R5 oversensitive evf eye sensor

[HBC]

Hi canon

Me and other users, that agreed with me on a thread on reddit and on other posts we can find online, are having problems with the camera behavior regarding to the eyepiece sensor, and, as my first milc I have been very annoyed the way the camera gets in my way. When using the camera by the belly with the strap around the neck, wich most of us do, the sensor detects things so far away from the evf that activates it with the cloth fabric, draining the already poor battery performance. I know there is a away to overcome this by assigning a button to switch between screen and vf with manual switch, but it costs one of the already few precious buttons and is very unconvenient having to press a button everytime I want to look through the evf and again when resting the camera, but if at least the evf was disabled right after switching the camera to zzz mode and activating only with a half press shutter button without having to wait 30sec that whould be nice. There is one ocasion when Id like to switch manually, wich I do very often, when I shoot on the beach or in the rain using a raincover, I tried a custom mode that way, assigning the video button (wich I usually have it to zzz mode) for the switch, but the camera changes this setting for every mode not only the custom mode I want, wich forces me to change everything on the menus everytime I want to use the raincover. I contacted canon forums with this question and they said to come here to the usa community. Thanks.

[Nick2020]

Hi HBC,

Thanks for checking in with us.

Perhaps there are some settings that are affecting your results. Based on what you mentioned, I recommend that you email us one unedited JPG image and a description of what you're facing to eosdigitalsupport@cits.canon.com.

That can help us get a better sense of what you are experiencing. Usually one image is sufficient, but if we need to see more than one image then we'll let you know.

IMPORTANT: Please follow these instructions carefully so that we can provide you with the most useful feedback that we can offer.

Please don't send an image that is resized, renamed, or color corrected. Even RAW images that are converted and saved in a program like Photoshop can lose some of the data we want to check.

To ensure that your image gets through to us, we recommend that you send an image that is 25 MB or less, so please check the file size of your attachment.

[HBC]

Hi Nick2020 thanks for the reply, but I don't think you understood my point. There's nothing whrong with the images aside for a tendency to protect a little too much highlights for my taste sometimes and underexpose with evaluative metering m mode because of a little bit of sky in the frame, other than that iq is top, my concern is about the camera behaviour with the eyepiece sensor. Thanks

[NatalyaP]

Greetings, HBC

I do apologize for any miscommunication in our prior response and I can understand the frustration caused by how the eye sensor located near the EVF will switch the display to the EVF if something gets too close to it. I'm also used to often shooting video with the camera towards my chest area for its angle and stability.

Instead of assigning a button to allow you to toggle the display between the EVF and rear LCD screen, you can set the camera to only use the rear LCD screen for shooting and recording. This would prevent  having to assign one of the buttons on the camera to toggle between displays and works well if you're primarily shooting video with the camera. You may then change the settings to Auto or EVF only if you then plan on shooting through the EVF.

You may click on the following link to view the steps to allow you to change on how the camera will switch the display between the EVF and LCD screen:
https://cam.start.canon/en/C003/manual/html/UG-07_Set-up_0180.html

In the meantime, I've submitted your feedback regarding the EVF to our engineers for consideration for possibly adding additional functions and behaviors to the camera's display. Please note that decisions to incorporate a particular camera design or functions are made by our engineers and product designers in Japan, based on a number of factors. Consumer demand, technological limitations, and customer feedback are all taken into consideration.

[HBC]

Thanks a lot JacobT, I understand some miscommunication can happen sometimes no problem with that. I rarely shoot video and I use evf for shooting most of the time but I also want to acces quick and main menus with the screen in order to not look through the evf for that, so that method doesnt work for me. I appreciate you communicating this to engineers and having my issues into consideration, thanks.

[Tronhard]

While this does not resolve the technical issue you describe, these work-arounds might be helpful.  I don't hang the camera from a strap around my neck: I find it uncomfortable in any case. 

You can get a sling to which the camera attaches a screw that attaches to the tripod mount.  This places the camera vertically: i.e. with the lens pointing down, so that the viewfinder is not pointing horizontally towards your clothing, but up towards the sky.  If you set the EV display accordingly, then you should be ok.

The other thing I do is to have the camera set to a fairly short sleep interval. So that if the shutter is not pressed it will hibernate, thus saving battery drain for any reason.  The camera comes to life almost immediately when the shutter button is pressed.

[HBC]

Hi thanks for your reply. Thats actually how I ve set it, 30 sec for evf to shut down, but when working Im not going to wait for 30sec to rest the camera, so it whould be nice if the evf was immediatly shut down when i press the video button assigned to sleep mode, that way I could press it and rest my camera right away just needing to half press the shutter for the evf to wake up again, that whould be nice, or if canon found a way to reduce the distance the evf sensor activates evf. Now that strap I didnt know about it. One question, my camera is allways with the tripod mount on it because I use it very often, if I buy one of thosee straps, wich sounds interesting, am I still able to have the tripod mount? Because I need my camera ready for tripod work. Thanks for the input.

[Tronhard]

You certainly have a complicated scenario...🤔  I DO believe there are harnesses out there that have a piggy-back tripod mount, but you'll have to research that.  Another solution is to not use a strap to the camera directly but put it in a holster. You can always leave the flap open so that it doesn't cause the same initial issue.  You can leave your tripod mount on the camera.  I have used holsters for years and they work fine for me.  They also provide protection from environmental effects.  Personally, I just turn the camera off when I am not shooting and it comes back  up pretty quickly, but I suspect that is also unacceptable to you.

At the same time, if you have issues with battery performance, I strongly suggest getting a battery grip.  I have one on all of my cameras and they offer not only battery life but access to the controls for portrait mode shooting.

[HBC]

Yes I know, thats why, although I love the r5 and want to keep it, Im also saving for 5dmkIV. I was told by my colleagues that bought milcs and came back to dslrs that the workflow is better on them and they get out of the way much better leaving us focused on the work than milcs do, and thats what I feel too. Not saying they're allways better but in certain situations Id like to use a full frame dslr (mine's the 90d) more than the r5, they're allways ready for everything without the need to think about it, and I think both systems could coexist together, i'd happily buy a 5d mkV if it was released to pair with my r5. Anyway thanks trevor for your input.

[Tronhard]

I can relate to your point of view.  I have been shooting for about 42 years and doing digital for 20 of those.  I have rarely sold a camera body - the price plummets and I just keep them.  Among that collection I have the 5DIII, IV and DsR, and they all have their gifts and strengths to offer.  I use the R5 and R6 and love them - mostly for wildlife photography, but for landscape and other genres, I am very happy to return to my DSLRs.