Photoclubalpha

I have posted this elsewhere.

Just noticed yesterday after taking some photos using the ovf and not the liveview that they were constantly over exposed but 2 full stops

Back at the hotel I setup a test and took a series of shots using ovf and liveview and they confirmed my initial finding

So the question, could it be the flipping mirror mechanism that is not seating correctly when switching to ovf ?

Is this camera worth the $300+ sony repair fee ?

At first glance I’d be inclined to think that some kind of debris has fallen on the exposure meter sensor and masked a part of it off. Only thing is I’m not familiar with the location of it in the A580, they were in the floor of the mirror box in earlier DSLR’s but that particular one I’m not sure about. Anyway it might not hurt to engage the ‘sensor clean’ mode and see if a good old brush and blow around the bottom of the mirror box does any good but you’ll have to try to not blow anything onto the sensor while you do that, and I’m stumped on how to accomplish that exactly, you need a puffer with a return angle nozzle, which doesn’t exist as far as I know.
Maybe if you got a puffer brush and taped the bristles over into a right angle fashion with some scotch tape that might work ok.
Greg

The exposure module in the A580 is located in the prism housing and not part of the AF module as far as I'm aware. It is very normal for live view and direct metering to show different results, I've just been testing the Canon 70D and despite its very advanced metering, it gives different exposures from identical scenes when switching from OVF to LV. But not by two stops.

David

I'd do a similar test but since BST came to an end, I don't get home till after dark.
I'll give it a go when light permits.

Mike

I've noticed almost the same thing on my A580. I thought (not absolutely sure) there may be a light leak through the viewfinder when using liveview that causes underexposure?? The other thing I noticed is that the actual focus point is different when using OVF and LV ...., not much, but noticeable.

Deward wrote:I've noticed almost the same thing on my A580. I thought (not absolutely sure) there may be a light leak through the viewfinder when using liveview that causes underexposure?? The other thing I noticed is that the actual focus point is different when using OVF and LV ...., not much, but noticeable.

Are you using the viewfinder cap when using Live View? Not sure, but I think the book for the a350 told me to use it in LV.

Dusty

No Dusty, I don't use the viewfinder cap and that, I suspect, is the problem. More experimentation needed.

This is the case with all the Canon, Nikon, Pentax bodies I've used. Metering off the sensor is indeed different to the normal metering, but I would not expect a huge difference in exposure (the other makers I've used tended to "give more" exposure with the live view)

Just did an internal comparison same target and light intensity at ISO6400 on my A580.

OVF F7.1 1/250
Rear Screen F7.1 1/200

So there is clearly a difference in exposure reading between the two settings.

Haven't gotten around to doing this test with and without the eyepiece cover in place. This may be the difference.

Did another A580 test indoor at F7.1 and ISO400 this time
OVF 1/10 second
Rear Screen 1/8
Rear Screen holding finger over OVF 1/8
So no difference recorded, but Rear Screen still slower by the same time i.e. 20%

There should be no difference between rear screen and rear screen + eye piece cover, as the viewfinder has an eyepiece blind. The difference must be down to the metering source.

Great map Thank you for sharing it. Just curious, would there have been boat access between Winnipesaukee and Winnisquam in 1881? I had never seen Winnisquam refered to as Great Bay before.