Sony Menus ARGGHHH!!

[Brownie]

Today is supposed to be opening day at Milan Dragway. Nothing super exciting, Junior Drag Racing points race. Kind of cute, the drivers are as young as 6 years old. They run three age groups from 6-18 with speeds in each group topping out 35MPH for the youngest and 95MPH for the oldest. I figured since I haven't shot Sony in this setting yet it would be a good chance to practice under slower than normal conditions.

Anyway, last night I set up a custom shooting mode at #1 on the dial for both the A7-IV and the A7R-III. The A7-IV was pretty easy, having messed with it when I first got the camera. I'm using settings from past experience on other cameras, like AF-C, Tracking, Large Spot, ISO 100, Weighted Metering, etc. And while I usually use M almost exclusively, I programmed P so I can mess with the shutter speeds and let the camera worry about aperture. Any of these settings are subject to change after I see results, but this is a starting point.

Then came the A7R-III. What a nightmare! I hadn't done much with this camera other than walk around and take some shots, a few bird pics, etc. I knew the menus were different, but my Lord, the naming conventions and everything else changed. Just finding the menu to set the programming was a pain. And Tracking was called 'Lock'? After several attempts I finally succumbed to frustration and went to @Timothy Mayo's excellent blog section for a link to the owner's manual. Done and done. Thanks Tim!

Now that I'm familiar, future changes will be easy. But for God's sake, Sony, if you're listening, please standardize your menus going forward and STOP changing things. I have/had 5 Sony cameras, an A700, SLT-A65, A6000, A7R-III, and A7-IV. I know of at least three different menus from the DSLRs to the R III to the 7 IV. Not sure about the A6000, I'm kind of afraid to check!

And after all of that it looks like rain is going to cancel tonight's event. But the batteries are charged and everything is ready to go. The next time I'm available will be Sunday, so I'm hoping to go then.

A coupe of shots of Junior Dragsters for reference. They use snowmobile and motorcycle engines, some of the young ones may use large chain saw engines. The first one looks to be the youngest or middle class, photo from Milan Dragway in 2019. The second one is the older class, photo from Detroit Autorama 2022.

P1000743a by Shotglass Photo, on Flickr

DSC00893 by Shotglass Photo, on Flickr

 

[Tim Mayo]

Great shots Tim! These look like a lot of fun! I certainly didn't have anything like this when I was 6 years old! I probably wouldn't be here today if I did, even at just 35mph!

Sony menu's certainly aren't the most intuitive. I had become quite comfortable with them but now jumping between the new menu in the a7 IV and the older menu structure in my other cameras they have become rather tedious. Although it doesn't help that I have a memory like a sieve for this kind of thing!

Glad to hear that you found the blog links helpful!

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Nice cars and shots. Funny thing about the menus. When I switched to Sony and started looking at the extensive menus, it seemed quite familiar to me, as my old Dynax (Maxxum) had pretty similar menus. Given that menu system is around 15 years old it may be time for a rethink, but I don't find them too bad.

 

[Clix Pix]

When I first heard that Sony had changed their menus, I groaned, as I had finally gotten a pretty good handle on the earlier one after a succession of Sonys from NEX 7 to several RX100s to the RX10 IV and then the A7R IV. My first confrontation with the new menu was with the A1 and, yeah, it took longer than usual to go through it and to ascertain that I'd adjusted the settings that I wanted to adjust, but at the same time I also found it a whole lot easier. Even at that days later after getting the camera I was still tweaking this-and-that.

Bottom line: I like the new menu much better and it's annoying having two different menus in my cameras. Now I'm groaning every time I need to adjust something in one of the other cameras! LOL! Thankfully, that doesn't happen all that often.

 

[Charles Jones]

When I first heard that Sony had changed their menus, I groaned, as I had finally gotten a pretty good handle on the earlier one after a succession of Sonys from NEX 7 to several RX100s to the RX10 IV and then the A7R IV. My first confrontation with the new menu was with the A1 and, yeah, it took longer than usual to go through it and to ascertain that I'd adjusted the settings that I wanted to adjust, but at the same time I also found it a whole lot easier. Even at that days later after getting the camera I was still tweaking this-and-that.

Bottom line: I like the new menu much better and it's annoying having two different menus in my cameras. Now I'm groaning every time I need to adjust something in one of the other cameras! LOL! Thankfully, that doesn't happen all that often.

I was just about to post the same thing. It's hard going back and forth between cameras, Sony has so many different menus. For the first 30 minutes with a camera I have to constantly remind myself "oh, I'm using the a6300 today not the A7R4" or vice-versa when locating functions and modes.

Hopefully the event is canceled. From your Flickr you enjoy auto photography and I think you'd capture some really good images.

 

[Brownie]

I was just about to post the same thing. It's hard going back and forth between cameras, Sony has so many different menus. For the first 30 minutes with a camera I have to constantly remind myself "oh, I'm using the a6300 today not the A7R4" or vice-versa when locating functions and modes.

Hopefully the event is canceled. From your Flickr you enjoy auto photography and I think you'd capture some really good images.

Thanks. I'm one of the trackside photographers out there. I get an all-access media pass every year. If you poke around a bit in my Flickr page you'll find some better examples.

They race every week, so a cancellation on something like this just means a re-schedule. I do become disappointed when the bigger races get rained out. I love watching Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars.

 

[Brownie]

When I first heard that Sony had changed their menus, I groaned, as I had finally gotten a pretty good handle on the earlier one after a succession of Sonys from NEX 7 to several RX100s to the RX10 IV and then the A7R IV. My first confrontation with the new menu was with the A1 and, yeah, it took longer than usual to go through it and to ascertain that I'd adjusted the settings that I wanted to adjust, but at the same time I also found it a whole lot easier. Even at that days later after getting the camera I was still tweaking this-and-that.

Bottom line: I like the new menu much better and it's annoying having two different menus in my cameras. Now I'm groaning every time I need to adjust something in one of the other cameras! LOL! Thankfully, that doesn't happen all that often.

You want more Headache? The A7-IV is different yet. Although to Sony's credit it's more in-line with other manufacturers.

Great shots Tim! These look like a lot of fun! I certainly didn't have anything like this when I was 6 years old! I probably wouldn't be here today if I did, even at just 35mph!

Sony menu's certainly aren't the most intuitive. I had become quite comfortable with them but now jumping between the new menu in the a7 IV and the older menu structure in my other cameras they have become rather tedious. Although it doesn't help that I have a memory like a sieve for this kind of thing!

Glad to hear that you found the blog links helpful!

Thanks. The first shot was before I had a media pass and had to shoot from the stands. I saw people down there along the safety wall and said" "Man, I gotta' get me some 'o that!" I applied for a media pass, and they inexplicably granted one without hesitation. I can go anywhere I want, including between the lanes next to the starter. The first time I stood next to a Funny Car coming off the line I wondered if I really wanted to do it anymore, it is absolutely one of the most dynamic experiences I've ever had.

After my first trip I was warned by the other photographers to create a logo and include it on all my photos, and never, ever give one away. I admit to giving some away, but anything car related now gets the logo.

 

[iain clyne]

Coming from Nikon to Sony I wondered what I was getting into with the menus but have managed to master them now but I see they have changed them in the A7iv.

 

[AlphaWorld]

I have used Canon, Nikon, and Sony deeply, and Canon’s old menus (circa 2007) had a whole lot of “custom settings pages” which were a fairly disorganised jumble of settings. I think they were like that because any new settings were added on the end, so that people used to the old settings could find them (I could be wrong); the previous Sony menus felt like that too. The new Sony menus feel like “all the settings for Playback will be in this section, no matter how long it gets” - I think that is smarter. But I agree, returning to the old menus after using the new ones is not fun (Maybe it is a ploy to encourage us to get rid of all of our cameras using the old menus?)