Real-time Image Adjustment Display. On/Off

[bodley]

This title appears in the viewfinder spec. for the 7R II.

In Amateur Photographer 16 Jan 2016 an article about the 7R II had:

...Being able to watch to watch your exposure in tricky lighting conditions, and getting to see the image that will be delivered when you press the shutter are such great benefits that I really became attached to this camera for portrait and detailed pitlane work....

Is this what I have in my 2005 Sony DSC-R1; then called Full-time Live Preview? This feature seems to have disappeared from manufacturers' specs and off the radar of camera reviewers nowadays. Does anyone know of anywhere I can read about this feature? If it is what I hope it is, is it unique to the 7R II?

[Guest all8]

Yes, the Manual, No (at least all A7 series have it).

[bodley]

The specs for the Alpha 7R II and the Alpha 7S II both have 'Real-time Image Adjustment Display. On/Off'. (Not mentioned for the Alpha 7 II).

This sounds like what I am looking for but how to find out for certain before I shell out £3000+ for body and lens. Unfortunately neither of my local dealers stock either of these cameras.

Is there anyone out there with either of these cameras that I could discuss this feature with?

 

[bodley]

230 views to date!

Would it be possible for this thread's moderator to refer this to Sony Japan ?

There is no reference that I can find in the on-line Help or the PDF manual at https://docs.sony.com/release/ILCE7S.pdf .

If 'Real-time Image Adjustment Display' On is what I hope it is and is the default it must be really startling for those accustomed to just seeing what the mirror sees (DSLR) or what the sensor sees ( EVF) !

I have used Real-time Live Preview (continuously what the processor is outputting)  on my venerable R1 since 2006. I have an A77 but I feel blind - so reliant on what some programmer thinks the scene should look like - endless checking with the preview button. No wonder members of the camera club with DSLRs take hundreds of photos on a session in the hope that some will be worthwhile.

Of course there are limitations: no good for action photography - hence 'Real-time Image Adjustment Display' Off ?

 

SONY: I found Friedman's books on the A77 helpful. The A7R book has 'Live Preview Display' on p317 but does not show p318 on the website. But I would rather find out about 'Real-time Image Adjustment Display' first.

[Guest]

You can find more info on Sony´s online help

 

http://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/1520/v1/en/contents/TP0000808632.html

[Golem]

My base-model a7-II has that. I don't recall the exact name, cuz I 

engaged it, assigned to the C3 button, and so never had to think

about its name after that. 

  

I am NOT referring here to "live-view/effect-preview" which mainly 

shows your exposure changes as changes in viewing brightness,

instead of a constant viewing brightness. The feature I assigned to 

C3 previews everything: When I press C3 the iris stops down as a 

preview of DoF, and the contrast and saturation determined by the 

user-chosen "creative style" will govern the viewing image as well. 

Plus acoarst the exposure settings will govern viewing brightness, 

and will do so even if the "live-view/effect-preview" is NOT enabled.  

   

To repeat, the feature I assigned to C3 previews everything. You 

could get the same sort of preview by just making a test shot and 

viewing the playback. It's that comprehensive as a preview. So I'd 

say another way to describe its function is that when I press C3 the 

camera really DOES take a test shot, but it doesn't record it to the 

SD card and instead just displays it as the current viewing image. 

   

Again, I don't recall what this feature is named by Sony and it really 

doesn't matter here. I'm sure I have described the type of thorough 

and comprehensive preview that your old camera offered [maybe 

even beyond what your old camera offered], and I can assure you

it's part of the basic a7-II .... no "S" or "R" version required for that.  

I don't own and have never used the "R" or "S" version of the a7-II.   

   

The preview I get pressing C3 is momentary. IIRC there is no way 

to maintain the preview function continuously [unless you're willing 

to continuously hold down C3]. This may be a difference compared 

to your old camera. You didn't specify whether it was a momentary 

activation or an enable/disable toggle on your old camera. You did 

say it was called "fulltime ... " which implies a toggle. The a7-II does 

not toggle this, AFAIK. 

[bodley]

Thank you Golem,

However 'Real-time Image Adjustment Display. On/Off' only appears in the specs for the A7 R and S.

My R1 really has metering sorted:

Switch it on. Set spot metering in the menu if not already done. Set any of PASM.

Look through the viewfinder (with its big soft eyecup if it is sunny). The spot metering square is fixed in the centre of the screen unfortunately.

Pan the camera to put the spot over a too dark area of the scene. Watch the screen brighten so as to correctly expose that part of the scene. This may cause other parts of the scene to be overexposed (clearly indicated by zebra patterns).

Pan the camera to put the spot over a too bright or an overexposed area of the scene. Watch the screen darken so as to correctly expose that part.

If necessary then move the spot about the scene so as to optimize the overall exposure if necessary changing the stop or shutter speed or ISO, lock the exposure, reframe the scene, set the focus (the focusing spot can be moved about with my thumb) and hold it with half-click, then click to take the photo. Of course all the settings such as White Balance, lens filters, etc, view correctly.

Ok so the exposure latitude of the 2005 APS-C sensor is limited but this mode would certainly help with my A77 without the necessity of checking previews.

If I can't get the overall exposure to my liking then it is easy to put the R1 on my tripod and take three HDR's.

Of course this Full-time Live Preview can only be a mode on modern cameras - far too slow for serious action photos.

 

I am not into electronics but I would guess that this mode might be difficult to implement - it might need a dedicated camera. What I think the R1 does is split the output from the continuously running processor in two. One path is always connected to the viewfinder, the other goes via the button to the memory card. Obviously far more complicated than this. Maybe someone in Sony Japan would remember.

I could go on about the r1's extraordinary autofocus...

[Guest all8]

Perhaps you should stick with your R1. You won't believe what the A7rII can do ... its a different World.

 

Anyway the setting you want is listed here : http://jorgetorralba.com/2015/10/31/some-helpful-tips-for-your-sony-a7rii/

[bodley]

You are right.

I am sure the A7 II R and S are in a different world but I only need a fraction of it.

I will stick with my R1 for now. Its photos get into into my regional photo association's competitions.

One thing it has over the A77 is the autofocus. Recently on a very rainy day there were raindrops on the window and outside a bedraggled squirrel on the bird table.

On the tripod in the kitchen I put the focus spot close to the squirrel's eye; half-click and perfect focus on a raindrop about 2 feet away.  I moved the focus spot a fraction onto the squirrel's eye; half-click and perfect focus through the window on the eye about 6 feet away.

This was before I had bought the A77. I don't think the A77's phase-detection would have been able to differentiate between the close-up wet window and the distant eye.

I read somewhere that the R1 used a laser rangefinder; unlikely, but along with its totally different circuitry maybe that was why the R1 was discontinued so soon - a non-starter for portraiture!

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[bodley]

My photo has stopped this thread dead in its tracks!

It would be great if someone from Sony Japan who remembered the Full-time Live Preview in the R1 thought there might be business in re-introducing it. Maybe some time in the distant future when mirrored cameras are extinct and lenses can be made without that huge gap between the final element and the sensor (the R1 has just 1.5mm and the lens needs no internal correction; or maybe that would cut into the profit margin...).