A7R V User Guide needed

[Arthur2Sheds]

Hello

I have just purchased the Sony A7R V and, whilst I can see a manufacturer's user manual and download the PDF, that would take some printer ink and paper, even at A4 or A5 sizes.

I see several user guides for sale on the Internet / Amazon UK, with varying degrees (stars awarded) of recommendation. The most recommended is, "The Friedman Archives Guide to Sony's A7R V" paperback at an astronomic £53.31. However, whilst I can watch many YouTube setup videos, I need to be able to dip in and out of a user guide whenever I need to, when I don't have tech available.

Have any of you experts out there bought Friedman's user guide and believe it is value for money or can you recommend any others you use. Or do I just suck it up and go for Friedman?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

[65hx923_cust11]

Hi @Arthur2Sheds 

The community is not very chatty. 

I understand the need for this sort of guide.

The menus are endless and intricate.

I bought the A7R5 and even coming from a A7III, the menus are overwhelming. 

Did you buy the guide?

"The Friedman Archives Guide to Sony's A7R V" seems to be the most comprehensive guide. "Sony A7R V user guide: Unlock Menus, Master Settings, and Capture Stunning Photos & Videos" is way cheaper but reading the index does not provide what the former does.

Saying that, £53.31 is for the B&W edition, which it says that it contains a LOT of demonstrative illustrations that lose their effectiveness when converted to black and white. 

The colour (color) edition can be ordered for £70.22.

 https://www.friedmanarchives.com/a7rv/ 

It might be worth it for 17 pounds more. Mind you, we are talking of a massive brick of 800 pages. It is definitely not a pocket guide.

Buying the PDF and printing it yourself might not be too crazy, or using some print services, but then you might not save that much when compare to buying the book.

[Arthur2Sheds]

@65hx923_cust11 

Yes I did indeed buy the Friedman 800 page tome!

I'd like to say that UI have read all the book: however, I'm not yet into videography but I did read the elements related to stills photography - took a little while.  I did find the book well written, comprehensive and informative, with many lucid examples proving useful.  I can only assume that the B&W version has no colour plates at all but that's purely speculative on my part. I do believe that the colour version would be much better to read as it would be easier to understand where colour defines certain aspects of an image, especially where discussing the myriad of menus and settings.

I got mine from lulu.com BUT I didn't realise until too late that they don't stock books but print on demand. This led to lengthy delays which were (eventually) overcome but not without constant reminders / nudges from me. I have also reached out to Gary L Friedman by e-mail on a couple of occasions and he was very accommodating indeed.

In summary, I would certainly recommend the book but would probably go buy the colour version somewhere else. As an 800 page book it's not advisable to take on a 'photographic adventure'.

I have the Sony A7 III Pocket Guide by rocky nook, which I do take out with me: they don't (yet) produce one for the Sony A&R V. As a result I'm slowly making my own cut and paste version as I go along. HOWEVER, I do have the PDF version for the Sony A7R V, so not all is lost, as I get to grips with the new menu layout.

Hope this helps...