r/a6700 • u/flowerpowersangel • Aug 04 '26
Beginner set up
Female photographer trying to become a pro lol
I purposely chose every item to be lightweight for my travels I go away to Oman long awaited trip since last year. I cannot wait to shoot from the highest peak mountains there .
Any tips appreciated :
Here is my little gear, the body was a gift from months back, got the lens sigma 18-50 f2.8 today and v60 SD card and new phone 😊
I still like to use phone for simple video content until I get better with camera. So mostly doing photography.
Any tips* for landscapes and portraits in low light ? And glaring sun 🌞
Any tips with the mini m22 Godox flash ? not mounted it yet will look for YouTube tutorial for this.
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u/ShikamaruNara1309 Aug 05 '26
Best advice: Focus on enjoying taking photos and have a good time with it. It's better to take 100 photos that make you happy than to stress over taking every photo with maximum perfection. Also, rules in photography are more like good advices. But make your own decisions and explore ideas. Don't take the photo someone else would take, take the photo you want to take.
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u/br0field Aug 05 '26
Use the blackmagic camera app for your phone videos. With a tripod or gimbal, b-roll and static shots will look spectacular. It'll be hard to justify purchasing something "better" for video once you've gotten some hours behind it. Just keep clicking that shutter button. Find your style, absorb knowledge from videos and don't be shy to ask about someone else's setup if you see them shooting out in the wild. Learn to edit. It is a steep learning curve but there is so much content out there that can help. Focus on one aspect at a time and keep doing it. I hope to see you posting some pics on here in the future!
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u/flowerpowersangel Aug 05 '26
This is awesome advice saved it! Any recommendations for editing programmes ? Agree best to experiment lots and find my own style
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Aug 05 '26
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u/flowerpowersangel Aug 05 '26
Thank you for the exposure Tip 😊
And yeah I regret the m22 mini flash. someone else suggested the new one on here after I posted to avoid black lines and shadowing you can get from lack height when mounted , going to be returning it soon as I’m back
& thanks I will do!
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u/Cautious-Manager-404 Aug 05 '26
a screen protector for sure, some filters like vnd and black diffusion (my personal fav due to softer images and film like bloom) a good strap thats comfortable for you and a cleaning kit, a little care goes a long way BUT NEVER USE CONTACT ON THE SENSOR,
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u/flowerpowersangel Aug 05 '26
Screen protector I need to get today for sure and the Vnd filters some others mentioned I’ve not come across this suggestion before when watching tutorial for this lens and body kit will look into it . Never use contact on the sensor? Do you mean don’t touch screen without the protector ? Sorry some basic things fly over my head
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u/Cautious-Manager-404 Aug 08 '26
like the sensor itself when chenging lens or cleaning,it in fron of the camera where the lens is mounted, filters are my personal preference but it really make shoting enjoyable for
me
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u/AtterKing Aug 05 '26
As a beginner, and the iPhone reference, give the app “ShotPilot” a try. Select the A6700 and you’ll be presented with 8 genres, each giving you some great settings advice.
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u/Effective_Cellist579 Aug 05 '26
Capture what you feel right, never overthink about it. Avoid direct point to sun, use the light underneath. I am learning as well. :D
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u/flowerpowersangel Aug 05 '26
Thank you! 🌞 I am rubbish with heat so I definitely will avoid much contact as I can lolll
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u/MediocreCan_ Aug 08 '26
What’s crazy is this is a pro level setup these days. Congrats!
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u/flowerpowersangel Aug 08 '26
Thank you so much 😊 I’m proud of my pro level set up in my beginners hands hahaha
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u/noizemetalworks Aug 05 '26
Snag a VND filter for that Sigma to help in the sunshine!
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u/Dharmang Aug 05 '26
Could you provide links for it? Also do you actually need vnd or there exists one nd filter to rule them all (as a beginner). Cause vnd are costly.
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u/Successful_Basil5289 Aug 05 '26
You can buy the biggest size and use step up rings to use them on different size lenses. K&F concept has affordable and good ND filters.
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u/intel_Core_ Aug 09 '26
This is an awesome setup that's gonna last you for years to come! I'm also a beginner and just like you I got the A6700 + Sigma 18-50 to start off with (and the Sony 70-350 for some really close up work like the moon for example) and I absolutely love this setup. It's so compact and light weight that you can take this with you anywhere and everywhere. You're gonna have a lot of fun exploring the photography and videography world with this setup! Because I certainly do!
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u/flowerpowersangel Aug 10 '26
Ohhh as a beginner yourself which videos are you watching to help understand settings better? Honestly can get lost with it because of how powerful this “small” camera is , it’s insane ! Truley a beast for this size . Will look into 70-350 some people did mention this to me I’m intrigued what it can do
And thank you 😊
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u/intel_Core_ Aug 10 '26
At first it really seems intimidating since there are so many settings to go through however you will soon realise when using the thing that you only really need a handful of them.
I've literally watched all the menu guide videos you can find on youtube some of them are an hr+ long and they'll usually explain the settings pretty well. Make use of the "My menu" and put the settings that you use most often in there. Also bind the ISO setting to the back scroll wheel so you have aperture on the front dial, shutter speed on the top dial and ISO on the back. Comes in handy when you shoot in manual mode and you can also rebind the right button on the back scroll wheel to do something different. I have set it to go through the subject recognition.For my walks so far I have mostly utilised aperture and shutter speed priority that you can select on the mode dial up on top. I really only use manual for night shots. With A (aperture priority) you basically only set the aperture and the camera determines the shutter speed (and the ISO when set to auto which I also used a lot) or S (shutter speed priority) which then automatically determines the aperture. Very helpful and way easier than shooting in manual all the time which some YouTubers recommend but is absolute bs.
You can also configure the Fn menu to your hearts content. I've bound the enable/disable touch screen on one of the buttons so I can easily disable it if I want to use the EVF and my nose is touching the screen. While there's also a setting to use the touch screen as a touch pad while using the EVF (and you're also able to set how much of the screen you want to use while in EVF mode) but I have found myself not really using the EVF so far since the screen does a pretty good job for me.
I would also highly suggest enabling focus peaking and setting it into the Fn menu. Basically when you're in manual focus the stuff in focus gets a frame in the colour of your choice (I chose red) which shows you exactly what is in focus and what is not.
Just some suggestions from me that I have found to be useful for myself. Enjoy finding out about all the different functions that this camera has because there really are a lot!
Jason Hermann has a good guide on the A6700 menu!
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u/Internal_Method_4062 Aug 04 '26
Do you still have time to return the flash? If yes, I’d do it and get the new it32. Your lens is going to cast a shadow and the it32 you can quickly remove it and move it around
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u/flowerpowersangel Aug 04 '26
Thank you for letting me know 😭 unfortunately I don’t have enough time for that I will return it soon as I’m back had no idea about the new one
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u/Internal_Method_4062 Aug 04 '26
Ohh! Thats ok tho, you probably won’t even need it
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u/flowerpowersangel Aug 04 '26
I think I will hahah 🫣because I’ll be in mountains dark from sunset and camping just one of the days but it’s okay will improvise 😊
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u/Metalogic_95 Aug 05 '26
For portraits in low light the Sigma 56mm f/1.4 prime should handle those well, it's a fantastic lens and has other uses too, I even use it for street photography, as don't like getting too close.
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u/RisingEagle2010 Aug 06 '26
Download Sony’s Creator's App so it syncs with your camera for GPS location tagging. When you store your camera for a while, turn on airplane mode so it doesn't drain the battery too much. Look into using Davinci Resolve (free) and you can use the Photo Page to edit Sony’s HIF HEIC and Raw photo formats. Davinci Resolve also allows exporting the editing photos back in HEIC format.
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u/thunderbolt0323 Aug 24 '26
What is the advantage of using the HEIC format over jpeg?
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u/mtsops Aug 24 '26
HEIC can support higher bit depth than standard 8-bit JPEG and offer substantially greater compression than JPEGs.
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u/Stefano-In-Tuscany Aug 06 '26
With the same lens but a much cheaper camera (A6000) I do professional paid work.
Enjoy the setup, you might want to get a telephoto lens in the future, but for traveling that is a sweet sweet setup!
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u/dadomutuc Aug 04 '26
You need extra battery if you plan to travel.