Sunlight, LCD, and sunglasses

While shooting outside yesterday, I was about to give in to the LCD is no good hoard. Then I realized that I had my sunglasses on. Removed them and I was back where I'd been last weekend.
Just a word to those detractors.

RON C

Ron, at last all of those detractors can keep their sunglasses on!! The view finder is modular and is attached by patented tension bands and is fully adjustable for different eyes.



This is the "Thumper" model but here are a variety of models including the popular "Mickey Mouse" for those users who miss having a mickey mouse viewfinder like other cameras.

Ron Chambers said:

While shooting outside yesterday, I was about to give in to the LCD is no
good hoard. Then I realized that I had my sunglasses on. Removed them and
I was back where I'd been last weekend.
Just a word to those detractors.

RON C

Click to expand...

Thanks! You just gave me an idea. We have so many people come to this site complaining about how bad the LCD is on the 505 that you could easily get the impression it was a completely useless camera. I would like to hear from more of you that have ways to deal with or solve the problem with the LCD instead. Anyone can complain about the sqeaky wheel. It takes a different type of person to get down and grease it. I know that was pretty tacky. I can not believe I typed that. But you all get the point. So what ideas might some of you have? Go ahead, be funny. You might come up with a good one.

Meryl Arbing said:

This is the "Thumper" model but here are a variety of models including
the popular "Mickey Mouse" for those users who miss having a mickey mouse
viewfinder like other cameras.

Ron Chambers said:

While shooting outside yesterday, I was about to give in to the LCD is no
good hoard. Then I realized that I had my sunglasses on. Removed them and
I was back where I'd been last weekend.
Just a word to those detractors.

RON C

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I am sure the idea was to give the impression that the F505 "was a completely useless camera" however, it appears that the "problem" is found in the loose nut holding the camera. It is merely a question of using the camera correctly and then there is no LCD problem at all!

G Biggs said:

Thanks! You just gave me an idea. We have so many people come to this
site complaining about how bad the LCD is on the 505 that you could
easily get the impression it was a completely useless camera. I would
like to hear from more of you that have ways to deal with or solve the
problem with the LCD instead. Anyone can complain about the sqeaky wheel.
It takes a different type of person to get down and grease it. I know
that was pretty tacky. I can not believe I typed that. But you all get
the point. So what ideas might some of you have? Go ahead, be funny. You
might come up with a good one.

Click to expand...

Loose nut? I have a screw loose just ask my mother-in-law.

Glad to see some humor on this site. I find the 505 to be amazing. I'd expect that if you have an open mind, not a hole in the head, you can do almost anything with it. I've shot at nighttime football games, at a wedding, in a library (as my personal Xerox) and a number of other places and all have been very good in quality. The one with the lenses cap on doesn't count.

RON C

Meryl Arbing said:

G Biggs said:

Thanks! You just gave me an idea. We have so many people come to this
site complaining about how bad the LCD is on the 505 that you could
easily get the impression it was a completely useless camera. I would
like to hear from more of you that have ways to deal with or solve the
problem with the LCD instead. Anyone can complain about the sqeaky wheel.
It takes a different type of person to get down and grease it. I know
that was pretty tacky. I can not believe I typed that. But you all get
the point. So what ideas might some of you have? Go ahead, be funny. You
might come up with a good one.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Thanks Ron, yes, it was just a joke. This issue can get too serious! I don't mind that people decide that a certain camera system isn't for them and find that they are more comfortable with something else. That is their choice. What I DO object to is, if they have the Sony behind and have moved onto another camera, why do they have to return like ghosts to haunt the Sony Forum. Are they trying to scare people off?
"WoooooWooooooooo!! Beware of the F505!! Booooo!!!"

Ron Chambers said:

Glad to see some humor on this site. I find the 505 to be amazing. I'd
expect that if you have an open mind, not a hole in the head, you can do
almost anything with it. I've shot at nighttime football games, at a
wedding, in a library (as my personal Xerox) and a number of other places
and all have been very good in quality. The one with the lenses cap on
doesn't count.

RON C

Meryl Arbing said:

G Biggs said:

Thanks! You just gave me an idea. We have so many people come to this
site complaining about how bad the LCD is on the 505 that you could
easily get the impression it was a completely useless camera. I would
like to hear from more of you that have ways to deal with or solve the
problem with the LCD instead. Anyone can complain about the sqeaky wheel.
It takes a different type of person to get down and grease it. I know
that was pretty tacky. I can not believe I typed that. But you all get
the point. So what ideas might some of you have? Go ahead, be funny. You
might come up with a good one.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I think the controversy about the LCD is largely related to high hopes that early buyers held, perhaps initiated by Phil's review (which, though extremely helpful, was overly optimistic on this issue). I have used this camera in many outdoor settings now, from full sun to full shade and at nearly every conceivable angle. If one is looking for SLR-like viewfinder clarity, no LCD will satisfy them. But if one wants the advantages of LCD previewing of exposure, color balance, and depth of field, the F505's (and F55's) LCD will work, with a few adaptations that various people (including Meryl and myself) have pointed out previously in this forum:

1. View the camera at waist level and tilt the camera back to get the best view.
2. Take off your polarizing sunglasses.

3. Adjust the "LCD brightness" setting . . . this setting does NOT affect the level of illumination of the LCD, but instead adjusts the LCD contrast electronically.

4. A "new" suggestion: Leave the backlight ON at all times, rather than turning it off to save a little battery power. The backlight IS necessary for many outdoor situations -- it compensates when camera tilting is not the whole answer, and it never interferes with the LCD illumination by the sun.

-- Bill

LOL! Great!!
Where can I get one! I want a Goofy viewfinder like my friends have!

Meryl Arbing said:

Ron, at last all of those detractors can keep their sunglasses on!! The
view finder is modular and is attached by patented tension bands and is
fully adjustable for different eyes.



This is the "Thumper" model but here are a variety of models including
the popular "Mickey Mouse" for those users who miss having a mickey mouse
viewfinder like other cameras.

Click to expand...

Your suggestions are valid Bill. I have been wondering when people would start to share their solutions for working with this camera.

Unfortunately I have yet to see anyone mention some of the more important issues of the camera. (Of course as soon as I mention them, they will be appear on every trolls list of "Why the F505 is no-good!")

1) The only major issue with the LCD is that the reflective surface picks up fingerprints and leaves an oily film that reflects back to the user on top of the image. I have found that lens papers don't do a very good job of removing them but that a "lenspen" that has a cleaning disk at one end works perfectly.

2) The Zeiss lens has very minimal barrel distortion and the LCD is completely TTL with no parallax error but there is one distortion that is independent of the lens system and the LCD. Perspective! We are so used to holding the camera at eye level and shooting from there that, when we hold the camera at waist level we have 2-3 foot difference in viewing angle. For film cameras there are perspective correcting lenses but we don't have that option.

3) At the full 5x (and especially at the 10x digital zoom) the camera has no image stabilization and there is signigficant camera shake. I would require that a sufficiently rapid shutter speed be set to minimize shake.

The camera requires some getting used to and requires that old habits be broken and new ones taken on.

Bill G. said:

I think the controversy about the LCD is largely related to high hopes
that early buyers held, perhaps initiated by Phil's review (which, though
extremely helpful, was overly optimistic on this issue). I have used
this camera in many outdoor settings now, from full sun to full shade and
at nearly every conceivable angle. If one is looking for SLR-like
viewfinder clarity, no LCD will satisfy them. But if one wants the
advantages of LCD previewing of exposure, color balance, and depth of
field, the F505's (and F55's) LCD will work, with a few adaptations that
various people (including Meryl and myself) have pointed out previously
in this forum:

1. View the camera at waist level and tilt the camera back to get the
best view.
2. Take off your polarizing sunglasses.
3. Adjust the "LCD brightness" setting . . . this setting does NOT
affect the level of illumination of the LCD, but instead adjusts the LCD
contrast electronically.
4. A "new" suggestion: Leave the backlight ON at all times, rather than
turning it off to save a little battery power. The backlight IS
necessary for many outdoor situations -- it compensates when camera
tilting is not the whole answer, and it never interferes with the LCD
illumination by the sun.

-- Bill

Click to expand...