Lesson 4 Project by Kathy Adams

How do you adjust the ISO?

On the Sony A100 to adjust the ISO you have to turn the function dial (top left of camera) to the “ISO” option and then push in the little button in the center of this dial. When you do this the LCD screen will show all the ISO choices you can choose from: Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600. Also, there is a Lo80 and a Hi200 option.

After you see the menu appear on the LCD screen you have to use the arrows on the “controller” button to pick the ISO setting that you need. I really don’t know what the Lo80 and Hi200 are for from reading the manual. I’ll have to research that further.

How do you adjust white balance?

To adjust the white balance you need to turn the function dial to “WB” and push in the button in the center of this dial. It will then show you your WB options on the LCD screen which include: AWB (auto white balance); daylight (outdoors, sunlit subjects); shade (for shady conditions on a clear day); cloudy; tungsten (where lighting conditions change quickly, such as at a party hall, or under bright lighting, such as photography studios); fluorescent lighting; flash; 5500 K (color temperature) and a recall option where you can set up a custom white balance setting which will be retained until you make a new setting. You have to use the up and down arrows on the controller button to choose the option you desire.

How do you set exposure compensation?

“You can manually shift the exposure value determined by the camera. Use this mode when you do not get the proper exposure, for instance, the subject and its background have high contrast (light and dark).”

Press the +/- (Exposure) button on the back which is just right of the eyepiece; as you hold the Exposure button in, turn the control dial to adjust the exposure. (The control dial is on the top, right hand side of the camera right in front of the shutter button.) + brightens the image; 0 the exposure is determined automatically by the camera and – darkens the image. The compensation level is displayed in the EV scale on the LCD monitor and in the viewfinder.

How do you set file size and compression?

To change the file size you will need to turn on the camera and push the “menu button” on the back of the camera. This will bring up a screen that shows: Recording menu 1 & 2 and some others items. In Recording Menu 1 you will see “Image size” as your first option. Push the down arrow on the control button and then push the right button. You can now choose between L (3872 x 2592 pixels), M (2896 x 1936 pixels) or S (1920 x 1280 pixels).

To change the compression you will use the same Recording Menu (1) and under the option of “Image size” you will see the option of “Quality" and this is where you can choose “RAW”, “RAW & JPEG”, “Fine” and “Standard”.

How do you set the exposure meter mode?

To set the exposure metering mode you will need to use the function dial and button again. When you turn the dial to the exposure icon and push the button the display will come up on the LCD screen. You will have these options to choose from: “multisegment”, “center weighted” and “spot”. You will have to use the controller button arrows to pick which mode you want and then press the center button on the controller to set the mode.

How do you set macro focusing?

I am not sure what answer you are looking for here. I looked all through my manual and all I have regarding “macro” is on the mode dial which is on the top of the cameral near the middle. It shows the word Macro and has an icon of a flower. The manual says: “Shoots close subjects such as flowers, insects.” I know a person can do this with the manual settings also, not just the scene mode dial.

How do you set the flash mode?

To set the flash mode you will use the function dial and button again. Turn the function dial to the flash icon and then push the center button of the function button. This gives you the options of “auto” (autoflash), “fill-flash”, “Rear sync.”, “Wireless” and you can also change the flash compensation in this window also.

You can also set the amount of flash light you want also but it is done differently. You use Recording Menu 2 to do this.