Sony cameras

This page is the Sony half of tethered shooting — what a Sony body needs, and what it will and won’t hand over. Everything about the panel itself is on that page.

Two things to set

Put the camera in PC Remote mode. On the camera: MENU → Setup → USB → USB Connection → PC Remote. In any other USB mode the camera appears to the computer as a card reader, and PxlMonk won’t offer it — this is the single most common reason a connected camera isn’t listed. The exact menu wording moves around between models; look for USB Connection.

Keep the firmware current. Sony ships the newer, richer control protocol on newer firmware, and which one a body speaks is decided by its firmware, not its badge — a 2020-or-later camera on old firmware can still be speaking the older one. PxlMonk asks the camera which it speaks and follows the answer, so nothing breaks either way; you just quietly get the smaller feature set.

No driver, nothing to install

PxlMonk talks to Sony cameras through what the operating system already has — on Windows, macOS and Linux alike. There is no driver, no Sony software and no SDK to install. On Linux there is also nothing to configure and no need for root: plug the camera in, set PC Remote, done.

On Linux: if something else grabbed the camera

A camera can only be driven by one program at a time, and on a Linux desktop there is competition for it: file managers and photo importers can mount a camera as though it were a memory card, and while one of them holds it, nothing else can.

This does not happen just because you plugged the camera in — nothing takes it until something opens it. If your desktop offers to open the camera when you connect it, simply decline.

If something did take it, PxlMonk says so and tells you to eject the camera in your file manager. Do that and connect again — there is nothing else to fix.

Stopping the desktop from offering it at all

Optional, and only worth doing if the prompt annoys you. This tells your desktop to leave Sony cameras in PC Remote mode alone, without disabling anything or shutting down services. Save this as /etc/udev/rules.d/60-pxlmonk-sony-ptp.rules:

ACTION=="add|bind", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="054c", ATTR{idProduct}=="0c34", ENV{ID_GPHOTO2}="0"

Then reload the rules and reconnect the camera:

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules

It applies only to cameras in PC Remote mode — a Sony body connected as a card reader still behaves normally in your file manager. Tethering works without this rule; it only stops the mount prompt appearing.

On macOS: if Connect doesn’t take

Connecting — and reconnecting after a disconnect — should now take on the first try. If it ever doesn’t, macOS’s own camera service has stumbled as it hands the camera over (it can even restart itself); press Refresh once and connect again. Nothing on the camera needs changing.

Which cameras

Sony’s remote-control protocol comes in two versions, and PxlMonk speaks both — so between them essentially the whole modern Sony line-up is covered. You don’t need to know or care which one your camera uses: it says so when it connects.

α (Alpha) bodies

Camera	Model code
α1, α1 II	ILCE-1, ILCE-1M2
α9 II, α9 III	ILCE-9M2, ILCE-9M3
α7 II, α7 III, α7 IV, α7 V	ILCE-7M2, ILCE-7M3, ILCE-7M4, ILCE-7M5
α7R IIIA, α7R IV, α7R IVA, α7R V, α7R VI	ILCE-7RM3A, ILCE-7RM4, ILCE-7RM4A, ILCE-7RM5, ILCE-7RM6
α7S III	ILCE-7SM3
α7C, α7C II, α7CR	ILCE-7C, ILCE-7CM2, ILCE-7CR
α6100, α6400, α6600, α6700	ILCE-6100, ILCE-6400, ILCE-6600, ILCE-6700

ZV, RX and Cinema Line

Camera	Model code
ZV-1, ZV-1F, ZV-1 II	ZV-1, ZV-1F, ZV-1M2
ZV-E1, ZV-E10, ZV-E10 II	ZV-E1, ZV-E10, ZV-E10M2
RX0 II, RX10 IV, RX100 VA, RX100 VII, RX1R III	DSC-RX0M2, DSC-RX10M4, DSC-RX100M5A, DSC-RX100M7, DSC-RX1RM3
HX99	DSC-HX99
FX2, FX3, FX30, FX6, FR7	ILME-FX2, ILME-FX3, ILME-FX30, ILME-FX6, ILME-FR7
ILX-LR1, MPC-2610, BRC-AM7	ILX-LR1, MPC-2610, BRC-AM7
PXW-Z200, PXW-Z380, HXR-NX800	PXW-Z200, PXW-Z300, HXR-NX800

Not on the list?

It’s worth plugging in anyway. PxlMonk doesn’t check your camera against a list — it asks the camera what it speaks and drives it accordingly. The table above is the line-up Sony documents, and Sony prunes it as models age: the α7R III and RX100 V were dropped from it and their firmware never changed, so they very likely still work. Cameras older than about 2014 generally have no PC Remote mode at all, and nothing can be done for those.

We’ve tested against an α7 III; the rest of the table is Sony’s own compatibility list. If yours misbehaves, we’d like to hear about it.

What Sony keeps for itself

Beyond the general rule that a physical dial always wins, Sony bodies hold back two things:

The focus motor needs manual focus. The arrows in the focus panel only move the lens when the camera is in MF. In autofocus the camera owns the lens. In DMF the camera reports the motor as available and then ignores it — the buttons are live and do nothing, which is the camera’s quirk rather than a setting you’ve missed.

MF on the lens is not the same as MF on the camera. Many lenses carry their own AF/MF switch, and on MF it uncouples the focus ring mechanically: the camera cannot drive the motor at all, and it won’t let you change the focus mode either — the row is there, but the camera refuses the change and it snaps back. The panel reads MF in both cases, which is what makes this confusing: same word, dead arrows. If focusing from the panel does nothing in MF, check the switch on the lens barrel first. For tethered focusing, leave the lens on AF and choose MF on the camera — then the arrows drive the motor.

Where photos are saved is set on the camera. The Save to row shows whether captures go to the computer only, or to the computer and the memory card — but it’s a readout. Change it on the body under MENU → Setup → USB → PC Remote Settings → Still Img. Save Dest.. In PC Remote mode a camera-only option isn’t offered: something is always coming to the computer.

Cable only

Sony cameras are tethered over USB. Sony does specify a network protocol, and it’s a real thing to build, but none of it has been tested here — so PxlMonk doesn’t offer it rather than offer something that might not hold up on a shoot.