Either I cock-eye or my camera is......


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TME

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Jan 19, 2002
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Clementi
Help, help!

I notice with some alarm that a lot of my shots (95%) are usually off-centre. I'm not sure if it is me or the camera....

Cos I have rather high astigmatism and it contributes to parallex errors...... or maybe my camera's viewfinder is not accurate? I thought the Dynax 7 viewfinder is one of the best in the market.......???

Any ideas how to prevent such thing from recurring? It really mars the picture sometimes....... especially when I take portrait mode and then I get a lot of space at the top or the bottom........ how huh??

I also notice that I cannot see the edges of the viewfinder all at one go..... I must like adjust the camera or my eye to see edge to edge (i.e. left to right, top to bottom)...... has that got to do with the diopter setting on the viewfinder??


Thanks!!!
 

TME said:
Help, help!

I notice with some alarm that a lot of my shots (95%) are usually off-centre. I'm not sure if it is me or the camera....

Cos I have rather high astigmatism and it contributes to parallex errors...... or maybe my camera's viewfinder is not accurate? I thought the Dynax 7 viewfinder is one of the best in the market.......???

Any ideas how to prevent such thing from recurring? It really mars the picture sometimes....... especially when I take portrait mode and then I get a lot of space at the top or the bottom........ how huh??

I also notice that I cannot see the edges of the viewfinder all at one go..... I must like adjust the camera or my eye to see edge to edge (i.e. left to right, top to bottom)...... has that got to do with the diopter setting on the viewfinder??


Thanks!!!

Unless it's a Rangefinder, SLR does not have parallax error since it's TTL.
However, many modern SLR viewfinder is something like 70-90+% if you look at the spec. some however have 100% view which are usually the pro model.
To prevent, take 4 shoots of a subject at the 4 end of the corner then compare with the print result. You shd know what to expect and adjust the next time.
 

whoelse said:
Unless it's a Rangefinder, SLR does not have parallax error since it's TTL.
However, many modern SLR viewfinder is something like 70-90+% if you look at the spec. some however have 100% view which are usually the pro model.
To prevent, take 4 shoots of a subject at the 4 end of the corner then compare with the print result. You shd know what to expect and adjust the next time.


Sorry...... what u mean leh?? I dun get what is 4 end of the corner......

I thought if the viewfinder is 90% (I think Dynax 7 is 97%??) then it should be 90% of the total area right and not a lopsided reduction?? So the reduction should be identical all round the viewfinder?

Also parallax errors refer to my eyes rather than the camera. And this is what I am afraid off cos I have problems shooting (NS I mean) also... always slightly off target only.... due to high astigmatism....

About seeing the entire viewfinder..... is there a solution? I mean I look through the eyepiece and find that I cannot see entirely the whole frame inside..... One end of the frame will be a little obscured by the eyepiece frame (i.e. the outside body). What happens is that in the viewfinder, u have the bottom or side that carries an LCD panel with information about the exposure..... but if I can see the LCD inside (mine is at the bottom of the viewfinder), then I cannot quite see the top the frame (i.e. the edge opposite of the LCD panel). It's worse when I take photos in portrait mode...

I really dun know why...... does anyone have similar problems?
 

when they say 90%, it usually is not 90% based on dead centre.

eg: 300D's 95% is aligned to the right bottom of the total image (or was it left..).
 

loupgarou said:
when they say 90%, it usually is not 90% based on dead centre.

eg: 300D's 95% is aligned to the right bottom of the total image (or was it left..).


Wah piangz! Is it?! Woo........ then they must say in the manual how they calculate the reduction mah!!! Dun think my manual says anything about this 90% thingy.....
 

Haha, to sum up abit faster...can we just assume you cock-eye so you cant complain? :D Just kidding.

97%, so there are 3% which will not be shown in the viewfinder. The final result will ofcos be larger due to the additional 3%. The 4 corner is like zeroing during NS mah, place a subject like tennis ball touching top-right, shot 1, top left shoot 1, repeat botten etc and see what is the result.

Ofcos, I invent this myself but think shd be abt to see how WYSIWYG it is. Maybe got better method I dunno. Parallax shd be more on camera like RF, cos the viewfinder is not TTL mah, usually higher then the len and more on the left etc.
Eye Parallax (cock-eye) I dunno lah since I dun eat alot of chicken so dun have cock-eye issue and oso I usually get marksmanship for M16 range and even P226 pistol so shd be quite gd lah :D
 

1) Is the error consistently in one direction?

but if I can see the LCD inside (mine is at the bottom of the viewfinder), then I cannot quite see the top the frame (i.e. the edge opposite of the LCD panel). It's worse when I take photos in portrait mode...
2) Are you pressing your eye close enough to the viewfinder?
 

Zerstorer said:
1) Is the error consistently in one direction?


2) Are you pressing your eye close enough to the viewfinder?


1) Ok Genius!! :embrass: I didn't notice it! But u are right!!! In all the shots that were skewed to one side, 99% are to the left. That is the right side got a lot of space lar..... so is that me or the camera?

2) I wear glasses when I shoot..... so the nearest I get is to put my glasses next to the surface of the viewfinder glass..... I know most SLRs come with options to change the viewfinder? Got any to suit me?
 

Hiee...

juz wondering if you have looked on the printed photos against the original negatives or slides.

Did your photo processing lab print introduced that effect - as the prints are normally slightly smaller than the area on the negs.


regards,
me
 

sulhan said:
Hiee...

juz wondering if you have looked on the printed photos against the original negatives or slides.

Did your photo processing lab print introduced that effect - as the prints are normally slightly smaller than the area on the negs.

Yup, if it is prints, you could have a lab that always prints more to the left.
 

TME, lucky you not using a RF camera :)

Does a eyecup help?

Humm..abt the eyewear. Think like myself I always find no convienence and lucky I have dioptric adjustment for eyewear, nowonder my eye still look ok when I look in the mirror every morning :D
 

I have this problem with my F80 as well, and I'm a glass wearer...

Anyone can conduct some tests on this issue?
I'm not really sure if it is due to the developing shop or is it mine...
:)
 

TME said:
I also notice that I cannot see the edges of the viewfinder all at one go..... I must like adjust the camera or my eye to see edge to edge (i.e. left to right, top to bottom)...... has that got to do with the diopter setting on the viewfinder??

Thanks!!!

With regards to this problem, this is due to your camera not having a high-eyepoint viewfinder.

A high-eyepoint viewfinder would allow a glass wearer to be able to see the full viewfinder in its entirety.

To solve this problem, you will have to remove your glasses (and wear contacts maybe?)
 

sulhan said:
Hiee...

juz wondering if you have looked on the printed photos against the original negatives or slides.

Did your photo processing lab print introduced that effect - as the prints are normally slightly smaller than the area on the negs.


regards,
me


The skew is present in the negatives as well. Quite sure not the lab cos my father does not have this problem. His power (for shortsigthedness) is about 1/3 of mine. Looks like I really cock-eye...........
 

SNAG said:
With regards to this problem, this is due to your camera not having a high-eyepoint viewfinder.

A high-eyepoint viewfinder would allow a glass wearer to be able to see the full viewfinder in its entirety.

To solve this problem, you will have to remove your glasses (and wear contacts maybe?)


Huh? Can change the viewfinder glass or not? Like increase or reduce the magnification so that can see the entire viewfinder. I notice that if I take off my glasses I can see the entire frame. But that is not feasible for taking photos since I cannot see a thing without my glasses...... even the LCD panel inside the viewfinder I cannot quite make out what it says..... :D

HELP........... :dunno:
 

TME said:
Huh? Can change the viewfinder glass or not? Like increase or reduce the magnification so that can see the entire viewfinder. I notice that if I take off my glasses I can see the entire frame. But that is not feasible for taking photos since I cannot see a thing without my glasses...... even the LCD panel inside the viewfinder I cannot quite make out what it says..... :D

HELP........... :dunno:

I'm wearing glasses too, but I don't encounter your difficulty in reading the LCD and seeing the whole frame on any camera I've used. The key thing is too ensure that your cheek+nose is pressing right up against the back of the camera and the eye is level(not tilted at any angle). Sometimes this may be a little uncomfortable, but you only need to do it just before u press the shutter.

Are you using right eye or left eye to look through the viewfinder?
 

Zerstorer said:
I'm wearing glasses too, but I don't encounter your difficulty in reading the LCD and seeing the whole frame on any camera I've used. The key thing is too ensure that your cheek+nose is pressing right up against the back of the camera and the eye is level(not tilted at any angle). Sometimes this may be a little uncomfortable, but you only need to do it just before u press the shutter.

Are you using right eye or left eye to look through the viewfinder?

I do press my eye (or glasses for that matter :D) against the viewfinder. There's a limit to how much one can do that.... But I also do find that sometimes like my eye not very level with the viewfinder.... anyway I'm right handed, right master eye. Maybe your astigmatism not as high as mine..... mine right eye power is about 600 of which astigmatism accounts for like 200. According to my optometrist, once astigmatism hits above 300, then will have serious problems in the future..... I think I'm having problems already...... :D
 

Get a Canon. The viewfinder is slightly bigger... hahaha.
Anyway, there should be eyepiece magnifiers around to help you see the full viewfinder for either Nikon or Canon, so check it out.
 

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