Sony Alpha 3000 User manual

SONYAlpha3000Manual

FILMP/MEDP150/160•M.Lucas



TheSonyAlpha3000lookslikeaDSLR,butitactuallyisclosertoavideocamerainanSLR

body,AKAa“mirrorless”camera.Itrecordsa20MBstillimage(5456x3632pixels!)and

canbesetforJPEGorRAW+JPEG.



Thecameracomeswithabattery,acharger,alenscap,alenshoodandashoulderstrap.

ThelenshasaUVfilter,whichcanbecleanedwithoutdamagingthelens.Therearetwo

kindsofchargers,onewhereyoupluginthecamera,andtheotherwhereyoujustputthe

batteryinthecharger,abetteridea.Thebatteriesshouldlastthroughmorethanoneday

ofshooting.Buttheyshouldbechargedatleastonceaweek.



ThecamerastoresimagesonanSDcard,whichisinaslotasshown.Becarefulwiththe

doorcoveringthecard.Thecardremovesbypushingitin,andspringingitout.



SidedoorforSDcardandcharger.



UsingtheCamera



Theviewfinderiselectronic,givingyouthesameimageyouseeonthebackviewscreen.

Thereisabuttononthetoprighttoswitchbetweenthetwowaysofviewingnexttothe

ModeWheel.(seebelow)Theviewfinderisgoodforsituationsthataretoobrightforthe

rearscreen,butnotgreatforcriticalviewing.



Thelensisinterchangeable.ItisanE‐mountlens,whichisanewSonymount.Soadaptors

areneededforotherlenseslikeCanonorNikon. 



Thelensfeelslikeitshouldbeamanualfocuslens,butitisnot.(The‘focus’ringseemsto

beadummy.)Theonlymanualadjustmentisforfocallength,from18‐55mm.Itisalso

notafastlens,maxingoutat f 3.5onthewide,and f 5.6onthetelephotoend.



Whilethereisnomanualfocus,thereareeasyadjustmentswiththecontrolwheelforboth

f ‐stop,andforshutterspeed. 



ThesensorisastandardAPS‐C23mmsensor,similartothatonaCanon7D.Thismeans

thecameracangivea'filmlook'depthoffieldundertherightcircumstances.



ShootingandControllingExposure



Settingfocus.Thereisnorealmanualfocuscontrolwiththestandardlens.Tofocus,you

needtoholdtheshutterbuttonpart‐waydown,andthecamerawillfocusbasedonagrid

(you'llseelittlegreenmarkers).Ifyouletgoofthebutton,thecamerawillkeepthat

focus.



SettingthecameratoManual(Monthedialonthetopright)allowsyoutocontrolboth

aperture (fstop)and shutterspeed .Botharecontrolledbyfirstclickingthecontrol

wheelonthebottomedgeandthenspinningit.Pushingthewheeltogglesthetwo

controls,showingyoutheoneyouhavecontroloverinyellow.



YoualsohavecontrolovertheISO,themeasureofthecamera'ssensitivitytolight,clicking

thecontroldialontherightside,andthenspinningthedial. 



AgoodplacetostartistosettheASAfairlylow.ThiscouldbeISO100outdoors,andISO

400or800indoors.Thensettheshutterspeedto1/60

,whichisstandard.Afterthat,

youcanplaywiththefstop,goingfromf5.6tof8,tof11,andf16.



Inpractice,itmaybenecessarytovarytheshutterspeedalot,goingashighas1/250ofa

secondwhenworkingoutdoors.



Thecamerahasa“steadyshot”compensationforcamerashake,whichshouldprobablybe

leftinplaceforvideorecording.



MOVIERECORD

Themoviebuttonactsprettyindependentlyoftheothercontrols.Youcanusetheshutter

buttonforfocus,andthenhitthemoviebutton.ItrecordsAVCHD.movfilesinfullHD

1920x1080format.TheseneedtobetranscodedtoworkwithFinalCutExpress.The

audioisforreferenceonly,andisrecordedat48kHz.Thereisnomicinput.For

consistencyIrecommendthatweusethe 60i(17M)setting“FH” .See“ImageSize”inthe

menu.

Table of contents

Other Sony Digital Camera manuals

Sony

Sony DSC-R1 Fall 2005 User manual

Sony

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V User manual

Sony

Sony DSC-N2 Cyber-shot® User manual

Sony

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W150 User manual

Sony

Sony DSC-T300 Cyber-shot® User manual

Sony

Sony SLT-A65V &alpha User manual

Sony

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S600 Owner's manual

Sony

Sony DSLR-A200W - a Digital Camera SLR User manual

Sony

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 Reference guide

Sony

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX200V User manual

Sony

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S600 User manual

Sony

Sony ILCE-5100 User manual

Sony

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T300 User manual

Sony

Sony XCST70 User manual

Sony

Sony DSC-S800 Installation instructions manual

Sony

Sony Cyber-shot PRO DSC-D700 User manual

Sony

Sony DSC-G1 - Cyber-shot Digital Camera User manual

Sony

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-HX90 User manual

Sony

Sony NEX-C3A User manual

Sony

Sony BLOGGIE MHS-FS3/FS3K User manual

Sony

Sony FX3 User guide

Sony

Sony DSC T90 - Cyber-shot Digital Camera User manual

Sony

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX20 User manual

Sony

Sony Alpha 7C II User manual

Popular Digital Camera manuals by other brands

Mercury

Mercury 350K user manual

Pentax

Pentax Optio LS 465 operating manual

Sanyo

Sanyo VPC-S1085 instruction manual

GE SMART A1255 user manual

Point Grey

Point Grey Gazelle Getting started

Nikon

Nikon COOLPIX A Reference manual

Pentax

Pentax P-5 manual

BlazeVideo

BlazeVideo A280 instruction manual

ATIK Cameras

ATIK Cameras One user manual

CohuHD Costar

CohuHD Costar 3930 Series Installation and operation manual

Leica

Leica M10-R quick start guide

FujiFilm

FujiFilm FinePix A700 owner's manual

Lorex

Lorex LNZ81P25 Series quick start guide

GE J1470S user manual

Canon

Canon EOS ELAN7 instructions

Nikon

Nikon Coolpix 100 user manual

Samsung

Samsung SCC-C4253 user manual

JVC

JVC GT-HM890 Instruction

Sony alpha 3000 User manual

Popular Digital Camera manuals by other brands