Sony ZV-E10 II Photo Settings for Beginners: AF, Modes, Buttons

For most beginner photos on the Sony ZV-E10 II, start in a mode where the camera sets shutter speed and aperture for you, turn on face and eye detection, and use Continuous AF with a Tracking focus area for anything that moves. Then put Eye AF and Tracking On + AF On on custom keys so the best focus tools are one button away.

Before you start: where these menu paths come from

Sony publishes an online Help Guide for the ZV-E10 II, and its focus pages list options such as Tracking: Zone, Tracking: Spot and three Custom focus areas. Some of the menu paths in this guide are quoted from Sony's Help Guide for the original ZV-E10, because that guide documents them step by step.

The ZV-E10 II can label things a little differently. Its Help Guide calls the button setup menu Custom Key/Dial Set., where the original model's guide says Custom Key. If a path below does not match your screen exactly, look for the setting name itself. It is usually one tab over.

The ZV-E10 II is a bigger step up than its name suggests. In Sony's review roundup, Mark Bennett described it as a ZV-E10 with an FX30 and Alpha 6700 sensor, 10-bit 4:2:2 and All-I codecs. Sony announced it alongside the E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OSS II kit lens. If you are still deciding between the two generations, read Sony ZV-E10 vs ZV-E10 II: What Changed and Which to Buy.

Step 1: switch the camera to photo

In Sony's review roundup, Arnulfur Hakonarson singled out a lever on the ZV-E10 II that switches between photo, video and S&Q. Set it to photo before you work through this guide, so you know you are changing still-image settings. When you want video settings next, the ZV-E10 video settings guide covers that side.

Step 2: pick an exposure mode

Exposure is how bright your photo turns out. In Sony's ZV-E10 Help Guide, you choose how exposure is handled under MENU > Camera Settings1 > Shoot Mode. The guide describes three still-image modes that matter most to beginners:

What the mode does	When to use it
Sets shutter speed and aperture (F value) automatically, while you can still change other settings in the menu	Your everyday starting point while you learn focus and framing
Lets you set both shutter speed and aperture yourself	When you want to control background blur or freeze motion deliberately
Recalls often-used modes and settings you registered in advance	When you shoot the same kind of scene often and want a one-step setup

Begin in the automatic exposure mode. It removes one variable while you get the focus settings below working. Once you want a blurrier background or a crisper action shot, move to the manual mode and change one setting at a time so you can see what each one does.

The recall mode is worth setting up after a few weeks. Save the setup you use most, for example portraits outdoors, and you can return to it in a single step instead of rebuilding it from the menu.

Scene Selection for tricky light

Scene Selection lives in the same Shoot Mode menu. Sony's Help Guide warns that some scene settings use slower shutter speeds and recommends a tripod to prevent blur. In the Hand-held Twilight and Anti Motion Blur scenes, the shutter clicks 4 times and the camera records one image. Hold still until all four clicks finish, or the combined image can come out soft.

Step 3: set up autofocus

Autofocus is where most beginner photos succeed or fail. The ZV-E10 II's Help Guide says that when phase detection AF points are inside the focus area, the camera combines phase detection and contrast AF. You control it with three groups of settings: Focus Mode, Focus Area, and face and eye detection.

Focus Mode

Sony's ZV-E10 Help Guide sets Focus Mode under MENU > Camera Settings1 > Focus Mode, and its still-image page lists Single-shot AF and Automatic AF. The guide also describes Continuous AF, and only that mode allows tracking.

A simple rule works here. Use Single-shot AF for subjects that stay still, like landscapes, food and posed portraits. Use Continuous AF for anything moving, like kids, pets and people walking toward you, so you can pair it with a Tracking focus area.

Focus Area

Focus Area tells the camera where to look. In the original ZV-E10 Help Guide, it sits under MENU > Camera Settings1 > Focus Area. With a Tracking area selected and the shutter button held halfway, the camera follows the subject inside the area you picked.

The ZV-E10 II Help Guide lists these tracking start areas:

Tracking option	Good starting use
Tracking: Zone	Moving subjects when you know roughly where they will be
Tracking: Spot XL / L / M / S	Picking one subject out of a busy scene, smaller for more precision
Tracking: Expand Spot	A small spot with some backup around it
Tracking: Custom 1 to Custom 3	Your own frame shapes for repeat situations

On the ZV-E10 II, selecting Custom 1, 2 or 3 and pressing the Delete button opens a screen where you set the frame's shape and size with the control dial or wheel. Leave this for later. Zone and the Spot sizes cover most beginner needs.

One catch: using any zoom other than optical zoom while shooting stills disables your Focus Area setting, and autofocus then prioritizes the center of the frame. Zoom with the lens instead.

Face and eye detection

Sony's ZV-E10 Help Guide puts these options under MENU > Camera Settings1 > Face/Eye AF Set.. Face/Eye Priority in AF sets whether the camera looks for faces or eyes inside the focus area and focuses on the eyes when autofocus is active. Subject Detection, in the same menu, sets what kind of subject the camera looks for.

The screen tells you what the camera sees. A gray frame appears when a face is detected, and it turns white once the camera can focus. A white eye frame shows when an eye is detected and focusing is possible. The original model's guide says up to 8 faces can be detected, and Face Registration lets you rank faces so the camera picks your first-priority person.

Face and eye detection also works with tracking. When it is turned on, the focusing frame moves to a face or eye automatically once one is detected during tracking. For portraits of people who move, turn on face and eye priority, set Continuous AF and choose a Tracking area.

Step 4: set custom buttons for focus

Back-button focus splits focusing from taking the picture. On the ZV-E10, Sony's Help Guide sets it up by assigning AF On to a key through the custom key menu. On the ZV-E10 II, that menu is called Custom Key/Dial Set..

These are the functions most worth putting on a key:

Function	What it does
Eye AF	Focuses on eyes across the whole screen while you hold the key, regardless of your Focus Area setting
Tracking On + AF On	During still shooting, runs autofocus and tracking together while the key is held
Tracking On	Switches temporarily to Continuous AF and a Tracking area while held
AF On	Lets you trigger autofocus from a key instead of the shutter button

Tracking On + AF On starts tracking from whatever Focus Area you had selected before you pressed the key. That makes it a handy pair: leave a normal area set for still subjects, and press the key when something starts moving.

The Eye AF key has two quirks. It works even if Face/Eye Priority in AF is set to Off. If no face or eye is detected while you hold it, the camera does not focus at all. With a shutter half-press, the camera only looks for faces and eyes in or around your focus area, and falls back to normal autofocus if it finds none.

A good beginner layout is Eye AF on one key and Tracking On + AF On on another. Leave the rest at default until you notice yourself reaching for a setting often.

Step 5: image quality and look

The sensor is a strong starting point. Reviewer Mark Bennett pointed out that the ZV-E10 II uses the same sensor as the FX30 and Alpha 6700. Sony's own roundup highlights Creative Looks and the Cinematic Vlog Setting as ways to give your images a consistent style.

In the same roundup, Jabari A.K. Holder wrote that FX30 and FX3 shooters can use the ZV-E10 II as a backup because it has the same recording modes, picture profiles and batteries. Those comments focus on video, but they show how much of Sony's higher-end color system made it into this body.

The simplest thing you can do for sharper photos has nothing to do with menus. Zoom optically, because non-optical zoom disables your Focus Area setting. For lens upgrades past the kit zoom, see Best Lens for Sony ZV-E10 Beginners.

Silent Shooting

In Sony's ZV-E10 Help Guide, Silent Shooting is under MENU > Camera Settings2 > Silent Shooting. The guide warns that with Silent Shooting on and a low ISO, pointing the camera at a very bright light source can record the brightest areas in darker tones. Use it for quiet places like ceremonies and sleeping babies, and turn it off when a bright lamp or the sun is in the frame.

Night photography starting points

At night, start with the scene modes. Hand-held Twilight takes 4 shots and records one image, which helps when you have no tripod. For scenes that use slow shutter speeds, Sony's Help Guide recommends a tripod.

Keep focus simple in the dark. Use Single-shot AF on a well-lit part of the scene, and turn on face and eye detection for portraits so the white face frame confirms focus before you shoot. If you shoot in silence at night, remember the bright-light warning above. For more on dim scenes, read Sony ZV-E10 Low Light and Night Photography Settings.

Quick starter setup

Setting	Beginner starting point
Photo/video/S&Q lever	Photo
Shoot Mode	Automatic shutter speed and aperture, then manual as you learn
Focus Mode	Single-shot AF for still subjects, Continuous AF for movement
Focus Area	Tracking: Zone or a Tracking: Spot size with Continuous AF
Face/Eye Priority in AF	On
Custom keys	Eye AF and Tracking On + AF On
Night, handheld	Hand-held Twilight scene

If your photos still come out soft after this setup, work through Sony ZV-E10 Blurry Photos and Video: Common Problems and Fixes. Owners of the first-generation camera can use Best Sony ZV-E10 Photo Settings for Beginners instead.