The Camera Settings I Use Most
Only applicable to my specific kit; your mileage may vary.
My friend Gareth Willey published a piece detailing the default camera settings he uses. I learned that my favorite settings are very close to his.
Gareth currently shoots with Sony full-frames, mostly prime lenses, and many vintage lenses with no autofocus or other automation.
I shoot Sony “half frames,” APS-C, half the area of traditional 36x24mm, with a crop factor of 1.5. I have some manual lenses, but my preference is auto, coupled electronically to the body, and zooms. In theory, the smaller sensors degrade image quality compared with full frames. Welp, maybe, but I can’t see it.
I don’t use manual lenses if for no other reason than my eyesight is going, and I find Sony’s autofocus, especially eye-autofocus, rarely misses.
I rarely use primes because I love zooms, and maybe I’m nuts, but everything I shoot to me looks wire sharp, and I am a devoted sharp freak—the single most common reason I have for deleting a frame while culling is unsharpness in the subject.
I shamelessly love automation. I am allowed since everything I know has deep roots in manual operation. Experience is the greatest teacher. Doing something the hard way is like dropping the weights on your bat before stepping to the plate.
A good friend of Gareth’s gifted him a Voigtlander BESSA Anastigmat Skopar, a German 6cm film (analog) camera from the 1960s. Take a look at his lavishly illustrated piece, and you will see some of what we went through in those thrilling days of yesteryear — (and no wonder we are giddy for automation).
Still, us octogenarians wouldn’t have it any other way since our firm foundation in analog serves us well now.
On the other hand, we didn’t like the tedium then and were grateful as automation slowly wormed its way into photography. Some articles advise newbies to start with their self-driving cameras in full manual mode precisely because it is such a terrific teaching tool, but that demands a degree of self-discipline that few have. While encouraging it, I recognize that you have a ±thousand-dollar camera that can take fantastic pictures in full auto. If you lapse, how can I criticize you?
Still, there is value in understanding what your automation is doing so you control it rather than the other way around.
Why are camera settings important?
Camera settings control the exposure triad to ensure correct exposure.
Your settings control the exposure triangle to ensure correct exposure. The analog lens above is a Hasselblad C 60mm f/5.6 Zeiss Distagon in Compur shutter. Except for ISO, all the exposure controls are in the lens. The film in the camera sets the ISO (ASA) in analog. The current settings on the lens are 1/15-second at f/8, range 30 feet. The mechanically linked red markers on the range scale show the lens is currently set for hyperfocal at f/8, from about 13 feet to infinity. The base exposure would be determined with a handheld light meter.
I love this Eisenstaedt quote because it is my ideal and why I set up my modern digital cameras to come as close to it as possible. I want my cameras to manage the boring stuff so that I can concentrate on the picture. I am perfectly capable of doing it the “Old Fashioned” way — but why do we say it’s old fashioned, mmmm?
My matched working bodies are usually set up identically since I use them in tandem, each with a different zoom lens. The lenses overlap, giving me a continuous range from 16mm to 210mm (24–315mm FF equivalent). I tried using mismatched bodies — an A6300 with an A6400 — and there is just enough difference between them to throw me off. Buying matched bodies is admittedly $pendy, but for me, it’s essential.
I synchronize the clocks in both bodies.
When I set out on assignment with two bodies, I ensure their clocks are synchronized, preferably to the second. When the files from both bodies are combined in Lightroom, they will all be in consecutive shot order. I sync often because, like all clocks, they drift a little fast or slow.
User Presets — how did we ever manage without them?
This is my Function Menu. Pressing the Fn button at right opens it. The menu is fully customizable, with twelve slots for my most-often used settings. Any of these settings can be changed on the fly, but my working style is to have my most-used settings ready as soon as the camera boots.
- Silent shutter is off but can be turned on from here.
- White balance is set to Auto (AWB). Since I shoot only raw, I leave it unless in some exotic wavelength like sodium vapor. Then I shoot a custom WB from a gray target to minimize hair loss in post.
- ISO Auto ranged from 100 to 6400(ish).
- Metering mode center weighted.
I am crazy about mirrorless being in Live View full-time. I shamelessly rely on the preview image on the screen or in my EVF. I glance at the histogram, but my method is to get the proper exposure by seeing it live. It works! So long as I pay attention I never blow an exposure. - Steadyshot (vibration reduction), nearly always on except on a tripod.
- Touch screen off. Too easy for an errant fat finger to change something.
- “Shutter Speed Faster.” The camera automatically shortens the time according to the focal length, whatever it is. Since I use zooms, I need not pay attention to my shutter speed as the shutter will always be about a stop faster than the focal length. It is compensated by “floating” ISO.
- Flash compensation, plus or minus, in third-stop intervals.
- Focus Peaking Off. I turn it on when focusing manually. Explaining how it works is beyond the scope of this article.
- “Peak Mid.” Peaking can be stronger or lesser.
- “Peak White.” Peaking colors can be changed for better contrast.
- Regular exposure compensation, plus or minus, in third-stop intervals.
User preset 1 is Events.
One: Continous shooting LO on these cameras is 3-FPS. I can tap off one or as many as I think needed—aperture priority defaults at f/6.3 for any lens. ISO in Auto, capped at 6400, quickly changed.
Two: AF-C — AutoFocus Continuous. The camera is always following focus on my selected subject. Sometimes called sport AF.
Three: Zone Focus, a default preference, quickly changed.
Four: Face and eye detection on full-time. Astounding accuracy.
My shutters are set to automatically seek the fastest speed compatible with the focal length since I am almost always handholding. WB stays in auto most of the time, and I shoot only raw, so I usually meter down the middle or slightly to the right.
All the settings are changeable within the preset and stay where I put them even if I switch the camera off! If I want to quickly revert to my defaults, I dial out of the preset (Memory Recall) and right back in; all settings revert instantly to the original values. That’s incredibly handy.
User preset 2 is MANUAL.
User Preset two defaults to semi-manual and can be changed to full manual in seconds. The default ISO is 400. The aperture and shutter are manual.
One: Two-second self-timer in case I forgot my remote.
Two: Focus, in this case, is AF-S — Autofocus Single Shot — but easily switched to full manual, and my Sonys have focus magnifiers that engage automatically.
Three: Focus area set to wide.
Four: AF, when on, is almost always set to find faces and, preferably, eyes. The A6400s can be permanently set for eye autofocus, which is one reason I shelved the A6300s which could not.
I can wander indoors, outdoors, in low light or full sun, without giving much or any thought to settings except for the aperture. I twiddle the wheel to adjust for the DOF I want. The camera follows along with the ISO and shutter needed for handholding any light. I shot a job recently at ISO 12,800. Eek. But there was no frickin’ light. After culling, the keepers were run through Topaz DeNoise AI, and you would never know.
Shooting raw, floating white balance and ISO — Modern Magick.
Today, ISO can be varied from frame to frame. For me, that is huge, and I take full advantage of it. Gareth prefers to set his ISO manually. I like to let my cameras handle it but in a semi-controlled fashion. Not all cameras may permit this, but my compact Sonys allow for a range of ISOs to be set, with the low and high ends adjustable. I usually let my ISO “float” between native ISO 100 to “capped” at 6400. This allows me to walk around an event from inside to outside and back without concern for basic exposure errors.
My camera settings are tailored to letting the camera do the grunt work so I can literally focus on the job, but I remain grateful for my grounding in analog and manual. I feel I have essentially achieved Alfred Eisenstaedt’s ideal; all we need do now is get rid of the cameras.
I am always open to questions in the comments.
📸Thanks for looking in. I sincerely appreciate it! 😊👍
