I love my mirrorless but sunny day question

[Hali]

I made the jump into the R series in early 2019 with an R and back then I was only wearing reading glasses so I didn't have issues with the EVF. Now I am wearing bifocals with transition lens and on sunny days I find it very hard to see the EVF because of the darkness of the glasses (or if I am wearing sun glasses) does anyone have any thoughts on how to cope with this?

 

[JayAy]

I wear varifocal and photochromatic glasses and have my evf brightness set to auto and colour tone set to 2 - this gives me a good view in all conditions I've tried so far

 

[Copterdoc]

I need to understand the issue better. You say you have transitioned to mirrorless. Did you have this same problem with your DSLR or other cameras?

I wear sunglasses and contacts and sometimes trifocals, and sometimes no corrective lenses at all. The Canon cameras have a diopter adjustment for the viewfinder and it takes only a couple of seconds to set it up. I adjust it as needed on the fly for the condition I am shooting in e.g. corrective lenses or not before I begin shooting. If you wear sunglasses while shooting you may need to brighten the viewfinder and this can be done in the menus. Sunglasses will play havoc with your perception of exposure simulation in the EVF so it becomes necessary to keep an eye on the EVF exposure meter to correctly judge the exposure. This is less important without sunglasses.

Often when wearing sunglasses to spot shots I will push them up on my head or have a neck strap for the glasses so I can let them slide off and hang while I take the shot. I set the diopter for the lens correction I may be wearing such as contacts or for no lens correction as necessary prior to shooting.

If you wear bifocals or trifocals you will look through the viewfinder and adjust the diopter to achieve the sharpest view of the EVF. I use the Exposure scale and text as a guide to determining the correct adjustment. Once that is made you should be all set.

 

[Hali]

I wear varifocal and photochromatic glasses and have my evf brightness set to auto and colour tone set to 2 - this gives me a good view in all conditions I've tried so far

Thank you, I will check my settings and see f that helps next sunny day

 

[Hali]

I need to understand the issue better. You say you have transitioned to mirrorless. Did you have this same problem with your DSLR or other cameras?

I wear sunglasses and contacts and sometimes trifocals, and sometimes no corrective lenses at all. The Canon cameras have a diopter adjustment for the viewfinder and it takes only a couple of seconds to set it up. I adjust it as needed on the fly for the condition I am shooting in e.g. corrective lenses or not before I begin shooting. If you wear sunglasses while shooting you may need to brighten the viewfinder and this can be done in the menus. Sunglasses will play havoc with your perception of exposure simulation in the EVF so it becomes necessary to keep an eye on the EVF exposure meter to correctly judge the exposure. This is less important without sunglasses.

Often when wearing sunglasses to spot shots I will push them up on my head or have a neck strap for the glasses so I can let them slide off and hang while I take the shot. I set the diopter for the lens correction I may be wearing such as contacts or for no lens correction as necessary prior to shooting.

If you wear bifocals or trifocals you will look through the viewfinder and adjust the diopter to achieve the sharpest view of the EVF. I use the Exposure scale and text as a guide to determining the correct adjustment. Once that is made you should be all set.

I had lasix surgery years ago and hadn’t needed glasses to look through a viewfinder on my DSLR but needed “cheaters” to see the screen on the back of the camera. When I got my R in 2019 I also started wearing bifocals and while I know about the diopter adjustment but haven’t been using it since wearing the glasses works well. My problem is that my lens are transition so they get dark on bright days and it affects how I see the EVF. I hope I explained that better!

 

[Tongho58]

I need reading glasses to see close but I don't wear reading glasses or any glasses when I take pictures. I just flip the glasses up on my forehead. You can adjust the EVF to your eye condition so you can see it clearly.

 

[Genessi]

I do were transitions and have a bifocal, I also adjust the diopter, BUT I just take my glasses off and get the shot.

 

[Hali]

I'm going to start taking off my glasses to shoot, I'm just afraid of damaging them, but I will just have to learn to be careful.

 

[MitchB]

I have a 5D mK IV and an EOS R. Love them both but absolutely do not like the EVF...ever, but particularly on sunny days. It is not an eyewear problem. I'm going to try the adjustments suggested above. I'll have to get used to it as I don't see a future for non-mirrorless cameras.

 

[Sloob]

I also found that it’s easy to just push my glasses up on top of my head when shooting. If I need to change settings or review photos I simply pull them back down again. I always a little concerned they may fall off my head but so far no problems.

 

[Copterdoc]

I also found that it’s easy to just push my glasses up on top of my head when shooting. If I need to change settings or review photos I simply pull them back down again. I always a little concerned they may fall off my head but so far no problems.

A neck strap for your glasses is equally effective.

 

[Grahamk]

I wear varifocal glasses with transition lenses and have no problems with the EVF in bright sunlight - and at the moment it's about as bright as it gets in the UK. It's worth bearing in mind that the view in the EVF reflects the image that will be taken - so if the camera settings are wildly out from what is required for a correct exposure you will see either a dark (for underexposure) or very light (overexposure) view in the EVF. Coming from a DSLR I was a bit taken aback when I first experienced a black EVF on my R6 until the penny dropped.

 

[AnsibleMedia]

This is a problem I have suffered with as well. I've been wearing glasses since I was 6, and have used transition lenses the last 20 years or so. Once I switched to mirrorless a few years ago the darkness of the transition lenses started interfering with my ability to see the EVF properly, I tried out contacts for the first time, however due to severe astigmatism and a tendency for my left eye to drift (which glasses corrects) they weren't right for me. My final solution recently was when it was time for new glasses, I got two identical pairs, except one without transitions. I keep that pair in my camera bag and swap them out for when I'm shooting outdoors using the EVF.

 

[Dave Williams]

I stopped wearing my photochromatic glasses ages ago and just use my "normal' ones all the time now. The prescription was meant to be the same but they are by no means identical perhaps because of where the varifocal split is placed. Dark glass can be very misleading as to the light you see, more so looking through the EVF I expect. I find the camera meter is the safest indicator for exposure most of the time.