I have not used the camera for some time. In the bottom right of the screen, there is a hand in inverted commas and an exclamation mark.

What does this mean please?

There a reason to keep the specific camera model a secret from those trying to help? There's something like 50 different cameras in Sonys alpha corral. Knowing which of the ponies you ride would be a crucial detail worth revealing.

Whatever the question, the solution is easy.  It's in the User Manual.  Don't have a copy?  Find it on-line.

i do have the user manual which was the first place I looked for help, I also have a book by Shawn Barrett on the A300.

Neither of these were any help! 

As someone said, " if you can't any anything nice (Helpful), don't say nothing at all"

Anyway, I still need the help I asked for. The exclamation mark is obviously the important thing here. What is causing it and why is the symbol flashing constantly?

Kind regards

I don't have your particular camera, but in all of my Sony & Minolta manuals there are pages specifically covering all of the items displayed in the viewfinder -- look up "VIEWFINDER" in the index.  In my manuals, it explains the STEADY SHOT information that is displayed in the viewfinder -- THAT'S THE "HAND" in the brackets.  It explains when it is ON and when it is OFF -- and what exactly the display means.  It also explains how to turn it ON or OFF.

Since I am not familiar with your camera, I'd suggest to dig a little deeper.  My owner's manual are all about 200 pages long and clearly describe the features of the camera -- including the anti-shake display in the viewfinder.

So back to my original response (which I thought was helpful).  As they say in the Army, "It's in the manual".

Edited August 10, 20214 yr by XKAES

A 1-minute Google-search got me this:

 - Search for 'Sony A300 manual'

 - Search for 'shake' in the manual

Hi Pieter, Thanks for the information. The camera is sitting on my table and therefore there is no shake possible.

As you say, the shake icon does no display with the M/S/P mode selected.

This warning doesn't have anything to do with actual shake of the camera: usually such a warning pops up if the shutter speed is slow relative to the focal length of the lens, to warn the user to take some kind of stabilising measures such as a tripod to avoid motion blur (camera shake blur, that is). I assume you're testing indoors with dim lighting conditions. Does the warning disappear if you go outside?

Edited August 10, 20214 yr by Pieter

Hi Pieter, just goes to show, some people really do know what they are talking about. Yes I was indoors!

As soon as I tried outdoors, the problem (?) has gone away.

Thankyou so much

 

Kind regards