Another critical setting worth changing is how images and photos are recorded onto your memory cards. Now, if you are shooting purely in RAW, this setting doesn’t matter much, but I always make it a point to change it regardless. If you are new to post-processing with your photographer, you might want to keep this setting on until you feel confident processing your images with noise. One of the first settings you can change has to do with selecting JPEG or HEIF for your compressed image file format. Now you can quickly adjust the three “Initial camera settings” for your Sony a1 II via the Creators App. The first window will ask you if you want to perform the initial camera settings via your smartphone.
The Sony VG-C5 Vertical Battery Grip
If you have spent any time shooting video, you are probably familiar with the Zebra or Dancing Ants setting on most digital cameras. The benefits of the faster CF-Express cards will be felt in how quickly your buffer clears when shooting in high FPS modes and how quickly your images and videos are off-loaded from your memory cards to your computer. There, you will find “Rec Frame rate” and “Record Settings.” You must be in the “Movie” camera mode to see these settings in the menu. You must be in the “Video” camera mode to see these settings specific for video. To shoot at 30fps, you need to meet a certain number of requirements and settings that need to be changed to hit this impressive speed with 50mp images.
Once you have done that, it will ask you to pair a new remote with the camera or select a list of remotes you have already paired with the a1 II. Talk about upping the quality of those work Zoom calls! You know you are good to go if you don’t see the “Dancing Ants” or Zebra lights flashing on any part of your frame. Because it is harder to recover blown-out highlights with video, Zebra can be a helpful tool. Your three options are Auto, Mechanical Shutter, or Electronic Shutter.
Starting Up Your Camera For the First Time
It is important to note that in this mode, the a1 II is taking all of the images for your timelapse, but is not actually putting the timelapse movie together for you. Look for “Bracket Settings,” where you will find both the “Bracket Type” and the “Focus Bracket settings” menu items. This setting will apply to all bracketed features on the a1 II (exposure, white balance, and focus). In these situations, I will apply different shutter speeds and ISOs, select different AF areas, FPS, and use animal Eye AF settings for example.
Getting the Most Out Of The Pre-Capture Feature (New to the A1 II)
October 18th – 25th, 2025 Come join us on an adventure of a lifetime to the amazing Italian Dolomites. This will drastically decrease the times you must physically clean your sensor, especially if you constantly change lenses. It is white with a complete image buffer, but as you begin to take the photos, you will see the bar drain from the top.
Easily one of my favorite accessories for any Sony camera, getting an Extended Eye Cup for the a1 II will help when shooting in bright situations, such as the middle of the day. In addition, a battery grip on the Sony a1 II can help you balance the carrying weight of the larger telephoto lenses when shooting subjects handheld. On top of that, I will also give away my personal settings file that you can load on your a1 II to speed things up. Want quicker access to make the camera shoot in truly silent mode, or want to change Eye AF from Animal to Insect? This way, I can always try to keep my subject’s head within the AF zone box and, therefore, in a similar location within the frame/composition of my video. Mode – Helps you decide when to engage the featureCrop Level – Large, Medium or Small crop into your subject as it moves around the frame.Framing Tracking Speed – Adjusts the speed your subject is tracked.
Real time traffic updates
Selecting “Set” will take you to a second screen where you can adjust the Screen Reader settings to help you if you have issues with blindness/eyesight. With the a1 II, Sony has taken everything we loved about the original and added many highly requested features, such as a dedicated AI-based AF processor, RAW pre-capture, Eye AF tracking in video mode, and much more. Additionally, the background changer feature allows users to easily modify the backdrop of their images, adding versatility to their photography.
Nearly every button and menu on your a1 can and should be customized. Don’t like what a button does on the back of the camera, reassign it. Did you know you can customize nearly every button and dial on the camera, let alone the Fn and My Menus systems too? You will see a small tracking box appear, and it should follow your subject around the frame as it moves.
These settings are in the “Focus” menu under “Focus Area”. But if you want to get a head start on this process, I love turning on the “Display as Group” setting, which allows all of the images from a burst to be grouped together in Playback mode. Because it is that JPEG thumbnail that you look at on the back of your camera when you check out your images, even if you are shooting in the RAW file format.
With it turned on, when you are in the manual focusing mode, color pixels will appear where the camera believes you are close to being in focus. This setting will artificially pull up an image’s shadow exposure/details. One of the last settings that I want to turn off with the Sony a1 II is the D-Range Optimizer, otherwise known as own as DRO. If the shutter speed drops too low, it can cause your photos to look blurry and out of focus because of the photographer’s and subject’s natural movement. In this situation, you will want to set a minimum shutter speed so the camera doesn’t drop below a set speed. While you can jump into the Sony a1 II’s BULB mode by scrolling past a 30-second exposure in Manual mode, you cannot control how long the shutter stays open outside of pressing the shutter button again or using a remote.
Framing StabilizerThis feature automatically keeps the subject in the same portion of the frame (either the center or a custom set location). Another new feature to the a1 II is the Focus Map for shooting video. Settings up the S&Q feature is pretty straightforward if you have any experience shooting video, but we can review things just in case. Here, you get to pick the quality, bitrate, and color options for any videos you shoot. Another setting worth looking at is if you want the a1 II to put a frame around any subject it identifies within your composition.
One way to help protect your camera from theft (or, at the very least, help you track it down if it was stolen) is to embed your Sony a1 II’s serial number into every photo and video it creates. You can add the Photographer and Copyright holder to any images you create here. You are in the right place if you want to have your copyright information embedded into your images. One thing you want to make sure to change is the “Auto Switch Media Card” setting. Next up to turn off is the High ISO Noise Reduction setting for the same reasons mentioned above under the “Long Exposure Noise Reduction” setting. If you are new to post-processing, you might want to leave this setting on, but I recommend you turn it off for almost everyone else.
While Sony prides itself on its smaller and portable (but extremely powerful) mirrorless cameras, there are times when a vertical battery grip can make a big difference. While you can look to some more affordable 3rd party battery options, I don’t recommend them as you never know if they were built to the exact specifications that Sony lays out for its cameras. While customizing a camera is a very personal thing, I do understand just how time-consuming it can be.
Video
Network StreamingNew to the a1 II is the ability to stream using the network/internet, although you must have your camera set up with Sony’s Creator App on your Android or Apple device. A lesser-known feature of the latest Sony mirrorless cameras is that they can easily be used as a webcam. Just so you know, this will only be viewable inside the camera in the Playback mode. This will keep the images you flagged as “Protected” and remove everything else from that burst.
By default, the Sony a1 II is set on sRGB, the smallest but most universally accepted Color Space to work in. It is here that you can choose to shoot in JPEG, RAW or RAW + JPEG as well as adjust the kind of RAW file you wish to shoot with. Next you will want to adjust the Image Quality Settings to fine-tune your choice of RAW or JPEG quality levels. While many photographers will skip this step because they shoot in RAW, I know other photographers that shoot in RAW + JPEG.
Everything To Do With Focus Bracketing (New to the a1 II)
Like all digital mirrorless cameras, the Sony a1 II, if used extensively (or left on), will drain its battery reasonably quickly compared to the older DSLRs. You can see how I customize my camera and why I made those choices there. That is why I have written a second blog post, Customizing Your Sony a1 II, which solely focuses on how I have personally customized my Sony a1 IIs (I own two of them).
How To Change The Self-Timer Settings
While you could always connect to your Sony a1 II using the Sony Creator’s App and use the remote function, this option does tend to drain the camera (and your phone’s battery) faster. The combination gives much of the flexibility of using a full gimbal to track moving subjects, such as birds in flight, without needing the weight of a heavy tripod and gimbal system. My current favorite setup uses a two-part system of a Benro or Lefoto monopod and a Wimberly monopod head. With many Sony a1 II users interested in sports and wildlife photography, we should discuss the importance of picking up a quality Monopod for your a1 II. A good gimbal will give you the freedom and stability to move in the X, Y, and Z motions to easily track a moving subject, such as a bird in flight.
Within the AF system with the a1 II, you might need to change the focus area depending on what you are trying to photograph. You can choose Stable (For static or slow-moving subjects), Standard (The default option), or Responsive (For rapid-moving subjects that are erratic in their behavior). For example, when I know I am trying to photograph a specific bird flying, I will use either 2 or 1 so my AF system feels more “sticky.” and sticks with my target subject more aggressively.
If you change this from “Standard” to “High,” you can shoot for longer periods in environments where your camera is producing or experiencing prolonged heating. In addition, it has a fully articulating rear LCD screen, a new, more ergonomic body, and the latest Sony camera menu system. To top things off, it had one of the best AF systems of any mirrorless camera at the time. Key advancements include improved ergonomics, faster processing, and AI-driven subject recognition, making it a versatile tool for professionals seeking both high-end photography and video capabilities.
- These settings are in the “Shooting” menu under “Image Quality/Rec.” and “Proxy Settings”.
- To combat this, I recommend carrying a few Sony z100 batteries with you at any time.
- One of the first settings I personally like to turn off is the “Long Exposure Noise Reduction”.
- The catch is that you need to use a tripod and Sony’s software on your computer to combine the sets of images.
- But if you want to get a head start on this process, I love turning on the “Display as Group” setting, which allows all of the images from a burst to be grouped together in Playback mode.
- The Alpha 1 II introduces improved ergonomics, including a redesigned grip, a four-axis multi-angle LCD, and a new custom button for added convenience.
This can be done when post-processing if you are shooting in RAW, but doing it in camera means one less thing to worry about. One of the first settings I personally like to turn off is the “Long Exposure Noise Reduction”. We have many more settings to adjust, configure, and learn about! I highly recommend you connect your smartphone to the app as it will help you easily set up a few settings via your phone.
- With many Sony a1 II users interested in sports and wildlife photography, we should discuss the importance of picking up a quality Monopod for your a1 II.
- One thing you want to make sure to change is the “Auto Switch Media Card” setting.
- With AI Eraser, users can easily remove unwanted objects from their images, resulting in cleaner and more professional-looking photos.
- Once you have set these initial settings to your liking, you can click the “Use above settings” button, and your a1 II will be ready for use for the first time.
- Did you know you can customize nearly every button and dial on the camera, let alone the Fn and My Menus systems too?
Listening to user feedback from its Alpha series community, Sony has vegas casino download redefined its flagship model, improving it with new features while retaining the core strengths of its predecessor. Sony Electronics has unveiled its latest flagship full-frame mirrorless camera, the Alpha 1 II, a follow-up to the 2021 Alpha 1. This outstanding combination of Sony lenses and advanced sensors, along with AI enhancements such as AIGC Portrait mode, AI Eraser, and Universal Tone, allows for professional-quality photos that look naturally beautiful. With AI Eraser, users can easily remove unwanted objects from their images, resulting in cleaner and more professional-looking photos.
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