Sony a6000 Setup: Menu Settings to Change Before You Shoot

To set up a Sony a6000, you only need to change a handful of things: how you use the two top dials, what kind of file you save, how high ISO is allowed to climb, white balance indoors, and which buttons hold your favorite settings. Do it once at your kitchen table, and your first real shoot becomes about the picture instead of the menu.

This camera is older, but it still holds up. Digital Camera World says its 24-megapixel sensor is as competitive today as it was when the camera launched. The a6000 first went on sale in April 2014. Think of this guide as adjusting a well-built bicycle: the frame is solid, and you only need to set the seat to your height.

What your a6000 can and can't do

Before you change anything, it helps to know what the camera is built for. The table below pulls together the key specs from published reviews.

Feature	Sony a6000	Source
Sensor	24.3-megapixel APS-C CMOS
ISO range	100 to 25,600 (up to 51,200 equivalent with Multi-Frame Noise Reduction, up to 12,800 for video)
Burst shooting	11fps with AF tracking
Video	1080, no 4K
In-body stabilization	None
Rear screen	3-inch, 922k-dot
Usual kit lens	16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 power zoom

Two lines in that table shape your whole setup. The a6000 shoots 1080 video rather than 4K, and it has no in-body image stabilization. Picture stabilization as a shock absorber for your hands. Without it, a steady grip and a fast enough shutter speed do that job for you.

Step 1: Get to know the two dials on top

Digital Camera World describes two dials on top of the a6000: one sets the shooting mode, such as automatic, semi-automatic or manual, and the other changes the shutter speed or the aperture, depending on which mode you are in. These two dials are where you leave auto behind.

Here is what those two settings mean in plain words:

• Aperture is like the pupil of your eye. A wide-open pupil lets in lots of light and blurs the background behind your subject. A small pupil lets in less light and keeps more of the scene sharp.
• Shutter speed is like a door opening and closing. A door that slams shut fast freezes a running dog. A door left open longer lets in more light, but anything that moves turns into a smear.

A gentle first step is a semi-automatic mode. You choose one setting, for example the aperture, and the camera picks the others. If a photo comes out too dark or blurry, that is not a failure. It is the camera showing you which setting to change next time.

Step 2: Choose raw or JPEG

Every photo is saved as a file, and you get to pick the kind. A JPEG is like a meal that arrives already cooked. A raw file is like a bag of fresh ingredients: more work, but you can season it any way you like on your computer.

If you plan to share straight from the camera, JPEG is fine. Digital Camera World notes that you can change how JPEGs look straight from the camera by adjusting Creative Styles, several of which come as pre-stored settings. Try a few and pick the one that matches your taste.

If you want room to fix mistakes later, choose raw. Just know that raw files fill the camera's memory faster during bursts. Imaging Resource's reviewer ran into the buffer limit often when shooting long bursts, especially in raw format. More on that in Step 6.

Step 3: Set a comfortable ISO limit

ISO is like the volume knob on a radio. Turn it up and a dark scene gets brighter, but you also hear more hiss. In photos, that hiss is called noise.

The a6000's ISO range runs from 100 to 25,600. That does not mean every number looks good. Digital Camera World found that high ISO noise is not the a6000's strong point, and that at higher ISO settings you will need to work harder with noise reduction in your editing software. Here is how the two reviews line up:

ISO	What reviewers found	Source
100 to 800	Very good all-round performance, especially resolution
Up to 3,200	Noise well controlled
6,400 and up	Noise becomes objectionable at the lowest noise reduction setting

A simple rule for your first shoots: try to stay at ISO 3,200 or below. If your photo is still too dark, open the aperture wider or slow the shutter a little before you push ISO higher. Turning up the volume is the last move, not the first.

Imaging Resource also found that at higher ISOs, images looked overprocessed unless noise reduction was turned down to a minimum. If your night photos look smudgy, like a painting instead of a photo, that is the camera's noise reduction working too hard, and it is worth trying a lower setting.

Step 4: Fix orange indoor photos with white balance

White balance is like putting the right pair of tinted glasses on your camera. Household bulbs glow yellow, and if the camera does not correct for it, faces and walls come out orange.

In Imaging Resource's test under household incandescent bulbs, the Auto white balance setting came out a bit warm and orange, though better than average. The Incandescent setting was better but still a touch warm, and the Manual setting was quite accurate, just slightly cool.

So here is an easy plan. Leave Auto on outdoors. Indoors under yellow bulbs, switch to the Incandescent preset. If you still see orange, take the time to set a manual white balance.

The same test needed +0.3 EV of exposure compensation. Exposure compensation is a brightness nudge, like turning a dimmer switch up one small click. Imaging Resource notes that exposure compensation is one of the shooting functions the a6000 makes more directly accessible, so you do not have to hunt for it.

Step 5: Put your favorite settings within thumb's reach

The a6000 uses the same menu layout as Sony's A7 and RX-series cameras, according to Imaging Resource. That review describes a simpler, easier menu with button, dial and on-screen "Quick Navi" options meant to keep you out of the menus while you shoot.

Three features make the camera feel like yours:

• Memory banks. The a6000 can memorize and recall banks of user settings. Think of it as saving your place in a book. Build a setup you like for portraits, save it, and come back to it in one move.
• Autofocus and manual focus toggle. Switching between autofocus and manual focus is directly accessible. That matters when the camera keeps focusing on the wrong thing and you want to take over.
• Custom and function buttons. Imaging Resource's reviewer found the custom and function buttons easy to reach, which made fast settings changes possible.

That same reviewer said they could easily reach the AEL button, which they use for autofocus, and both control dials with a thumb. Moving focus off the shutter button and onto a thumb button is called back-button focus. It is a handy technique, but it is a fine thing to save for later. On day one, just put the settings you change most onto the buttons your fingers find without looking.

Step 6: Burst shooting and memory card speed

Burst shooting is like a flipbook: hold the button and the camera fires frame after frame. The a6000 shoots at 11fps with AF tracking, meaning it keeps adjusting focus during the burst.

Every burst lands first in the buffer, a small waiting room inside the camera. Imaging Resource found that when the a6000's buffer fills, it can take a long while to clear, and burst rate drops and many features are locked until it does. Their reviewer could still change shutter speed and aperture but waited as long as a minute to reach the menus, using a Class 10 SDHC card rated at only 15MB/s for writes. In the lab, the maximum clearing time after a burst of 47 JPEGs was 22 seconds with a UHS-I SDHC card rated at 90MB/s.

The lesson is simple and kind to your wallet over time: buy the fastest card you can afford, as Imaging Resource advises. A faster card empties the waiting room sooner.

Step 7: Video settings to know first

The a6000 records 1080 video, not 4K. For sharing online and learning the basics, 1080 is a perfectly good place to start. Its ISO tops out at 12,800 for video.

Watch out for heat. Imaging Resource measured that you may only get 20 to 30 minutes of recording time in 60p/28Mbps mode before the camera overheats. The "60p" part is the frame rate: 60 little pictures every second, like a very fast flipbook. Plan shorter clips, and give the camera a break between long takes.

If video is your main reason for buying a camera, Digital Camera World says the Sony ZV-E10 or the A6100 are much more modern video shooters, though both cost more. That is not a reason to put your a6000 away. It simply helps you know where its limits sit.

Day-one fixes for blurry photos

Blurry photos are the most common first-week frustration, and they almost always have a clear cause. Here are the ones the reviews point to.

Moving subjects in dim light

Imaging Resource notes that compact system cameras like the a6000 do much better than point-and-shoots in dim light thanks to its Hybrid AF system, but you still should not expect a quick autofocus lock on moving subjects. Their reviewer Dave Pardue shot the a6000 at an indoor hockey game and reported that the first few frames of a burst were generally soft. If your first shots of a moving subject come out soft, keep shooting. The later frames in a burst gave better results in that report.

Shaky hands with no stabilizer

Because the a6000 has no in-body stabilization, small hand movements can show up as blur. Imaging Resource suggests a useful trick: prop the camera on a steady surface and use the self-timer to release the shutter, which avoids any jiggle from your finger and works well when you do not have a tripod.

Missing the moment after a pause

Imaging Resource's reviewer found the a6000's wake-from-sleep time a bit slow, though something you can mostly learn to work around. When you know a moment is coming, wake the camera a few seconds early so it is ready when the action starts.

Where to go next

Once these settings are in place, go take a hundred ordinary photos: your cup of coffee, your pet, the view from a window. Each one teaches you a little more about how the dials work together.

For a wider look at how Sony organizes its menus, the Sony camera menu setup guide walks through the layout. If video is next on your list, the beginner's guide to shooting video with any camera covers the basics that apply to every body. And if you ever move up within the family, the Sony a6400 setup guide follows the same step-by-step approach.

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