Memory : Register & Recall Settings - Total Recall
In this movie tutorial Mark will show you how to save a group of your favourite camera settings and Register them in the camera's memory. These multiple camera settings can then be recalled by simply turning the Shot Mode dial to 1 or 2. Mark will also explain how useful the M1 to M4 settings are (these are saved to a memory card rather than the camera). These can be used to restore your favourite registered settings even after than camera has been 'Initialized' (set the the factory default settings).
Mark Galer is a Sony Alpha Ambassador for Australia.
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Join me on Patreon for the best Alpha Support and Guidance. A single $10 Membership fee includes access to my 500-page camera-specific eBooks, member-only Q&A Forums + Over twenty 1-hour member-only seminars + cameras settings files & access to the Raw files from the lens and camera reviews (there is no contract or commitment beyond the first month). www.patreon.com/markgaler
The only video that actually teaches you to customize Sony's Custom settings. The tutorial itself is simple, nicely paced, with adequate and accurate visual presentation. Thank you Mr Mark
Fully agre. Thanks to Mark
Great tutorial, Mark! Sony made an excellent choice in making you a Global Ambassador.
Sony are ending the Global Ambassador titles but I will continue on as a plain old Sony Digital Imaging Ambassador. I try to offer global support so I really don’t mind if the title is slow to disappear.
@@AlphaCreativeSkills Whatever they call you, Mark, you offer really excellent explanations of how to get the most out of Sony Alpha cameras.
Thank you Mark. I'm glad to have found your channel.
This film and other films from Mr. Mark Galer on settings of Sony A7R4 are really useful to me (just buying this camera). Thank you Mark!
Great as always! 👍 I learned again so much from you and as I already comment: You are the master! Thank's for your valuable input!
amazing , thx again mr.galer. best teacher ever
Thank you Mark. Your videos and ebook (and website) have given me the comfort to switch from Nikon. My Sony a73 is on its way!
Great to hear!
Brilliant. Got an A6400 for tutorial vids for work. But. Looks so great want to bring it out with the fam for photos and video. So glad to know I can bounce back and forth instantly and remain consistent in the office look. (Initial set up took over an hour for this Sony noob 🤣) Thank you!
Thank you for this tipp. I have 2 identical cameras and up to now I struggeled a lot with the settings while using the other camera...
Thank you for sending me this video. You’ve earned a subscriber!
Welcome!
@@AlphaCreativeSkills just set up my second A74 time for work 💪🏽
Thanks Mark, just what I needed for my A7c 👍
Glad it helped
Awesome demonstration Thanks.
You are welcome!
Found it! Thanks so much!!!!!
Thanks for your quick response, it works
Worth keeping a small old spare memory card in ones camera bag preloaded with settings just for this purpose.
Very useful Mark to see this in All Black English, rather than the translation from Japanese which I often have difficulty understanding. Are you able to make your PAL settings available on the web, or do we need to watch your set up videos in full?
I’ll get around to this next - keep an eye on my website as I’ll share them on my blog post. I have a movie for each of my settings already posted on my KZhead channel.
Thanks Mark, this was very useful. One thing that would be useful for me, is the ability to transfer setting across to several cameras. I own an A9, A7RIII, A7III, A6500 and A6300. I know this method does not work across different cameras, but maybe Sony could make an App, that would be a configuration builder. You could load an initial configuration (or build it in the App) using the card recall system. Then apply these configurations to a template for another camera model (changing what needed to be changed for the different model). Then once you have the second camera configuration you could use the recall method to upload it to the new camera (of have the app be able to do this directly). Sony would jump out way ahead of the competition with this software system builder.
Some good ideas here 😀
Hi, I really enjoy watching you, I think you did not mention one thing : you can une one of the M1 to M4 without assigning it to 1, 2 or 3. Just change from Manual to 1, and just click to the right and select whatever M function you like. And to go back, just switch from 1 to 2, and back to 1, so you don't need to erase anything. That is useful for me who has no 3 option... Thanks, Paul
did it exactly like this. :)
Hi Mark, love your channel and love my new Sony A7R lll. Please could you help me with the best settings for Street Photography?
Check out my Street Photography Settings Custom Settings Movie on my Channel
Great video, thanks. I keep these settings files on old SD cards (low capacity cards that I no longer use) so I can quickly pop them in my cameras to recall, without having to use a computer. I keep them in my bag, just in case of a catastrophe during a shoot. :-)
After the recent firmware upgrade on a7iii the M1-M4 memory settings on my SD card were no longer readable, nor could they be restored from the backup I had made on my computer. Other users have reported same problem and we don’t know why. Had to reformat the card and set them up again. Good idea to keep a written record of your custom settings as a fallback.
I would never figure it out by myself :).. thanx
Mark, thank you for your excellent tutorials. Is there a way to copy all camera settings [custom button settings, my menu, fn menu, etc.] from one a7iii to another a7iii? I have enjoyed the Sony A7iii so much that I have purchased more bodies, but would like all of the camera bodies to be set up the exact same way. Thanks!
Unfortunately not - I would like to see this happen in the future.
Hi Mark. Thanks for your videos . Love them. I've programmed my memory 123 to PAL in my sony alpha 7r3. However I like the use of the street settings in another video. Can one save and recall that in some other way without using the set 3 . Or are the options for only 3 customised settings
You can save four additional settings on a memory card (M1-M4) but they are deleted when you format the card. You can copy them back onto the card from your computer or just load them from a card you don’t format and then eject the card.
Great video! Never knew you can copy the settings out of the camera. Do you know if the setting file can be rename in computer, and still work after copied to camera?
Sony a7iii
I have not tried it but I doubt the camera would recognise the files if you renamed them. If you want to rename them because you want more than 4 registered settings I would just keep a couple of memory cards labelled with the different settings and store them on your computer with different folder names.
Thanks for the video. I do have a question though. Which group of settings do not save?
Very informative Mark Thank you. A question slightly off subject. I have just got the A7iii having upgraded from the A6300. I intend to use the 6300 as my B camera when shooting event videos. If I set the profiles the same on both cameras should I/will I get the same colouring, contrast etc
I haven't tried to color match movies. I can do this with Raw as I profile the cameras using an xRite Color Passport
@@AlphaCreativeSkills Thanks Mark
Thank you Mark! You are a great teacher!
Mark, thanks for this and all of your fantastic tutorial videos on the Sony setups. One thing on this video that was not addressed was how to delete a Memory (1/2/3 on top dial). Is there a way to actually delete a given Memory such that all settings go back to a default setting? Otherwise I believe the only way to accomplish this is to go through every setting and override / Register your new group of settings and hope that you haven't inadvertently missed something.
There are no default settings registered to the shoot mode dial - if you have not registered any memories the camera settings you are seeing are your current camera settings. Just overwrite the setting with a new group of settings if you don’t need a registered set any more.
Thanks for this info. Any idea of how to disable the display screen that comes up with all of your settings within that recall when switching over to either 1 or 2? I’m trying to touch the camera as little as possible after switching to these recalls.
No override unfortunately
Hi Mark, thanks for the great tutorial on this. This may be an obvious question to some, but if I use 1,2, and 3 for "photograph" settings, am I still able to use 1,2, and 3 for "movie" settings when in Movie mode? Thanks in advance for your help.
The 3 Memory Recalls don't change their behaviour when you switch to Movie Mode so you would have to keep a card in your camera bag that has your Movie Memory settings. I have a couple of old and slow 8 GB cards I use for this. The settings are immediately available as soon as you put in the card or you can spend 2 minutes transferring them over to the camera's 1, 2 and 3 settings.
Mark Galer's Alpha Creative Skills got it. Thank you for clearing that up for me!
Yes good, I thought of this. Keep a very fast big card for movie settings . Many things similar though like the Functions so that head does not wobble off.
Great tip! But one question: Does it also work from a A9 to a 7RIII or even a 7 III?
It only works for cameras of the same model and same firmware
Thanks Mark, I switched to Sony recently and your videos are helping me a lot. Just a question, when you recall those settings, it seems you can't control the shutter speed as you do in a manual mode, it seems it becomes Aperture mode only?
Make sure you have registered the Exposure mode (P,A,S or M)
Hi Mark, found this video really useful- thanks. I've configured one of my memory slots for video, with s-log, manual exposure etc. However I've found that it won't let me set a custom white balance. I've tried setting it in a different shoot mode but any saved white balance info is reset when I switch to the Recall mode. Do you happen to know of any solution to this?
Unfortunately White Balance cannot be saved to a memory or custom shoot settings.
Thanks for this Mark. I understand this copies across custom settings but is there a way to transfer across all the menu settings from one camera to another. EG custom menus, programmed buttons etc.
Not at the moment - I am hoping I can convince Sony that it is a good idea to enable this.
@@AlphaCreativeSkills Hi Mark, with all the technology built into these camera why oh why can they not provide the option to back up all settings so they can be copied back to the same camera or another of same model? My A7iii has been away for repair and main board was replaced, having to set up all those options again (and remember how they were set) is a nightmare! This is such an easy thing, I can do it on my Nikon D500.
Thanks for very instructive videos. Without your tutorial the Sony meny would be a a total mystery. Now I wonder if I have set up 1-3 according to your PAL and save video recordings on M4 how do I reach M4 without destroying 1-3, as I would like to use video recordings just occationaly when out travelling
You can load a memory from M1 to M4 if it has been saved to a camera card. You can load it either from the menu or by dealing in 1, 2 or 3 from the Shoot Mode dial and then choosing M4. M1, M2 and M3 are also options as they are different memories to 1, 2 and 3
@@AlphaCreativeSkills Thanks for quick answer. I am still a bit confused. If I am shooting portraits and quickly would like to change to video of the situation - having the settings för video on M4 and the card in slot 2. Which is the fastest way to change - wanting to have both pictures and video in slot 1. Would be most grateful for your advice.
Hi Mark: Thanks for the tutoring, May I ask once I set the memory by mistake, how to reset the memory recall?
Just change the settings while you are in 1, 2 or 3 and then resave the memory in the menus
Nice video Mark, thanks! I've a doubt. It's possible change one setting of the memory witouht change all the settings? I would like to incease the shutter speeed of Memory 2 from 1/2000 to 1/2500. It' is possible?
Mark, do you sell the memory settings that you have preset for your alpha 9 on a file download that one could transfer to a Memory card?
Giving them away (all of the learning resources on my website are free) is something I will get around to one day. What has held me back is that they have to be the same firmware version and we are currently on version 5.00 with 6.00 soon to be released.
Mark, does this also save all of the custom key settings so that they are not lost if the camera is reset? Thank you again for your clear and helpful tutorials. : )
It currently saves the memories but not the custom key preferences. If you reset a camera memories and custom key setups are not deleted but if you Initialise your camera the memories and custom key setups are deleted.
Thank you again Mark : )
Hi Mark, Hope I am not stating the obvious but I set up my A7iii with Portrait and Action in 1 and 2 as suggested. I then set up other modes in M1 to M4. What I found was that as long as the camera mode dial is set to 1 or 2 it is then possible to use the Memory Recall menu item to select whatever is set in M1 to M4 without copying it to position 1 or 2. It is then active on the camera until you move the mode dial away to another position and does not affect what is stored in 1 and 2.
Yes that is correct - just remember M1-M4 are deleted from the card when it is reformatted (that’s why I use Slot 2 for these settings while writing to Slot 1).
Thanks Mark and a Happy New Year to you
Great question Peter! Mark, is it a correct assumption that the above recommendation "(that’s why I use Slot 2 for these settings while writing to Slot 1)" will not matter which card memory settings are saved to if after formatting any M1-M4 presets are dropped back onto both cards from your desktop folder as suggested in another video? Thanks again for your diligence and always answering. @@AlphaCreativeSkills
Mark or anyone else please help clarify, when loading/recalling the M1-M4 settings you have previously programmed you can only recall whichever setting you need to the 1 or 2 (A7iii) position on mode/program dial? So in essence, even though you might have up to 4 different setups on M1-M4, you can only utilize a maximum of two on the program dial at positions 1 or 2?
You can recall and use them from the card without having to enter them into 1 of 2 on the camera - so you can have up to 6 memory settings you can recall while on a shoot.
Thanks for this video. On the A9 I have registered several settings to dial 1, 2 and 3, but I'm having trouble to register Focus mode and Drive mode. I can`t get this memory recall to override the focus and drive mode that is set on their respective dials at the top left of the camera. Also, when I`m trying to register this settings, I can see all the icons as in the screen shown at 7:35 in this video, except the Focus mode and Drive mode icons. What am I missing? How can I register a set of parameters, including focus and drive mode?
Because the A9 has a hard dial that controls Focus Mode and Drive mode you cannot override these using the Memories on the Shoot Mode Dial. I am a big fan of Recall Custom Hold on the A9 (that I can assign to Custom keys) and this will override the hard dial on the top of the camera. Take a look at my Recall Custom Hold movie
@@AlphaCreativeSkills Thanks for your answer Mark. I watched your Recall Custom Hold movie. That is a good solution, but I wish the custom button could toggle the setting rather than recall them only while you hold it.
Wish they didn't have 'Auto', 'P' & 'SCN' mode, and gave you an extra custom mode!!!
Hey Mark, should the memory recall save the custoum buttons? Because my Sony a7iii doesnt seem to do that.
No it doesn’t. I have personally made a point of asking SONY to make this happen.
@@AlphaCreativeSkills Oh ok, thank you very much for your effort. It is quite annoying to be honest, I often switch between AF and Manual Lenses so beeing able to remap some of my Focus mode buttons would be realy nice.
Question: On my a9 v6.0, I have setup the Mode Dial settings 1,2,3 for action, portrait and landscape, yet when I switch from whatever mode my camera is in to any of these mode dial settings, the settings fail to function and revert back to the current camera settings. Any suggestions on what I have missed? Thanks!
That would be difficult for me to resolve without seeing the camera or sharing photos of your menu settings - I offer a support service on my Patreon account. Just remember that with an A9 you can’t store drive mode and focus mode to the shooting memories.
I suggested the memory recall you highlighted here to export/ import configuration among multiple alpha bodies of same type! Several users on a7iii Facebook group were asking if possible to copy configuration across multiple bodies they own? It looks the memory export import will only save exposure related items not the entire configuration say copy rights and grid status! Are you aware of any method to accomplish this ?
When you are saving or recalling a memory you can scroll down to see what settings are being saved (there are more than appear on the initial screen). If the feature does not appear it is not being saved and there would be no other way of transferring this at the current moment in time. Transfers may also be prevented if the firmware between the two models is different.
Thanks Mark. Will try that. We only wish to transfer settings for the same model. This item is good candidate to add to wishlist you are taking with you on your upcoming Sony visit in Japan.
What are the differences between MR and the new Save/Load function just introduced on the A7R IV?
I have a separate video that covers this feature. You can now save custom keys and Fn menus and general setting preferences.
Mark Galer's Alpha Creative Skills gotcha. I think I’m going to create a loadout for video, studio, and street. Within that I’ll use different MR for 24p, 120p and 60p. This feature is really cool. Makes usability so much better.
It’s really cool because I asked Sony when I was in Tokyo to add this feature 😀
Mark Galer's Alpha Creative Skills thanks for telling them!!
do these saved recalls to a sd card also record and save custom key setups? is there a way to duplicate the complete camera... its my understanding and I could be wrong that once you update the firmware you lose everything
Exactly what I needed!
I shoot team/individual pictures, action for work...landscape for fun...Shooting action, can I go from stop action to panning with a click of a button?
Yes - By holding a button - Check out my video Recall Custom Hold.
Hi Mark, I made some settings for video and saved it to my "1". Some of those settings included changing the "Fn" button menu settings. However, when I switch back to Aperture priority, I noticed that my Fn's that I had for Aperture were changed to the video settings Fn settings. Am I doing something wrong, or does it not save the Fn settings?
Custom key function and the Fn menu is not saved with Shoot Mode memories. Watch my Memory Mastermind movie if you want to see how I set up my camera
@@AlphaCreativeSkills Thank you for taking the time to respond Mark. I will check out your other video. Thank you for your helpful videos as always.
is it possible to save internal settings, such as button functions etc on a memory card in a6400?
No - only the A7RM4 currently has this option
Hi Mark, I updated my a7iii to firmware 3.0 and I seem to have lost my memory recall settings on my SD card. I have these backed up on my computer but restoring them onto the SD card didn’t work. Do you know how to fix this? Thanks
Memory settings cannot be used when a camera has a major firmware update.
Thanks
Hi Mark, we are waiting for these settings for a7rv. I am registered on your website as one of your follower client. Thanks. Hal.
I moved all of my learning resources to my Patreon support channel - Patreon.com/markgaler
Regarding the "Register Custom Shoot Set". Is it possible to save the "Custom Hold" 1, 2 and 3 settings to the SD card?
Only on the A7RlV and A9ll cameras as I write this in November 2019
Thanks Mr. Galer.
is there a way to recall all setting saved in camera, just like" 1, 2, 3, m1, ..m4" so that i can directly choose 1/2/3 (saved in camera)?
Late model cameras have something called Save Settings which saves all of the settings of the entire camera to a CAMSET file saved to the memory card in Slot 1. I have a video tutorial on this topic.
Is there any way to load any of the memorized modes (1-3) to override current setup at P/S/A/M modes? While experimenting I sometimes get to an unusual setup (while working at A or S mode) and when I am done I would like to be sure that everything is back to my defaults. Factory reset is not an option as that's Sony's defaults, not mine.
Registered Memories cannot be used to override the PASM settings. On the A7RIV and A9II you can load alternate camera settings from a memory card to reconfigure the camera. If you modify the settings of a registered Memory (1, 2 and 3 on the shoot mode dial) you can then return to the registered default by just turning the dial away from your registered memory and then back again. I rarely work in A or S - only the registered Memories as outlined in my Memory Mastermind video tutorial.
@@AlphaCreativeSkills Thank you Mark, yes, I've watched that video as well and indeed that seems to be a good practice to work mostly on the registered memories. At the same time, having a way to load current settings (used with PASM) from the registered memory would be a nice touch and surely not difficult to implement. I hope it gets to my a7rIII with one of the updates :) Similarly to fn menu being contextual to video and photo.
hi! after saving on recalls slots 24, 60 and 120fps for video if i change ntsc to pal will the fps change to 25 50 and 100? thanks!
Changing to PAL in the menu will change the choice of frame rates to 25, 50 and 100 to avoid flickering artificial lights due to the power grid frequency differences. You may not be able to register NTSC and PAL to be changed via the Shoot Mode Dial as this requires the camera to be restarted and the memory card to modified slightly - most shooters would not want to risk any previously captured images and movie clips before switching between NTSC and PAL.
@@AlphaCreativeSkills usually i put clean memories for new project, change pal tsc to have 24fps or european standards(cheers from italy!)and have them formatted in camera. will check if che change in standard will create problems cause i think a memory recall for flash photography and slow mo video would be ideal. thanks!
Thanks Mark - Im a Nikon shooter I still can't get a grasp how you move from video settings to photo settings while using the camera. My nikon has a photo/video switch that saves my last settings automatically. So far I don't think Sony does this - its difficult figuring how the Sony cameras actually function to me. Ive got to admit I want to move to Sony but the menu looks daunting. Im looking at a A7C but still may pluck for a Z6 II just because I know I can use it fast.
My free eBook and hundreds of video tutorials will set your camera up for effortless switching from stills to movies with a single switch of a single setting.
Thanks for advice.. I trialed the A9II recently and ran into an issue I could not solve as I'm presuming it's an issue that can't be solved to do with memory recall. as the A9 and A9II both have the mechanical switch to turn the camera into AF-C mode along with frame rates both on the dial on the left/top plate this didn't allow these setting to be assigned to any of the C1 etc all other settings could but not AF-C and frame rates which left me baffled as these mechanical switches can be overridden when assigning a button for custom hold set as in this menu you can select AF-C and one of the frame rates. This Custom hold set was great as I miss that feature from my working with the Canon 1dx series and the 1dx series had no mechanical switches to overcome this switching issue.. unless I'm wrong and would like to be if someone knows how to overcome this memory recall / AF-C issue please correct me
I rarely, if ever, turn my A9 cameras away from AF-C and AF-C can be programmed as one of the options for Recall Custom Hold. I assign a custom button for Single Shooting and AF-S to override Continuous Hi and AF-C rather than the other way around.
@@AlphaCreativeSkills Thanks Mark, presume the mech switch does prevent it being assigned to C1 etc unlike on the A7R4 ?
i cannot find a way to put exposure mode and file format on video custom buttons. am i missing something or is it really not possibile?(a9 fw6+a7r3 fw3)
It is possible to include Exposure Mode and File Format in a memory stored to the Shoot Mode dial with an A9 camera. There must be a problem with either your Memory workflow or the camera.
@@AlphaCreativeSkills now i am configuring my a7r3 but i will double check for sure! trying to figure out the best way to set custom buttons, function menu and my menu so to speed up the shooting process in different conditions. thank you!
Is there a way, when selecting via dial 1, 2 or 3, to switch directly to that mode, without needing to press the center button to confirm the mode?
Not unless you have an A7IV or A7RV
@@AlphaCreativeSkills Thanks for the reply, Mark!
Excuse me but I'm very confused. I delete pictures from my card by reformatting the card. I've never used m1 m2 m3 m4. But I I am going to program the recall buttons. does that mean that every time I reformat my card those are going to disappear or just the ones that I saved on m1 through m4. I can't believe I would have to reprogram it every time I use the camera.
1 2 and 3 are saved on the camera and M1-M4 are saved on a card. I keep a cheap card in my camera bag with these memories and I do not reformat this card.
@@AlphaCreativeSkills thanks
@@AlphaCreativeSkills oh by the way just one more question. When shooting in aperture priority with auto ISO the camera can change both the SS and ISO. Which one of changed the most? How does the camera know which one to choose to change? I think you're one of the best teachers on KZhead.
is it possible to transfer my settings from A73 to A6600?
Unfortunately Not
Hi Mark, im totally lost as to what is supposed to be happening here. I have downloaded your settings but nothing changes on modes 1/2/3 even after following your video. Am I missing something?
The CAMSET file of the A7RlV loads the camera setup but not the 1, 2 & 3 memories. These have to be loaded one at a time by recalling M1 from the card and then assigning it to 1 on the camera. Repeat for 2 and 3.
I Had the same problem, any suggestions?
@@AlphaCreativeSkills I tried that but after recall but the screen says file error or no file and I loaded everything like you suggested. Please advise
Just crazy Sony doesn't have a small internal memory to store these memory settings like other manufacturers do! Save's a LOT of fluffing round. Formatting cards regularly is good practice, but you'll continually loose you memory settings unless you carry an additional card with the memory settings (A7C - one card slot)...
I have a small SD card I use for settings.
A useful addition to any camera bag.
Are you limited to only four custom settings per memory card?
Yes
So I have a question. I just got my camera yesterday and Ive done my research about it and I know you can set the dial buttons to different things but I want the "1" dial button set to record video at 1080p 60fps then dial "2" to be 4K 30fps. If there is a way to do this I'd really like some help thanks!
Normally that would be done via the 1 and 2 on the Shoot Mode dial.
I tried setting them and only the one button would work the 2 would not save as 4K@@AlphaCreativeSkills
@@OwenPaugh - not sure I dan help you complete this task with just online advice.
Oh well - this is great... and it did work for me once when I was testing how to backup my settings - but when I returned to this to do it today - I received a 'file protected!' screen - and no where on the internet does it mention why this is or what causes it! - So I'm lost...... soldiering on! - Thanks anyway! - Will come back here if I find the solution. Just been on Sony's site. A total waste of time.
Well I found it... I just had to re-format the card in the slot and it worked. I think 'File Protected' - must mean that you can't overwrite the card if you change a setting and want to append your file. You have to wipe the old one first.