The controls
Every dial, wheel, and button — and exactly what each one moves in stills and in video.
- Locate the mode dial, sub-dial, and the three command dials by feel
- Know what the front dial, rear dial, and control wheel adjust in each mode
- Assign the buttons you will actually reach for — C1, AF-ON, Fn, MOVIE
The a6700 hides a lot of capability in a small shell, and most of it is reached without the menu. Learn the controls by feel and you will keep your eye at the finder where it belongs.
The two dials on top
The mode dial sets how exposure is decided: P, A, S, M, plus the custom and auto slots. In this guide you will live mostly in A (aperture priority) for stills and M for video.
Beneath it sits the Still / Movie / S&Q selector — a second, smaller dial. This one matters more than it looks: the camera keeps separate settings for each position. Your stills exposure, your movie exposure, and your slow-and-quick settings do not step on each other. Flip to Movie and the camera remembers your video world exactly as you left it.
Three ways to turn a number
There are three rotating controls, and what they do depends on the mode:
- The front dial and rear dial split the two exposure variables. In M they typically drive aperture and shutter; in A the active dial changes aperture and the other trims exposure compensation.
- The control wheel (the ring around the rear buttons) moves ISO, the focus point, or menu selections, and its press-in centre is a button too.
You do not need to memorise every permutation. Set A mode, turn each control once, and watch the display to learn what each does — then it is yours.
The buttons worth assigning
Out of the box the custom buttons are serviceable; a few changes make them yours. The four you will touch most:
- AF-ON — the thumb button for back-button focus (Lesson 5 makes the case).
- Fn — opens the quick menu of your ten most-used settings (Lesson 3).
- C1 — a custom button; the recommended setup uses it to switch the subject-recognition target.
- MOVIE — starts and stops recording in any mode.
The touchscreen
The 3.0-inch screen flips out and around, and it is touch-sensitive. Tap to place focus, tap-and-drag to move a point while your eye is at the finder, and swipe in playback. For video, tap-to-track is the fastest way to hand focus to a new subject.
In the field
With the camera off, find the mode dial, the sub-dial, and all three command dials with your eyes closed. Then turn it on, set A mode, and change the aperture and exposure compensation using only the two top dials. Ten minutes of this and your hands stop asking the menu for permission.