R10 / 7 / 3 OVF assist feature

Reading through the specs of the R10 I noted there is feature called OVF assist hitherto only found on the R3. Do any R3 users here use this feature and if so what are advantages/ disadvantages of OVF assist ?

It's OVF simulation : https://www.dpreview.com/articles/2575223440/canon-eos-r3-s-ovf-simulation-what-it-is-and-why-it-matters , better dynamic but no more exposure simulation

I like it on my R3, but having played with the Picture Styles I have managed to set up a much more ‘true to life’ view using the standard EVF mode which provides the benefit of Exposure Simulation. It’s not quite as nice but it’s acceptable to me.

Just spent a week with an R3 and honestly couldn't find a use for the feature. I'm sure there was more to it, but when I enabled it it just felt like a brighter display. I only gave it a few minutes of use before moving on. As the other poster stated, the standard exposure sim is way more useful and I found I was missing more perfect exposures with OVF Assist on.

I wouldn't expect to see this feature combined with Exposure Sim in the future either. I guess the idea is to give you a higher dynamic range to see what the shadows "could" look like to an extent. Because the normal Exposure Sim is a direct representation of the actual image (in a lower dynamic range) adding Exposure Sim to the OVF Assist would not be representative of the image, so its likely disabled on purpose to avoid an inaccurate representation on the image.

IMO, this one is like Dual Pixel RAW, interesting feature, but no real use.

Tazz93 wrote:

Just spent a week with an R3 and honestly couldn't find a use for the feature. I'm sure there was more to it, but when I enabled it it just felt like a brighter display. I only gave it a few minutes of use before moving on. As the other poster stated, the standard exposure sim is way more useful and I found I was missing more perfect exposures with OVF Assist on.

I wouldn't expect to see this feature combined with Exposure Sim in the future either. I guess the idea is to give you a higher dynamic range to see what the shadows "could" look like to an extent. Because the normal Exposure Sim is a direct representation of the actual image (in a lower dynamic range) adding Exposure Sim to the OVF Assist would not be representative of the image, so its likely disabled on purpose to avoid an inaccurate representation on the image.

IMO, this one is like Dual Pixel RAW, interesting feature, but no real use.

My understanding is that OVF Simulation presents a wider dynamic range, possibly based on HEIF as opposed to the Jpeg you get with the EVFs normally. So you should be able to see into the shadows better and the highlights transitions should be smoother. Neither of these views are therefore going to be ‘true’ to what you get when shooting RAW and post processing in your chosen application 😀

cfieldgate wrote:

Tazz93 wrote:

Just spent a week with an R3 and honestly couldn't find a use for the feature. I'm sure there was more to it, but when I enabled it it just felt like a brighter display. I only gave it a few minutes of use before moving on. As the other poster stated, the standard exposure sim is way more useful and I found I was missing more perfect exposures with OVF Assist on.

I wouldn't expect to see this feature combined with Exposure Sim in the future either. I guess the idea is to give you a higher dynamic range to see what the shadows "could" look like to an extent. Because the normal Exposure Sim is a direct representation of the actual image (in a lower dynamic range) adding Exposure Sim to the OVF Assist would not be representative of the image, so its likely disabled on purpose to avoid an inaccurate representation on the image.

IMO, this one is like Dual Pixel RAW, interesting feature, but no real use.

My understanding is that OVF Simulation presents a wider dynamic range, possibly based on HEIF as opposed to the Jpeg you get with the EVFs normally. So you should be able to see into the shadows better and the highlights transitions should be smoother. Neither of these views are therefore going to be ‘true’ to what you get when shooting RAW and post processing in your chosen application 😀

Yep, that's my understanding too (but I don't know what file format its trying to mimic). The fact that they will not be a true representation of the output is why I wouldn't expect it to ever have an exposure sim attached to it.

However, if Canon moved to HEIF as their standard rather than Jpeg, I see no reason why Exposure Simulation for wide dynamic range EVFs would not be possible in future cameras.

Tim Kamppinen wrote:

Tazz93 wrote:

Just spent a week with an R3 and honestly couldn't find a use for the feature. I'm sure there was more to it, but when I enabled it it just felt like a brighter display. I only gave it a few minutes of use before moving on. As the other poster stated, the standard exposure sim is way more useful and I found I was missing more perfect exposures with OVF Assist on.

I wouldn't expect to see this feature combined with Exposure Sim in the future either. I guess the idea is to give you a higher dynamic range to see what the shadows "could" look like to an extent. Because the normal Exposure Sim is a direct representation of the actual image (in a lower dynamic range) adding Exposure Sim to the OVF Assist would not be representative of the image, so its likely disabled on purpose to avoid an inaccurate representation on the image.

IMO, this one is like Dual Pixel RAW, interesting feature, but no real use.

The real world use case is when shooting with flash against a bright background such as a window or at sunset and finding that your subject is a complete silhouette in the viewfinder and you cannot see their face. This makes timing your shots and even focusing accurately very difficult, and is a fairly common occurrence for me as a wedding photographer.

At least, I really hope it fixes that issue. I don’t have an R3 and I didn’t see anyone talking about that use case in the reviews. But hopefully if it’s going to be in the R7/10 they might add it to the R5 via firmware.

Flash shooting could be a great use case for the feature, because flash shooting effectively negates exposure sim anyway. That said, it wasn't a big difference in the dynamic range shown, but still I do believe your use case is a very valid one. Thanks.

Mike Engles wrote:

That would be useful in severely back lit situations as it would be easier to see dark areas, for reasons of framing. It can be done in Picture Styles, but also by using AUTO ISO, no simulation and exposure comp..

I didn't try it in a severely backlit scene but it should lend itself well to that. However, like I said in the previous post, its not a significant difference in DR (for the limited use where I tried it). So we are talking about subtle differences.

Does anyone know if the autofocus utilizes this “altered” view when focusing?

It would be similar to what I do now by turning “Exp simulation” off to improve AF (works especially well in darker environments).

That would be the biggest benefit for me.

R2

Mike Engles wrote:

The question is why do Picture style and Exposure Simulation affect AF.?

In the case of Exposure Simulation (or its disabling) at least, the camera indeed uses that image to calculate autofocus.  I haven't tried changing the Picture Style however to try to reproduce this effect though.

Why would the AF sensors be interested in what happens on the EVF?

IDK, maybe because we're interested in it too? 

Was it the case with DSLRs also?

To tell you the truth, I never paid any attention.  I noticed the effect right away with my R5 however.  I've never seen any "official" info from Canon, any of their Explorers of Light, or anything on the Web regarding this either.  I have been trying to spread the word around here though. 

It takes just a couple of minutes in a darkened room to verify.

R2