5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

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Archive 2008 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

John Power
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p.6 #1 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

I've solved the problem. 1DSMK2 on the way. NO problems with the VF info on those babies...

Jul 20, 2008 at 03:48 AM

Ron Hew
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p.6 #2 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

I am not wearing glasses & I do not think the VF info is not readable in bright sunny day outside but mine dimmed intermittently after 12k shot in 2006 approximately 6 months usage. It was still under warranty then, so I send it in to Canon and they replace a new 5D for me and told me that this cannot be corrected as it has something to do with the "motherboard" whatever that means.

I sold mine after 2 months after the replacement with another 2K shots and my friend (new owner) have had no problem till today. YMMV

Jul 20, 2008 at 07:23 AM

roger lund
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p.6 #3 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

maybe the Eyepiece Extender EP-EX15 would help?

Jul 20, 2008 at 06:45 PM

Gochugogi
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p.6 #4 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

The EP-EX15 has additional optics to reduce the size of the VF image, allowing positioning of the eye further from the eyecup (for googles). A smaller & dimmer image probably wouldn't make the data display more visible. However some with tall noses like the EP-EX15 as it prevents smashing their nose against the LCD.

Jul 20, 2008 at 06:58 PM

Monito
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p.6 #5 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

chez wrote: I guess there is not and my only recourse is to:
a) suck it up and live with it. Don't like this one.
b) wait and see what the 5dMKII brings to the table.
c) sell my 5D and buy another. Don't like to gamble
d) look into the Nikon camp. Many fellow shooters seem to be very pleased with Nikon. Might be worth looking.

Have you updated the firmware?

Jul 21, 2008 at 03:37 AM

Monito
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p.6 #6 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

harrygilbert wrote:It's clearly a defective mechanism in the 5D causing this issue.

Is your firmware up to date?

Edited on Jul 21, 2008 at 03:40 AM

Jul 21, 2008 at 03:38 AM

chez
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p.6 #7 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

Yes, have the latest firmware. Did not notice any improvement with it.

Jul 21, 2008 at 03:41 AM

dcains
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p.6 #8 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

Wow, this thread sure has a nasty tone to it. Too bad.

Anyway, reading it made me check my 5D this afternoon against my 2 other bodies, a 40D and 10D, even though I've never thought my 5D had any VF issues. Well, I still don't. I'm in S. Florida, and this afternoon the sunlight was bright and harsh, but I didn't have any trouble seeing the info display at the bottom of the 5D's VF. In order of brightness, and ease of legibility (best >> worst), the 10D wins, with the 40D in second, closely followed by the 5D. The size of the info LCD segments is largest in the 10D, also the brightest, and the range of gain the display offers as a result of ambient light also seems the greatest. In other words, when ambient light is brightest, the 10D's VF LCD adjusts to be the brightest among the 3 bodies. The size of the info LCD is a bit smaller and dimmer in the 40D, and while it's even smaller in the 5D, the brightness seems the same as the 40D's. The amount of gain provided in bright light is more than adequate in both.

Are those of you having difficulties with your 5D's VF info LCD seeing the display increase in brightness with ambient light, or does the intensity remain constant? I ask because I remember seeing a thread a long time ago (as in a few years?), which described some displays as not properly adjusting to ambient light.

FWIW, my 5D is just several months old, I use a dioptric eyepiece rather than my eyeglasses, and I compared the 3 bodies using the EF 50f /1.4, as it's the fastest lens I've got and offers the brightest light in the VF.

Jul 21, 2008 at 04:38 AM

Marcus Watts
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p.6 #9 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

See a doctor.

Jul 21, 2008 at 09:10 AM

Gary Petersen
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p.6 #10 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

Remember when there was nothing in the vf except the scene in front of the camera?

Jul 21, 2008 at 09:19 AM

chez
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p.6 #11 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

Marcus Watts wrote:
See a doctor.

Exactly what we need...another idiot replying.

Jul 21, 2008 at 03:20 PM

chez
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p.6 #12 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

Gary Petersen wrote:
Remember when there was nothing in the vf except the scene in front of the camera?

Had that with my Pentax 6x7 system. Loved it. However, all SLR cameras I had, had at least an exposure meter based on a needle.

Jul 21, 2008 at 03:21 PM

abqnmusa
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p.6 #13 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

Make sure you have the latest firmware. There was an LCD brightness firmware update a few back.

I live in sunny New Mexico and my 5D works fine in the bright sun.

Jul 21, 2008 at 08:45 PM

simonella_viru
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p.6 #14 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

now that you mention it, i've had similar problems. the VF is difficult to use with glasses on, in that i can't see the numbers on the edge. but VF isn't washed out or anything like that.

as for the lcd, i agree that it's near useless outside on a sunny day. but i knew that before i bought the camera and nothing has changed. this is just the way it is...

Jul 21, 2008 at 08:54 PM

Gert-Jan Maas
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p.6 #15 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

To bring new life into this thread....

do you know that about 30% of all males are colourblind in some way? Usually this has something to do with the perception of red. You know, the monochromatic red of a led!

Maybe the so called "whiners" are colourblind to some degree (as me) and others, without a problem are not.

In any way, designers of equipment hardly ever take colourblindness into account..

Aug 30, 2008 at 09:00 AM

rhorta
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p.6 #16 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

Unfortunately this sub forum seems to draw out the negative, amplify problems and invite ill informed blanket statements.

Since I had a faulty SI plate and relatively dirty 5D out of the box, I can accept a technical problem. But the OP could have put forward the issue more constructively, instead of making such a negative blanket statement.

The VF itself is big and bright, so that cancels most of the Subject line already.

As for the VF display, at least I don't have any problems with it, as it does what it supposed to do: it is clearly visible, without distracting and is even sensitive to the amount of light.

So IMHO there is no "5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors" issue.

There may be some issue with the OP's 5D, which is bad enough, which is aggravated by his eyesight. There may even be more 5Ds which share that technical problem.

And indeed as Gert-Jan (who shares the full name with a colleague of mine) stated, technical problem + eyesight + potential color preference / blindness could go a long way explaining what is mainly an individual problem.

Ruy

Aug 30, 2008 at 09:41 AM

andrewd01
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p.6 #17 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

I agree that it is a strain to see the VF info in bright light. It's basically a design flaw and I think there's buckleys chance of Canon doing anything about it retrospectively. Canon 5D is all about having an amazing sensor at a very reasonable price. Everything else about the camera is a compromise.

Aug 30, 2008 at 10:09 AM

Fizzog
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p.6 #18 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

chez wrote:
The more I shoot the 5D outdoors, especially in bright conditions, the more I get frustrated with the 5D viewfinder. It gets to a point that I have to struggle to see the composition through the viewfinder and times when I cannot see the exposure scale at all. Do other people have this problem?

I thought I'd reprint the OP's original text (minus LCD section) as it seems some commentators seem to read things that aren't there.

As discovered in other, similar threads on this issue, there is a problem with some 5D's. Not all. Updates do not affect the VW.

I have the problem with my fully updated 5D. Outdoors, in other than dull conditions, I cannot read the display as I would like. In sunlight I cannot see it at all - it's too dim!

I use the same eyeball and glasses that I use on my 40D, and the 30D, 400D and 300D before it - no problem.

The good things about my 5D outweigh this one problem so I live with it.

Aug 30, 2008 at 12:22 PM

dcains
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p.6 #19 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

I'll ask again, since no one with the described problem responded the first time I asked. Does your VF info display change in brightness in a direct relationship with the ambient light level, or is it always the same?

Aug 30, 2008 at 12:29 PM

picnic
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p.6 #20 · 5D viewfinder almost useless outdoors

dcains wrote:
I'll ask again, since no one with the described problem responded the first time I asked. Does your VF info display change in brightness in a direct relationship with the ambient light level, or is it always the same?

I'm not sure----its dim in bright light, but good enough in low ambient light. I'm guessing that it stays the same all the time, but not sure. I do know that I can see the digital display on my old 10D that's converted to IR now. I can also see the display on the recently purchased used 400D/XTi also.

Its a bit frustrating but I've adapted to it and the big bright VF still is terrific (and I notice it particularly when I move from the 400D or 10D to the 4D). I still plan to keep my 5D until it fails--and even then, if its only the shutter and we're only one generation further--I probably will opt to get the shutter repaired once. I should add I've had my 5D for over 2.5+ years--it wasn't one of the very first but is far from being a later mgfd one.

Diane

Aug 30, 2008 at 01:02 PM

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