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Sony A700

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Sony A700 Operation

Sony A700 Record Mode Displays

The Sony A700's rear-panel, 3.0-inch, TFT color LCD monitor is for image review, status display, and menu display. Unlike recent DSLRs from some of its competitors of late though, the Alpha A700 doesn't offer any form of live view mode, so the LCD can't be used to frame shots. Since the A700 does not have a top status LCD panel, the large, high resolution (640 x 480 full-color pixels, 921,600 dot) color LCD is put to good use to display various camera settings. We do have somewhat mixed feelings about using the rear panel LCD for setting readouts. While it provides a much larger area than the more typical small black & white data readouts, it necessarily also consumes more power. While the Sony A700's battery life is quite good, it'd arguably be even better if it didn't require the main LCD screen to be lit so much of the time. That said though, we do really like the wealth of camera information that the A700 makes available on its rear screen.

Sony A700 LCD Display Screen Info
1 - Shutter Speed 2 - Exposure Mode 3 - Register Number 4 - Exposure Compensation 5 - Flash Mode 6 - Flash Exposure Compensation 7 - Drive Mode 8 - Focus Mode 9 - Creative Style, Image Parameters 10 - Image Quality 11 - Battery Status 12 - Image Size 13 - Operation Guide	14 - Aperture Value 15 - Exposure 16 - AE Lock 17 - EV Scale 18 - ISO (Sensitivity) 19 - AF Area 20 - D-Range Optimizer 21 - Metering Mode 22 - White Balance 23 - Remaining Shots (Buffer Space) 24 - Memory Card

Display Rotation
Here's a nice ergonomic touch, carried over from the A100: The Sony A700 has an orientation sensor inside, and uses it to keep the display oriented in the right direction so the information will appear right-side up when viewed by the photographer, whether shooting horizontally, or in either vertical orientation. (For those who might be wondering though, no, it won't turn completely upside-down.)

Large- and Small-Type Options
Sometimes you don't need to see every last detail about the camera's operation, but rather prefer to concentrate on just the most important settings. The Sony A700 has two different display options, that apply to both the horizontal and vertical formatted data screens. The large-type/low-density option drops the details on metering mode, AF mode, Creative Style, Flash mode, and Contrast, Saturation, and Brightness settings.

Sony A700 Playback Mode Displays

The Playback button on the rear panel accesses Playback mode, where you can review captured images. Pressing the DISP button cycles through displays with information overlay on or off. The Histogram button displays a RGB+L histogram along with recording data and any areas with lost highlights or shadows are illuminated. Pressing the Index button cycles through 25, 9 or 4 frame index views and individual images can be selected using the multi-selector joystick. Images can be zoomed by using the Enlarge button, and magnification can be adjusted up to 13x (depending on image size) using the rear control dial, or a zoom box can be defined using the multi-selector joystick. Enlarged images can also be scrolled in the X or Y direction using the joystick.

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