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A7S - Live View Display Problem


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I purchased my A7S recently, and I think I have a problem with the LiveView Display when camera is in still mode.

My LiveView Display setting is set to ON. 

 

[table]

Setting

LiveView Display

Actual Photo

 

S 1/5, F22, ISO1000

1000-LV.JPG

1000.JPG

 

LiveView works up to 16000 ISO

S 1/5, F22, ISO16000

16000-LV.JPG

16000.JPG

 

On higher ISO values LiveView doesn't seem to work

S 1/5, F22, ISO409600

409600-LV.JPG

409600.JPG

 

On movie mode, the display and footage match

S 1/5, F22, ISO409600

movie-monitor.png

movie-photo.png

 

[/table]

 

Is this the normal behavior of LiveView, or did I messed with the camera settings?

I tried to reinitialize the camera and reset the settings, but nothing changed.

I remember it was working before.

 

My firmware version is 2.00

 

 

 

 

 

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After trying this (from Sony support) "I will recommend you to power cycle the camera to reset the circuitry of the whole unit. To power cycle, please remove the battery of the camera and turn the power switch to on. After that, please press the shutter button for 1 minute. After power cycle, turn the power switch to off then reinsert the battery then try to test again the camera." nothing changed, so I did some more tests and discovered these behavior:

 

At 30" shutter speed, Live View Display doesn't brighten up after setting ISO higher than 80.

At 10" shutter speed, Live View Display doesn't brighten up after setting ISO higher than 250.

At 1" shutter speed, Live View Display doesn't brighten up after setting ISO higher than 2500.

At 1/3 shutter speed, Live View Display doesn't brighten up after setting ISO higher than 8000.

At 1/5 shutter speed, Live View Display doesn't brighten up after setting ISO higher than 12800.

At 1/30 shutter speed, Live View Display doesn't brighten up after setting ISO higher than 80000.

At 1/60 shutter speed, Live View Display doesn't brighten up after setting ISO higher than 160000.

At 1/80 shutter speed, Live View Display doesn't brighten up after setting ISO higher than 204800.

At 1/100 shutter speed, Live View Display doesn't brighten up after setting ISO higher than 256000.

At 1/125 shutter speed, Live View Display doesn't brighten up after setting ISO higher than 320000.

 

But, At 1/8000 shutter speed, I can go all the way down to 50 ISO and see the exposure lowering on Live View Display.

 

The shutter speed value and ISO value distance is limited to 17 stops upwards. (This affects only the display, the photos are correctly exposed. (eg. 10" SS & 320000 ISO exposes correctly))

 

Can anyone with a A7S confirm the same (or different) behavior? I wonder if mine needs service.

 

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There is a native ISO range, perhaps 100 - 25600 on the A7s(?) where the Live View seems to work as expected, and beyond that it does not. I would guess that because beyond that native range the ISO is applied to the Raw/JPeg file (after the shot is taken). That is what I noticed on my A7 from ISO 100 to 6400 it was accurate, after that the shots were exposed as expected but the Live View remained at the 6400 exposure.

 

 

I think the real problem is with using F22 .... but anyway, the online "help" say it normal.

 

 

http://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/1420/v1/en/contents/TP0000226630.html

 

 

Again, F22 ... what does that mean? I suggest figuring that one out first   :blink:

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My bad, on first post I took all pictures on F22, then quickly shot new ones with F5.0 before posting. Apparently I forgot to correct the values in settings column.

Anyway, the aperture has no effect on the results on post #1 and #2. May it be F2 or F22, I tried them all with different lenses (SEL28F20 & SEL30M35), the results are always the same.

 

I have the camera now for 3 weeks, and the first thing I checked was shooting in extreme low light to test the performance and I remember that I was seeing a bright screen with very slow shutter speed and very high ISO. 

Now, in a near dark environment with very low light, with LiveView setting "ON", I set shutter speed to 1" and ISO to 409600, the monitor display is totally dark, but the photo I take is overexposed.

 

On saturday I'll test this issue with new A7S in a Sony shop. 

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I took my A7S to a Sony service center today. We tested the situation with  A7S, A7R and A7R2 cameras. 

We found a dark place. When shutter speed set to 1", none of the cameras could show a brighter image over 2500 ISO on the monitor (Live View Display="ON").

Seems they put a limitation inside common firmware code (maybe to prevent long time overexposure of the sensor, but why do they allow it in movie mode then?)

Anyway, I'm happy that my camera doesn't need any service.

The tech guy said that this is strange, and he's going to fill a (bug?) report and let Sony know about the issue.

 

I'm going to use the camera in very dark environments (caves, no flash, only warm carbide light), and actually it would be nice to see Live View working in those environments.

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  • 6 months later...

Did you ever find out why your A7s wouldn't show ISO changes above a certain ISO?  I just bought mine a week ago and was heading out to do star images tonight when I ran into the exact same issue!  All ISO changes in movie mode reflect on the screen from ISO 64 to 409000.  If it works in movie mode then it should work in still mode.  I'd love to hear if you've found the solution.  Cheers!

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  • 6 years later...

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