How do I make the picture preview bright when I'm shooting with strobes?

I have a NEX-6 and when I have my strobes plugged in and set on manual to my settings the screen is completely dark and brightens up for a quick focus (which is off a lot because of it) and then takes the picture. I know when I had a flash plugged in on my nex-5n the screen was almost always bright, how do I make it do that with off camera light? I imagine there's a setting that I'm just not getting.

I only just got my first strobes and a hotshow to pc adapter so this is all new to me.