EOS R6 Mark II from 5d4 - focusing for studio headshots

[DaneDana]

Hi Everyone,

I have made the move to mirrorless just recently and I have been trying to research how to focus when the ISO is low to avoid ambient light cast on my subject or background for studio headshots.  Is there a quick switch to focus through the viewfinder with it bright enough to see the subject and get focus, then quickly take the shot?  This has been a tough one to research online.

Thank you for your help!

[corbinwesler · Accepted solution]

I don't know where the setting is in the R6 II menu, but it sounds like you have Exposure Simulation turned on. You'll want to disable that to get more of a traditional ambient light/DSLR viewfinder experience. On my 1DX Mark II, it's under the red camera menu.

[DaneDana]

Thank you so very much!  This is exactly what I needed.  I did find the Exposure Simulation and changed it so that I see the 'traditional ambient light/DSLR viewfinder experience' that you stated.  Thank you again!

[Waddizzle]

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@DaneDana wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I have made the move to mirrorless just recently and I have been trying to research how to focus when the ISO is low to avoid ambient light cast on my subject or background for studio headshots.  Is there a quick switch to focus through the viewfinder with it bright enough to see the subject and get focus, then quickly take the shot?  This has been a tough one to research online.

Thank you for your help!

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It is not clear to me what exactly is your issue.  Could you please rephrase it?  I do not want to sound like the grammar police, but you have written an extended “run on” sentence.

Another reason I am confused is the view on the rear LCD should be nearly identical to view through the Electronic Viewfinder.  I do not understand your connection to focusing.

[DaneDana]

I am sorry for any confusion with my sentences, but my desire was to be able to look through my mirrorless and see the same light that I would through a DSLR.  I just learned from corbinwesler that I needed to change my Exposure Simulation to get the desired results.

[rs-eos]

Also not sure what your particular scenario is about.  The only thing I can guess from your description is that you're in a very dark room and using flash.  i.e. when trying to compose the shot, the camera isn't able to gather enough light with the existing exposure settings for you to see what is going on.

If that's the case, you can definitely have ambient light in the room and you control that via shutter speed.  Often times when the shutter is set to the sync speed, that's enough to remove most/all of the ambient.

[DaneDana]

Sorry for the confusion on the post.  Next time I will do a better job phrasing it.  With my DSLR, I was able to see through the lens, set my exposure, focus and take the shot.  When I am in a indoor location doing headshots with the ambient light on in the room, I can see my subject TTL with a DSLR to focus, but set my ISO low and close down my aperture so that only my flash illuminates my subject and not any of the lights in the room.  Now that I have my first mirrorless camera, I was trying to figure out how to see the available light as it is as I did with my DSLR.  I got the answer from corbinwesler.  He said to change my Exposure Simulation.  So, I disabled it and got exactly what I needed. 

I need to search this forum on tips on how best to transition to mirrorless from DSLR.  

Thank you for your reply.

[JoeySnaps]

The image through the EVF is typically bright in even the dimmest light, unlike with a DSLR which can be difficult to see to focus when there's little or no ambient light. This would appear to be the opposite to what you're complaining of.

However, your R6mkII has a feature called OVF sim. view assist (page 9 of the camera menu). If this is OFF then the image in the viewfinder and rear screen will dim if the exposure settings will result in under-exposure and brighten if you're over-exposing. Turn it ON and you'll have a nice bright image in the viewfinder and rear screen all the time, irrespective of the exposure settings. I think this is probably what your problem is - but I may have the wrong end of the stick altogether...