500D changing settings

I recently acquired a 500D, mostly as a demonstration and learning tool. it appears that when looking through the view finder, you can only change settings after a half press of the shutter brings up the meter and settings display along the bottom. this disappears after a few seconds, and attempting to change shutter speed etc has no effect until the display is brought back my a half press of the shutter.

Can this behaviour be changed? is there a setting to allow a permanent display in the viewfinder?

Jsake wrote:

I recently acquired a 500D, mostly as a demonstration and learning tool. it appears that when looking through the view finder, you can only change settings after a half press of the shutter brings up the meter and settings display along the bottom. this disappears after a few seconds, and attempting to change shutter speed etc has no effect until the display is brought back my a half press of the shutter.

Can this behaviour be changed? is there a setting to allow a permanent display in the viewfinder?

Jsake,

On my Canon 850D, the autoexposure lock only lasts for six seconds.

I don't know if that is a feature of all Canon cameras.

If I want to permanently hold that lock, I have to press and hold another button.

My AF button serves that purpose. My depth of field preview button works as well also.

To have a permanent display of your settings you may have to rely on your Live View screen until you get ready to take your picture.

Steve Thomas

stevet1 wrote:

Jsake wrote:

I recently acquired a 500D, mostly as a demonstration and learning tool. it appears that when looking through the view finder, you can only change settings after a half press of the shutter brings up the meter and settings display along the bottom. this disappears after a few seconds, and attempting to change shutter speed etc has no effect until the display is brought back my a half press of the shutter.

Can this behaviour be changed? is there a setting to allow a permanent display in the viewfinder?

Jsake,

On my Canon 850D, the autoexposure lock only lasts for six seconds.

I don't know if that is a feature of all Canon cameras.

If I want to permanently hold that lock, I have to press and hold another button.

My AF button serves that purpose. My depth of field preview button works as well also.

To have a permanent display of your settings you may have to rely on your Live View screen until you get ready to take your picture.

Steve Thomas

I had a look through the menu to see if there was an option to always display meter and settings in the viewfinder but couldn’t see anything. I suppose live view will work for just displaying the settings and how they change.

for practical use of the OVF it does make it somewhat slower to operate when you have to complete a half press on the shutter before being able to change exposure settings

Jsake wrote:

I recently acquired a 500D, mostly as a demonstration and learning tool. it appears that when looking through the view finder, you can only change settings after a half press of the shutter brings up the meter and settings display along the bottom. this disappears after a few seconds, and attempting to change shutter speed etc has no effect until the display is brought back my a half press of the shutter.

Can this behaviour be changed? is there a setting to allow a permanent display in the viewfinder?

Hi, without any offense, I think you get it wrong.

You can change exposure etc settings anytime, but you can see that change immediately on the back screen, when lit or on the top LCD panel (when present) You will see it later in the viewfinder, after half press before actuation, anyway.

Additionally, I believe , that you see the change in the viewfinder for a while,  too, when you rotate the respective wheel, but I am not sure , pls check.

guinness2 wrote:

Jsake wrote:

I recently acquired a 500D, mostly as a demonstration and learning tool. it appears that when looking through the view finder, you can only change settings after a half press of the shutter brings up the meter and settings display along the bottom. this disappears after a few seconds, and attempting to change shutter speed etc has no effect until the display is brought back my a half press of the shutter.

Can this behaviour be changed? is there a setting to allow a permanent display in the viewfinder?

Hi, without any offense, I think you get it wrong.

You can change exposure etc settings anytime, but you can see that change on the top LCD panel , (when present) or on the back screen, when lit, immediately, or later in the viewfinder, before actuation, after half press.

the problem with that on the 500D is; if you take your eye away from the viewfinder and change the settings while looking at the rear LCD,  you can’t see the meter or composition. the meter displayed on the LCD appears to just be for displaying your exposure compensation setting, not the actual exposure. thus when you change shutter or aperture, you still have to go into the viewfinder and half press to bring up the actual meter. it’s not the end of the world as i bought the camera basically as a demonstrator to show people how a DSLR works… just  seems like quite an obvious frustration that could easily have had a menu option to change. although saying that i hear this model is compatible with magic lantern so maybe i could look into that?

Jsake wrote:

guinness2 wrote:

Jsake wrote:

I recently acquired a 500D, mostly as a demonstration and learning tool. it appears that when looking through the view finder, you can only change settings after a half press of the shutter brings up the meter and settings display along the bottom. this disappears after a few seconds, and attempting to change shutter speed etc has no effect until the display is brought back my a half press of the shutter.

Can this behaviour be changed? is there a setting to allow a permanent display in the viewfinder?

Hi, without any offense, I think you get it wrong.

You can change exposure etc settings anytime, but you can see that change on the top LCD panel , (when present) or on the back screen, when lit, immediately, or later in the viewfinder, before actuation, after half press.

the problem with that on the 500D is; if you take your eye away from the viewfinder and change the settings while looking at the rear LCD, you can’t see the meter or composition. the meter displayed on the LCD appears to just be for displaying your exposure compensation setting, not the actual exposure. thus when you change shutter or aperture, you still have to go into the viewfinder and half press to bring up the actual meter. it’s not the end of the world as i bought the camera basically as a demonstrator to show people how a DSLR works… just seems like quite an obvious frustration that could easily have had a menu option to change. although saying that i hear this model is compatible with magic lantern so maybe i could look into that?

Maybe I didn’t get it correctly, but look here, the shutter speed and f-stop are visible in the top left corner , or not ?
https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos500d/5