Manual mode on the T6

[John_SD]

As I am studying Bryan Peterson's great book, "Understanding Exposure," I am now shooting more and more in Manual mode, as he stresses this repeatedly in the book. I do enjoy shooting in M, but I find that on bright days, the viewfinder information display can be difficult to read, as it appears dim. 

I typically shoot at ISO 100 on bright days, so I leave it there, Then I select a shutter speed by rotating the main dial, then the aperature by holding down the AV+- button and rotating the dial (it's a lot easier than it sounds, and I do it mostly by feel now).

My problem is that the viewfinder information display is almost impossible to read when it's bright out, and I have to be able to read the exposure level mark to know how to alter my settings (I usually change the shutter speed) so that I can get a a proper exposure. Typically, I sneak a peek at the LCD so that I can know how far off the middle I am on the exposure level scale. I like to be dead-on in the center and usually adjust shutter speed a tad to achive this.

For you guys who shoot in M, do you also find you have to pull away from the viewfinder and peek at the LCD to see the scale, or is your viewfinder display bright enough on sunny days? 

[Waddizzle]

---

@John_SD wrote:

As I am studying Bryan Peterson's great book, "Understanding Exposure," I am now shooting more and more in Manual mode, as he stresses this repeatedly in the book. I do enjoy shooting in M, but I find that on bright days, the viewfinder information display can be difficult to read, as it appears dim. 

I typically shoot at ISO 100 on bright days, so I leave it there, Then I select a shutter speed by rotating the main dial, then the aperature by holding down the AV+- button and rotating the dial (it's a lot easier than it sounds, and I do it mostly by feel now).

My problem is that the viewfinder information display is almost impossible to read when it's bright out, and I have to be able to read the exposure level mark to know how to alter my settings (I usually change the shutter speed) so that I can get a a proper exposure. Typically, I sneak a peek at the LCD so that I can know how far off the middle I am on the exposure level scale. I like to be dead-on in the center and usually adjust shutter speed a tad to achive this.

For you guys who shoot in M, do you also find you have to pull away from the viewfinder and peek at the LCD to see the scale, or is your viewfinder display bright enough on sunny days? 

---

It's the camera body itself.  If T6 is anything like my T5, then it's the definitely the camera.  The two cameras seem to be nearly identical, except for the Wi-Fi in the T6.  It is hard to read the display in a T5.  I have no idea why it seems so dim.

I had always blamed a hard to read viewfinder to my wearing eyeglasses, and light leakage around my glasses.  After buying a 6D, and using a few others, I realized that the hard to read display was the fault of the camera.

You may try adjusting how you hold the camera to your face, and the angle at which you look through the viewfinder.  Because there definitely seems to be a sweet spot, where the viewfinder display seems much brighter.

[John_SD]

---

@Waddizzle wrote:

---

It's the camera body itself.  If T6 is anything like my T5, then it's the definitely the camera.  The two cameras seem to be nearly identical, except for the Wi-Fi in the T6.  It is hard to read the display in a T5.  I have no idea why it seems so dim.

I had always blamed a hard to read viewfinder to my wearing eyeglasses, and light leakage around my glasses.  After buying a 6D, and using a few others, I realized that the hard to read display was the fault of the camera.

You may try adjusting how you hold the camera to your face, and the angle at which you look through the viewfinder.  Because there definitely seems to be a sweet spot, where the viewfinder display seems much brighter.

---

Sounds reasonable, and is kind of what I thought the case might be. I do notice that when I shield the left side of my face with my hand, I can see the viewfinder display better, but that's not always practical to do in the field. I'll try tweaking the angle at which I hold the camera to my face and see if that makes a difference, But I suspect that I'll just continue peeking at the LCD in order to clearly see the exposure level scale. 

Probably within a year or two, I'll find that the T6 has served its purpose for me and I'll be ready to move on to an 80D or above. 

[diverhank]

I don't have the T6 so I don't know.  On both my 5D3 and 7D2, the info is displayed in the black area of the LCD so there's no problem seeing them in even direct sunlight.  I use the LCD a lot more for checking...with simulation enabled you can actually tell if the subject is too bright or dark and adjust the exposure appropriately...the exposure scale can be fooled by tricky light.

[Waddizzle]

---

@diverhank wrote:

I don't have the T6 so I don't know.  On both my 5D3 and 7D2, the info is displayed in the black area of the LCD so there's no problem seeing them in even direct sunlight.  I use the LCD a lot more for checking...with simulation enabled you can actually tell if the subject is too bright or dark and adjust the exposure appropriately...the exposure scale can be fooled by tricky light.

---

It works pretty much the same way in the T5/T6 viewfinders.  It's just dim.  You just have to learn how to find the best viewing angle.  

[John_SD]

Yeah, I've had the meter fooled by tricky light in the forest, especially when shafts of bright light are being filtered by the leaves. I sometimes purposely under expose a bit and try to correct it in DPP.