5d mark 3 viewfinder light leak question

Hi

i did test the wonderful 5d mark3 for 5 days

i guess it's the second generation , because it has not the lcd light leak issue

but i found a weird behavior

i took several shots in lightday , morning & afternoon , italy , landscape , blue sky , beautiful light

i had a 5d mark 3 (a friend's camera) and a 5d mark 2 (mine) ,i used a 17-40 F4L

well i did notice a weird exposure meter behavior

i used a tripod ,eye on the viewfinder and manual mode

as soon i did send away my eye from the viewfinder the exposure meter did start to give me a different meter

it did start to give a different light read moving my head around the viewfinder

i mounted on the tripod my 5d mark2 with same lens , and it was perfect
no light meter shift

i was used to put my thumb on the viewfinder to avoid light inside the viewfinder in some situation


does someone notice the same odd behavior of the exposure meter of the 5d mark3 ?

i'm talking about a normal situation with a sunny day

thanks a lot

cheers
sorry for my poor english

I believe that is "normal". Light goes through one end and out the other. And the metering sensor sits somewhere in between this path.

jwcdds wrote in post #14576753
I believe that is "normal". Light goes through one end and out the other. And the metering sensor sits somewhere in between this path.

thanks
but the 5d mark2 doesn't have this behavior
the 5d mark 2 exposure meter did not change
and i took some shots in normal condition , there is not bright light on the viewfinder

5D2 also doesn't have the new transmissive LCD viewfinder. Perhaps somethings had to be changed/tweaked to make it all happen. I don't think it's that big of a deal. It's unlikely the exposure is thrown off by all that much.

jwcdds wrote in post #14576858
5D2 also doesn't have the new transmissive LCD viewfinder. Perhaps somethings had to be changed/tweaked to make it all happen. I don't think it's that big of a deal. It's unlikely the exposure is thrown off by all that much.

thanks
the 5d mark3 should have the same 7d lcd transmissive
i will test it with 7d lcd

for me it's very tiresome , because meter different zone of the frame and i use a remote shutter , and i take several exposures !

did you notice the same behavior with the 7d ?

thanks

I haven't really paid attention to it, but then again, I rarely shoot with remote shutter.

If you're shooting remotely, can't you just put the VF cover on after you've gotten all your settings down? Or if you're relying on the camera's built-in meter... perhaps shoot in manual?

The light leak from the VF won't get past the mirror once it's up. It just might screw with your exposure if you're using anything other than M.

On page 86 of the 5D MKII manual it states you need to use an eyepiece cover as stray light will throw off the exposure.

It's normal for any SLR to have that effect.

in short i'm the only one that found the viewfinder too much sensitive to the light compared to the other cameras

mantra wrote in post #14582104
in short i'm the only one that found the viewfinder too much sensitive to the light compared to the other cameras

So far, sounds like you might be in the minority. But that might be simply the way you shoot and most people don't shoot the way you shoot. Your conditions put you in situations that allow the VF to alter your exposure metering more. Seems like while it rarely(never) affected you with the 5D2, it does now with the 5D3.

It's a common issue. That is why Canon DSLRs come with an eyepiece cover.