Page 290 - Friedman Archives

290 “Custom” (Gear icon) Menu Settings

The A77 II introduces a new setting for this feature called “Balanced
Emphasis”. I am guessing that this is supposed to provide a happy medium
between the two extremes represented by the other two settings. My
problem with it is I have no idea how the camera makes its decisions in this
setting, and so my trust level is low. Couple this with the fact that memory
is cheap, bad pictures deletable, and that “Release” always obeys my
commands, and you can quickly see why I don’t see any benefit to this
new, factory default setting.

TIP: Autofocus Priority mode does not work when your camera is set to
Manual Focus, so don’t expect it to act as a tool that will only take pictures
when you’ve manually set the lens to the right distance. In Manual Focus
mode, you’re really on your own!

6.20 AF W SHUTTER

Menu Position MENU  4  AF With Shutter

What it Does De-couples the shutter release and Autofocus Functions
when off.

Recommended Setting On

Nearly every point-and-shoot and DSLR on the planet uses the shutter
release button for both autofocus and for taking the picture. But I have
been in situations where having one button perform two functions makes
things less ideal then they could be. For example, when shooting weddings
and you’re taking group shots (or when you’re shooting portraits in the
studio), the distance between the subject and the camera doesn’t change,
yet each time you want to take a shot you have to focus lock on the
subject’s eyes, recompose, and shoot. Really, for these situations all you
really need to do is focus once and then lock it in until your camera-to-
subject distance changes.
The A77 II actually gives you a few different ways of doing this:

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