I find an on-screen framing grid overlay to be incredibly useful when composing photos. Especially with a back-of-camera viewscreen, where I find it so easy to get it out of alignment without realizing it. And even though I have less trouble with alignment when using a traditional optical viewfinder, I still find it very useful when it’s available.
So the framing grid is one of the first things I set up with any new camera I pick up. It gives a point of reference for placing subjects in the frame and aligning different elements. And it’s much better and easier to get it right in-camera rather than relying exclusively on trying to fix it when editing (even though there are some pretty amazing software tools to help with it).
The framing grid is simply a set of thin lines the camera draws over the live view on the back screen and in the viewfinder. It also goes by other names, such as overlay grid, guidelines, grid lines, or reference grid. These terms are often used interchangeably in the photography and videography industry.
The framing grid is disabled by default on the Sony a6700.
The a6700’s implementation is pretty basic, without many different grid styles to choose from. But it’s still a very useful tool to have.
How to enable the framing grid on the Sony a6700
I’m focusing here on turning the grid on for taking photos. If you’re in the video shooting mode, you’ll see a slightly different menu system, but the general outlines are much the same.
You can enable the framing grid under the Shooting menu, which is the red camera tab:
Shooting (camera icon)
Scroll down to:
Shooting > [9] Shooting Display
Then across to:
Shooting > [9] Shooting Display > Grid Line Display
This setting’s default is Off. To enable it, just change it to On.
One thing worth knowing before you go looking for it in your files: the grid is display-only. Sony’s setting turns it on during shooting, so the lines show while you’re framing but they’re not recorded into the photo or the video, and they don’t come back when you review the shot on the camera. If you want the grid while checking a shot, you’ll need to judge alignment from the frame edges instead.
You can see some of the photos I’ve taken with the Sony a6700 in these posts:
– Sony a6700 Sample Images / Image Quality Tests (general collection of sample images under a variety of conditions)
– Sony a6700 High ISO Sample Images (focusing on high-ISO images taken under low-light conditions)
– Sony a6700 High ISO Test Images (similar to above, but focused on sequences of images throughout ISO range for side-by-side comparison)
I also have a bunch of other posts on shooting with the Sony a6700.
How to change the framing grid style on the Sony a6700
Once the setting is enabled, you can set the type of frame grid. You can find this right under the previous setting. It’s at:
Shooting > [9] Shooting Display > Grid Line Type
There are three options on the a6700: the classic Rule of 3rds Grid, a simple Square Grid, and Diag. + Square Grid, which combines diagonal lines with a square grid. I prefer the last one, but there’s no right answer as to which is right — it’s purely a matter of personal preference.
The three grid styles, side by side
These are the grid styles on the a6700.
Framing grid vs electronic level
For clarification, the framing grid is different than the electronic level. The framing grid is fixed on the frame. It’s useful for aligning elements, but it doesn’t tell you whether the camera is level with the ground, such as for a level horizon or straight building verticals.
The level, on the other hand, will tell you whether the camera is level relative to the ground. So it’s useful for ensuring a level horizon, similar to the virtual level found on other Sony cameras.
The way the a6700 handles the level is slightly different than the way it handles the framing grid. Rather than being an overlay you turn on or off, it has its own predefined display slot.
To see it, press DISP on the back of the camera. That’s the top of the round dial.
Pressing that will toggle through the preset displays; one of those is the electronic level.
