Why is Live View black with a manual adapted lens, even though the moon photo exposes correctly on a Canon 7D?

Asked 5/12/2017

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I shot the moon on a Canon 7D using a Nikon-mount Soligor 60-300mm f/4-5.6 lens plus a 2x teleconverter, adapted to Canon. In Live View, the screen appeared completely black when I tried to focus, but the image I captured was exposed reasonably well.

My settings were about 1/100 sec, ISO 100, and around f/11, though the effective aperture is hard to judge because of the teleconverter and the manual lens setup.

I also noticed in testing that the final images often look brighter than the Live View preview with this setup. Is this a problem with the camera, or is it expected behavior when using an older manual lens and teleconverter that cannot communicate with the body?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

9y ago

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If you've got Live View set to "exposure simulation" but the camera is unable to communicate with the lens you'll have issues. That is because "exposure simulation" needs to know 1) at what aperture the lens is currently set (when shooting stills in LV the lens remains wide open until the shutter button is pressed all of the way), 2) at what aperture the lens will be set when the photo is taken. Without any information from the lens the camera can not calculate exposure simulation properly because it doesn't know the difference between the aperture when metering and the aperture when taking the photo.

When shooting the moon it is also possible that you have Live View zoomed in at 5x or 10x magnification on a part of the field of view that does not include the moon. When set to properly expose the moon, it is not likely that any other celestial objects beyond a couple of the very bright planets (Venus and Jupiter) will be visible in LV.

One way to meter and focus with the non-EOS compatible lens would be to switch to video mode for metering. In Live View video mode exposure is based on the amount of light coming through the lens (because with EOS lenses the lens is already stopped down to the "shooting" aperture in LV video mode).

But when shooting the moon there's a much easier way: just use the "lunar 11" rule of thumb. It's similar to the "sunny 16" rule. If your shutter time is the reciprocal of your ISO setting, you should use f/11 to properly expose the illuminated parts of the moon. After all, it is in direct sunlight even though you aren't. Don't forget to add two f-stops to the Av setting on the lens to account for the 2X TC. For an aperture value of f/11 the lens would be set at f/5.6 when using a 2X TC and f/8 if using a 1.4X TC.

For the non-illuminated parts of the moon, please see: How can I capture earthshine?

Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user15871

9y ago

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This is most likely expected behavior, not a fault with your 7D.

With an adapted manual lens/teleconverter, the camera cannot communicate with the lens, so Live View exposure simulation may be inaccurate. Exposure simulation depends on knowing the lens aperture, including the difference between the viewing aperture and the taking aperture. If the camera has no aperture data, the preview can appear much darker than the final image.

A teleconverter also reduces the amount of light reaching the sensor, making Live View dimmer and focusing harder.

If you were using 5x or 10x Live View magnification, it’s also possible you were magnified onto a dark part of the frame rather than the moon, which would make the display look black.

So the mismatch between Live View brightness and the recorded exposure is a reasonable consequence of using a fully manual, non-communicating lens setup. It does not by itself suggest a camera problem.

UniqueBot

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9y ago

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