On the Z6II, the eye sensor is disabled when the rear LCD is flipped out. This allows you to shoot from a lower angle with the camera close to your body without having it switch back to the EVF automatically. That’s great, but unfortunately if you’re shooting in that position and you press the playback button, the camera ignores that feature and switches back to the EVF, leaving you looking down at a black screen with no image. Half pressing the shutter won’t bring the live view back to the LCD either, the only fix is to physically move the camera away from your body.
This is a very annoying bug as I shoot like this with the LCD frequently and I have to move my camera every time I want to check focus on a photo.
Also just realized it’s broken in the opposite direction as well. If you’re viewing a photo on the LCD and then bring the camera to your body and half press the shutter to return to shooting, the LCD goes black and the camera switches back to the EVF.
My Z7 ii behaves the same way that you described. However, it only behaves that way if the camera is very close to the body, ie the flipped out screen has to pretty much be up against my chest for that to happen.
If the edge of the flipout screen is an inch away from my chest then there is no problem.
For me, my camera is usually never that close to my body when I am shooting so not really a problem for me. Also when the camera is that close, if I tilt the front of the camera down a little bit, that is usually enough to bring the picture back to LCD screen. Not the best solution for your problem unfortunately.
gear-nut wrote:
I don't have mine with me, but can't you simply set it to monitor mode via the easy button on the left side of the EVF?
In auto mode, it uses a light sensor to detect a head near the EVF so I get that part working as you describe...
That’s what you needed to do on the Z6 to avoid the screen switching during waist level shooting. The Z6ii was updated to disable the eye sensor when the screen is flipped out so that you wouldn’t need to go into monitor only mode. But this bug screws everything up when holding the camera close.
Sure, I could “just” switch to monitor only mode but that is slow and impractical when going back and forth between the viewfinder and LCD in a fast paced shooting environment with dynamic subjects, i.e. wedding photography.
When shooting like this I do indeed frequently have the edge of the LCD screen brushing up against my shirt with my forearms resting against my body, because that’s the most stable and comfortable way to hold the camera at that height.
Ah, got it, understand your plight. What about setting a U mode? Will it lock and save the monitor settings? I haven't tried it, but that might be a way to more quickly switch than cycling through the VF modes...
It is worth noting that you can choose which VF modes are available via the Limit Monitor Mode Selection menu in the wrench menu page. I have mine set to Auto and Prioritize Viewfinder so I can one press switch between the only two modes I use.
That REALLY improves how the display button works. It's a workaround, but if you normally use auto and just want to lock Monitor Only as your other option, you can do so.
