Annoying Dimming Issue!!!

[Hubbman]

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Hello all,

I've had my new Q3 for about a month now and STILL can't figure out how to stop the viewfinder from dimming every time I half press the shutter button!!!  It gets really dark!

 

It drives me nuts and keeps me from confirming that the autofocus is actually focused on what I want in focus.  How do I disable this annoyance?  I want to see the same exposure that I see before pressing the shutter when I half press, just like every other camera I own from Hasselblad and Sony!

 

Thank you!

[Trankster]

Have you tried turning up the brightness in your EVF?  Mine is set fairly high at 2-3 steps above the mid-point and I hardly see a change when I half press.

[Siriusone59]

This same problem was in an earlier post and if I remember correctly it was solved by either changing the exposure preview to PASM and possibly changing auto focus to single instead of continuous.  This had been an issue since the original Q but I can't recall exactly what the fix was.  My Q did it until I stumbled across the solution.  Try searching the Q forum for PASM, I'm certain you'll find it mentioned.

[Jeff S]

 

[Jeff S]

 

[Robert Ardinger]

FWIW, (from the Q3 manual - pg 116 on the PDF copy I was using):

 

"Notes: Depending on ambient lighting conditions, the brightness of the screen image may differ from that of the actual images, despite the settings described above. The screen image will appear considerably darker than the correctly exposed picture. That is particularly the case in long-term exposures.”

 

In doing some experimenting (actually mostly just playing around), I can see the dimming when in AFs mode, ISO pegged at the upper limit I set (12,800 using Auto ISO) in low room light and in Aperture priority mode with the aperture set smaller than f/8 (f/9-f/16) with the corresponding slow shutter speed for the correct exposure.  However, I also get to see (dimly of course) a nice depth of field preview.  

With the same settings but in AFc there is no dimming but also no visual depth of field preview.

When looking at the lens while focusing in AFs, Aperture priority, the camera will obtain focus with a half shutter press then there is a tiny delay (I assume to fully achieve focus) then it will close the diaphragm to the setting on the lens (all still at half press).

There might be a boost in the EVF brightness to some maximal level and then no further.  I can see minimal change in the histogram and no real dimming in these situations until about f/8 (very minimal changes at f/8).  After that, at smaller apertures (f/9-f/16), the dimming occurs along with a change in the histogram.  The actual image exposure is fine.

Looking at the lens when focusing in AFc, the diaphragm does not close with half press even if the lens is set for a smaller aperture.

I have not noticed any obvious dimming in my actual use of the camera (which admittedly does not really include the high ISO, small aperture (f/16), slow shutter speed settings mentioned above).  I would expect the dimming can occur with other camera setting combinations.

As an aside, on Nikon Z cameras with a lens that has a maximum aperture of f/5.6 or larger,  the EVF will show depth of field from maximum aperture to f/5.6. After that, if the camera is set for a smaller aperture, the change in depth of field is not seen as the diaphragm at that point does not actually get smaller (to aid focusing). The diaphragm will go to the selected aperture during the exposure. The camera can be customized so a function button can be assigned to preview the depth of field by temporary physically closing the diaphragm, likely with a corresponding boost in the EVF brightness as there is not much noticeable dimming (but at times there can be more noise). (I assume for Nikon lenses with a smaller than f/5.6 maximal aperture (i.e. f/6.3) that the camera just stays at the maximum aperture until exposure).

What I see in the Q3 seems to match what is described in the manual and is easily repeatable (I guess that makes it a “feature”🙂).  It is different than how the Nikon Zs work and if I had to make a fairly uninformed guess, it seems the Q3 has less of an EVF "boost" ability under certain circumstances than the Nikon Zs do. I can see where the EVF dimming could be an issue in some situations.

Edited June 14 by Robert Ardinger