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Michael Bailey

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Why does the viewfinder in my DSLR dim when I remove the battery?
« on: March 12, 2010, 01:40:30 pm »
Forgive me if this question has been asked before, but I've never seen it. When I take the battery out of my Nikon D-700, the viewfinder dims. Not to the point of opacity, but pretty close. The same thing used to happen with my D-300 and Fuji S-2. Why is that? I can't think of anything electrical that ought to affect the view through what I assume to be an entirely optical system.

I know it doesn't matter. I'm just curious.

MB
« Last Edit: March 12, 2010, 01:40:45 pm by Michael Bailey »
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Robert Roaldi

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Why does the viewfinder in my DSLR dim when I remove the battery?
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2010, 02:01:58 pm »
Just a guess, but maybe the at-rest state of the lens aperture is to close when no power is available. If you own an older lens with manual diaphragm that's not dependent on battery power, you could test with it.
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Gary Brown

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Why does the viewfinder in my DSLR dim when I remove the battery?
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2010, 02:28:20 pm »
Quote from: Michael Bailey
Forgive me if this question has been asked before, but I've never seen it. When I take the battery out of my Nikon D-700, the viewfinder dims. Not to the point of opacity, but pretty close. The same thing used to happen with my D-300 and Fuji S-2. Why is that? I can't think of anything electrical that ought to affect the view through what I assume to be an entirely optical system.
A lot of DSLRs have an LCD overlay in the viewfinder, to display focus points and whatnot, so perhaps it's related to that being powered down.
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Michael Bailey

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Why does the viewfinder in my DSLR dim when I remove the battery?
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2010, 02:47:09 pm »
Original poster here.

Robert, I tried your test and the dimming is not related to the lens. I still saw it when I had the camera on a bellows with an all-manual lens. No communication between lens and body possible.

Gary, I think you might be closer to the mark, because the dimming and re-lightening happens at the same time the groundglass markings (focus points, composition lines) appear and disappear.

I will add that this change occurs whether the power switch is on or off. Also, I noticed just now that when the viewfinder dims it also gets fuzzy. Not "this-is-so-dark-I-can't-focus-clearly" fuzzy, permanently fuzzy, as though a piece of dark diffusion glass were laid over the original.    MB
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Rob C

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Why does the viewfinder in my DSLR dim when I remove the battery?
« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2010, 04:53:14 am »
Never happened with my F, F2, F3 nor F4s... funny how things keep getting better.

Rob C
« Last Edit: March 13, 2010, 04:53:46 am by Rob C »
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fredjeang

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Why does the viewfinder in my DSLR dim when I remove the battery?
« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2010, 05:13:29 am »
Quote from: Rob C
Never happened with my F, F2, F3 nor F4s... funny how things keep getting better.

Rob C
Isn't it...
Never happened neither with my OMs, F3, FM2 and Contax, no one lens failure either.
Since digital age, 2 lenses back in fabric and 2 bodies from different brands, new, returned so far for failures...
I kept my old Pentax M primes and still work with them  
Yes, things keep getting better, no doubt...

Cheers,

Fred.
« Last Edit: March 13, 2010, 05:13:56 am by fredjeang »
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Peter McLennan

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Why does the viewfinder in my DSLR dim when I remove the battery?
« Reply #6 on: March 13, 2010, 12:46:40 pm »
Good question.  My D70, D200 and D300s all do this.  I await more knowledgeable posts.
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schrodingerscat

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Why does the viewfinder in my DSLR dim when I remove the battery?
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2010, 11:51:48 pm »
Quote from: Peter McLennan
Good question.  My D70, D200 and D300s all do this.  I await more knowledgeable posts.

Just a quick followup. This is normal behavior for the current lineup, and not sure when it started. As to why? Just one of them Nikon things. My first inclination was the lens stopping down for some reason, but it turns out to be an LCD above the focus screen as perviously mentioned.
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Gary Brown

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Why does the viewfinder in my DSLR dim when I remove the battery?
« Reply #8 on: March 23, 2010, 11:56:16 am »
Quote from: schrodingerscat
Just one of them Nikon things.
Actually, it's not just Nikon. The Canon EOS 7D, for example, is the same way (per its manual: "The camera's viewfinder will become bright when a battery is installed, and darken when the battery is removed").
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MarkL

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Why does the viewfinder in my DSLR dim when I remove the battery?
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2010, 04:53:17 pm »
I almost had a heart attack when I got my D700 home and stayed playing with manual focus before the battery was charged and the viewfinder was dark and nothing like when I had tested it    I have always wondered why this is also.
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ErikKaffehr

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Why does the viewfinder in my DSLR dim when I remove the battery?
« Reply #10 on: March 23, 2010, 07:04:50 pm »
Hi,

It doesn't have an LCD overlay for projecting information in the view field? I don't know, just a thought.

Best regards
Erik

Quote from: Michael Bailey
Forgive me if this question has been asked before, but I've never seen it. When I take the battery out of my Nikon D-700, the viewfinder dims. Not to the point of opacity, but pretty close. The same thing used to happen with my D-300 and Fuji S-2. Why is that? I can't think of anything electrical that ought to affect the view through what I assume to be an entirely optical system.

I know it doesn't matter. I'm just curious.

MB
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Erik Kaffehr
 
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