harrygilbert wrote:
To all of you who say there's no problem... do some searching, and you'll find that many have posted about this problem.
Whatever pet problem somebody might have, if they search they will find someone else who has the same problem. Then they will quote each other endlessly and it will soon appear as if a vast army of cheated owners has been stiffed by the company, all due to the internet amplification effect.
I shot in bright morning sun that was behind and also to my left and found the display wanting in my 5D. I was prepared for this shoot and circumvented the problem with a rubber eyecup and hat mentioned several posts before mine. I dispensed with my glasses and turned the diopter and luckily was able to see the focused image clearly. The display was visible and it was crucial to what I was shooting.
I wear prescription glasses and I have only experience this once, Sent my camera to canon australia for calibration, received after 3 WEEKS, they found moisture inside the camera VF (inside the camera) and worked fine afterall
Edited by walnutroof on Jul 17, 2008 at 10:20 PM GMT
I don't see it as a "pet problem" just because you may not have experienced it. I found it to be a serious aggravation and impediment in high ambient light circumstances. Would you call the 1DMKIII focus complaints "pet problems?" Plenty of owners did not complain about it.
I noticed this phenomenon too on my old 5D. Using an 80-200 f/2.8L on a very brightly sunlit day on a ferry in the Skaggerak, the viewfinder information was totally and utterly drowned out by the viewfinder image. The LCD was of course useless. The only display that actually did its job in those circumstances was the top LCD. It wsa a rather extreme case, but shouldn't have happened IMHO. It's not that difficult to make LCD displays bright and nice. And no, I don't use glasses when shooting.
The eyecup could offer a better design for those using glasses.
Nope. I've tried eyecups with my glasses more than once over the last three decades.
The offending light gets in from behind the lenses--an eyecup won't help unless it's large enough to envelope most of your face. Moreover, an eyecup pushes your glasses--therefore your eye--even farther from the eyepiece, which means you'll see less of the periphery (including the shooting information).
Canon sells lens correction adapters that might help some prescription lens wearers. The only problem will be when you look elsewhere when not looking through the viewfinder. Though if you are concentrating on some shots, it might not be an issue.
Monito wrote:
Whatever pet problem somebody might have, if they search they will find someone else who has the same problem. Then they will quote each other endlessly and it will soon appear as if a vast army of cheated owners has been stiffed by the company, all due to the internet amplification effect.
You're ignoring the specific facts that I cited from personal experience. I also noted that others have reported the same. This is not "internet amplification" but evidence that my experience is not an isolated incident. When I tested 5Ds at camera stores and units owned by others, this had nothing to do with the internet, and it was my personal observation that 50% of the dozen or so units examined had this problem.
picnic wrote:
But Harry, if its the camera and Canon can't/won't fix it, its the same in the end. We either live with it or move on. BTW--I just bought a used 400D to use as my 'small cam' with fast small primes instead of my G9 and the info in the VF is bright in any light--no problem. For those that just bought the camera and can exchange it, then that seems the best route. I bought mine in the winter and didn't see any problem until late Spring--too late to do anything about it.
Frustrating, but I've lived with it for 2.5+ years (doesn't make me happy, but....the alternative is to stay p----d all the time while shooting --I'd just rather forget about it and shoot).
I didn't say Canon couldn't or wouldn't fix the problem. I related that, despite specific description and diagram the Canon tech misunderstood and examined the AF points in the VF, not the illuminated info at the bottom. When I called and spoke to customer service, they agreed there had been an error and said they would provide a label for me to send the camera in a second time; I declined because I couln't afford to be without the camera for a 2-week stretch at the time. I have subsequently learned to live with the deficiency as a minor issue, and when a second body did not show the problem, it confirmed my initial conclusion that my 5D VF illumination was broken. Since I have personally found 50% of 5Ds that I examined to be broken in the same way, and others have also noted the issue, I relate only that if YOUR 5D has this issue, it's likely not your eyes -- but the camera.
John Power wrote:
Harry, I had #2 happen to me a few times and when it did I thought "OK, that is what it is supposed to look like. How do I get that back?"
There's no procedure of which I am aware that will get the illumination back. When I spoke with sevaral Canon technical people, they were coy about how the illumination is supposed to work. Some have said it's constant. Others have said it's continuously variable based on ambient illumination. Others have said it's two-level. Several owners I spoken with have noted the brief periods of bright illumination, typically right after initial camera turn on, or immediately after pointing the camera at a bright scene. Then, it dims again. I do not have access to the design specifications or schematics.
This is just a thought, but you might want to try the Ee-S focus screen. It's plain matte, just like the basic 5D screen, but it's much more coarse and therefore makes the viewfinder dimmer. Perhaps dimming the viewfinder will force your pupils to open a bit more so that you can see the viewfinder display.
My 5D VF info display isn't that great either. Too dim in daylight. I wish I could turn up the juice and make those lights brighter!
Breitling65 wrote:
I think you should look for problem inside of yourself ... 5D is amazing body!
Personally, I don't respond to ignorant people ( oops I just did ). For all the people who say it is not a problem, good for you. For the rest of us who have this real problem, it really takes a lot of joy out of photography when you constantly have to fight the tool. I just wish we also did not have to fight the ignorant people with their wise ass remarks when all we are looking for is some information or maybe work arounds to this problem.
For all those who replied with suggestions on fixing the problem, thanks for your inputs. For the rest, just move along.
Agreed. Shooting with digital cameras today is such a drag. Let's hear it for the Polaroid 35mm back, handheld meter, dark cloth, Nikon F, Kodak exposure wheel.
Ah, chez and John, you're not alone! The VF itself is absolutely beautiful; going from a 30D and 400D, it was such a nice breath of fresh air to actually be able to see through it, the sharpness and brightness of the VF is not an issue for me. However, as for seeing the exposure details in bright light - HELLO! For me, I'm practically shooting blind (err, no pun intended - I'm actually visually impaired ). So yes, I feel your anguish, especially if doing portraiture outdoors. If it's landscapes or similar, then I just refer to my top little LCD thinger, which is also very beautiful.
Barry Pehlman wrote:
Agreed. Shooting with digital cameras today is such a drag. Let's hear it for the Polaroid 35mm back, handheld meter, dark cloth, Nikon F, Kodak exposure wheel.
5D is amazing body!
--I'd just rather forget about it and shoot).
). So yes, I feel your anguish, especially if doing portraiture outdoors. If it's landscapes or similar, then I just refer to my top little LCD thinger, which is also very beautiful.