EOS R5 & R6 - Menu setting: Expo. Simulation: Disable/During/Enable not working.

[ABNpix]

Equipment:

Canon R5 and R6 (with multiple flashes & remote triggers):

Situation: 

Portrait of person in dark suit, indoors, 60 feet behind subject wall is lit by window light, one light soft box on subject.

My problem:  

I can not compose a photo while flash or strobes are engaged. While shooting a portrait (indoors) with flash or studio strobes (Profoto) via remote trigger on hot shoe, the exposure simulation does not seem to work. Menu setting: Expo. Simulation: I’ve used all three settings Disable/During/Enable and the same issue/results happen. If I view the subject (dark jacket) through camera LCD or EVF the monitor goes bright because monitor is trying to make a good visual exposure to view the dark subject which in turn blows out the background or if you angle the camera away from subject toward something bright the monitor goes dark to compensate for the brightness. 

When I take the photo the final image in camera is perfectly lit and exposed correctly - the issue is trying to view and compose the photo before I even take it.... The EVF/LCD is blown out/way over exposed so much so that I can’t compose the photo correctly (ie. Background, architectural lines coming out of persons head).  

If I turn OFF the flash -or- turn OFF the remote trigger then the viewable image on the LCD or EVF shows the correct exposure, the background is not blown out and I can see the architecture and compose the photo. 

If I turn the flash back ON or the trigger for remote, the EVF/LCD shows the background blown out (way over exposed, so much that I can not see what’s there)…. Impossible to compose a photo, it’s like being blind, this is unexceptable.  

Ive called CPS they said they don’t know why this happens (the tech even had the same camera & flash set up and saw the same issue I have)….  He had no answer or help for me.

I don’t know why the monitor shifts when the lens is pointed towards dark or light areas - it should not shift at all if I am shooting fully manual. Just because I turn on a flash the monitor shifts under and over exposed if you focus on bright or dark areas this does not seem correct. I personally can’t believe this has not been addressed or solved by now….   For $6,000.00 USD (R5$4k & R6$2k) I can’t believe this is even an issue…. My other mirrorless system LCD/EVF does not change at all when connected to strobes or flash, the LCD/EVF stays exactly where the manual exposure is set, even when I shift my view from dark to light areas.  

I look forward to any response or answers to the issue.  

Thank you all for your time. 

ABN

[ABNpix]

Wow, to the post - these are all very good points, not exactly what I was talking about, but very close. Thanks for sharing (helping).

It’s seems Canon is incapable of having this situation work correctly. 

I understand why its not working (there is no fix) the camera R5 & R6 are doing exactly what they should…

I just dont understand how the R5 cant expose for the background (brighter than subject background) when flash is on.

Im a 35 year veteran-professional photographer I know how to manually expose a picture and light it with strobes/speed lights whatever and have a perfect looking photograph…..  The problem is - this is the world of mirrorless - you can view on LCD or VF and see exactly what you’re getting exposure-wise when looking through the camera or lcd…. But the minute you turn on the flash (speed lite) that blows out the background or if I have Profoto remote with strobe and modeling light on subject as soon as I turn on flash background blows out - which makes it impossible to compose a photograph and make sure I have nothing running through my subjects head - you need to be able to see this when composing your photo……

My want from Canon is to step up! I have been a Canon photographer for 20+ years, Nikon before that (15+ years) and for the last 12 years I have been a Fujifilm photographer (for my personal work)…… Guess what Canon? - when I put my flash (speed lite) or remote flash trigger system on my Fujifilm cameras  and look through the VF or the LCD when the flash is on, the image is perfectly exposed - no blown out background, I can see my subject and my background simultaneously, both subject and background perfectly exposed, what you see is what you get - go figure I can now compose my photo.   

You’re Canon the big dog, I’m working with an R5 $4,000.00USD camera and a $600 flash and you cant achieve this simple issue so I can compose a photograph. Fujifilm has done it for years no problem…..   Maybe one day you’ll figure it out.

Best of luck Canon - I hope you can fix within firmware one day. I’m heavly invested in Canon (lots of equipment) but when these camera go down or the shutters are shot - I will not replace my Canon gear…….I’ll toss the bodies and sell off the glass and at that point I will totally commit to Fujifilm.

Thank you all for your comments (posts). Sorry you all have the same issues I do…. Let’s watch and see what Canon does.

Canon - No hard feelings - it’s been a great ride, Ive created some great images with Canon and the R system is your best yet…. Still love my old 5dMrk3 but I think our time has come to an end.

Best to all. AB

[usetape]

Hey ABNpix, did you have a chance to read my reply? Applying tape over the e-ttl pins on the trigger itself is the answer to keeping exposure simulation available. Just cover all pins except the centre pin with masking tape. Let me know!

[ABNpix]

Yes I read it. I dont want to argue about dyi solutions - but please note when youre spending $7,000 + on camera, lens, flash no one should have to put tape on it to work... It is not an ideal fix. Although I appreciate your comment. 

[usetape]

Oh believe me, I feel the exact same way. Since I usually use natural light on my subjects the tape stays on 99% of the time - it annoys me but at the end of the day the problem is solved and I’m thankful. One more thing that you may not have tried: put your focus in one shot mode. In one shot mode it will adjust brightness of the image to expose your autofocus point area to get focus (temporarily while focus is being achieved) . I’m not sure if this works with face detect or not, so you may have to use a single af point, but this has solved my problem of having too dark a subject in the past when I’m using flash. Give it a try!

[kvbarkley]

Get a flashlight you can shine on the subject to focus, or use discoflash

[Cbd13]

Don’t bother. I just bought the R5. Same issue!!