A390 - eyepiece sensors not working?

[Ally-07]

Hello all,
Is anyone familiar with the A390? I recently acquired one, and am wondering if the eyepiece sensors are working... When I set the 'live-view/OVF' switch to 'Live View', and then look into the OVF, I expected the camera to switch Live View off, and allow me to see the scene through the OVF instead. This is not happening; I have to manually switch to OVF every time I want to look through the OVF. Does this mean that the eyepiece sensors are not working - or am I missing something? I've read the relevant section of the Sony A390 Instruction Manual, but I'm still unsure.

Many thanks...

Edited November 17, 2020 by Ally-07

[Olaf W.]

Welcome! Check for dirt or dust on the sensor of the eyepiece.

[Ally-07]

2 hours ago, Olaf W. said:

Welcome! Check for dirt or dust on the sensor of the eyepiece.

Thank you for the suggestion, Olaf. The eyepiece sensors seem 100% clean and I also tried using a brand new fully charged battery, but there is no change.

[Olaf W.]

Is the eyecup poperly suited? I don‘t know if it‘s detachable with this model, but sonetimes this fault results from an eyecup covering just some millimeters of the sensor.

[Ally-07]

1 hour ago, Olaf W. said:

Is the eyecup poperly suited? I don‘t know if it‘s detachable with this model, but sonetimes this fault results from an eyecup covering just some millimeters of the sensor.

The eyecup does slide off. However, removing it made no difference to the situation, but thanks for the suggestion..

Edited November 17, 2020 by Ally-07

[Ally-07]

I just discovered that the eyepiece sensor is working, in a sense - but not in the way I expected and would have liked. All it does is this: If you have the switch set to OVF, the data display on the screen does go black when you put your eye up to the eyepiece. But that's the only thing the eyepiece sensor seems to do. I would have expected that when the switch is set to Live View, it would switch off live view when you put your eye up to the eyepiece, and switch over to OVF mode, but it doesn't. Is that normal on this camera, or does it indicate a fault?

Edited November 26, 2020 by Ally-07