Customizing an Override button on Sony cameras
Have you ever had your camera all set up specifically for one type of shot and then suddenly you are presented with a quick spontaneous photograph opportunity but you can’t change your settings in time. The Sony A7riii, Sony A7iii and A9 have a wonderful feature buried in the menus.
This post will teach you to set up the “Oh Shit! Button” or “Quick Reaction Button” on the Sony A7riii , Sony A7iii, Sony A9 and Sony a6400.
Perhaps you are set up for the perfect landscape, locked in to low ISO, a carefully selected focus point, relatively low shutter speed, AF-S, and suddenly an eagle soars right overhead. By the time you change your camera settings, the opportunity is gone.
Or maybe you are an event shooter, doing a lot of posed portraits but you want to be able to suddenly switch to candids requiring a faster shutter speed.
The Instant Reaction of “Oh S%#@ Button”
The Sony A9 and Sony A7riii have a fantastic feature. Maybe the best setting since eye-AF. Unfortunately, it isn’t well advertised and a bit hidden in the menus. Officially it is called “Registered Custom Shooting,” but I prefer to set it up as a “Oh Quick Button!” for when you need to react immediately.
This tutorial is based on the Sony A7riii, but it is virtually identical on the Sony A9, A7iii and A6400.
Essentially, the way I have it set up, it is an extra back button AF. You may already have your camera set up for back button AF, which remains you “main” autofocus. But I have a second button set up, that immediately overrides multiple settings, to immediately give me my “Oh Quick” settings.
First, you need to to go Camera menu 1- screen 4:
Enter the Reg Cust Shoot Menu. You then have three “Recall Custom hold” banks that you can pre-program. So I entered Recall Custom Hold 1, which gives you various overrides that you can select. In total, there are 10 overrides split between 2 scenes. Here are the first 5:
Anything checked will override your current mode. Anything unchecked will remain however you already had it set.
- Shoot Mode — I override and go to manual exposure but….
- Aperture, I do not override. Because even with “oh shit,” I may want to keep my selected aperture. Thus, if I’m in low light, I can still go with an open aperture. You may wish to override and go with a 5.6 or 6.3 aperture.
- Shutter speed — This is critical to override. Selected a shutter speed between 1/500 and 1/1000. Thus, you will now have a fast enough shutter speed to capture immediate action.
- Drive mode — I don’t override. Thus, if I’m already in burst shooting, I can stay there. if I’m in single shooting, it will stay there. You may wish to override and go with a burst.
- Exposure compensation– Unchecked.
- ISO — override and go to ISO auto. Thus, if I am in a manually selected ISO for 100 for a landscape, I can immediately switch to auto ISO for a faster shutter speed.
- Metering mode — either unchecked, or check and switch to multi
- Focus mode — Continuous. So if you were in single, it will override and go to continueous
- Focus area — wide. I usually use flexible spot. But what if there isn’t time to move the flexible spot to where you need it? “Wide” gives me the instant reaction I need.
- AF-On. Selected as override, AF-on – On. This way, you can use it as a specialized back button autofocus button. If you don’t select it, then you need to use it in conjunction with another button to activate autofocus.
Thus, ultimately you can end up with 5 different types of back button AF. You can create 3 custom registrations, plus eye-AF back button AF, plus your regular back button AF.
After selecting your overrides, you must click “Register” or else the settings won’t be saved.
After creating a custom recall hold, you still need to assign it to a custom button.
Camera menu 2, screen 8. You need to assign the recall custom hold to a custom key.
Personally, I recommend assigning it to the “Multi-Slc Center Btn” — You can see I assigned “recall custom hold 1”
This is a press of the thumbstick:
My thumb is often on the thumbstick anyway, to move the flexible focus point. But now, if I can’t move the focus point fast enough, I can just press it down and I suddenly switch to wide-AF with a faster shutter speed and continuous AF.
Perfect for that “oh shit” instant reaction moment.
Of course, you can assign it to any custom button. It would also work well assigned to the AF-on button, the AEL button or C3. By default, the thumbstick center button just centers the AF point.
This is a great feature that everyone should utilize. If anyone has any questions, leave a comment.
Customizing Sony Cameras – Other Reading
My guide to auto white balance customization on Sony cameras
Whether to use Back button AF on Sony cameras
If you haven’t purchased the A7riii or A7iii yet, you can support this site by buying through Amazon at this link:
Sony a7R III 42.4MP Full-frame Mirrorless Interchangeable-Lens Camera
Sony A7iii 24mp full frame Interchangeable Lens Camera
As of April 2019, the $3500 price tag on the Sony A9 delivers what may be the best camera for action on the market, superior to Nikon and Canon professional cameras costing twice as much.
The Sony A6400 delivers great action shooting in a consumer model and pricing.
