Still photo Live View LCD drastically underexposed. WHY????

More findings:

1) My theory is not right; setting kit lens wide-open does not fix the problem (but it results in less darkening).

2) My trick of trying to changing aperture only works with chipped manual lenses (which report aperture, but don't allow you to change it), on both cameras. No luck with unchipped manual lenses.

3) 550D and 60D have different behaviors regarding this:
- 550D handles unchipped lens well if you remove the Canon lens while power is on (i.e. it resets exposure correction to 0). If you remove Canon lens while power is off, you will get a dark picture when you power on the camera with unchipped lens.
- 60D remembers exposure correction no matter how you remove the Canon lens.

4) Only ExpSim is affected; metering works well.

5) On 550D, you can use an unchipped lens in Tv/Av (image seems correct always). On 60D... Av seems OK, Tv seems to show correct image if you hold the shutter half-pressed.

6) Camera refuses to change aperture value from ML with unchipped lens. With chipped manual lens, trying to change aperture from ML fixes the bug.

7) Clearing all camera settings with unchipped lens attached does not solve the problem! (but it sets Auto ISO which works well).
 
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wow, you're fast!!!

plus: all my lenses are unchipped, so "a1ex's method doesn't work on my camera" mystery solved
 
Well I just tried this out on my 550. Indeed if I take a canon auto lens 17-55 off while the camera is on then I can put my Nikon unchipped manual lens on afterwards and it indeed does now show me accurate exposure in the LCD. Great.

However if I power down and power up again with the Nikon on I'm back to an innaccurately dark image in the LCD.
Same if I start the camera with the lens off and then put it on , or if I take the lens off while its correct and then put it back on again - it always resets to dark LCD.

I usually go with some version of AV or TV but would prefer real manual ability.

Sounds like a job for magic lantern - no?



Lenny
 
Same here.

I wasn't able to fix it for unchipped lenses, instead I was able to disable ExpSim in 550D. Anyone interested?
 
Exposure simulation (i.e. brightness on LCD should reflect brightness in final picture). With this disabled, LCD image is only good for framing.
 
I think what's really frustrating is that it's obviously very EASY for Canon to fix this problem, because it already works fine in Movie Mode, so there is no reason why it should not work in stills Live View mode.

Companies like Canon who do this for simple cash grabs are just lame. Canon is a customer based company and should do better. I've been working in TV for 10 years now, and we bend over backwards for the client to make them happy, which often cuts into profit, but it's just good business. Canon should adopt some of that.

So Alex, sorry is this is a redundant question as I can't figure out exactly what your position on the 60D live view un-chipped manual lens problem is.

But can this be fixed on the 60D? Seems like it would be a firmware fix. I would gladly donate to have this fix.
 
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I ran into this same problem with my 60D and the Super Takumar 55mm f1.8. After playing around with samera settings I seemed to have solved this problem by disabling Exposure Simulation.
 
[strike]Just found a workaround for unchipped lenses on 60D.[/strike]

Sorry, false alarm. But at least I have a possible workaround in Magic Lantern (i.e. if you need ISO 400, ML can change it to Auto ISO, with min iso = 400 and max iso = 400. This one has correct brightness in LiveView (but there are some usability drawbacks).
 
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I know what you're talking about. I realized what it was, when it happened to me.


Are you shooting RAW by the way? Also what picture profile.

The reason I ask is because the picture profile does not apply to RAW so if your pict profile pushes up the curve a bit, your photos will differer from video.
 
Try this:
1) Put a Canon lens (e.g. Kit lens) and stop it down to F22 or more; go in LiveView
2) Remove the Canon lens (with 550D you have to turn off the camera first; with 60D doesn't matter)
3) Put a manual lens (or just unscrew the Canon lens a bit
4) Take a picture in Manual mode, with auto ISO off. Compare with what you have seen in the LCD.

Picture profile does apply to embedded JPEG preview of the raw (i.e. what you see on the LCD after you take the picture). This is a different issue (read the previous posts).
 
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