Nikon 600pf really dark looking thru the viewfinder

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Rogereh

Rogereh

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I got tired of the eternal wait to purchase a Nikon 180-600mm zoom, so I decided to just go with purchasing a 600mm pf lens. It arrived yesterday and being anxious to give it a try I went for a short walk through our adjoining wood lot next door. I was so disappointed that the viewfinder was so dark. I could barely make out birds on trees. It seemed like there was plenty of light that would normally be okay with my 500 pf. The woods is fairly open, and it was only around 3pm so not dark at all outside. I was using my Z8 and the new bird feature. I tried for a while and went home thinking there must be a problem. Before going back in the house I took several shots in my backyard and they seemed to be fine thru the viewfinder. The lens is extremely quick to focus and fire. Went in to my PC and was surprised to see that all the photos taken in the woods were fine, which was a big surprise seeing that looking thru the viewfinder in the woods was nearly impossible to make out the birds from the trees. The shots taken in the backyard were great. I was considering sending the lens back and just go back to using the 500 pf. Any ideas on how to improve the darkness shooting in the woods, even in good daylight? A lot of my birding is done in wooded areas.
 
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How have you got your VF set? Not sure if it is independent of the LCD settings or not, but checking the brightness level would be my first port of call.
 
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What brightness setting would people recommend for Z9? I've just checked and my brightness was on 0. Also, how does this play with the d8 custom option, what is the deal here?

Thanks!
 
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Actually just checked, there is d10 "View mode (photo Lv)" and then "show effect of settings" selected. For Brightness, there is no Auto, so I've just set it to +5 (never paid attention to this at all to be honest, and maybe wrongly).
 
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Thanks for the suggestions and comments. I forgot to mention that all my other Z lenses work correctly with my Z8 settings and are not as
dark in lower woodland lighting.
 
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Rogereh said:
Thanks for the suggestions and comments. I forgot to mention that all my other Z lenses work correctly with my Z8 settings and are not as
dark in lower woodland lighting.
Click to expand...
If you have show effects of settings "ON" then all lenses should look the same if you have set the same exposure. There is no reason the 600PF (even if it your slowest aperture lens you own) should look darker.....this isn't a DSLR.
 
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foxysport said:
Actually just checked, there is d10 "View mode (photo Lv)" and then "show effect of settings" selected. For Brightness, there is no Auto, so I've just set it to +5 (never paid attention to this at all to be honest, and maybe wrongly).
Click to expand...
my z8 has AUTO in the brightness menu? I'm running 2.0
 
Just as a test, you might go into full manual mode and move iso, f number, and shutter speed around to observe through the viewfinder to see if the scene is looking brighter and darker as you turn the various dials. If it does so on your other lenses but not on the 600, the issue has to be in the lens. Either defective or perhaps something simple, for example is there a control ring controlling exp comp or iso that might be engaged.
 
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Make sure when you are in menu item View Mode... You highlight show effects of settings THEN press right on the D-Pad and select ALWAYS.

Many don't know there is another sub menu there since there is no arrow letting you know.
 
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I think by default the control ring is set to EC. If it is set to EC on the 600PF it could be set for a negative EV setting and keeping the EVF dark if you are not in full on M mode? Just another thing to check.
 
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