# Canon 7d mkii Viewfinder Inverted



## Morgang321 (May 24, 2015)

Well, I haven't even used this new camera on a shoot yet. Only random junk setting it up in the backyard. It wasn't always like this and it's a little hard to describe the problem. The first two days I had the camera there were no problems at all, takes excellent photos. It's updated to 1.04, but the problem didn't start directly after the update.
Yesterday I turned the camera on and the viewfinder was turned negative. So badly you can't even see what you're shooting. All the space in the viewfinder is gray, with all the logos and info written in empty space. I always see every single option that the viewfinder is able to display.
I reset the camera, turned it off and took battery out for 20 minutes. Tried to reapply the 1.04 update...
I have no idea what else to try. It wasn't an option I turned on and boom inverted I would have noticed right away because you're unable to see anything.
Any help would be extremely appreciated. I couldn't find a single other person having this problem.
Thanks guys


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## neuroanatomist (May 24, 2015)

I'd call Canon...


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## Morgang321 (May 24, 2015)

That's what I am thinking. Really sad by them. I spent the last few months trying to talk my self into this camera because it wasn't all too an impressive upgrade. I don't think I even want a replacement if their most rugged camera broke in 4 days.


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## Morgang321 (May 24, 2015)

So now that I am looking at everything on this camera more closely... I got a complete dud. Really bad image quality. Iso 3200 and past is unusable. I am comparing it to my 5d mkiii images and the 7dmkii is TERRIBLE. 
Here is a slightly cropped in 1/640 iso3200, f4 image shot with a 70-200 f4 IS. This lens takes very sharp photos on my 7d and my 5d markiii so I know it's a good lens copy.
Both of these are pretty cropped in to show noise and sharpness, the 5d mkiii is way more cropped in than the soft, colorless 7dmkii photo.
Unedited no noise reduction/sharpening. Only cropped.


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## neuroanatomist (May 24, 2015)

Morgang321 said:


> So now that I am looking at everything on this camera more closely... I got a complete dud. Really bad image quality. Iso 3200 and past is unusable. I am comparing it to my 5d mkiii images and the 7dmkii is TERRIBLE.



The 2.56-times larger area of the FF sensor is going to make a big difference. Try comparing ISO 3200 on your 7DII to ISO 8000 on your 5DIII, those are 'equivalent' based on the crop factor.


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## Morgang321 (May 24, 2015)

Yeah that's true, but still sharpness alone. That 5dmark iii photo is cropped in almost 2x more than the 7d image and is still sharper and near same noise.(I shot them standing in the same place) Uncropped the 5dmkiii has almost no noise.


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## pvalpha (May 25, 2015)

Morgang321 said:


> Well, I haven't even used this new camera on a shoot yet. Only random junk setting it up in the backyard. It wasn't always like this and it's a little hard to describe the problem. The first two days I had the camera there were no problems at all, takes excellent photos. It's updated to 1.04, but the problem didn't start directly after the update.
> Yesterday I turned the camera on and the viewfinder was turned negative. So badly you can't even see what you're shooting. All the space in the viewfinder is gray, with all the logos and info written in empty space. I always see every single option that the viewfinder is able to display.
> I reset the camera, turned it off and took battery out for 20 minutes. Tried to reapply the 1.04 update...
> I have no idea what else to try. It wasn't an option I turned on and boom inverted I would have noticed right away because you're unable to see anything.
> ...


If you want to do some investigation before calling Canon, about the only thing I can recommend is that you check to see if the focusing screen is still anchored securely in the camera. Its a "user replaceable" part, which means it could have came loose (which is highly unlikely). If it did, it might be causing an electrical issue with the display components and if its misaligned - screwing with metering. (there could also be edge-light leak, a problem with the pentaprism assembly, a problem with the entire sensor and mirror housing assembly, an electrical fault - which is one of the most commonly repaired problems with the 7DmII - and a host of other minor and major issues) What I'm seeing on yours looks more like the focusing screen is either not fully receiving power, or is receiving inverted power. The display area looks "powered off" except for the display elements which are oddly transparent. 

When completely powered off, the focusing screen has a dark, grainy appearance (as though you have DOF preview triggered), as the elements and the screen have no electrical charge going to them when looking through the OVF. When the camera is powered, the entire screen becomes electrically charged (which makes it transparent), and the information display components are either charged (Function ON = active, LCD polarized to be dark) or are Function-OFF (charged transparent and LCD un-polarized clear to match the active state of the screen). What you are seeing is no-power (screen is not charged to be transparent), however the display elements are receiving power and are not active (charged transparent, but not "on" to display a polarized LCD) An important thing to note, even when functioning correctly, the screen absorbs a certain percentage of light across its surface - this is because even inactive Liquid Crystal absorbs some light. In order to be "invisible when inactive" the active screen surface light absorption matches the LCD transparency. Keep in mind this is just what I've seen from my experience with LCD elements in transparent displays. Liquid Crystal reflects/transmits light in very interesting ways depending on how the crystal is charged and what direction the light is coming from. 

Just be careful looking at it, and don't touch it unless you have the tools to work with the screen. If the focusing screen appears to be properly anchored, then it is most certainly a fault with the body. Canon is pretty much repairing these things ASAP as long as you have a valid warranty for the camera and can provide them some proof of a problem. That picture you took of the LCD is probably more than enough proof. 

I was lucky to have service with the place where I bought my 7DmII where in the first 30 days they replace a body "no questions asked". I just showed them a picture that had an unholy glow around things that shouldn't have unholy glows unless you have petroleum jelly smeared on your optics or let your dogs lick your glass. It was pretty easy to see that everything I had in my kit was pristine and undamaged, so I got a new body and so far its been fantastic and seems to get better every time I use it and tweak it for my style. Of course there are horror stories that some people went through multiple bodies to find a properly working copy. But almost everyone who sent their camera to Canon for repair has been happy with the results - at least from what I can see from my humble monitoring of the internet for such things so I'm not caught by surprise with the "next" problem to crop up.


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## Ruined (May 25, 2015)

Get a replacement clearly you got a lemon.


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## Morgang321 (May 25, 2015)

pvalpha said:


> Morgang321 said:
> 
> 
> > Well, I haven't even used this new camera on a shoot yet. Only random junk setting it up in the backyard. It wasn't always like this and it's a little hard to describe the problem. The first two days I had the camera there were no problems at all, takes excellent photos. It's updated to 1.04, but the problem didn't start directly after the update.
> ...


Thank you for the explanation. I did check the focusing screen and it was in place. I am getting my money back and going to buy directly from Canon. But still wanted to learn a bit before I just gave up. Complete dud camera.


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## unfocused (May 26, 2015)

Without speculating on the viewfinder problem, I have to say I don't see a lot of room for complaining about the quality of the images you posted.

If that's an ISO 3200 cropped image from a 7DII with no noise reduction added, I'm kind of impressed. Certainly far better than anything I used to get with the 7DI in that range. As far as the lower contrast of the Jpg as compared to the 5DIII; first of all I notice that the light shifted between the two shots, in the top shot, the sun is clearly shining on the leaves, while in the bottom shot the petals are in the sun, so it's not a good comparison.

That said, I'd have to say that while I prefer the "punch" of the 5DIII image, I'd have no problem working with that 7DII image in post. It's very easy to increase contrast and saturation, much harder to restore detail in the highlights. The 5DIII image is right on the edge of losing detail to clipped highlights.


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## old-pr-pix (May 26, 2015)

Seems like neuro and unfocused have pretty much explained IQ. For noise, multiple ISO by crop factor squared to get close to equivalent, so ISO 3200 x 1.6 x 1.6 = about ISO 8000. 

As to lighting, soft light yields soft looking pictures. 7DII shot has petals in shadow so they look softer, 5DIII shot has them is bright sun so they almost glow. The brighter lighting on 5DIII shot may also explain why it has more apparent depth of field? These flower clusters don't look like they were taken on the same day -- arrangement of petals is sufficiently different to not be explained just by slightly different angle of shot? Were they the same cluster? Different day or different cluster may also explain some variation in coloration.


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