5DsR view finder blurry without batteries ?!?

[Zeidora]

Just noticed something weird. On my 5DsR, the viewfinder goes blurry (looks like it focuses to <1 inch, so way beyond diopter adjustments) when I take out the batteries from the grip. I took out batteries from the gripped 5D2, and no change there. It happens even with MF lenses (!), both Zeiss (100 MP) as well as Canon (TSE-17). I have a matt focusing screen. Can someone explain what is happening?

The view finder is also getting darker, and I assume the default f-stop setting is kicking in. That's OK. But the blurry image is odd on an optical viewfinder with a MF lens.

Is this happening on other 5Ds/R bodies? 5D3? 5D4? Is there something wrong with my body?

 

[Sporgon]

Welcome to transmissive LCDs. It's normal if the camera uses them to display overlays in the viewfinder.

Personally I don't like them. Blame Nikon, they started it.

 

[Zeidora]

Thanks Sporgon! I got curious, and found lots of references to darker viewfinder with batteries removed, but none re focus change.

I found the following diagram re where it sits
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=861127

I assume that a constant voltage is applied to the trans LCD, even when the camera is powered off. That would explain faster battery drain compared to 5D2. I guess that given that LCDs are birefringent, that the refractive index changes with voltage applied due to change from aligned crystals to random oriented crystals. Anybody with solid understanding of LCD physics care to comment?

 

[MalingJemuran]

Just noticed something weird. On my 5DsR, the viewfinder goes blurry (looks like it focuses to <1 inch, so way beyond diopter adjustments) when I take out the batteries from the grip. I took out batteries from the gripped 5D2, and no change there. It happens even with MF lenses (!), both Zeiss (100 MP) as well as Canon (TSE-17). I have a matt focusing screen. Can someone explain what is happening?

The view finder is also getting darker, and I assume the default f-stop setting is kicking in. That's OK. But the blurry image is odd on an optical viewfinder with a MF lens.

Is this happening on other 5Ds/R bodies? 5D3? 5D4? Is there something wrong with my body?

By the way. It happened on 7D2 too.