The following are the recommended settings for shots of sporting events and other scenes that feature motion:
| Photo shooting menu | |
|---|---|
| Focus mode | Continuous AF |
| AF-area mode | Dynamic-area AF |
| Vibration reduction | Sport |
| Silent photography | Off |
| Custom Settings menu | |
| a3 Focus tracking with lock-on | 3 |
| d5 Shutter type | Auto |
| Other settings | |
| Release mode | Continuous H or Continuous H (extended) |
| Shutter speed | High shutter speeds of 1/500 s or faster |
| Monitor mode | Prioritize viewfinder |
Choose AF-C for shots of mobile subjects. The camera adjusts focus continuously while the shutter-release button is pressed halfway or the AF-ON button is pressed.
The camera focuses on a point of your choosing but will use information from surrounding focus points if the subject wanders briefly from the chosen point. This option is only available when AF-C is selected for focus mode. If the subject is moving quickly or is otherwise hard to track, try using Wide-area AF (S) or Wide-area AF (L) to allow autofocus to choose subjects from a wider area.
Choosing Sport when photographing subjects that are moving quickly or unpredictably stabilizes the image in the viewfinder, letting you concentrate on composition. Subject motion appears more natural than in Normal mode, making it easier to track subjects during high-speed burst photography. If you still find the motion in the display distracting, choose Off.
Sport is not available with some lenses. If you are using an F mount lens with a vibration reduction switch, the Vibration reduction item in the camera menus will itself be grayed out and unavailable, and vibration reduction options will instead have to be selected using the switch.
Recommended for users familiar with traditional digital SLRs, "prioritize viewfinder" mode lets you frame pictures in the viewfinder during hand-held photography. In photo mode, putting your eye to the viewfinder turns it on and displays the view through the lens, but the shooting display does not appear in the monitor when you take your eye away. Menus and pictures can still be displayed in the monitor using MENU the and buttons.
