Need Advice: Evaluation Settings for Sony a6000??

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Denniscasey

Well-known member
I have two cameras out on approval for personal use--will keep one and return one. I will shoot some stills and some video to compare cameras. I have watched "tutorials" and read some articles on a6000 and it is clear there is much to learn about the camera to optimize its performance. However I don't have a lot of time so I would appreciate some "baseline" settings I should use to at least shoot some representative stills and video initially having camera on "auto" settings to check auto focus speed and accuracy; auto exposure; dynamic range; etc.

I am used to using video camera (Panasonic HMC40) and am looking to get a camera for shooting high quality stills and also video with shallow DOF look of DSLR. The mirrorless Sony a6000 has good reviews so I want to use it and see real world images and video. Thank you, Dennis
 
Samuel H said:
My settings:

Flaat_11: Portrait, contrast=-3, saturation=-1, sharpness=-3, DRO-1

I created this for the 5N, but AFAIK it works the same on the a6000
http://www.similaar.com/foto/flaat-5n/index.html
Click to expand...

Thank you again for advice, Samuel. Are there any "basic" settings I need to be aware of to get the most representative performance while in one of the auto modes--for instance what settings are essential to get the best auto focus to follow fast moving objects like race cars while shooting video? It is looking to me like "mirrorless" cameras using electronic VF offer advantages over traditional mirror type DSLR, but are there negatives with mirrorless cameras I should be aware of? Dennis
 
I should mention again, my frame of reference is videocameras like the Panasonic HMC40 I use. Also, most of my shooting will be scenery and vintage race cars (both stills at car shows and video of vintage racing where I would probably use both my HMC40 and the a6000 to get different looks). I do not do portraits like most of the tutorials I have seen are most concerned with. Dennis
 
* I don't do AF, so no idea, sorry
* Portrait is the best option for skin tones, but it also has the best DR, so I would stick to it even if shooting cars instead of people
 
Samuel H said:
* I don't do AF, so no idea, sorry
* Portrait is the best option for skin tones, but it also has the best DR, so I would stick to it even if shooting cars instead of people
Click to expand...

Very helpful tip, Samuel, about Portrait having best DR. Thank you for sharing your expertise. Dennis
 
I prefer my FS700 for video, but here's what I can tell you about stills on the a6000:

The AF mode that must be used to make this camera perform similar to (but still not as good as) a DSLR in auto focus is "AF-C" (C = continuous). You may also use "AF-A", and the camera will switch to "AF-C" when it detects movement. If you happen to select AF-S (S = Single), then focus performance is not significantly better than previous generation contrast detect only mirrorless cameras.

The AF area can be set to Wide, Zone, Center and Flexible Spot M.

Wide and Zone are designed to follow action, with wide covering a larger area than zone. Center forces focus to occur in a moderately sized block right at the center center of the screen, while Flexible Spot M allows you to move a focusing point around the screen. Flexible Spot M is not as convenient as on most DSLRs because there is no dedicated joystick to move the focus point around. Instead, you have to hit the center button of the rear control wheel, then use the rear wheel and the top wheel to move the point around.

In AF-C and either Wide or Zone, you'll see little green squares flickering around the area the camera is proposing to focus on. That's how you know where focus will be. You can't really control them, you just have to hope that the prediction algorithms are doing their job.

If you prefer that the camera NOT do any AF while the shutter button is NOT half pressed, then under Menu -> "Gear" -> 2 you should set Disp. cont. AF area = OFF. This will make it work more like a DSLR in that if you've pre-focused on a place where you expect action to occur, and you then tip the camera towards the ground, it will not immediately move focus to the ground at your feet. The default is ON, and if you are trying to pre-focus on a place where you expect action to occur, and you are not using a tripod, you will really, really hate the default setting of ON. Otherwise, ON is a decent option because the camera will already be moving towards focus even before you bring it to your eye.

I usually keep face detect ON, it doesn't bother you when there are no faces in the picture, and when there are, it can help focus lock on faster. But that would be more applicable to human powered sports than cars, so you should probably try both and see what works for you.

I always shoot RAW, that way you don't care about white balance, or any of the camera profiles. Every aspect of the look and feel of the image can be changed in Lightroom / Photoshop or your favorite RAW editor later. Of course, if you are shooting video too, you don't have that luxury. The look gets baked in, so you may want to choose appropriate white balance, sharpness and profile that meets your requirements for video, while shooting the stills in RAW so you are free to manipulate them to your liking after the fact.

Other than that, the camera handles more or less like a low end DSLR, so there's not much else to say, other than it is one of the best cameras **for the price** on the market right now.
 
Very helpful pointers JuanDiaz and thank you. I want to give the camera a fair evaluation and important to know how to help it be on its best behavior. The Sony a6000 has received good reviews and as you note seems to provide good value. The other camera I am evaluating is the Canon EOS 70D which also has received good reviews and is also known for its fast focus (like a6000), Thing about the 70D seems to be that in order to take advantage of dual pixel fast/accurate focusing you need to be in LiveView which means you can only use LCD (hold camera at arms length which is not what I am used to so I like the EVF feature in a6000) and can't hold camera to your eye and use the optical viewfinder (something that would be obvious to experienced DSLR users, but was new to me since I have no experience with DSLR).
 
Don't quote me on this, but I'm about 98% sure that when the 70D is used as a traditional stills camera with the optical viewfinder, the focus is done by a standard Canon Phase Detect focus module. In this case, you can be quite sure that the focus is going to be very fast. Canon sorted out all their focus problems in the xxD series as of the 20D circa fall 2004 (the 10D, and the D60 / D30 stank!!!). If this is the case, then you can be sure the 70D is going to outperform the a6000 in stills AF performance. For example, my five year old Canon 7D is not afraid that the a6000 is going to beat it in auto focus racing any time soon.

As I understand it, "DualPixel" was designed to allow continuous AF during video, which was something that Canon traditionally could not do (had to press shutter button every time subject distance changed), or not do very well. Now, with DualPixel, it is supposed to be quite good.

For me, the reasons I own the a6000 are two:

1) I can share lenses with my FS700 video camera that I use in my business.

2) Here in Latin America, it can be quite dangerous to carry a big camera around on the street. I like to do street photography, and when the a6000 is mounted with the collapsing kit lens, people think I am using a cheap pocket camera. The a6000, and the NEX6 before it allowed me to go back on the streets and photograph the scenes of my country with less fear of problems than with a big DSLR.

Probably neither of these reasons apply to you, so I'm sure you could be quite happy with either the a6000 or the 70D.
 
JuanDiaz, Thank you for additional comments including thoughts about 70D. Lacking experience with these types of cameras I really appreciate real world experience comments. Dennis
 
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