Gone are the days of vintage cameras with minimal buttons and a distinct lack of a menu feature. With modern mirrorless cameras, cameras are littered with buttons and a menu with plenty of options. Some of these buttons make your life easier as a photographer, and in this article, we’re going to highlight the custom button features. 

Cameras these days allow you to reassign features of certain buttons. For example, some photographers change the focus button to perform back-button focusing, so they don’t have to worry about the focus changing while half-pressing the shutter button. What buttons you choose to program and the placement of the controls depend on your shooting style and how many buttons you have present on your camera.
 

How to set up custom buttons

On your camera body you’ll find its Custom Buttons by locating the buttons with: “C[Number]”.

To assign custom buttons, go to MENU → (Camera Settings2) → [Custom Key] →  select a button to assign, and select the function to assign.
 

Recommended custom button settings

It’s recommended to change the custom buttons to the settings you use the most. As mentioned above, these settings depend on your shooting style. As custom buttons are suited for you to make fast, split-second decisions without having to take your eyes off the viewfinder, setting your custom buttons to change your focus mode is a popular choice among photographers. Turning on Eye-AF with just a touch of a button is an example of customising your Alpha 7 IV to enhance your workflow. 

Another popular option is setting one of your custom buttons to the ISO setting and switching between the EVF/LCD. It can be frustrating to have your LCD go blank if the camera thinks your face is too close.

You may also want to consider setting your custom buttons to set them up to switch between still shooting and video to streamline your workflow and also make it easier. Another option to consider is setting a custom button as your playback function to make it more convenient for you to look at your images right after you shoot. 

Also, our lenses also have custom buttons found on the lenses themselves, making them unique and the perfect pair to your Alpha camera. 

As the name suggests, custom buttons offer lots of customisation to your camera. It is great to invest some time into setting them up as it will help make your shooting more instinctive without spending the extra time navigating through the menu to find the settings. The convenience will make an ever bigger difference than you think.