5Dii, live view and exposure settings

[Frank Kolwicz]

I read the article "Canon EOS 40D Review - Live View" and my owner's manual, but I can't find anything specific about setting ISO, aperture and shutter speed when in Live View mode. It seems like there are limitations on the ability to select the desired combination, especially high ISO.

With the camera is set to AV mode, ISO 1600, 1/1000 sec and whatever aperture the manual lens is set to, when I make an exposure with that setting in Live View, the image data shows something like ISO200 at 1/50th second. If I vary the aperture I can get the ISO to 400 and various shutter speeds, but nothing else.

I've been missing an unusually large number of bird shots due to poor focus recently with my converted FD500L/1.4x converter, with or without an EF extension tube, and realized that I can focus more reliably using the LCD screen and live view. The problem is that I can't get the camera to accept ISO settings higher than 400 in order to get the shortest possible shutter speeds.

The other thing that would be a great help with focus is to get the camera to show the focus indicator light in the viewfinder with this lens, but I've only read about a fairly complex hack involving adding a chip to the contact circuit that I'm not about to tackle.

[Bob Atkins]

I seem to have missed this question so this replay is a little late. Sorry!

I can't speak for the 5D MkII since I don't own one, but I'm not aware of any ISO limitation in Live View mode. Certainly with my EOS 7D there is no problem shooting in Av mode at ISO 6400 in Live View. I suspect the 5D MkII should be the same. The only modes where the ISO range is limited on EOS DSLRs are usually the full auto modes.

Without the AF confirm chip, I know of no way to make an EOS body use the focus confirmation light when using non-EOS manual focus lenses. The electrical contacts have to see the right signals before the confirmation light is activated. There is no software 'work around" (though Canon could include one if they wanted to).

[klindup]

Can you set ISO when not using live view?  If not check that you have not got ISO set to auto which might explain what is happening.
Ken

[Frank Kolwicz]

Can you set ISO when not using live view?  If not check that you have not got ISO set to auto which might explain what is happening.
Ken

I've had no trouble since setting Live View to "still images only". I was using it in video/still mode when I had the problem (maybe there's a default to AutoISO when first setting video mode). Since I've solved the problem, I'm not concerned about whatever it was that happened, but if I ever decide to fool around with video, I'll try to duplicate the situation.