Question on Canon Rebel SL3 Optical Viewfinder

[Barnon]

I reciently purchased my Canon Rebel SL3 and have been having great results. I'm quite the amature and I'm also 61 years old and usually forget what I've learned the next time I go use it and have to read up on it again. Anyway I could have sworn I was able to use the optical viewfinder to record movies but lately I can only use the digital display. I can close the digital display but the optical viewfinder stays dark even when I push record. I have tried resetting to factory defaults and I can hear it open the optical viewfinder when I turn on the camera but as soon as I put it in video mode I hear it close back and have to open the digital view finder to see anything.

Any help would be greatly appriciated, and I'll write it down so i don't forget.

[jrhoffman75 · Accepted solution]

Hi Barnon. Welcome to the forum. 

The behavior you are seeing with you camera is correct. 

You can only record movies with the mirror up, and when the mirror is up the optical viewfinder goes black. 

[Barnon]

Good to know..

Thanks for the reply.