Why can't I see subject I'm shooting?

MDPhoto · Oct 6, 2011

Hey,

I have a sony a55. I'm in a photography class and the other day we had a photo studio setup and were taking turns taking photos with the strobe kit. He had us put our settings at Fstop 13 and Shutter Speed 1/60 and ISO 200. I couldn't see a single thing through my viewfinder or screen. All the other students were able to see with the same settings. When I took the photo, sure enough, it came out great, but I had to basically guess where the frame was because I couldn't see.

When I decrease the shutter speed a lot, I start to be able to see something in the viewfinder. Why is this happening? How come others at the same settings could see their subject, but my screen was pure dark?

2WheelPhoto · Oct 6, 2011

With electronic cameras, you see the image as seen by the sensor in close to real time electronically. I suspect you're veiwing the ambient available light which appears dark with those settings, then the flash lights things up and the pic records fine.

MDPhoto · Oct 6, 2011

Yeah, but all the other students were able to see something in their viewfinder. All non sony cameras. So how could that be? I understand its dark before the flash, but i just don't understand why others with the same setting could see what they are shooting. Ideas?

2WheelPhoto · Oct 6, 2011

They have the regular DSLR viewfinders instead of electronic.

2WheelPhoto · Oct 6, 2011

Welcome to the forum by the way.

MDPhoto · Oct 6, 2011

Thanks. Ok so Nikons and Canons don't have an electronic viewfinder? What do their viewfinders do that mine can't?

Overread · Oct 7, 2011

Chances are your viewfinder is set to show the exposure as it will appear when you take the shot (some predictive exposure viewing mode) as opposed to simply showing the picture through the lens. Check your manual and your viewfinder settings as you should have a regular viewing mode where the camera will not estimate the exposure based on the lighting and will show you a clear, bright view through the viewfinder.

ps - remember its showing you the predicted exposure without the flash of course, since the camera can't calculate or even know how that will affect the final shot. Pure natural light or scenes lit with constant lighting (eg spotlight) will show more accurate predictive exposures when in this mode.

Derrel · Oct 7, 2011

This sounds like a rather annoying issue for studio flash use. Is there some kind of gain switch or setting to artificially brighten-up the electronic viewfinder image of the new Sony fixed-mirror cameras for those times when one is using FLASH to make the exposure with otherwise dim modeling lamps or low ambient light, such as inside clubs, dark venues,etc?

garypaul1256 · Oct 7, 2011

I own the a55 also. It's called Live View by Sony. It shows the current settings and the exposure. I believe you can turn it off for the viewfinder but not the LCD.

dxqcanada · Oct 8, 2011

The Sony SLT camera's will only "gain up" the EVF when a dedicated flash is used.
There currently is no option to manually do that (hopefully Sony will figure that out and add it in a firmware update).
This is one of the biggest complaints as it is not suitable for studio usage.

gsgary · Oct 9, 2011

Well this camera sounds crap for studio work there is going to be a lot of angry owners if you can't see in a studio

Derrel · Oct 9, 2011

dxqcanada said:
The Sony SLT camera's will only "gain up" the EVF when a dedicated flash is used.
There currently is no option to manually do that (hopefully Sony will figure that out and add it in a firmware update).
This is one of the biggest complaints as it is not suitable for studio usage.

zOMG, that sounds absolutely horrible!!!!!!!!

I'm pretty disappointed, but not too surprised, to have NOT BEEN TOLD about this weakness/limitation/issue in the two reviews I have read about the new Sony fixed-mirror cameras.

dxqcanada · Oct 9, 2011

Yes, I noticed that also.
I looked at all the reviews before getting the A55 ... and I only encountered a comment on that twice, and not from the typical Camera Review sites.
Since I do not use Flash in any way ... I did not really notice that it is a major issue when reading them.

chito beach · Oct 10, 2011

Actually the work around for the A55 is to just pop up the built in flash and place a piece of tape over the flash. This will place the EVF on high gain and will work as a standard OVF, It works fine for studio use I have been using it for over a year that way. It still sucks but it works