A7RII: Why does the screen & EVF darken when recording video?

[tellure]

I'm coming from the A6000 so apologies if this is a known issue / feature of the A7 line.  Basically, when I start recording a video the screen (and EVF) darken considerably (about 3 stops or so?).  This makes it very hard to see what you're recording, especially in bright sunlight.

 

I did a quick comparison with the same lens (Sony Zeiss 24mm 1.8) & shutter / aperture / ISO settings on the A6000 and the screen doesn't darken at all when recording the same scene on that camera. I have my A7RII screen set to "Sunny Weather" and it's pretty bright when using live view but as soon as I press record it gets really dark.

 

I feel like I must be missing something obvious here..

[apasquini]

Don't have mine on me at the moment but do you have it set to movie mode or M? Noticed it does darken to show accurate exposure when you hit record when in M mode. As well as suddenly popping up your crop marks. Pretty annoying but plus side is you can shoot stills and also get better magnify whilst recording.

[ShadowPanda]

SNIP

 

 

Are you in manual movie mode? if not it will automatically set the aperture (normally to like f3.5) which can darken the image

 

 

I have not noticed this issue on my A7, so could be how your camera is set up

[tellure]

Yes, I'm in manual mode.  Wonder why this doesn't happen on the A6000 also when in manual.. hmm...

[Rickmotionpic]

It's a feature!

This is the same as the New RX10m2, to stop overheating the LCD and viewfinder dims in when recording in 4K, when you set the video to HD and it will stay bright!

[tellure]

Wow, you are right, I just tried recording a clip in HD and the screen didn't dim at all.  That is a terrible feature.  I'm going to email Sony about it.. maybe they can put in a way to turn it off in a firmware update.

 

Certainly avoiding overheating is a good idea, but if I know I'm recording short clips and won't be risking overheating, I shouldn't be forced to suffer extremely poor visibility when trying to frame my shot when recording in bright sunlight.  I was using the A7R2 at the beach and it was literally impossible to frame a shot correctly while recording because the screen was so dark.  This is compounded by the fact that when shooting in bright conditions I'm already going to be turning the exposure compensation down to avoid blowing out the highlights, darkening the image further.