SLT-A58: AEL button questions

[Ally-007]

Good day all,
Please help me understand the AEL button on my Sony SLT-A58 camera! I noticed that when I press it, a smallish orange rectangle appears in the centre of the viewfinder, and I am able to move this around, using the camera's rockable control button. What is this orange rectangle? It doesn't seem to be a light metering area or a focusing area, as far as I can tell. None of the camera settings change, when I move that orange rectangle say, from a light area of the view to a dark area. Conversely, if it's a focus area, I would expect the camera to focus on the section of the view within that rectangle, wherever I have positioned it, when I half-press the shutter button, but that doesn't happen, either.

I cannot find any full explanation of this feature anywhere, so any help would be much appreciated!

[scdonal97]

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00014979

Have you got the manual for your camera?

[Ally-007 · Accepted solution]

Hi scdonal97,
Thanks for your reply. Yes, I did find a better manual than the one I already had. It helped me to realise that the AEL button had been configured to act as focus magnifier and that the orange rectangle was the area of the view that became zoomed-in when I pressed it for a longer period. So the problem is solved, thank you.