topic Re: 7D Mark II Viewfinder Issue in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

7D Mark II Viewfinder Issue

Edward1064 — Tue, 30 May 2017 20:49:11 GMT

Using my new 7D today to photograph birds, I noticed an annoying issue with the viewfinder. I almost always use polarizing sunglasses when I use my camera, and with the 7D, the camera shooting data along the bottom of the frame is difficult to read. I am talking about the aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation, and other readouts below the lens view. It is the greenish-yellow illuminated info.

There are bands of darkness that move across the data readout, and they are caused by polarization artifacts in the readout. Basically, the light coming from the illuminated readout seems partially polarized. It only happens when wearing polizing sunglasses. A brighter display would help, but there seems no way to change this dislay's intensity. My 60D does not have this problem.

Has anyone else had this problem when wearing polarizing glasses? Is thre a camera fix?

Thanks!

Edward1064

Re: 7D Mark II Viewfinder Issue

TTMartin — Tue, 30 May 2017 21:04:32 GMT

@Edward1064 wrote:
Using my new 7D today to photograph birds, I noticed an annoying issue with the viewfinder. I almost always use polarizing sunglasses when I use my camera, and with the 7D, the camera shooting data along the bottom of the frame is difficult to read. I am talking about the aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation, and other readouts below the lens view. It is the greenish-yellow illuminated info.

There are bands of darkness that move across the data readout, and they are caused by polarization artifacts in the readout. Basically, the light coming from the illuminated readout seems partially polarized. It only happens when wearing polizing sunglasses. A brighter display would help, but there seems no way to change this dislay's intensity. My 60D does not have this problem.

Has anyone else had this problem when wearing polarizing glasses? Is thre a camera fix?

Thanks!

Edward1064

A brighter display won't help because the polarizing glasses work by blocking out all light of a certain polarization.

I haven't noticed it on my 7D Mk II, but, I usually take my sunglasses off when shooting.

Re: 7D Mark II Viewfinder Issue

Edward1064 — Tue, 30 May 2017 21:44:20 GMT

The reason I mentioned the possible intensity adjustment is that the darker bands are not completely extinguished, just attenuated, making it difficult to see the readout, which is of minimal brightness already.

i am wondering if my camera is representative of the 7D, or is a sub-par sample.

Re: 7D Mark II Viewfinder Issue

Waddizzle — Tue, 30 May 2017 21:46:07 GMT

I have noticed it. I need to wear polarized shades when I am outdoors at all times. I've learned to deal with it, or to take off the shades. I typically deal with it by shooting in M mode, with ISO set to Auto. Unless, something is flashing, I can more or less ignore the display.

Re: 7D Mark II Viewfinder Issue

Edward1064 — Tue, 30 May 2017 21:59:07 GMT

Thank you. I suppose I will learn to live with it too, but I used the readout on my 60D regularly. Just a little annoying to have to deal with the issue on a "more advanced" model. Hey, Canon Engineers!!!

Re: 7D Mark II Viewfinder Issue

TCampbell — Wed, 31 May 2017 13:47:35 GMT

I grabbed a camera body to test this because I couldn't imagine that Canon would actually polarize the viewscreen shooting info display. There would be no reason to do that. So I tested this wearing polarized glasses with one of my camera bodies and the display is not polarized. If it were polarized, then rotating the camera (e.g. shooting vertically instead of horizontally) would effect the display (because you'd be rotating the polarized angle by 90º)

Again, I do not have a 7D II - so maybe they've done something different, but I can't imagine why they would.

I also wear polarized sunglasses (actually polarized magnetic clips that cling to my regular glasses) but when I'm shooting outdoors I'm often using a circular polarizing (CPL) filter and I have to remove my clips to adjust the CPL. There's really nothing you can do about it - the idea that light as a polarity is a law of physics.

Re: 7D Mark II Viewfinder Issue

Edward1064 — Wed, 31 May 2017 15:35:24 GMT

Tim,

Thank you. The polarization effect I see does change some when I rotate the camera. But I am not saying the light is well polarized, but that there are annoying, darker bands at places across the lower part of the display. I think that as I look across the field of view, there are bands because the polarization state changes with angle of view.

FYI, I had a career in the optical design of lasers, and I have seen this type of effect before, but just not with cameras. I will go out with my camera a couple more times to see if I can live with this. B&H has a 30 day return policy. Also, I emailed Canon to see if they have a suggestion. This might be a deal breaker for me.

Edward

Re: 7D Mark II Viewfinder Issue

RobertTheFat — Wed, 31 May 2017 15:48:41 GMT

@Edward1064 wrote:
Tim,

Thank you. The polarization effect I see does change some when I rotate the camera. But I am not saying the light is well polarized, but that there are annoying, darker bands at places across the lower part of the display. I think that as I look across the field of view, there are bands because the polarization state changes with angle of view.

FYI, I had a career in the optical design of lasers, and I have seen this type of effect before, but just not with cameras. I will go out with my camera a couple more times to see if I can live with this. B&H has a 30 day return policy. Also, I emailed Canon to see if they have a suggestion. This might be a deal breaker for me.

Edward

Wouldn't it make more sense to leave off the polarizing sunglasses than to ditch the camera? I don't think polarizing sunglasses are a great idea anyway. By filtering out spurious reflections that the camera will see, they can give you an erroneous preview of the scene. And if you're using a polarizing filter on the camera, you'd have no choice but to remove the sunglasses, even if the viewfinder had no polarizing effect..

Re: 7D Mark II Viewfinder Issue

kvbarkley — Wed, 31 May 2017 15:53:43 GMT

@TCampbell wrote:
I grabbed a camera body to test this because I couldn't imagine that Canon would actually polarize the viewscreen shooting info display. There would be no reason to do that.

All LCD's are polarized, it is the way they work. Canon must be using an LCD display with a backlight.

Re: 7D Mark II Viewfinder Issue

Ray-uk — Wed, 31 May 2017 16:00:14 GMT

All LCD displays have a built in polarized filter, if they didn't then they would appear blank. In the viewfinder of the 7D2 is a transparent LCD which you are looking through all the time, this is what displays the information. Nothing wrong with the camera, Canon just don't expect people to use polarized sunglasses with it.

Put your polarized glasses on and look at any LCD display while you are rotating it and you will see the same effect.

Edit. Aaaah, just got beaten to the post with this reply

Re: 7D Mark II Viewfinder Issue

Edward1064 — Wed, 31 May 2017 16:01:12 GMT

Those are good considerations, but I have only one pair of prescription sunglasses, which I use a lot without the camera. I do like polarizing sunglasses a lot, because of their glare-reduction capability. But I could buy another pair of prescription sunglasses that do not polarize the light.

Re: 7D Mark II Viewfinder Issue

RobertTheFat — Wed, 31 May 2017 16:14:53 GMT

@Edward1064 wrote:
Those are good considerations, but I have only one pair of prescription sunglasses, which I use a lot without the camera. I do like polarizing sunglasses a lot, because of their glare-reduction capability. But I could buy another pair of prescription sunglasses that do not polarize the light.

My main non-computer glasses are trifocals, but I have them made from photochromic glass or plastic, so they function s sunglasses outdoors. I don't think they polarize the light; at least I've never had the problems you describe.