new guy with question

[clintinga]

Hello all.  I am new to photography and today received a A6300 that I bought used from Amazon.  The camera seems to be in great shape and everything works but when my thumb gets close to the hot shoe, the rear display goes blank for a few seconds.  Is this normal?  The seller does have a liberal return policy so exchanging it should be relatively straight forward.    Thank you in advance and I look forward to learning more about photography and this camera.

 

Regards,

 

Clint

[Thad E Ginathom]

To the right of the viewfinder there is a small sensor which switches the viewfinder on, and the monitor off,  when you put your eye near it. Unfortunately, it also does this if anything else, eg a finger, gets close. And it is oversensitive!

 

Edited October 16, 2019 by Thad E Ginathom

[Pieter]

I would assume it mostly happens when you move your left hand thumb to the hotshoe as it gets closer to the EVF.

There's a couple of solutions:

1) Disable automatic switching between screen and EVF. If needed, you can assign a custom button to switch between either one;

2) Tape off part of the proximity sensor to make it less sensitive, as explained here:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3834906

[clintinga]

Thad and Pieter- thank you!  Now that I know what is going on, it makes sense now.  I will keep playing with it to determine which solution is best for me.

 

Regards,

 

Clint

[Thad E Ginathom]

Do you have the eyepiece (eyecup) on the camera? If not, it might help keep fingers away from the sensor... but my a6500 reacts to something just over an inch away.

I've heard of the tape trick, but I only have nasty, sticky electrical tape, and I'm not keen on getting that on the camera. And I don't understand how it doesn't react to the tape --- but hey, I'll go and revise that thread.

Would magic marker (sharpie in US) do the trick, I wonder? EDIT: It does get a mention on the that thread. I'd have to be very sure that it is easily removal with rubbing alcohol before trying.

EDIT 2. I just tried with a sharpie and it was not effective.

Edited October 16, 2019 by Thad E Ginathom

[clintinga]

It came with 2, one smaller and one larger and the smaller was fitted.  I will try the larger one to see if that helps.  Thanks again!

edit- appears it did not have the eyecup on.  what I thought was the smaller one was part of the camera.  getting the eye cup to stay on seems like a challenge.

Edited October 16, 2019 by clintinga

[Thad E Ginathom]

18 hours ago, clintinga said:

  getting the eye cup to stay on seems like a challenge.

a6000-type: top of eyepiece fits on a ridge, bottom snaps in place. Occasionally the eyepiece would come off in my bag.

a6500-type: eyepiece slides down and is held securely.

I don't know which type the a6300 has?

[Pieter]

Only the a6400, a6500 and a6600 seem to have the sliding type eyecup (FDA-EP17). The a6000, a6100 and a6300 have the click-on type (FDA-EP10). Don't understand why the new a6100 uses the older eyecup: the EP10 used to occasionally come off on my a6000 too. Hasn't happened with the EP17 on my a6500.

Sony does tend to make odd design choices though: why don't all newer cameras (namely a6100 and a6400) have the beefier and more comfortable grip plus extra custom button that came with the a6500? Why is the beefy grip reserved for the IBIS-bodies (a6500 and a6600)?

Edited October 17, 2019 by Pieter

[Thad E Ginathom]

5 hours ago, Pieter said:

Only the a6400, a6500 and a6600 seem to have the sliding type eyecup (FDA-EP17). ... ... ...

Sony must regard it as a premium feature. Which, in a way, is true: it doesn't fall off!

[Pieter]

41 minutes ago, Thad E Ginathom said:

Sony must regard it as a premium feature.

Lol yea, that's honestly the only reason I can think of... It's not like the sliding eyecup is more expensive to make. Actually I guess it would be a lot cheaper for Sony to let the a6100 and a6400 to have the same eyecup. As far as I know it's the only physicial difference between the two cameras. Oh and the a6100 doesn't have the AF/MF / AEL switch.

[Thad E Ginathom]

On 10/17/2019 at 11:36 PM, Pieter said:

Lol yea, that's honestly the only reason I can think of... It's not like the sliding eyecup is more expensive to make. Actually I guess it would be a lot cheaper for Sony to let the a6100 and a6400 to have the same eyecup. As far as I know it's the only physicial difference between the two cameras. Oh and the a6100 doesn't have the AF/MF / AEL switch.

Does the 6100 have a plastic body like the 6000? Does the 6400 have a metal body like the 6500 (and 6300?)

[Pieter]

The a6100 has a metal/plastic body without weather sealing, unlike the 6300 and up which have a magnesium body and (some degree of) weather sealing. At least the a6100 has metal mount flanges to tightly hold the lens instead of the flimsy plastic flanges on the a6000...