Why you should use the memory modes in your mirrorless camera

In my opinion, mirrorless cameras memory modes are one of their most underrated features.

Many photographers aren't even aware of this feature or how much easier it can make their lives while shooting. This feature allows you to save a particular set of shooting settings and features and recall them at any point. The ability to switch quickly between different settings for both photo and video is one of the most significant benefits of using memory modes on mirrorless cameras.

You might think that you don’t need to use these memory modes, keep reading as I’ll share why I think that all camera users can benefit from using memory modes.

A great example of when these modes work well is quickly switching from taking photos in manual mode to shooting video. Under normal video shooting conditions in manual mode, you need to choose an appropriate shutter speed, change the aperture, and adjust the ISO to get the right exposure level. Then you need to concentrate on the white balance, audio inputs, and ensure that you are shooting in the right frame rate, with the right picture profile, and that the video mode is set up correctly…

There are so many settings that need to be changed when switching from photo to video.

However, if you use the memory mode to do this, it is simply a case of turning the mode dial one or two notches across, depending on how you have set it up!

Setting up these modes beforehand means that a completely different set of shooting options is just a twist of the dial away. It means you can easily go from shooting landscapes to shooting portraits and have different color profiles applied to your portrait shots. You can easily go from shooting studio stuff indoors to shooting outdoors without having to reconfigure a load of your settings. It just opens up so many possibilities without having to go deep within the menu structure of your camera and waste time.

The key to all of this is how you set it up.

You need to think about how you shoot and the changes between settings that you use, and program each of these scenarios into your camera. I’ve have missed out on so many shots without utilising these modes. I’d also have ended up with very inconsistent video from a color and frame rate point of view because there are just so many settings to remember, and changing everything quickly when reacting to something that is happened that you HAVE to capture is just impossible.

It is really easy to set up these memory modes in a Sony camera.

You can go into manual mode and put all the settings in that you want (as if you were shooting normally). Then, you need to go to the camera mode in the menu and go to camera set memory, where you can store up to seven of these pre-programmed modes.

This can be done on other cameras as well, such as Fuji's, Canons, and Nikons - a quick google will bring up the information you need to do this.

In conclusion, memory modes on mirrorless cameras are an essential feature that can make shooting much easier and more efficient, especially if you shoot both video and photos with your camera. Just take the time to consider each scenario you may encounter when programming the settings into your camera, then you can quickly and freely switch between different settings and shoot with a bit more freedom!

I made a YouTube video on this topic too which is linked below!