Set Up Guide for Sony A6400

The Sony A6400 (See on Amazon / Adorama) is suitable for entry level shooters, budding enthusiasts and more advanced users looking for a compact aps-c camera. (Review of the Sony A6400 here.) For some, it will be their first serious cameras. Those coming from an older dSLR may also be baffled by the controls and configuration of this highly customizable camera. 

I did a guide like this for the Sony A7iii. The Sony A6400 is a very different camera. While my recommendations for the Sony A7iii assumed a desire to use the camera in a fairly advanced way, my recommendations for the A6400 will assume the reader is more a mid-level shooter.

So you’ve unboxed your Sony A6400. You charged the battery, you stuck in a memory card. You turned the camera on and the camera walked you through the date, time, language set-up.  (I won’t repeat those basic steps). After you fired a few test shots, what else should you be doing initially…

Customizing the Sony A6400

Select Image Quality

As soon as you dive into the very first menu screen, you’re given options for image quality. This will determine the amount of images that fit into your memory card and will determine the amount of flexibility you get in editing your photos. Instead of making a recommendation, I will lay out the pros and cons of the 3 options:

• RAW: RAW images preserve the most data giving the photographer maximum flexibility in editing the images. RAW files also take up a lot more memory and they don’t look very good until after they have been edited. If you want to maximize the image quality of every image and are willing to put in the post-processing work, shoot RAW.
• JPEG: The camera automatically makes adjustments to contrast, saturation, etc, and saves a “final” image. While editing is possible, there is less flexibility than RAW files. But these images are ready to go, straight out of the camera. If you have no interest in doing much editing, this is the way to go.
• RAW + JPEG: The best and the worst of both worlds. By saving both, you get the maximum editing flexibility when you need it but can use the ready-to-go images most of the time. The downside is that by saving both, you really fill up your memory card quickly and you slow down the camera as it writes a lot more data on to the card with each image. 

Set up the Touch Screen

The capability of the Sony A6400 touch screen is somewhat limited.  When turned on, it can be set as a touch screen, touch pad, or both.

As a touch screen, it is only active when using the LCD.  You can assign the focus point with touch.  It is not used with the EVF.

With touch pad, you can use with your eye to the viewfinder, to drag the focus point across the screen.  This is the easiest way to move the focus points with the Sony A6400.

Customized Buttons

The A6400 has a good number of buttons and controls. Depending on your level of experience, you may or may not understand all the functions already assigned to the various controls. There are far fewer controls and buttons than found on the Sony full frame models. The good news is that nearly every button is highly customizable. Further, the different buttons can serve different functions whether in shooting mode, video mode or playback mode. So if you have no need for an AEL function (or don’t even know what that means), you can assign it to a feature that you might commonly use.

Below, you will see how I set up the Sony A6400 with an explanation of the choices I made. This is not a universal recommendation — it all depends on how you shoot and the features you wish to easily access. I’ll note that for the most part, if a button already has a label, my bias is to keep the default functionality. So the “C1” invites me to assign anything. But since I do want an ISO control, I’ll keep it in the button that is already labelled ISO.

The Sony A6400 makes it easier to assign custom functions than prior cameras, by including a diagram of the buttons in the menus.

I assign the C1 button, next to the shutter button, to Focus Mode. This lets me quickly switch between AF-C (continuous autofocus) and AF-S (single autofocus). As I explain more thoroughly in my review of the Sony A6400, you can really use AF-C as the default focus mode on the Sony A6400 but it is helpful to switch to AF-S in low light or if you need to get precise focus with focus magnification.

Eye-AF changes in the Sony A6400 compared to older Sony cameras. Until now, you had to assign eye-AF to a custom button or you couldn’t use it. (Article on old eye-AF here.) With the new autofocus system (discussed further below), you no longer are required to assign an eye-AF button but I still did so. My reason was simply that if I am using a single point AF tracking mode, using the Eye-AF custom button allows me to instant override the single point and look for an eye instead. More importantly, a button is assigned to switch eyes. When shooting narrow depth of field, the camera will automatically pick an eye. The custom button lets you flip the eyes if you don’t like the choice made by the camera.

Finally, a button is assigned for focus magnification. If you need fine precise autofocus on a tiny subject in the frame, the best way to accomplish it is to use AF-S and focus magnification.

I don’t change the default “labelled” functions on the control pad as they are all things I use. Drive mode allows you to choose between shooting a single frame, shooting a burst of frames, self-timer, etc. ISO is part of the exposure triangle, allowing you to set the sensitivity of the sensor. Exposure compensation allows for a quick adjustment of the amount of light entering the camera, without going into full manual modes.

I assign a press of the control pad to access the Focus Area. This allows quick access to whether you want wide AF, single point AF, af-tracking modes, etc. Critically, if you want to use the control pad to move the focus points, first you need to enter the focus area menu. Thus, by assigning it to the center of the control pad, I can press the center, confirm the focus area, and then start adjusting the focus point. (Most of the time, you will be better off using the touch screen to adjust the focus point).

Playback Custom Buttons

You can program certain buttons to do specific functions when you are reviewing photos. Shown above, I set C1 for the “rating” function. This allows you to assign star ratings when reviewing your photos. This is extremely helpful as when you later import your photographs on to your computer, the star ratings get imported as well. For example, if you take hundreds of photographs while on vacation, you can start to apply ratings in your downtime. Then when you get to your computer, you import them into Lightroom and can sort them by the star ratings you already assigned.

The rear button is set for “Send to Smart phone” by default. This takes you into the networking functions to send the selected photograph to your phone wirelessly. 

Set Up Networking / Apps / Desktop

Download the Sony Imaging Edge Mobile App on your phone and go through the set up on your camera.  This will allow for easy downloading of jpeg files to your phone and also allow for a bluetooth connection that can import GPS data into your files. It allows for remote control of your camera.

Just note that I do not find the bluetooth connection totally reliable. If you really want your photos to be tagged with GPS location, confirm that the Location Link is actually set at the time you are shooting.

If you want to use the camera’s intervalometer for shooting Time Lapse movies, you should also download the Imaging Edge software to your personal computer. 

Set up and Master your Auto focus System

If you find your photographs are soft or blurry, most of the time it is because they were not properly focused. “Auto” focus keeps becoming more and more automated in Sony cameras but it still requires proper use by the photographer.

In the set up menu, you can ignore most of the of the settings. Some of the settings like Eye-Start AF only apply to adapted lenses. You should make sure Face/Eye AF is set up to your liking. If you’re not shooting people, you may want face priority turned off, as it will prioritize any face that enters the frame. Most shooters want the face prioritized, so keep face priority on, and let the camera automatically select Left/right eye. Above, you will see I programmed a custom button for Left/right eye override. 

There are a lot of focus mode and focus area options but I will boil it down to the most recommended modes:

When you select your focus area, if you scroll down to the last option, you get to tracking focus. If you then scroll right/left, you get flexible spot options. In my opinion, on the A6400, “Tracking: Flexible Spot S(small)” gives you the most versatility without having to change focus modes often. You can then use this option to obtain focus in a few ways:

• In af-c (continuous autofocus), move your focus point to your subject. Press the shutter half-way and the camera will start tracking the subject. If the subject is a person, it will focus on their eye/face.
• In af-c, move the camera so that the subject is under the small flexible spot, half-press the shutter, and then you can re-compose the frame. The subject will be tracked, so focus will stay on the subject as you recompose.
• If you are in low light, you may want to switch the camera to single autofocus, AF-S, which works better in low light. Then you will need to position the focus point over the subject.
• If you need extreme precision autofocus, switch to AF-S, put the focus point over the subject and then use focus magnification (see programmed button above). 

You should rarely have to leave this focus area set up. If you can’t be bothered to move the focus point or the camera, you can utilize “wide” AF modes, but the camera will not always select the right subject. 

Set up FN Menu 

For years, Sony cameras have had a FN (function) menu allowing for quick access to certain functions by pressing the FN button on the back of the camera.  What you include in the FN menu will largely depend on whether you are primarily shooting video or stills. You should use this menu to store items that you want to use frequently but don’t have hard buttons assigned.  Below you’ll see how I set up my Sony A6400 with a discussion of a few of they key items. My 12 assigned items are:

1. Focus mode: 
2. Face Detect AF: Keep it on to automatically detect faces. But you may want to turn it off when you’re shooting landscapes, etc. 
3. Creative styles: When you’re shooting JPEGs, this lets you adjust the contrast, saturation and look of the image that will be applied in-camera. 
4. Exposure compensation
5. Silent shooting (completely silent shooting with an electronic shutter but you only want to use it on subjects that are not moving quickly and you want to avoid artificial lighting due to issues of banding with silent shutter). 
6. Metering mode
7. Flash mode
8. Flash compensation: Increase or decrease the power of the flash. 
9. White balance
10. ISO Auto Min SS: allows you to set a minimum shutter speed threshold when using Aperture priority mode or program mode. It frees you up to use aperture priority mode even with a fast moving subject, just set a minimum shutter speed threshold.
11. Steady Shot (the highlighted icon above): Most of the time, you want to keep steadyshot on. (Note this is a function built into certain lenses but sometimes controlled on the camera). If you’re shooting on a tripod, you’ll want to remember to shut it off. (Using a tripod at night article). 
12. Shoot Mode: Selecting Aperture priority, Manual, Shutter priority can be done with the mode dial on top of the camera, but if you switch the mode dial to video, then you can use “Shoot mode” to pick A/S/M for video. 

My Menu

Sony menu systems are infamously bad and disorganized but there has been one recent significant improvement. The Sony A6400 is the first Sony aps-c camera to include customized “My Menu.” You can essentially create your own custom menus, organized however you like, of the functions you need to access easily. 

I use a few pages of “My Menu” set up.

My MyMenus:

To some degree, I duplicate the FN menu, giving me a second way to get to these items. I also essentially put any video settings that I might want to reach in the same place.

• My Menu 1: Creative style and Picture Effect are for “creative” jpegs straight out of the camera. Silent shooting and Steady Shot are explained above.
• My Menu 2: A bunch of video settings including file format (4k video or HD etc), Record setting (4k at 24p or 30p? etc) and S&Q settings (a way to make quick hyperspeed or slow motion videos). Also throw into here control over the flash mode, which is usually fill flash. Finally, all lenses have certain defects like vignetting around the edges, distorted curvature instead of a straight plane, chromatic aberrations. You my want to correct these issues yourself in post-processing or the Sony camera can automatically correct some of these issues when shooting jpegs.
• My Menu 3: Sony has finally added interval shooting so go here if you want to shooting time lapse movies. Airplane mode lets me quickly turn off all wifi and bluetooth. “Format” completely erases a memory card.
• My Menu 4: Panorama settings, so you can control the size and shape of the panorama. While most people think of panorama as shooting the camera in the landscape orientation for a very long image, if you shoot it with the camera in the portrait orientation, you can achieve a super wide image in a more normal size. I include bracket settings here as well. If you want to process your own HDR images, you may want to customize and control how you shoot a bracket. 

While these are my custom settings, you should set up your settings based on your own needs.  If you utilize video extensively, you will probably have very different needs than me.  

Replace the Camera Strap for the Sony A6400

The included neck straps are not the most ergonomic way to carry your camera.   There are much better straps that allow for much better distribution of the weight and more comfortable camera carrying. The Sony a6400 is a lightweight camera, but you will feel discomfort around your neck after a consecutive hour or two wearing the camera around your neck with the included strap.

Some recommended strap options:

• BlackRapid Cross Body Strap
• Op Tech Classic Strap
• Peak Design Slide Strap (My current Strap)

Consider your Lens Options

Most Sony A6400 shooters probably purchased the camera in a kit configuration with a kit zoom lens. For the most part, those are flawed lenses but capable of very nice snap shots, especially in good light. I do not encourage anyone to run out and spend $5,000 on a whole collection of lenses in a search for the holy grail. But it’s realistic to consider whether adding a lens will enhance your photography and help you realize the potential of the camera. (Article on how to decide what lenses to buy). With that in mind, I am going to recommend three lenses that every Sony A6400 owner might want to seriously consider adding at some point:

The above two images were taken with the Sony 10-18mm F/4. This is an extremely high quality lens and critically, it gives you a perspective you just can’t get with kit zooms. In this article (the Sony 12-14 at Universal Studios), I demonstrate the value of shooting ultra wide.  See the Sony 10-18mm F/4 on Amazon / Adorama.

The above image was taken in the Frozen Dark ride at Disney World. A “Dark ride” is indeed dark. A kit lens simply would not have been able to capture a decent image. While you can’t zoom in and out with it, the Sony 35mm F/1.8 is a small compact light-weight lens that will give you superior image quality and much greater low light capability. The faster aperture will provide some opportunities for background blur, faster shutter speeds to capture action, low light ability and just generally superior image quality. See the Sony 35mm F/1.8 on Amazon / Adorama.

The Sony 50mm F/1.8 OSS is another fast aperture prime lens. In other words, it does not zoom in and out and has a wide aperture to let in a lot of light. It’s a slightly more telephoto version of the 35mm F/1.8 mentioned above. The 50mm focal length is ideal for portraits on the Sony A6400, allowing for an attractive background blur that a kit lens will not provide. (As well as better low light capability, etc). See the Sony 50mm F/1.8 OSS on Amazon / Adorama.

For those looking for telephoro reach, Sony does offer a lightweight an affordable aps-c Sony 55-210mm F4.5 – F6.3 (See on Amazon) . Unfortunately, the quality is poor in many ways. 210mm is not particularly a long telephoto, especially if you already have the 18-135mm kit lens. Additionally, the aperture is slow limiting the ability to use the lens in low light and to use for background blur. But just generally, it’s not a great lens for image quality. It’s fine for casual snapshot use. While much more expensive, if you’re serious about telephoto shooting like sports or wildlife, I would serious consider the Sony full frame lens, the Sony FE 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 G (on Amazon).  It’s much more expensive but worth it if you’re becoming a more serious shooter. 

Accessorize!

Flash for the Sony A6400

While the Sony A6400 has a built-in flash, you want to use it sparingly.  A “speedlight” external flash really enhances photography when used properly. There are two very affordable flashes that I can highly recommend:

• Small portable:  Godox TT 350s on Amazon, Flashpoint Zoom Mini at Adorama
• Large and very powerful:  Godox V860ii-S, Flashpoint Zoom at Adorama

I own both of these flashes.  I can even use them together wirelessly for great off camera lighting situations.  They are much cheaper than the Sony branded flashes but actually are more powerful with more features.

Batteries

If you ever use the Sony A6400 extensively in a day, you will run down the battery. Like many mirrorless cameras, the Sony A6400 has very poor battery life. If I were to take the Sony A6400 on a vacation, I’d probably run down the battery in less than a morning. Third party charger and extra batteries on Amazon here.

Tripod for the Sony A6400

The portability of a small camera like the Sony A6400 is amazing. With a really small portable tripod, you can make magic happen. Read my article on how to use tripods for night landscapes.  

While tripods can be large and expensive, the Sony A6400 pairs perfectly with a Joby Gorillapod. (See Joby Gorillapod 1k on Amazon / Adorama). The Joby Gorillapod 1k is sufficient for the A6400 and a small lens. If you intend to use heavier lenses, you may want to go slightly larger with the Joby Gorilloapod 3k. (See on Amazon / Adorama). 

Learn Photography

I don’t care how experienced, every photographer can always learn more and continue to develop their skills.  There is no shortage of resources including free resources on the internet, books, classes.  If you are in the New York/Westchester area, feel free to contact me as I teach classes in the Spring and Fall.  While not an exhaustive list, some great resources:

• YouTube Manny Ortiz:   Manny Ortiz is a Sony Artisan of Imagery.  He is an incredible portrait photographer.  His free YouTube videos are filled with great portrait photography tips, including use of artificial lighting, posing, and Sony technology.
• Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson:  The bible for beginner enthusiast photographers to break down basic rules of exposure and composition.
• Access unlimited eBooks from Amazon including many great photography titles
• Learn to Use Lightroom for organizing and processing your images.  I learned a lot about using Lightroom to process landscapes from YouTube videos by Serge Ramelli.

To Really Master your A6400 and Photography…

Shoot… a lot. Carry your camera whenever you can, don’t stick it in a closet just for special occasions. Share images with others. And most importantly, have fun. 

Feel free to leave comments below if you have any questions. Follow me on twitter with the link at the top right or accept notifications of this blog, to see all our posts.

Thank you.

Setting up Sony A6400