Sony Xperia S User Guide
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Exposure valueDetermine the amount of light in the photo you want to take. A higher value indicates an increased amount of light.This setting is only available in Normal capturing mode. White balance The white balance setting adjusts the colour balance according to the lighting conditions. Auto Adjusts the colour balance automatically to suit the lighting conditions.Incandescent Adjusts the colour balance for warm lighting conditions, such as under light bulbs.Fluorescent Adjusts the colour balance for fluorescent lighting.Daylight Adjusts the colour balance for sunny outdoor conditions.Cloudy Adjusts the colour balance for a cloudy sky.This setting is only available in Normal capturing mode. ISO You can reduce image blurring caused by dark conditions or moving subjects by increasing the ISO sensitivity. Auto Sets the ISO sensitivity automatically.100 Sets the ISO sensitivity to 100.200 Sets the ISO sensitivity to 200.400 Sets the ISO sensitivity to 400.800 Sets the ISO sensitivity to 800.This setting is only available in Normal capturing mode. Metering This function automatically determines a well-balanced exposure by measuring the amount of light striking the image you want to capture. Center Adjusts the exposure to the centre of the image.Average Calculates the exposure based on the amount of light striking the whole image.Spot Adjusts the exposure in a very small part of the image that you want to capture.This setting is only available in Normal capturing mode.71This is an Internet version of this publication. © Print only for private use.
GeotaggingTag photos with details of where you took them.On When geotagging is turned on, the approximate geographical location is added to photos when you take them. To use geotagging, you must enable location features from the Settings menu. For geotags to be added to a photo, the location must be determined before you take the photo. Your location is determined when appears on the camera screen. When your device is searching for your position, appears. Off When geotagging is turned off, you cannot view the location where you took a photo. Preview You can choose to preview the photo just after you have taken or the video you have recorded. Unlimited The preview of the photo or video appears after you have taken.5 seconds The preview of the photo or video apears for 5 seconds after you have taken.3 seconds The preview of the photo or video appears for 3 seconds after you have taken.Off The photo or video has been saved after you have taken, no preview appears.This setting is only available in Normal capturing mode. Auto upload Automatically upload updates to photos to a pre-selected social networking service (SNS). Touch capture Identify a particular focus area by touching the camera screen with your finger. The photo is taken as soon as you release your finger. This setting is only available when focus mode is set to touch focus. OnOff Shutter sound Choose to turn on or turn off the shutter sound when you record a video. Using the video camera To record a video using the camera key 1 Activate the camera. 2 To start recording a video, press the camera key. 3 To stop recording, press the camera key again. Shoot your videos in landscape orientation to get the best results.72This is an Internet version of this publication. © Print only for private use.
To record a video by tapping the screen 1 Activate the camera. 2 Point the camera towards the subject. 3 Tap to start recording. 4 Tap to stop recording. Shoot your videos in landscape orientation to get the best results. To play recorded videos 1 Activate the camera. 2 Tap the thumbnails at the top right of the screen. 3 Flick left or right to browse all photo and video files. Videos are identified by . 4 Tap to play a video. 5 To stop playing the video, tap or . To delete a recorded video 1 Browse to the video that you want to delete. 2 Tap an empty area of the screen to make appear. 3 Tap . 4 Tap OK to confirm. Using the video camera settings To adjust the video camera settings 1 Activate the camera. 2 Tap one of the settings icons on the screen. 3 To display all settings, tap . 4 Select the setting that you want to adjust, then make your changes. To customise the video camera settings panel 1 When the video camera is open, press to display all settings. 2 Touch and hold the setting you want to move and drag it to the desired position. If you drag the setting outside of the settings panel, the change is cancelled. Video camera settings overview Scenes The Scenes feature helps you to quickly set up the camera for common situations using pre-programmed scenes. The camera determines a number of settings for you to fit the selected scene, ensuring the best possible video. Off The Scenes feature is off and you can shoot videos manually.Soft snap Use for shooting videos against soft backgrounds.Landscape Use for videos of landscapes. The camera focuses on distant objects.Night When turned on, light sensitivity is increased. Use in poorly lit environments. Videos of fast-moving objects may get blurred. Hold your hand steady, or use a support. Turn off night mode when lighting conditions are good, to improve the video quality.Beach and snow Use in bright environments to avoid underexposed videos.Sports Use for videos of fast-moving objects. Short exposure time minimises motion blurring.Party73This is an Internet version of this publication. © Print only for private use.
Use for indoor videos in poorly lit environments. This scene picks up indoor background lighting or candlelight. Videos of fast-moving objects may get blurred. Hold your hand steady, or use a support. Video resolution Adjust the video resolution for different formats. 1920×1080(16:9) Full HD (Full High Definition) format with 16:9 aspect ratio. 1920×1080 pixels.1280×720(16:9) HD (High Definition) format with 16:9 aspect ratio. 1280×720 pixels.640×480(4:3) VGA format with 4:3 aspect ratio. 640x480 pixels.176×144(11:9) Record videos suitable for sending in multimedia messages. The recording time of this video format is limited to fit in a multimedia message. Photo light Use the light to record videos when lighting conditions are poor or when there is a backlight. OnOff Sometimes the video quality can be better without a light, even if lighting conditions are poor. Self-timer With the self-timer you can record a video without holding the device. Use it to record group videos where everyone can be in the video. You can also use the self-timer to avoid shaking the camera when recording videos. On (10 sec.) Set a 10-second delay from when you tap the camera screen until the video begins to record.On (2 sec.) Set a 2-second delay from when you tap the camera screen until the video begins to record.Off The video begins to record as soon as you tap the camera screen. Quick launch Use Quick launch settings to launch the camera from the lock screen. If the device is in sleep mode of camera, press the camera key. Launch and capture After you drag inwards, the still camera is launched from sleep mode and a photo is captured.Launch only (still camera) After you drag inwards, the still camera is launched from sleep mode.Launch and record video After you drag inwards, the video camera is launched from sleep mode and starts recording.Launch only (video camera) After you drag inwards, the video camera is launched from sleep mode.Off Focus mode The focus setting controls which part of a video should be sharp. When continuous autofocus is on, the camera keeps adjusting focus so that the area within the white focus frame stays sharp. 74This is an Internet version of this publication. © Print only for private use.
Single autofocus The camera automatically focuses on the selected subject. Continuous autofocus is on.Face detection The camera automatically detects up to five human faces, indicated by frames on the screen. The camera automatically focuses on the nearest face. You can also select which face to focus on by tapping it on the screen. When you tap the camera screen, a green frame shows which face is selected and in focus. Face detection cannot be used for all scene types. Continuous autofocus is on.Infinity Use when recording videos from a distance. Focus is set on subjects far away. Subjects close to the camera may be blurred. Exposure value This setting allows you to determine the amount of light in the image you capture. A higher value indicates an increased amount of light. White balance The white balance setting adjusts the colour balance according to the lighting conditions. Auto Adjust the colour balance automatically to the lighting conditions.Incandescent Adjusts the colour balance for warm lighting conditions, such as under light bulbs.Fluorescent Adjust the colour balance for fluorescent lighting.Daylight Adjust the colour balance for sunny outdoor conditions.Cloudy Adjust the colour balance for a cloudy sky. Metering This function automatically determines a well-balanced exposure by measuring the amount of light striking the image that you want to capture. Center Adjust the exposure to the centre of the image.Average Calculate the exposure based on the amount of light striking the whole image.Spot Adjust the exposure in a very small part of the image that you want to capture. Geotagging Tag videoss with details of where you took them. On When geotagging is turned on, the approximate geographical location is added to videos when you take them. To use geotagging, you must enable location features from the Settings menu. For geotags to be added to a video, the location must be determined before you take the video. Your location is determined when appears on the camera screen. When your device is searching for your position, appears. Off When geotagging is turned off, you cannot view the location where you took a video. Microphone Select whether to pick up the surrounding sound when recording videos. 75This is an Internet version of this publication. © Print only for private use.
Touch captureIdentify a particular focus area by touching the camera screen with your finger. The photo is taken as soon as you release your finger. This setting is only available when focus mode is set to touch focus.OnOff Shutter sound Choose to turn on or turn off the shutter sound when you record a video. 76This is an Internet version of this publication. © Print only for private use.
Album About Album Use Album to view photos and play videos that you’ve taken with your camera, or to view similar content that you've saved to your device. You can add geotags to your photos and videos, and then view them on a world map. In Album, you can also view photos and videos that you've uploaded to an online service, for example, to a Picasa™ web album or to Facebook™. From Album, you can share your favourite photos and videos with friends via Bluetooth™ wireless technology, email, messaging and various online services. You can also perform basic editing tasks on photos and set them as wallpaper or contact pictures. For more information, see Connecting your device to a computer on page 100. Album tab overview The following tabs are available in Album: • Pictures – view all photos and videos saved on your device. • My albums – view your online albums, and your geotagged photos and video clips on a world map . To open Album 1 From your Home screen , tap . 2 Find and tap Album. If the screen orientation does not change automatically when you turn your device sideways, mark the Auto-rotate screen checkbox under Settings > Display . Mobile BRAVIA® Engine Sony's Mobile BRAVIA® Engine technology improves the viewing quality of photos and videos after you take them, giving you clearer, sharper and more natural images. Mobile BRAVIA Engine is turned on by default, but you can turn it off if you want to reduce battery consumption. To turn on Mobile BRAVIA® Engine 1 From your Home screen , tap . 2 Find and tap Settings > Display . 3 Mark the Mobile BRAVIA Engine checkbox if it is not marked. Viewing photos and videos in the Pictures tab In the Pictures tab in Album, you can view your photos and videos in thumbnails in a grid view. 77This is an Internet version of this publication. © Print only for private use.
Overview of Pictures tab1Grid view of photos and videos.2Scroll up or down to view content.3Tap a photo or video to view it.4The date and number of items in the group below. To view photos and videos in grid view 1 From your Home screen , tap . 2 Find and tap Album. All photos and videos are displayed in a chronologically ordered grid. Videos are indicated by . 3 Tap a photo or video to view it. 4 Flick left to view the next photo or video. Flick right to view the previous photo or video. If the screen orientation does not change automatically when you turn your device sideways, mark the Auto-rotate screen checkbox under Settings > Display . To change the size of the thumbnails in Album • When viewing thumbnails of photos and videos in Album, spread two fingers apart to zoom in, or pinch two fingers together to zoom out. To work with batches of photos or videos in Album 1 When viewing thumbnails of photos and videos in Album, press and tap Select items to activate selection mode. 2 Tap the items you want to work with. Selected items are indicated by a blue frame. 3 Use the tools in the toolbar at the top of the screen to work with your selected items. To activate selection mode, you can also touch and hold an item until its frame turns blue. Then you can tap other items to select them. Viewing photos and videos in the My albums tab The following tiles are available in My albums: • Camera albums – view all photos and videos taken with your device’s camera. • Internal memory – view all photos and videos saved to your device's internal storage. 78This is an Internet version of this publication. © Print only for private use.
Overview of My albums tab1View photos and videos on Facebook™.2View photos and videos in Picasa™.3View all photos and videos taken with your device’s camera.4View your photos in globe mode.5View your photos on a map.6View all photos with faces.7View all photos and videos saved to your device's internal storage. To view content in list view in the Camera albums tile 1 From your Home screen , tap . 2 Find and tap Album > My albums > Camera albums . 3 Tap a folder that you want to open. The folder's content appears in a chronologically ordered grid. Videos are indicated by . 4 Tap a photo or video to view it. 5 Flick left to view the next photo or video. Flick right to view the previous photo or video. If the screen orientation does not change automatically when you turn your device sideways, mark the Auto-rotate screen checkbox under Settings > Display . To view content in list view in the Internal memory tile 1 From your Home screen , tap . 2 Find and tap Album > My albums > Internal memory . 3 Tap a folder that you want to open. The folder's content appears in a chronologically ordered grid. Videos are indicated by . 4 Tap a photo or video to view it. 5 Flick left to view the next photo or video. Flick right to view the previous photo or video. If the screen orientation does not change automatically when you turn your device sideways, mark the Auto-rotate screen checkbox under Settings > Display . Working with photos in Album You can edit photos in Album. For example, you can crop photos, associate themwith contacts, or use them as wallpaper. 79This is an Internet version of this publication. © Print only for private use.
To zoom a photo • When you are viewing a photo, double-tap the screen to zoom in. Double-tap again to zoom out. • When you are viewing a photo, spread two fingers apart to zoom in, or pinch two fingers together to zoom out. To watch a slideshow of your photos 1 When you are viewing a photo, press and tap Slideshow to start playing all the photos in an album. 2 Tap a photo to end the slideshow. To watch a slideshow of your photos with music 1 When you are viewing a photo, press and tap SensMe™ slideshow . 2 Select the music and theme that you want to use for the slideshow, then tap . The Album application analyses your photos and uses SensMe™ music data to play a slideshow. 3 To pause playing, tap the screen to display the controls, then tap . For more information about SensMe™, see Categorising your music using SensMe™ channels on page 59. To rotate a photo 1 When you are viewing a photo, press . 2 Select Rotate left or Rotate . The photo is saved in the new orientation. To crop a photo 1 When you are viewing a photo, press , then tap Edit photo > >Crop . 2 To adjust the crop frame, touch and hold the edge of the crop frame. When the squares at the edges disappear, drag inward or outward to resize the frame. 3 To resize all sides of the crop frame at the same time, touch and hold one of the four corners to make the squares at the edges disappear, then drag the corner accordingly. 4 To move the crop frame to another area of the photo, touch and hold inside the frame, then drag it to the desired position. 5 To save a copy of the photo as you cropped it, tap Save. The original uncropped version remains on your device. To use a photo 1 When you are viewing a photo, press , then tap Use as. 2 Select an option from the list that appears. 3 Follow the relevant steps to use the photo. To edit a photo • When you are viewing a photo, press , then tap Edit photo . To share a photo 1 When you are viewing a photo, tap the screen to display the toolbars, then tap . 2 In the menu that opens, tap the application that you want to use to share the photo, then follow the steps to send it. 80This is an Internet version of this publication. © Print only for private use.