Use of "blinkies" when chimping (Page 2): I too have had bilateral cataract surgery. I have tried using my progressive lenses while using the camera but I find that I have to spend too...

bajadreamer Loc: Baja California Sur

Bison Bud wrote:

Personally, I had cataract surgery a few years bac... (show quote)

I too have had bilateral cataract surgery. I have tried using my progressive lenses while using the camera but I find that I have to spend too much time cleaning my glasses after pushing them up against the rubber eyecup on the viewfinder. Hence, the desire to shoot without glasses. I see the birds in the distance well, but as you mention, I am old so it is the up close stuff that is the problem. I am afraid that there may be no simple solution for my dilemma.

bajadreamer Loc: Baja California Sur

repleo wrote:

Going mirrorless would solve your problem. You would see the blinkies (or zebra bars on a Sony) and the histogram in your diopter adjusted viewfinder without having to put your glasses on to chimp. For me, that is the most important advantage of mirrorless.

Other than a financial bath, I agree with you that would solve my problem. May be a necessity in the future though.

bajadreamer Loc: Baja California Sur

TriX wrote:

Have you downloaded and installed Magic Lantern? You can have “blinkies”, but you can also have a raw histogram, which is much more accurate than the usual JPEG-based (and limited) histogram.
https://magiclantern.fm/

I will look at that. I do use the 5D4 the most so maybe Magic Lantern will not work but I will check.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Ideally, you should learn your camera's capabilities and forget about chimping. With my setup, my screen is almost completely covered with blinkies. So, I rarely chimp. In fact, it's rather annoying and takes my concentration away from the subject I'm photographing. Yet, I never overexpose, even with pushing the exposure a couple to three stops higher.

This came from learning my equipment's capabilities and using spot metering exclusively and selectively.
--Bob

bajadreamer wrote:

I have several Canon cameras; a 5D4, a 7D2, and a ... (show quote)

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

alabau wrote:

I could be wrong, but the last time I checked Magic lantern does not support Canon 5D Mark IV.

You are correct. The 5D3 is fully supported, but “porting started” for the 5D4 and 7D2. Hopefully soon, because it’s very useful (and free).

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

Good suggestions on using histograms to confirm your exposure, but beware, histograms can lie and sometimes not reveal over exposed portions of your images that are can be too small for the histogram to reveal. A few blinkys, the ones you are having trouble seeing on your LCD can be ok at times, especially if your are shooting in RAW (one of the reasons for shooting in RAW). In many instances you can control those highlights in post processing and recover the detail. If you grossly overexpose, which will show a lot of blinkys on your camera, its unlikely you can recover those highlights in post.

Kuzano

Bison Bud wrote:

Personally, I had cataract surgery a few years bac... (show quote)

I also use bifocal reading glasses with no correction in the top. A number of eBay sellers sell reading glasses in various magnifications on the lower side and are around $5-10.

Fotoserj Loc: St calixte Qc Ca

I, personally used a hoodloop to check my back screen for sharpness and by the same token check my histogram as it provide some magnification making it easier to view the too small part

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

bajadreamer wrote:

I have several Canon cameras; a 5D4, a 7D2, and a ... (show quote)

No idea. I leave the blinkies on on my Pentaxs but I never considered whats shown when zoomed on the LCD screen. ???

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

bajadreamer wrote:

I also use the histogram, but have the same problem. If the white bird takes up only small percentage of the total photo, the number of activated pixels that reach the right side of the histogram is small, hence hard to see without my reading glasses. Putting the glasses on and taking them off over and over is a pain.

One solution is to buy a cheap (dollar store) pair of reading glasses, and take out the lens for the right eye. You can now use the right eye for distance (including the viewfinder), while the other eye will be used for examining detail on the camera screen display. You now won't need to remove the glasses anymore, you simply keep them on for seeing both near and far.

tomad Loc: North Carolina

Try a different color. Different people see some colors easier or better than other colors.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

You don't have to worry about "small blinkies" if you shoot raw. You can recover them.

bajadreamer Loc: Baja California Sur

rook2c4 wrote:

One solution is to buy a cheap (dollar store) pair of reading glasses, and take out the lens for the right eye. You can now use the right eye for distance (including the viewfinder), while the other eye will be used for examining detail on the camera screen display. You now won't need to remove the glasses anymore, you simply keep them on for seeing both near and far.

That is a possible solution. My wife probably will not allow me out in public, but maybe if I stay in the blind.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

repleo wrote:

Going mirrorless would solve your problem. You would see the blinkies (or zebra bars on a Sony) and the histogram in your diopter adjusted viewfinder without having to put your glasses on to chimp. For me, that is the most important advantage of mirrorless.

AMEN.

It is important to note that if you work in raw mode, usually you can have some blinkies active and still have enough headroom in the raw image to recover highlights in post-production. The highlights are the most difficult things to retain in a JPEG made in full sunlight. But raw has as much as two stops of latitude to recover. (Your camera's capabilities may vary.)

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

burkphoto wrote:

AMEN.

It is important to note that if you work in raw mode, usually you can have some blinkies active and still have enough headroom in the raw image to recover highlights in post-production. The highlights are the most difficult things to retain in a JPEG made in full sunlight. But raw has as much as two stops of latitude to recover. (Your camera's capabilities may vary.)