Smith Brian. - Sony a7-a7r. From Snapshots to Great Shots

From Snapshots to Great Shots

Brian Smith

Sony A7 / A7R: From Snapshots to Great Shots
Brian Smith

Peachpit Press
www.peachpit.com

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Peachpit Press is a division of Pearson Education.
Copyright 2014 by Peachpit Press

All images copyright 2014 by Brian Smith

Project Editor: Valerie Witte
Production Editor: David Van Ness
Copyeditor: Scout Festa
Proofreader: Bethany Stough
Composition: WolfsonDesign
Indexer: FireCrystal Communications
Cover Image: Brian Smith
Cover Design: Aren Straiger
Interior Design: Mimi Heft

Notice of Rights

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information on getting permission for reprints and excerpts, contact .

Notice of Liability

The information in this book is distributed on an As Is basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the book, neither the author nor Peachpit shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and hardware products described in it.

Trademarks

From Snapshots to Great Shots is a trademark, in the U.S. and/or other countries, of Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates.

All Sony products are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Corporation.

Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and Peachpit was aware of a trademark claim, the designations appear as requested by the owner of the trademark. All other product names and services identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefit of such companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. No such use, or the use of any trade name, is intended to convey endorsement or other affiliation with this book.

ISBN-13: 978-0-321-96860-9
ISBN10: 0-321-96860-3

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed and bound in the United States of America

To my lovely wife, Fazia, thanks for your love, laughter, and support!

To the innovators and dreamers who imagine a better future.

And to everyone who has ever stood in front of my lens...

Thanks to all my wonderful friends at Sony. My deepest thanks to Rosie Sandoval, Mark Weir, El-Deane Naude, Kenta Honjo, and Mike Kahn, who helped get these amazing cameras in my hands, and to Matt Parnell, Val Motis, Mike Fasulo, Phil Molyneux, and Kazuo Hirai for the opportunity to showcase the images I shot with them! To Sonys engineers, thanks for thinking outside the box! Thanks to Sony AOIs Kayla Lindquist and my fellow Sony Artisans, who always inspire me with their amazing work.

A project like this does not come together with just one person at the helm, and Im glad to have worked with many fine folks throughout its duration. To Jeff Revell, thanks for creating the foundation for what has resulted in a fantastic series of books and learning resources for many camera owners. And thanks to Jerod Foster for his fabulous book on the NEX-6, which kicked off Peachpits Sony series. Their contribution to this text is invaluable.

A huge thanks to everyone at Peachpit Press who was instrumental in this project: my wonderful editors, Valerie Witte and Scout Festa, for their extreme patience with all the projects I had on my plate while writing this; Wolfson Design for beautiful design; David Van Ness; Bethany Stough; Susan Rimerman; Sara Jane Todd; and my BFFs Scott Cowlin and Ted Waitt. All of you made this an enjoyable experience that produced another great-looking book. Thank you.

And finally, to the love of my life, my creative collaborator, my muse, my lovely wife, Fazia, I love you dearly...

Sony President and CEO Kazuo Hirai with author Brian Smith in Las Vegas, January 2014

Introduction

I first became involved with Sony in early 2008, when they approached me for feedback as they were developing their first full-frame camera, the A900. I sent off a list of 20 things that users would expect from a high-end camera, never really expecting to hear back from them.

But I was delighted to open a box that fall containing a pre-production A900, which addressed virtually every suggestion that I had made. Soon after that, I sat down with one of Sonys engineers. I clearly remember his words to me: Tell me what we did wrong, what we did right, and what we need to do next.

Those words sum up Sonys approach to digital imaging: Always look for innovative ways to advance technology.

Since their introduction, mirrorless cameras have held great appeal because of their compact size and reduced weight, yet they offer image quality that rivals that of beefier DSLRs. I was immediately attracted to the vast array of lenses I could mount on the Sony NEX due to its thin body design.

Yet a small, compact, interchangeable-lens full-frame camera still seemed to be just out of reach. My fellow pros hit me up with their wish list, which I forwarded to Sony: full-frame, digital Contax G2, Minolta CLE, I want to use my old Leica M glass, built-in EVF with Live View when shooting video, Id like interchangeable lenses, and RX1 gets close.

I wasnt sure what Sony had in the works last year. I just knew that all my friends in Digital Imaging had really, really big smiles on their faces when I saw them.

When Peachpit approached me about writing a book about the Sony A7/A7R for this great series, I jumped at the chance after having worked with them on Secrets of Great Portrait Photography (Peachpit Press, 2013). This book is not a rehash of the owners manual, but rather a resource that teaches photography with the specific technology present in the camera that you now own.

Heres a short Q&A to help you get a better understanding of just what it is that you can expect from this book.

Q: Is every camera feature going to be covered?

A: Nope, just the ones I felt you need to know about in order to start taking great photos. Believe it or not, you already own a great resource that covers every feature of your camera: the owners manual. Writing a book that just repeats this information would have been a waste of my time and your money. Instead, I wanted to write about how to harness certain camera features to improve your photography. As you read through the book, you will also see callouts that point you to specific pages in your owners manual that are related to the topic being discussed. These are meant to expand upon the feature or function that I cover as it applies to our specific needs.

Q: So if I already own the manual, why do I need this book?

A: The manual does a pretty good job of telling you how to use a feature or turn it on in the menus, but it doesnt necessarily tell you why and when you should use it. If you really want to improve your photography, you need to know the whys and whens to put all of those great camera features to use at the right time. To that extent, the manual just isnt going to cut it. It is, however, a great resource on the cameras features, and it is for that reason that I treat it like a companion to this book. You already own it, so why not get something of value from it?