新手上路 - Sony α7IV 的微物攝影筆記 Part's 1

Getting Started - My Sony A74 Macro Photography Notes, Part 1

The Origin

As a front-end web developer, I've always been curious why the photos on many commercial websites don't look very good. I met up with my friend Howrad and went to the Sony store at Syntrend to find out.

Sony A7M4 Test Shots

Next, we went to the Sony store on the 2nd floor of Syntrend and found a very enthusiastic salesperson who immediately cleared up my confusion. He explained that for commercial photography, to show more product detail, the cameras and lenses used are on a completely different level than the ones in our phones. He immediately let me take some test shots with a Sony a74 paired with an FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS lens. Sony a7IV camera with attached FE 90mm macro lens

Portrait Shot - Depth of Field Effect

Portrait of man in blue mask with blurred store background

Still Life Shot - Details of My Sister's Dried Fruit

Dried pineapple slice on brown dried fruit on a napkin

I was very satisfied with the test shots; I thought it was incredibly powerful. It's hard for a typical camera to capture this level of detail. However, the price was really steep, and Sony's prices are firm. I hesitated for a long time before finally buying it. I decided to go for it because I'm genuinely interested and plan to keep investing my time in it.

Official product pages:

First Charge

The new battery was completely dead. A full charge takes about three hours, and the indicator light turns off when it's done. A full charge lasts for about two hours of use.

I spent some time getting familiar with the common button functions.

Sony α7IV camera top view showing various controls and dials

Main Modes

Auto - Automatic mode. Automatically adjusts aperture and shutter speed, suitable for any kind of shooting. P Mode - Program Auto. The camera automatically meters and adjusts shutter speed. Beginners can use this mode to understand the relationship between aperture and shutter. A Mode - Aperture Priority. Allows manual adjustment of the aperture. (The wider the aperture, the more pronounced the depth of field effect.) S Mode - Shutter Priority. Allows manual adjustment of the shutter speed. (A slower shutter can capture scenes invisible to the naked eye.) M Mode - Full Manual. Allows manual adjustment of both aperture and shutter speed.

AF Button

The AF button is for autofocus assist. It emits an infrared beam and can be used to focus instead of half-pressing the shutter button.

Soft Skin Effect

MENU > (Exposure/Color) > [Color/Tone] > [Soft Skin Effect].

One time, I turned on the camera and suddenly found that all my shots were blurry and I couldn't find a focus point. I asked the Sony salesperson at Syntrend and learned that I had accidentally switched the camera to manual focus. Since I'm still a beginner, I switched it back to autofocus for now.

Sony macro lens with focus ring and focus mode switches

Creations from two days of playing around

Almond cookie on plate next to glowing Ecoya candle warmer Golden almond cookie in macro focus, blurred background Macro photo of a small, heart-shaped green leaf and new bud Gold Golem and silver Slime Dragon Quest figurines Even the dust is captured clearly. Long exposure city street at night with car light trails S Mode, shutter speed needs to be around 5 seconds or more. Night street scene with bright starburst streetlights and buildings P Mode, adjust the aperture to F8 or higher. P.S. The larger the F-number, the smaller the aperture (the bigger the number after the F), and the longer the points of the starburst effect will be!

Conclusion

The Sony A74 is a really powerful camera with a lot of potential. After shooting with it for three days, I have no regrets about buying it. However, I haven't mastered it yet, but I will keep practicing to improve my photography skills.