Thad E Ginathom

jm2004, there's a compromise mode called DMF. The camera will autofocus, and then you can tune-to-taste using manual focus. As soon as you move the focus ring, the camera switches to MF. But I get the feeling that you are looking for a fixed-focus answer without the need to twist the ring each time. Autofocus is fine except when it picks the wrong part of the subject. Face recognition is wonderful except when it insists on picking the wrong face. But do experiment with Sony's suite of auto-focus capabilities. Aren't they one of the main selling points of these cameras? One feature is that you can set the exposure to follow the focus point. If you autofocus on a face (by face recognition or spot focus, etc) you get the exposure right for that face. Now, ok, I'm a somewhat newbie photographer, but that is one thing that I find a godsend. (answer based on a6000/a6500 experience)

I just wonder... what happens if the database is rebuilt? Would it pick up those "transferred from PC" files? Just an idea. panji_purnama, look for "Recover Image Database" in the setup menus.

Me too. Unlike the 15-50, which almost always disappoints except in really great light, though, I have had one or two nice surprises from the 55-210. I have high hopes for the Tamron zoom trio. I think they will win on size, cost and any performance compromise may be acceptable. They will probably be able to take better photos than I can. But a brief with-wife spending review, 2020/21, today, puts a trio of zoom lenses well down the priority list! 😟

I will indeed consider it! I think the Tamron will be cheaper in my country, but spending money is allocated for the next three months at least, so I am some way away from making any serious comparison, let alone decision. I am covered by primes 30, 50, 60 and 85. The proposed zoom would fill the wide-end gap --- but I can *imagine* having a complimentary set of 3 zooms, which would also extend the long end. I'd have everything except really-long wild-life stuff covered. A bit like our OP's proposals in the first post. Imagination is one thing. The two longer zooms would be an extravagance not merited by frequent use, which all my primes get every week. So far, I have not spent over 1,000 GBP on any one single photographic item. That's a big barrier to cross mentally as well as financially.

It's another thing to think about, another thing to wonder if one is getting right. Another thing to play with until... I miss the shot. Maybe I just find it easier to fit the subject into the rectangle, rather than fit the rectangle around the subject! But, as I said, I am ready to try it again, perhaps with a 16-28. That would be the Tamron, which is affordable. f4 just wouldn't do for my usual photography: Indian classical musicians in not-much-more-than-lightbulb lighting. Even f2.8 is pushing it (hardly like rock musicians, but they do move the head a lot). But it would give me access to wide, and, no doubt, be a great general lens for my next holiday, whenever that is. I really does come down to what experience shows us we need. I wasted a lot of money on tripod. monopod and stuff, that barely get used (partly because of those fast primes). Thankfully, not too much on unwanted lenses

It depends, of course, on what you want to photograph. I started out (again, after a break of some years using compact P&S cameras occasionally and casually) with an a6000 and the two-lens kit set. In many ways, the two lenses were a waste of money: just not fast enough to do the photography I wanted to do. Result: noisy pictures, not better than the compact. I didn't start getting the pictures I wanted until I invested in a faster prime. Or two. OK, now four. Also, although I've never heard this complaint from anyone else, zoom adds another factor to composition. It's simpler to fit one's subject into a nice, fixed, prime rectangle (assuming it's the right-sized rectangle of course). In fact, I now feel ready to try composing with zoom again! So next thing, I'll fill that wide-to-30mm (30mm being my widest prime) gap that I don't find the kit 16-50 fast or good enough to fill. The lesson for me was to buy lenses as and when I found that I needed them (and could afford them, of course) rather than trying to fully equip oneself at the beginning. Are you really going to go out and photograph everything from day one? Plainly, some people will say yes to that, and my lesson won't work for them.

I'm nostalgic for the ever-ready cases that came with cameras not so many decades ago. Even my back-of-cupboard OM1n has one.

I wonder if anyone has any stats, but my hunch is that when physical things stop working, it is most likely a physical problem, not software. So this is probably one for warranty or service centre. But... leaving the battery out for a while? One has to try that stuff, I suppose.

And you've solved my higher-model-better-features-envy problem! The whole wheel/dial nomenclature thing, and the symbols that represent them, is confusing. Glad to have been of help 🙂

I have one of those on my a6500, except it has the letters Av next to it. It indicates that the wheel on the back of my camera is set to control Aperture. Next to it is a half circle with the letters Ev: the top dial controls exposure compensation. Obviously your camera has options (and maybe controls) that mine doesn't, and I can't imagine what Ac stands for (it's probably obvious), but I hope this clue helps.

There is a point to the blinking: it is can't-cope-with-this warning.

The trouble is that it's all or nothing with Sony and the icons. So... select nothing. And be able to see your image without all that interference. You still get the essential exposure information at the bottom, and you can still have "Display all info" configured as one of the steps on the DISP [button] cycle for when you want to see one of those settings. As for stuff like a flashing icon to tell us, "Look, don't expect OSS to cope with 1 second hand-held," we know that. We know we're pushing it and relying on the breathing exercises. Keep stuff like focus and exposure modes and zones on the Fn screen: use the Fn button to quick-check what you currently have them set to. There is another thing, the focus set guide, the rolling ribbon display which duplicates the exposure info at the bottom of the screen: that can be turned off too. It might be useful in P mode, but usually, I'm changing A, and watching A on the screen: I don't need the ribbon. These cameras are like moving into a furnished house. You have to spend time shifting things around until you can live in it your way. Spend time in the menu settings. Maybe in the company of one of the good books that you have to buy because the camera doesn't come with a manual*. It pays dividends: you can make this camera into a comfortable home! (*Yes, Sony has an online (and downloadable) reference guide. It's worth knowing about as an ultimate reference source, but I prefer something with a human touch, and something that tells me not only what something does but why I might want to do that. Or not.) (Based on a6000 and a6500 experience)

This is what I notice with the a6500... There is a sensor close to the viewfinder which automatically switches from screen to the viewfinder when you put your eye close. It works for fingers, or... anything. If the LCD screen is pulled slightly out, the sensor is disabled: the screen remains on and the viewfinder remains off, even with something close to it. It's really easy to have something close to that sensor. On my camera it is to the right of the viewfinder: on yours I think it is on top. It is very easy to do that and think that the screen is not working.... except when the screen is pulled out. Also... yes, there is a menu item to switch EVF/LCD/Auto. You can also assign finder/monitor switch switch to a button.

Recently enough to just return it? I would not want to waste time on this camera.

Can understand your frustration. One thing that you can do in the camera, to avoid import problems, is to change the first three characters (usually DSC) of the filenames. You may say, "yes, I know, but I shouldn't have to." but hey, it's only every ten thousand files. Nearly.