Table of Contents
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Exploring the
Sony Alpha
A700
G
oing out and photographing with your Sony Alpha
A700 set on Auto is easy, but to really unlock the
capabilities of your camera, knowledge is the key. This chapter
helps get you acquainted with the A700 and all of its controls
and features.
The A700 is built on an aluminum chassis made of a magne-
sium alloy with a plastic-coated exterior and rubber environ-
mental seals. The camera features a 12-megapixel CMOS
sensor, an 11-point auto focus system, and a wide range of ISO
speeds. With a 3-inch LCD, an impressive range of color modes
(called Creative Styles), and Dynamic-Range Optimizer func-
tions that are supported in RAW using the included Sony soft-
ware, the A700 offers tremendous power to get great shots.
However, it also has many buttons, switches, levers, and dials,
to control all these great features. This chapter guides you
through what and where all the controls are.
Camera Controls
Holding the camera as you would when shooting, you should
notice that the layout of the buttons and the controls seems
to be just right. And, with the amazing amount of customiza-
tion that is possible with the A700, some of the buttons can
even be programmed to perform different functions.
Chapter 2 covers customization; the definitions
here apply to a camera with the factory default
settings.
1
1
C H A P T E R
In This Chapter
Camera controls
Remote Commander
Viewfinder display
LCD display
Image files
ISO sensitivity
Viewing images on the
camera
White balance setting
Metering modes
Scene exposure modes
Semiautomatic and
manual exposure
modes
Drive modes
Creative Styles
D-Range Optimization
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Table of Contents
Related Manuals for Sony Alpha A700
Summary of Contents for Sony Alpha A700
- Page 1 With a 3-inch LCD, an impressive range of color modes camera (called Creative Styles), and Dynamic-Range Optimizer func- tions that are supported in RAW using the included Sony soft- White balance setting ware, the A700 offers tremendous power to get great shots.
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Page 2: On The Front
Part I Using the Sony Alpha A700 On the front Handgrip. The ergonomic hand- grip also houses the battery. The The front of the A700 is not only the place grip is comfortable and secure for where the lens is attached, it is also the loca- horizontal and vertical shooting. - Page 3 Chapter 1 Exploring the Sony Alpha A700 Depth of field preview button. Strap mounting point. One of the After the subject is in focus, press- two mounting points for the cam- ing the Depth of field preview but- era strap.
- Page 4 Part I Using the Sony Alpha A700 Front control Built-in flash dial Shutter button Exposure button Mode dial White ISO button Drive Balance mode Hot shoe button button Image sensor indicator A top view of the camera Built-in flash. The flash is ISO button.
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Page 5: On The Back
Chapter 1 Exploring the Sony Alpha A700 On the back Menu button. The Menu button opens the Main menu on the LCD. The back of the camera is dominated by the Display button. The Display but- large 3-inch LCD, but when you hold the... - Page 6 Part I Using the Sony Alpha A700 possible to protect the images Super SteadyShot. This turns the using the Protect feature in the Super SteadyShot vibration reduc- Playback menu 1. tion on or off. Multi-selector. The multi-selector The Protect feature is covered in lets you select and execute a vari- detail in Chapter 2.
- Page 7 Threaded tripod socket. The Sony lens, the focus sensors, and an Alpha A700 comes with a standard information display below the tripod socket that is aligned with image. the exact center of the lens.
- Page 8 When the SuperSteady Flash sync terminal. The Sony shot is turned off, the fastest shut- Alpha A700 can use any flash or ter speed that can be used is studio flash system with a flash 1/250 of a second.
- Page 9 The left side of the A700 Remote terminal. The RM-S1AM Mini HDMI socket. Using an Remote can be used with the Sony HDMI cable that has a mini HDMI Alpha A700 by opening the cover connector on one end for the...
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Page 10: Remote Commander
Duo to save the images, and this The Remote Commander is a great acces- slot is where it is inserted into the sory for your Sony Alpha A700, and the best camera. The Memory Stick Duo part is that it doesn’t cost anything extra. - Page 11 Slide show. The Slide show button starts a slide show of the images. Pressing it a second time stops the When the Sony Alpha A700 is connected to slide show. a television, the Remote Commander can control the playback of the images stored Scale up/down.
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Page 12: Viewfinder Display
Spot AF area. This is the small square directly in the middle of the viewfinder. It is the focus indicator The viewfinder in the Sony Alpha A700 cov- for the Spot auto focus setting. ers 95 percent of the frame, and because... -
Page 13: The Data Display
Chapter 1 Exploring the Sony Alpha A700 The data display small bar over the scale shows the current exposure setting in regard The data display across the bottom of the to what the camera believes is the display gives you instant access to the most correct setting. -
Page 14: Lcd Display
Part I Using the Sony Alpha A700 LCD Display This display is viable for five seconds and then the display turns off. This can be adjusted using the info.disp.time setting The 3-inch screen on the back of the camera located in the Setup menu 1. - Page 15 Chapter 1 Exploring the Sony Alpha A700 1.10 This shows the LCD screen’s enlarged Recording Information display in the horizontal mode and the vertical mode. With less information visible than in the Detailed mode, the screen is easy to read even in low light.
- Page 16 Part I Using the Sony Alpha A700 The following bulleted list details the Flash compensation indicator. If any flash compensation is set, a Recording Information display. small arrow appears under the EV Register number. The A700 can Scale, showing the amount of have three user-defined settings.
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Page 17: Playback Screen
Chapter 1 Exploring the Sony Alpha A700 shown here. D-R for Standard, D- Shots remaining counter. This is R+ for Advanced Auto, and D-R+ pretty self-explanatory. It shows the with Lv1 to Lv5 for the Advanced amount of shots that can still be mode with multiple levels. - Page 18 Part I Using the Sony Alpha A700 The information across the bottom of the screen consists of: 100-0090 RAW+J Shutter speed. The shutter speed of the current image appears here. Aperture. The f-stop of the current image appears here. ISO sensitivity. The actual ISO of...
- Page 19 Chapter 1 Exploring the Sony Alpha A700 The top area has a thumbnail strip that more information that appears on the left of holds, at the most, five images. The image the chart, the darker the image; and the that is currently selected has a red bar more information that appears on the right beneath it.
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Page 20: Image Files
White balance. The white balance The aspect ratio is the width of the image used for this image is shown here. divided by the image height. The Sony Alpha A700 has a feature not found on most cam- D-Range Optimizer. The D-Range setting is shown here. - Page 21 file and the format of the infor- mation that is written to the memory card. 16:9. This is the aspect ratio of The Sony Alpha A700 has seven different file high-definition televisions. Sony is format settings. a leader in the high-definition tele- vision field, and with the HDMI...
- Page 22 Part I Using the Sony Alpha A700 also be set by pressing the Function button to open the Quick Navigation menu, and 2 3 4 then using the multi-selector to choose the Image size L:12M current file quality; by pressing the multi-...
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Page 23: Iso Sensitivity
The ISO settings determine how sensitive Disp button, the display cycles to the next display mode. The three the image sensor is to light. The Sony A700 modes are ISO settings range from 100 all the way to 6400, with 100 being the least sensitive •... - Page 24 Part I Using the Sony Alpha A700 number / total images that are 100-0629 on the card. The type of stor- age, CompactFlash or Memory stick, is also displayed on the top-left corner of the image. The Front or Rear control dial...
- Page 25 Chapter 1 Exploring the Sony Alpha A700 100-0629 60/63 60/63 60/63 2008 1 13 1:51 Magnif. Full Scr Exit 1.22 The Index screen 1.21 The Zoom screen Pressing the Index button opens Although the 3-inch LCD is a thumbnail index screen. This...
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Page 26: White Balance Setting
Part I Using the Sony Alpha A700 White Balance Auto White Balance. Auto White Balance or AWB sets the white bal- Setting ance automatically. Daylight. This setting is for photos taken in the bright direct sunlight The color of an object changes depending outdoors. - Page 27 Chapter 1 Exploring the Sony Alpha A700 Flash. This is color balanced for Custom white balance. Using a using the built-in flash and Sony Custom white balance is great for external flashes. This setting can scenes with multiple types of light.
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Page 28: Metering Modes
1.26 The same image taken with the white balance set to Tungsten makes the colors look unnatural with a strong blue cast. Metering Modes The Sony Alpha A700 has three Metering modes: Spot, Center-weighted, and Multi- segment. Multi-segment metering. The Sony Alpha A700 uses a 40- segment metering system. - Page 29 Chapter 1 Exploring the Sony Alpha A700 Spot metering. This mode uses Portrait. Setting the Exposure the light measured in the center mode to Portrait sets a larger area to calculate the exposure. This aperture (smaller number), which is used when the exposure of a decreases the depth of field.
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Page 30: Drive Modes
Part I Using the Sony Alpha A700 Semiautomatic and to achieve proper exposure based on the Metering mode. The shutter Manual Exposure speed is set by using either the Front or Rear control dial. Modes Manual Exposure. In this mode,... - Page 31 Chapter 1 Exploring the Sony Alpha A700 Single Frame Advance. In this Continuous Bracketing. There are mode, the camera takes one expo- six different Continuous Bracketing sure every time the shutter is modes available on the A700. pressed. Holding the Shutter button down takes three or five shots in rapid...
- Page 32 Part I Using the Sony Alpha A700 • Drive mode has two choices. The 0.7ev3. This setting lets your Lo3 choice lowers the DRO brack- take three photos continuously eting when taking the photo, and with the exposure shifted by the Hi3 choice amplifies the DRO...
- Page 33 Chapter 1 Exploring the Sony Alpha A700 Each of these four choices can also be Creative Style adjusted by changing their contrast, satura- tion, and sharpness. AdobeRGB Autumn leaves The three remaining choices can be Portrait assigned any of the 14 styles, including the...
- Page 34 Part I Using the Sony Alpha A700 Optimization menu and allows you to set Standard. In the Standard mode, the DRO adjusts the brightness and the D-Range Optimization. Press the Menu the contrast of the entire image. button and use the multi-selector to open the Recording menu 1;...