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EVF goes darker sometimes with M Lenses


JeffreyTotaro

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Hello:

 

I am a long time digital M shooter (M8, M8.2, M9, M-P240), and I have an SL rented for a test drive this week. I really like it, but for no apparent reason, the EVF gets noticeably darker at times. Once after I was fiddling around with some unrelated settings it went darker, almost like I had turner the Exposure Comp dial to the darker end. This happens when the lens is only stopped down a few stops and in bright light or darker light. I had to reset the camera to get it back to normal. I am shooting with a 50 Lux ASPH, 90 f2.4 Summarit, and 28 Elmarit. Is there some setting that effects this? I am afraid to take it on trip and not know how it get it back without resetting each time. Its on firmware 3.2. I searched for this topic and didn't see anything. This happened also on a previous rental and I figured it was a limitation of the camera, but after reading more reviews I decided to try it again, so its not this particular body.

 

Thank you!

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Try this:

Go to Menu,  fifth line down is an entry called PAS or PASM.  Press the joystick to change this and see if that doesn't toggle the viewfinder from the unwanted setting.  I don't understand the setting entirely, one I believe simulates the exposure setting, so you get a dark finder when the image will be dark and the other provides auto gain no matter what the exposure setting.  

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An attempt to illustrate the difference between PAS and PASM, in this case when shooting from a room with dim light through a window with highlights (sun) outside, and with aperture (f4), speed (1/13 sec) and ISO (400) set to about correctly expose the window locker, see the right-most/third image below.

 

  • (1) When "Exp. Preview" is set to "PAS", the EVF/LCD screen may show something like the left/first image below. If the window locker mimics, say, a bird against highlights, this is obviously not the most convenient view in the EVF/on the LCD, simply because the 'bird' is way too dark, essentially impossible too see  :(.

However, 

  • (2) With "Exp. Preview" is set to "PASM", the EVF/LCD screen may show something like the mid/second image below, with the window locker (the 'bird') clearly seen, facilitating detailed composition and/or focus. In this case, the highlights are burned. The latter is not a problem since we are interested in the window locker/the 'bird'.

For case (1) and (2) above, the actual images are identical  (since aperture, speed and ISO are fixed), but the view through the EVF/from LCD screen is greatly different. Clearly, PASM is greatly superior to PAS in this case.

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Edited by helged
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Apart from the PAS/M setting, the OP might be having screen brightness issues discussed in various other threads. The dark screen effect is exacerbated in bright sun. And folks have resorted to various compensating techniques, including brimmed hats, use of exposure preview and exposure compensation settings, etc. The SL screen brightness apparently works differently than other Leica camera EVFs. Here’s one example (and care should be taken regarding the comment time frame since FW updates have seemingly changed some camera behaviors)....

 

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/267426-sl-viewfinder-usage-in-bright-sunlight/

 

Jeff

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