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Chapter 2 ESSENTIAL CONFIGURATION

New owners of the A77 II often experience “option shock” – so many
menu items and customizations are available that it literally flummoxes
(look it up) them. Where to start? This chapter is designed to address that
very problem right away, so you can configure your camera in a way I’ve
found to be useful. Short descriptions are followed by hyperlinks to
Section numbers where you can deliver deeper into a function’s settings
and learn more about the options available.

First, let me take a minute and recommend some very quick function
settings that will make the camera work better for you right out of the gate
(or box). I know it’s a little rude to talk about camera settings before I
actually talk about what these functions do; however this is supposed to be
an “advanced” book and besides, I provide section numbers where you can
learn more about these functions right away. Some of these may already be
the factory default; however just to make sure, here are my most-essential
camera settings. (The end of this chapter contains ALL of my personal
camera settings.)

Let’s start with the setting I get asked about the most.

2.1 SOME ESSENTIAL CONFIGURATION

MENU  1  Monitor I always get annoyed when the camera
Brightness  MANUAL  +1 changes the LCD brightness on its own
depending upon the level of ambient light
MENU  1  Viewfinder (which is the factory default). (Section 9.1)
Brightness  MANUAL  +1
MENU  1 Auto Review Although being able to see the shot you
 Off just took is a GREAT idea (“Did that person
have their eyes closed?”), when you’re
shooting kids it can mean missing the next
great shot. So I make sure this feature is