40D Owners - Is this normal?

Hi, the picture you see is directly through the lens. It's not so clear, but they're talking about the electronic display in the viewfinder which shows aperture / shutter speed / ISO and more.

arkphotos wrote in post #5751226
I am still new - but can you explain further? I thought what you saw in the viewfinder of an slr is just a reflected image that comes through the lens. I was under the impression that the only think affecting this brightness you see here would be the aperture of the lens.

I understand the Live view has the option of simulating exposure - so when you are looking at the lcd you might get an odd sort of brightening & diming.

It seems I have lots to learn still!

goatee wrote in post #5751245
Hi, the picture you see is directly through the lens. It's not so clear, but they're talking about the electronic display in the viewfinder which shows aperture / shutter speed / ISO and more.

Yeah, I agree the picture through the actual viewfinder shouldn't change as it's not electonic, just the bits you mentioned here.

It's not the depth of field preview is it ?, There's a little button on the lens usually, when you hold it down the image goes dark, because it changes the aperture (normally when you view a scene, it gives you the maximum aperture of a lens, until you press the shutter). Might be interesting to push that a few times and see if that's similar to your issue.

Stinger wrote in post #5751323
Yeah, I agree the picture through the actual viewfinder shouldn't change as it's not electonic, just the bits you mentioned here.

It's not the depth of field preview is it ?, There's a little button on the lens usually, when you hold it down the image goes dark, because it changes the aperture (normally when you view a scene, it gives you the maximum aperture of a lens, until you press the shutter). Might be interesting to push that a few times and see if that's similar to your issue.

It’s on the body actually, lower left side, close to the lens mount..

Also, is the DOF preview electronic? It feels kinda mechanical to me, either way, I guess that could be the problem, though if you change the aperture so the lens is wide open, it would confirm whether or not that was the case.

DOF preview is by stopping down the aperture to the currently selected value. That's not the issue here. If that button gets stuck, then nothing else works either.

apersson850 wrote in post #5751414
DOF preview is by stopping down the aperture to the currently selected value. That's not the issue here. If that button gets stuck, then nothing else works either.

I didn't see this specifically when I did what you suggested but I did see the display dim under various lighting conditions so I think that might be the case and this is normal. I will be doing a lot of shooting this weekend and get a better feel.

Thanks to everyone that helped out with this.