A few of you have asked me recently what settings I change on my Sony cameras. Since I just bought another Sony A7RII, I figured I'd record me walking through the menus and setting up the camera for the first time. Something to keep in mind is that my style of shooting is predominantly landscape scenes and (more or less) stationary subjects. 

For those that prefer reading, here is the list of the settings I change from the defaults. I explain my reasoning in the video.

Camera Settings

• Quality to RAW

• File Format to AVCHD

• Bracket Settings to - -> 0 -> +

• Focus Area to Single Point (Medium)

• ISO AUTO MIN SS 1/4000

• Long Exposure NR to Off

• SteadyShot to Off

• Color Space to Adobe RGB

Custom Settings

• Zebra to 100+

• Grid Line to Diag + Square Grid

• Auto Review to Off

• Peaking Level to Mid

• Peaking Color to Yellow

• Priority Set in AF-S to Release

• Custom Key Settings

  • Custom Button 1 to SteadyShot

  • Down Button to Deactivate Monitor

  • AF/MF Button to AF/MF Ctrl Toggle

Setup Menu

• Audio Signals to Off

• Pwr Save Start Time to 5 Min

• Remote Ctrl to On

• USB Connect to Mass Storage

• Copyright Info

  • Write to On

  • Set Photographer and Copyright holder to my name

Everything else I keep at the default setting. That doesn't mean I won't change settings based on field conditions. I find the defaults for everything else a reasonable baseline for my shooting style.