll have to put the
camera into AF-C mode yourself. The camera will not do it for you
automatically. Lock-On AF and Center Lock-On AF can help track
your subject as well.
 Between frames, the camera shows you the picture you just took after
you shot, rather than live view (i.e., what you’re going to take). When
you’re shooting in machine gun mode and looking through the
viewfinder that may not make much of a practical difference.
 In this mode the autofocus mechanism officially can’t handle lenses
whose maximum f/stop is f/5.6 or smaller. (The only lens I can think
of that falls into this category is the 500mm f/8 mirror lens.)
It should be noted that the 12 fps frame rate is an AVERAGE rate – while
compiling the memory card write speed tests for the original A77 I
discovered that the actual shooting speed can range from 10 to 15.15 fps!!

5.7.4 10S AND 2S SELF-TIMERS

There are actually two self-timer durations. The first one, with
a delay of 10 seconds, is ideal for the typical group shot
scenario. The second one is a 2-second delay that’s designed for macro
photography – you’re behind a tripod, taking lots of pictures in a row, you
don’t want your finger-on-the-shutter-release action to induce vibration in
the camera, and you’re too impatient to wait a full 10 seconds for every
shot. (And you don’t have any of the available remotes.) Use the Left and
Right arrow keys to switch between the two self timer modes when in the
menu.