Sony ZV-E10 Custom Buttons: Fn Menu and Key Setup Guide

To set up Sony ZV-E10 custom buttons, press MENU, go to (Camera Settings2) → [Custom Key], pick a button, and give it the function you change most, such as [Movie Shooting] or [Focus Standard]. Then fill the 12-slot Fn menu with your next favorite settings, building one layout for photos and a separate one for video, and gather the menu pages you visit often in the camera's personal menu tab.

Three shortcuts, one goal: fewer trips into the menu

Sony's Help Guide describes the ZV-E10 as a camera you can customize by putting functions and shooting settings on custom keys, so it becomes easier to operate. Think of it like a kitchen. You keep the spoon you use every day in the top drawer, not in the back of the garage.

Here are the three shortcuts you will set up:

• Custom keys. A custom key is a button you give a new job. It works like a light switch by the door: one press, and the thing you want happens. Sony recommends putting frequently used functions on buttons that are easy to press.
• The Fn menu. Press the Fn (Function) button and a row of up to 12 functions appears at the bottom of the screen. Picture a small toolbox you can open with one tap.
• The personal menu tab. Sony lets you combine frequently used items from the shooting, playback and network menus on one screen of your own. It is like a single drawer that holds only your favorite tools.

Sony's Help Guide also says the Fn menu and custom keys work best together: keys for the few things you change all the time, the Fn menu for the next group.

Why this setup matters more on the ZV-E10

The ZV-E10 is a very small camera. PetaPixel describes it as close to the smallest possible body that can hold an APS-C sensor, an E-mount and a usable grip. Small bodies leave little room for buttons, and PetaPixel notes the ZV-E10 has a simpler set of buttons and dials than the Alpha 6100 it is based on.

The biggest change is the missing mode dial. Instead, a mode button cycles between stills, video and S&Q (slow and quick) mode, and picking shutter priority, aperture priority or manual means going into the menu. That is the exact spot where a good shortcut helps you most.

A quick refresher on those modes, in plain words:

• Aperture priority: you choose the aperture, which works like the pupil of your eye getting bigger or smaller. The camera picks the rest.
• Shutter priority: you choose the shutter speed, which is like a door opening and closing. A quick door freezes a running dog. A slow door lets it blur.
• Manual: you choose both, plus ISO. ISO is like turning up the volume on a quiet song: louder, but with more hiss.

If these still feel new, that is normal. The shortcuts below make it easier to practice, because trying a setting takes one press instead of five.

How to set a custom key on the ZV-E10

Here is the path from Sony's Help Guide:

1. Press MENU.
2. Go to (Camera Settings2).
3. Open [Custom Key].
4. Select the key you want to change.
5. Choose the function to put on it.

Sony says you can change the functions of the buttons, including the custom button, to suit how you like to work. If you choose something and it feels wrong after a day of shooting, come back and swap it. That is not a mistake. It is how you learn which settings you really use.

Good jobs for your custom keys

Movie recording. By default, start and stop recording sits on the MOVIE button, and you can press it even while in still image mode. If you would like recording on a different key, the Help Guide path is MENU → (Camera Settings2) → [Custom Key] → set [Movie Shooting] to the key you prefer.

Focus Standard. When you assign [Focus Standard] to a key, it calls up handy focus tools that depend on your focus area, such as moving the focusing frame quickly. This applies when [Focus Area] is set to [Zone], [Flexible Spot], [Expand Flexible Spot] or one of the matching Tracking versions. A focusing frame is the little box that shows where the camera aims its focus, like pointing your finger at the thing you want sharp. To use [Focus Standard] while filming, assign it the same way through [Custom Key].

The background blur button. PetaPixel reports the camera comes with background defocus set on a top button, and pressing it toggles between "clear" (more of the background in focus) and "defocus" (aperture opened all the way for a blurry background). PetaPixel's reviewer liked this toggle for vlog-style videos where picking an exact f-stop is not important. If you vlog, you may want to leave it right where it is.

How to set up the Fn menu

Using it

Press Fn while in shooting mode and the 12 functions appear at the bottom of the screen. Pick the one you want, then press the center of the control wheel, and that function's own setting screen opens. Follow the guide on screen to change the value.

Changing what is in it on the ZV-E10

The ZV-E10 Help Guide calls this feature [Function Menu Set.]. You get twelve slots for still images and twelve for movies, kept separately. To change the movie set, the guide says to pick a movie function menu item in step 2 of that process. Open MENU and look for [Function Menu Set.], then swap slots one at a time.

Changing what is in it on the ZV-E10 II

The ZV-E10 II Help Guide gives this path: MENU → (Setup) → [Operation Customize] → [Fn Menu Settings]. Its guide shows choosing (Creative Look) from among the 12 still image items using the control wheel and pressing the center. When [Touch Operation] and [Shooting Screen] are both set to [On], you can also open [Fn Menu Settings] by holding down an icon in the function menu. If you own the II, the ZV-E10 II first-time setup guide covers the other settings to change early.

Task	ZV-E10	ZV-E10 II
Assign a button	MENU → (Camera Settings2) → [Custom Key]	[Custom Key/Dial Set.]
Edit the Fn menu	[Function Menu Set.]	MENU → (Setup) → [Operation Customize] → [Fn Menu Settings]
Fn slots	12 still, 12 movie	12 still, 12 movie
Pick S, A or M mode	MENU → (Camera Settings2) → [Shoot Mode]	Not covered in this guide's sources

A recommended Fn layout for photos

Fill the first slots with the settings that change your picture the most. Leave the rest open for a week, then add whatever you keep digging through MENU to find.

Slot	Setting	Why it earns a spot
1	[Shoot Mode]	Picks aperture priority, shutter priority or manual, which otherwise sits inside MENU
2	ISO	Brightens dark scenes. Turn it up only as far as you need.
3	Exposure compensation	Makes the whole picture a little brighter or darker, like a dimmer switch
4	[Focus Area]	Chooses where the camera looks for focus, such as [Wide], [Zone] or [Flexible Spot]
5	(Creative Look), ZV-E10 II	The II's Help Guide shows it as a still image Fn item
6 to 12	Your choice	Add the settings you notice yourself hunting for

PetaPixel found the ZV-E10's autofocus slow at tracking a fast-moving dog in stills. So when photos come out soft, check your focus area first. A smaller, steady spot on a still subject is often easier than asking the camera to chase. For more on photo basics, see the ZV-E10 photo settings guide for beginners, and for dim rooms and night scenes, the ZV-E10 low light settings guide.

A recommended Fn layout for video

The movie Fn menu is separate from the photo one, so set it up with movie needs in mind. Sony's Help Guide notes that some still image settings also carry over to movie shooting.

Slot	Setting	Why it earns a spot
1	[Shoot Mode]	To set shutter speed and aperture yourself, you switch to movie mode and choose a shooting mode here
2	ISO	You can change it while recording, and movie ISO runs from 100 to 32000
3	Exposure compensation	Also changeable while recording
4	[Focus Area]	Changeable while recording, and [Wide] helps keep focus on a face
5 to 12	Your choice	Add the movie settings you change between shoots

Slot 1 matters more than it looks. In [Program Auto] for movies, the camera sets aperture and shutter speed and you cannot change them, so in bright light the shutter can get fast and motion may not look smooth. Changing the shooting mode and setting those values yourself fixes that. One press on the Fn menu gets you there.

Two more video notes from the Help Guide. If you set ISO above 32000 or below 100, the camera moves it into range while recording and puts it back when you stop. And because lens and camera sounds can end up in your audio, you can turn sound off at MENU → (Camera Settings2) → [Audio Recording] → [Off]. With a power zoom lens, Sony suggests using the zoom lever with a light finger instead of the zoom ring, so the ring noise stays out of the recording. The ZV-E10 video settings guide covers frame rates and more.

The personal menu tab: your favorite drawer

Sony lets you register the menu items you want in a personal tab under MENU. On the Help Guide's Add Item page, you pick the item to add using the top, bottom, left and right of the control wheel. It pulls together items from the shooting, playback and network menus in one place.

This tab is a good home for settings you change now and then but not every minute. [Audio Recording] fits here. So does the display setting PetaPixel turned on to see the screen outdoors, which it calls "Sunny Weather" and notes drains the battery faster. PetaPixel also mentions a menu option for how hot the camera may run before shutting off, with "Standard" and "High" choices, though the reviewer warned that "High" is not a long-term answer.

One small trick: while you are in MENU, pressing Fn jumps to the next tab. That makes moving around the menu faster while you set all this up.

Save whole setups with Camera Set. Memory

Custom keys and the Fn menu change one setting at a time. Camera Set. Memory goes further: you can register shooting settings for a type of scene to the camera or a memory card, then recall them when you shoot. Picture it like a saved song playlist. One choice, and everything plays in order.

A simple start is one memory for daylight photos and one for indoor video. When you walk into a new room, you recall the right one instead of rebuilding from scratch. If you often bounce between the two, the guide to switching between photo and video fast walks through the shoot mode side.

Small habits that make your layout stick

• Start with fewer shortcuts. Two custom keys and five Fn slots are easier to remember than twelve. Add more once your thumb knows the first few.
• Keep the same order in both Fn menus. If ISO is slot 2 for photos, make it slot 2 for video too. Your hand will find it without looking.
• Write it down. A small note in your camera bag listing what each key does saves frustration on a busy day.
• Treat changes as normal. Every photographer rearranges buttons over time. A layout that changes is a layout that is learning with you.

Cameras and cages for this setup

Everything above uses paths from the ZV-E10 Help Guide, with the ZV-E10 II noted where its guide differs. If you add a cage or handle, check that it still lets your thumb reach the buttons you just assigned.