Delayed Exposures

Sometimes it’s desirable to have a delay of some sort before a picture is actually taken. Perhaps you’d like to get in the picture yourself, and would appreciate it if the camera waited 10 seconds after you press the shutter release to actually take the picture. Maybe you want to give a tripod-mounted camera time to settle down and damp any residual vibration after the release is pressed to improve sharpness for an exposure with a relatively slow shutter speed. It’s possible you want to explore the world of time-lapse photography. The next sections present your delayed exposure options.

Self-Timer

The Sony Alpha DSLR-A850 has a built-in self-timer with 10-second and 2-second delays. Activate the timer by pressing the DRIVE button (located on top of the camera, just southeast of the shutter button), then navigate to the self-timer icon with the up/down motion of the multi-selector or by spinning the front control dial. When that icon is highlighted, use the left/right motion of the multi-selector or spin the rear control dial to toggle between 2-second and 10-second exposures. Press in on the center button of the multi-selector to lock in your choice.