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p.1 #11 · Why is my A7iv so Complicated to Set Up? | |
snegron7 wrote:
Just got a new A7iv a couple of weeks ago, and I thought I did a pretty decent job of setting it up until I downloaded some images onto my computer.
Some of the images were outdoors of an Osprey in its nest, other images were indoors of a family gathering. The one thing both sets of images had in common were that they were lackluster, lacked detail, not one single image was sharp, and the noise from the indoor shots was extremely noticeable. Not to sound like a jerk, but the images looked identical to the ones I got with a Panasonic point & shoot I sold not too long ago.
I tried setting it up with the same settings I use on my old A7c, but it seems like the menu system in the A7iv is completely different (almost like it was made by a different manufacturer). Not being one to give up easily, I purchased "David Busch's Sony A7IV Guide to Digital Photography" book plus I googled several sources to find out more about the menu settings. One thing the book and all the online sources had in common was that they all had absolutely different menu options, like if they were referring to different cameras!!
So, I'm thinking of several scenarios here:
1. None of the online sources or David Busch have actually used a Sony A7iv, and they were most likely using Chatgpt to compile their info.
2. Sony decided to make 792 different variations of the A7iv, each with unique menu systems just to keep everyone busy trying to figure out how to set it up.
3. I have developed some rare form of photodyslexia that renders me incapable of deciphering the menu system of the A7iv.
What am I trying to photograph? Everything in general. I don't use tripods. I want to capture details on both static and moving objects. I want to take pictures of birds, people, buildings, storm clouds, and my dog. I shoot indoors, outdoors, low light, and sometimes lots of light.
My current "settings" (as best as I can tell) are:
- Image Quality= JPEG/HEIF Switch, Slot 1 JPEG extra fine, 33m. (I tried RAW, and RAW + JPEG, but the results were even worse).
- High ISO NR= Low (I set it to Off at first, but the noise was ridiculously high, so I set it to Low).
- Color Space = SRGB
- Lens Compensation = Auto for all (using Tamron lenses).
- AF= Continuous, (Balanced Emphasis for both AF-S and AF-C), AF Tracking sensitivity to 1 (locked on), AF Illuminator to Auto, Aperture Drive in AF to standard, AFw/Shutter to On, Pre-AF to off. The other 5 pages of options for AF are how it came from the factory.
So, my question is where can I find a good source for understanding my menu options (and no, the online manual will most likely be just as complicated and non-intuitive to use as every online manual for every camera ever produced by every single camera manufacturer ever).
Note: I know there is always a steep lurning curve when buying a new camera, but I've owned and successfully used a bunch of cameras (Sony A7c, Nikon D750, Canon 6dmk2, 7dmk2, R6, R6II, R7, OM-5, GRIII, etc.). This A7iv has proven to be the most challenging of all my previous cameras....Show more →
As someone who has used Nikon and Canon since before there were menus, I agree that Sony menus rather suck, but you can find most of the settings in there and save then to a CAMSET.DAT file. The first thing to do is ditch the jpegs and shoot ARW on a tripod. It's not clear what lenses you are using, so maybe they are not so great copies or some other issue. At some point you have to decide why you are bouncing around and what you are missing.
EBH
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