Bringing up the light meter in manual mode???

Hi,
In Manual exposure mode, to bring up the light meter I gently touch the shutter release. However the light meter only stays up for a short while (approx 10 sec).
Does anybody know if it is possible to extend this time or better yet have it so the light meter is always up.
Hope my question makes sense.
Thanks for your time.
Cheers Allan.

uuuuh no...

Which camera are you using?

It seems to be a feature of all canon ESO cameras (I teach photography so am dealing with a whole range of DSLRs)

What you call the "light meter" is on Canon EOS DSLR cameras the "exposure indicator". On my 5D3 there is a menu setting "metering timer" where you are supposed to be able to set the display time of this exposure indicator also when you press AE lock for periods of 4 sec to 30 minutes.
However..... When I change the setting to let's say 30 seconds it pops off still after 4 seconds... So I am not sure if this is adjustable or not.

As I am normally content with the 4 seconds anyway I only looked this up and tried it out because of the question.

May be there are others than can explain this function on the 5D3. I looked into the menu on my 50D but there is no setting available there.

vk2gwk wrote in post #16694347
What you call the "light meter" is on Canon EOS DSLR cameras the "exposure indicator". On my 5D3 there is a menu setting "metering timer" where you are supposed to be able to set the display time of this exposure indicator also when you press AE lock for periods of 4 sec to 30 minutes.
However..... When I change the setting to let's say 30 seconds it pops off still after 4 seconds... So I am not sure if this is adjustable or not.

As I am normally content with the 4 seconds anyway I only looked this up and tried it out because of the question.

May be there are others than can explain this function on the 5D3. I looked into the menu on my 50D but there is no setting available there.

As I understand it, this setting is to control the length of time that the camera holds the exposure lock after you press AE Lock, and has nothing to do with the display.

The metering timer setting relates to how long the exposure indicator remains active in live view. It can be changed on the 50D in the live view function settings.

From the previous posts I gather that "metering timer" is a Live View related parameter. As I hardly ever use live view it is of no use.
I - same as the OP - would like to lengthen the time the exposure indicator is active in the viewfinder/rear/top display -let's say up to 16 sec.

The length of time that the meter is active is controlled by "Metering Timer" and is only available in Live View operation.

dodgyexposure wrote in post #16694696
As I understand it, this setting is to control the length of time that the camera holds the exposure lock after you press AE Lock, and has nothing to do with the display.

yes^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

So far, it's only cameras like the 1DX which has a setting to adjust three different timeouts in the camera. The 1DX allows you to adjust these timers all the way up to one hour.

Thanks everyone for your time. Maybe a letter to Canon is needed to suggest a change.
Cheers Allan

For some reason, this setting has been exclusive to the 1D-series over the years.

apersson850 wrote in post #16706900
For some reason, this setting has been exclusive to the 1D-series over the years.

Yet another example of Canon's marketing guys differentiating the 1D bodies from the 'lesser' nD (5D, 6D, 7D) bodies and justifying the higher price of the 1D.