Dark screen when using in manual??

[reefrat]

Hi all

I have noticed that a lot of compact digital cameras have a "feature" that when in manual mode the LCD lightens or darkens depending on the selected aperture/ shutter.

When photographing macro or close ups I prefer to use a smaller aperture (6 - 8), a shutter of 125-250 and adjust the strobe to get the correct exposure.

The problem is that this "feature" means I'm staring at a black or very dark screen and therefore can't compose the image.

Can this be disabled on compact canon cameras like the a710is so that the screen stays bright regardless of the manual setting?

 

[txdano]

Not familar with that model, but the manual says it should always be bright if the flash is enabled, otherwise it be darker depending on your settings and available light. How are you triggering your strobe?

 

[reefrat]

At the time I was using a canon G6 with a DS-125 strobe with eTTL.
I had either disabled the on-camera flash or it turned off automatically when the strobe was connected to the hotshoe (can't remeber which but I think the latter)!

When used on manual the screen would show what the exposure looked like without the flash...which at times was quite dark (esp night dives).
Otherwise the eTTL worked really well!

There was probably a way of dealing with this but I gravitated back toward my 35mm outfit instead.

I still have the DS-125 and I'm thinking about using it via the manual controller on an
A710IS with the on-camera flash enabled in manual but with a diffuser in place (maybe make the diffuser a little heavier by adding opaque plastic sheet to it?)

 

[txdano]

I used the manual controller with the DS-125 and a Canon case for several years and it worked pretty well. I covered the diffuser with black electrical tape and it seemed to help minimize the backscatter.

 

[reefrat]

Thanks for the feedback on this.
I'm thinking I probably won't completely black out the camera flash diffuser and for Macro I'll try positioning the strobe on the opposite side- maybe get some fill from the camera flash balanced by the strobe output for a dual strobe effect???

Did you find the manual controller with the DS-125 relatively to use as far as judging the right output for a given distance for wide angle?
eg. assuming manual settings of maybe 1/90 & f5.6, iso 100 subject at 2ft then 4ft etc etc.

 

[txdano]

With my housing, I had considerable backscatter from the internal flash, you may have better luck with yours. I found the controller pretty easy to use, I am relatively new to this hobby and mostly do a lot of shoot-review-adjust-repeat.

 

[diversteve]

The darkening was discussed in a thread here a while back. Before last Christmas as that's when I was shopping for an A620. I don't remember the outcome but I think there might've been a s/w upgrade to fix it.