Monitor Showing Live View is Too Dark

[brightnight]

As I understand it, my kraken monitor diplays the picture as my Canon 5dmIV sees it in live view. However, the camera is set to full manual and isn't accounting for light from the strobes so everything the camera sees is very dark and therfore everything on the monitor appears very dark. Since everything appears dark on the monitor even though the brightness of the monitor is is set high enough, framing images is impossible because I can't see anything.

 

How can I keep the camera settings the same while have the monitor compensate or what are my options? Is this where selecting a lux table in the monitor would be helpful or some type of exposure compensation?

 

 

 

 

 

[Davide DB]

I see that no one is responding, so I'll try to put my two cents in.

 

I don't think it depends on the monitor which in theory should replicate what happens on the display (I write in theory because I read that Sony is quite complicated on the subject) but I think it is a “simple” camera setting.

In my Panasonic GH5 there is a setting called “Constant preview” that changes the way the camera display behaves with respect to the exposure/shooting settings. This setting has impact especially when the camera is set to manual.

 

Constant preview ON = you see the real exposure on the display
Constant preview OFF = you display will have a good exposure/perfect image regardless of your exposure settings.

Now, I guess that you have just to find where is this settings on your camera.

 

One image is better than a thousand words:

 

 

[JS1221]

Olympus has the same feature, it's called Live View Boost. When it's turned on you get a bright display, regardless of what the camera setting are. I looked through the menu of my Canon T5i but I did not see anything similar, but it is an older camera. 

[Isaac Szabo]

In the live view shooting settings, try setting exposure simulation to disable.

 

 

[brightnight]

Exposure simulation was it! Thank you, was out today and made a massive difference now that I can actually frame a shot 🙂

[brightnight]

Two additonal questions have come up while using my monitor and curious if anyone has suggestions.

 

1) Now that the image on the monitor looks so good (which is ideal for framing images), I often find myself thinking it would be nice to change the camera settings in photo mode so that the image is exposed to what the monitor is displaying because the monitor looks so nice. I assume there's no way to output the adjustments my Kraken 7" ultrabirght monitor is making from the camera to make the image look so nice so I can set the camera to be the same. My workaround is to test fire a shot and look at the picture, then adjust as needed but wondering if there is a better way so I don't have to waste battery life firing off shots. I know I want my cake and eat it too but someone here might have a trick up their sleeve.

 

2) My monitor often goes gray and says lost signal from the camera. Sometimes it seems to go through phases where it happens often but mostly it seems to cut out for a few seconds once a minute or so like the signal strength from the camera dropped out and then comes back. Thinking it could be too long of a flat ribbon cable in the housing (it's the one that came with the monitor), maybe the flat cable was creased and that's interferring with the signal, or maybe the HDMI cable is stretched and thats causing interferance between conductors inside, anyone else seen anythng like this or have a suggestion on what to do?

[Isaac Szabo]

As a point of clarification, it is the camera that is making the auto adjustments to the liveview image. The monitor just displays the signal that the camera sends it.

 

I don't think there's any way to output the auto liveview settings to your shooting settings, other than maybe setting the camera to a fully automatic mode. Short of that, you could temporarily turn exposure simulation back on which might help you dial in your settings more quickly than reviewing test shots. You can likely assign it to a custom button or menu so that you can quickly turn it on or off.

 

As for your second question, my guess is that an HDMI cable or connector could be slightly loose or damaged. If you use a monitor long enough, it tends to happen eventually. While it could be any part of the HDMI pipeline, the ribbon cable and connectors are the most fragile. I have learned from experience to travel with spares for those. It might be a good idea to ask Kraken if they have seen this issue and know what might be causing it.