Canon 7D LiveView?

R

rychoi

Member
When adjusting exposure through the 7D LCD, is everything visible through the LiveView such as changes in F-Stop, ISO, and shutter speed? I am more accustomed to LCDs in prosumer video cameras like the DVX100 or HVX200 where all changes can be seen visibly, but I know for stills that, despite exposure changes in camera, they won't appear in the viewfinder until AFTER you take a pic. Is this the same way it works for video on a 7D?

I am most concerned with this because I'll be using full manual primes such as from Pentax or Sigma. But for lenses like the Pentax which require the adaptors, will these act differently in the LiveView as opposed to Canon EF Lenses which are designed compatible for the 7D?
 
No different than a video camera, plus the exposure bar, except you don't have zebra and peaking, I adjust the liveview brightness so that it is very close to my calibrate edit monitor and have very good sucess, better than the exposure bar, sometime that can be off if you have to much backlit.
 
With manual lenses, live view in *stills* mode freaks out if "exposure simulation" is turned on and your lens isn't wide open.

In video mode, it works as expected.

The best way to get a feel for exposure is to snap a still in video mode and play it back with the histograms turned on and exposure warning (clipped areas flash on and off).

Zebras and peaking sure would be nice though.
 
xbourque said:
With manual lenses, live view in *stills* mode freaks out if "exposure simulation" is turned on and your lens isn't wide open.

In video mode, it works as expected.

The best way to get a feel for exposure is to snap a still in video mode and play it back with the histograms turned on and exposure warning (clipped areas flash on and off).

Zebras and peaking sure would be nice though.
Click to expand...


Could you explain this a little more blow by blow for us newbies?
 
On the 7D, live view is either "stills" or "video" (depending on the switch above the start/stop button).

If you use a manual lens (i.e. no electronic contacts), the camera cannot know and control lens aperture.

Video mode is "what you see is what you get"... so the LCD shows the actual shutter speed, aperture and ISO that you would record if you started recording. This works fine with manual lenses. If your concerned only about video, you can stop right here.

Stills mode can work in 2 different ways: exposure simulation "enabled" or "disabled". (Menu -> 4th tab from the left -> Expo. Simulation)

With ES "on", on a regular Canon lens, the camera keeps the aperture wide open to help the user focus. To keep the proper exposure on screen, it compensates with shutter speed and ISO. When you take a still, the actual aperture/shutter/ISO you dialed in is used (of course). To preview the actual aperture before taking a shot, press the DOF preview button below the lens release button. Exposure Simulation only works with lenses that can communicate with the body, since the camera needs to control lens aperture.

When ES is off, the live view preview is no longer "WYSIWIG"... it just tries to keep the image exposed so that you can frame the shot. You might have dialed settings that are completely over/underexposed and you would not know unless you look at the exposure bar at the bottom of the screen. Live histograms are also disabled in that mode. You have to use that mode if you want to take Live View stills with manual lenses.

-- Xavier
 
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