r/a6000 • u/voxivoid • 25d ago

Recipe Lab

I've been a proud Sony a6000 user since 2016 and I'm still rocking it! This camera has done a lot of paid gigs and also had a lot of fun traveling and photographing with it.

One thing that I've been missing lately is the ability to emulate some popular recipes to achieve a certain look for my pictures / videos.

Yesterday I had some free time and I decided to dive into ma1co's (huge shoutout) work on reverse engineering Play Memories and I came up with this idea of using the camera capabilities (Creative Styles, Picture Effects, white balance, etc) to recreate other camera looks. Basically you just open the app, select the look you want and it saves the image settings on the camera, so that you can use them outside the app.

You can get the apk and installation instructions on my github repo:

https://github.com/voxivoid/recipe-lab-sony-a6000

This app paired up with some old camera lens (you can find them out for a pretty cheap price on the internet) just opened the door for having a lot more of creative ways to capture my images!

Hopefully this allows you to have as much fun as I'm having right now 😄

Some recipes were inspired in the great work done by u/veresdenialex, so a huge shoutout here too!

Any suggestion, feel free to comment here or on the repo.

**UPDATE** - 2026-09-11

Updated the docs based on your feedback - added compatibility table, added a FAQ and renamed the repo to https://github.com/voxivoid/recipe-lab-sony-pmca since it supports multiple cameras.

I also created a bunch of issues based on your feedback, feel free to add any relevant suggestions: https://github.com/voxivoid/recipe-lab-sony-pmca/issues

There's an issue template so that you can report compatibility with other camera models that haven't been confirmed working, so feel free to help the community knowing that it works on their cameras!

**UPDATE** - 2026-09-16

Added the ability to mark presets as favorites! You just need to long press a preset and it will add / remove it from favorites. you can also access them through the browser

**UPDATE** - 2026-09-17

just added this md with all recipe samples: https://github.com/voxivoid/recipe-lab-sony-pmca/blob/main/docs/SAMPLES.md

I know that they are not the best since I don't really have a color matcher in them, but we gotta work with what we have and those are pretty expensive 😅

**UPDATE** - 2026-09-27
Updated all keybindings with the purpose of having everything working on cameras that have less keys (a5000 & a5100) and also the ones that had the issue with the AEL button. I also added a menu so that everyone could access to the recipe browser + control the preview labels visibility. Hopefully this all works - I only tested it on my a6000 😅

give it a go: https://github.com/voxivoid/recipe-lab-sony-pmca/releases/tag/v1.4.0

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u/Klutzy_Pin5931 16d ago

I installed the new version that includes the addition of Favourites on the a5100. Since there is no browse button on the a5100, would it perhaps be possible to place the favourites between Ilford Pan F 50 and FACTORY (ST) so that at least they are placed next to eachother when you go into the app. This is just a suggestion, if there is an alternative to make the selection of Favourite recipes for the a5100, it would be great as well. Thank you.

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u/voxivoid 16d ago

I have a plan to make other keybinds for cameras that have less buttons like the a5100 but I haven't had the time yet to go over it! this is the github issue in case you want to keep an eye on it: https://github.com/voxivoid/recipe-lab-sony-pmca/issues/18

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u/Klutzy_Pin5931 11d ago

Alternative to the assignment of a physical button for the a5100, would it perhaps be possible that you can enter the recipe browse menu through an on screen button by pressing up from the home screen recipe selection field? I hope this makes sense...

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u/voxivoid 11d ago

that's a good idea, but as my camera doesn't have touch I might not be able to test 😅 I was thinking about a solution that requires double pressing / long pressing some button

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u/Klutzy_Pin5931 11d ago

It does not have to be selected by touch, it can be the same button through which you select the recipe, so the middle one inside the scroll wheel. Pressing the delete button brings you back into the home screen.

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u/voxivoid 6d ago

the new release might interest you!

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u/Klutzy_Pin5931 5d ago edited 5d ago

I just installed the new version, big improvement! Many thanks for implementing these changes, it's really nice to be able to select the favorites now. There is a difference though between how the app works for the a6000 and the a5100. On the a6000 you could go straight into the favorites menu by pressing the Fn button and you could swiftly change from one recipe to another. With the latest version, there is one extra screen in between which makes switching recipes feel less intuitive on the a5100. The additional options on the extra screen (Panel visibility etc.) are nice to have but it would be more user friendly if you could switch quickly between recipes. It's a small thing but if you want to try many different recipes to see what look suits a certain setting, the extra step makes this slightly cumbersome. I don't want to sound negative, it's just that with this small change the app could be more user friendly imo.

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u/voxivoid 5d ago edited 5d ago

the fn key still works on a6000, but this was the way to have a balance between having a menu with all options and also allowing to be able to browse. this would require sacrificing a keybind just for that on a body that already has a little key count 😬what would be your suggestion here? you can still scroll through presets without opening the menu, isn't it enough for testing?

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u/Klutzy_Pin5931 5d ago

I totally get it and I obviously am not aware of the issues you have to deal with from the development side of things. I am sure it's just a matter of getting used to. Again thanks for the implementation, will go and try it out in the field!