Sony RX1 - turn off LCD with OVF?

Archiver

Top Veteran
I understand that the RX1's LCD cannot be turned off by itself. But some say that the LCD can be switched off if the EVF is fitted. If this is so, can the LCD be switched off altogether while the EVF is on? And is it possible to use a non-electronic OVF and still have the LCD turned off? I've been looking around on the internet and can't find a definite answer.

Thanks a lot!
 
If the EVF is fitted, you can turn off the automatic eye-detector and switch between the EVF and LCD manually. So if you set it manually for EVF, the LCD goes totally black. I think that's the only way to turn the LCD completely off. The option for whether to control the EVF automatically (eye detector) or manually is dimmed out when you don't have the EVF in the shoe however. If the camera doesn't detect an EVF mounted (through it's electronic connection), it has no way of knowing whether there's an optical finder up there or not. I just tried it with an old Olympus OVF and the option is still dimmed. So, unless the really expensive Zeiss OVF provides some sort of electronic notice to the camera (which I can't imagine it does), you can't turn the LCD off except with the EVF in place and the selection set for manual control...

So the short answer is, NO, you can't turn it off any other way. The good news, though is that when you have the EVF in place and choose to control it manually, when it's set to the EVF rather than the LCD, the camera is TOTALLY dark until you raise it to your eye, at which point the EVF comes on. But if you hold it several inches away from your face, both the LCD and the EVF are dark. Maybe that would meet your needs? But without the EVF, no dice...

-Ray
 
Thanks a lot, Ray. This goes very far towards answering these gripping questions, haha. I've read a single comment on a forum in which someone said that the Zeiss OVF allowed the screen to be turned off; but another comment says that the Zeiss has no electrical contacts at all, so I don't see how that could be the case.

The EVF solution would most likely meet my needs! And the rubber band trick you posted to DPR is excellent. The question is whether a) I can really justify spending AUD$3000 on a camera that does not directly help me make money, especially when I still have a slew of other cameras, and b) if the RX1 will 'do it' for me in actual use. 'Do it' is the summary feeling of 'yes' that is a combination of shooting experience, image quality, image 'look', ergonomics, haptics and carryability.

Thanks, again!
 
Thanks a lot, Ray. This goes very far towards answering these gripping questions, haha. I've read a single comment on a forum in which someone said that the Zeiss OVF allowed the screen to be turned off; but another comment says that the Zeiss has no electrical contacts at all, so I don't see how that could be the case.

The EVF solution would most likely meet my needs! And the rubber band trick you posted to DPR is excellent. The question is whether a) I can really justify spending AUD$3000 on a camera that does not directly help me make money, especially when I still have a slew of other cameras, and b) if the RX1 will 'do it' for me in actual use. 'Do it' is the summary feeling of 'yes' that is a combination of shooting experience, image quality, image 'look', ergonomics, haptics and carryability.

Thanks, again!

The ONLY way I could see the Zeiss OVF possibly communicating with the camera is if there's just some sort of little pin on the front of the hot-shoe piece that causes some sort of very specific short in the electronic connectors under the front lip of the hot-shoe. I'd be shocked if it had anything like that - I'd imagine the full circuitry of the EVF would be needed to let the camera know it was there and enable that menu option.

I actually abandoned the rubber band trick a while back because I do occasionally like to take the EVF off and I haven't had any trouble with it coming loose, but I guess it's more possible without it in there. But I walked around Italy every day with that camera all of July and never had it come loose, so probably not an issue...

As for "the summary feeling of 'yes' that is a combination of shooting experience, image quality, image 'look', ergonomics, haptics and carryability", the ONLY thing I could imagine some people not quite liking with this camera is the AF speed. I think it's just fine for anything I've ever tried using the camera for. But it's not Olympus or Panasonic or Nikon or Canon fast. But I do find it dead accurate. That part I find perfectly acceptable, but others might not. Everything else you've listed here I find off the charts exceptional with this camera. But then I haven't had as much experience with as many premium cameras as you've had. so take that with a grain of salt...

-Ray
 
One display option closes the lcd panel and makes the camera dark w/ or w/o viewfinder. It is in the camera options... EVF sensor does that automatically when you put your face on the camera... Camera doesn't have that auto sensor.
 
One display option closes the lcd panel and makes the camera dark w/ or w/o viewfinder. It is in the camera options... EVF sensor does that automatically when you put your face on the camera... Camera doesn't have that auto sensor.

Where is this in the menus? I've never found it and the display button doesn't cycle through to a dark screen...

-Ray
 
I don't remember but maybe mixing w/ gx7, but I googled it and here it is:
RX1 - How to switch the screen off?: Sony Cyber-shot Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Thanks. That thread just verifies what I said above though - that menu item is only live when you have the EVF attached and then you can select the EVF manually and the LCD goes completely dark. With no finder or with an OVF, it doesn't work. Folks in that thread who were using OVFs were complaining that the feature was not available to them. Same as I'm finding...

-Ray
 
I found a post in FM that custom button deactivates the lcd:
Right now, the one thing that just annoys me is the display coming back on all the day. I have my custom button sent to turn this off, but the camera should be able to remember that I want it off, have some sort of memory setting...

It sounds like it may not be a permanent setting... After googling it, I find to how to choose it in the RX1 manual:
http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/4469573111/EN/contents/04/04/12/12.html#l3_s99062
 
Well, I'll be damned. You are indeed a resource sir!

It turns out that this option can be applied to any of the several programmable buttons on the camera. And it black out the image, but it still shows the basic settings for aperture, shutter speed, ISO, exposure comp along the bottom illuminated in white. And it stays off from shot to shot, but it doesn't stay off through turning the camera off and back on. But if you really like it it, it's one button push!

-Ray
 
Back
Top