Core photography skills: using Liveview

YOUR CAMERA’S LIVE VIEW DISPLAY ENABLES YOU TO SHOOT SHARPER STILLS AND DETAILED HD MOVIES – AND MORE BESIDES.

WHAT IS LIVE View, and how do I activate it on my camera?

When a camera is in Live View mode, it streams the live image being recorded by the imaging sensor onto its rear screen. e majority of CSCs (compact system cameras) and point-and-shoots use Live View mode by default, but SLRs need to be toggled between view nder shooting and Live View mode.

e way in which you do this di ers between camera models: some SLRs require you to ick a short lever on top of the camera, while others require you to press a button on the back.

WHY CAN’T I SEE ANYTHING THROUGH THE VIEWFINDER DURING LIVE VIEW?

Normally a mirror and a set of shutter curtains block the imaging sensor. e mirror bounces the image up into the view nder so that you can see the image; then, when you take a picture, the mirror ips up out of the way and the shutter curtains open to expose the sensor to light. Because Live View requires a constant feed from the camera sensor, the mirror needs to be kept up out of the way, so the view nder turns dark.

SO LIVE VIEW ESSENTIALLY TURNS AN SLR INTO A POINT AND SHOOT CAMERA?

Yes – in the sense that you can see what you’re shooting on the screen rather than through the view nder. But it doesn’t dumb down the camera at all. You’re free to choose the settings and make adjustments as if the camera was still being held to your eye, including switching everything to Manual mode.

WHY AND WHEN WOULD I CHOOSE TO USE LIVE VIEW?

You can use Live View whenever you like, but the backlit screen makes it particularly useful

when shooting in low-light conditions, where you’d struggle to see much in the view nder. It’s also great for situations where you need to use manual focusing, such as shooting macro shots and landscapes. e larger, brighter view and the fact that you can magnify details in the image while you’re using Live View makes it a breeze to focus accurately.

Using Live View mode is the only way you’ll be able to shoot movies, too, although the majority of cameras can’t apply autofocus while you’re doing so.

AUTOFOCUS DOES SEEM SLOW DURING

LIVE VIEW WHY IS THIS?

When you take pictures using the view nder, you can use your camera’s fast phase-detection autofocus system. However, when the mirror moves out of the way of the sensor during Live View, it prevents light from reaching this system. As a result, the camera has to gauge the focus directly from the image on the sensor.

is is known as contrast-detection autofocus: the camera measures the contrast in the image to determine what will be in focus, based on the idea that the higher the contrast, the sharper the details. It’s a slower system than phase-detection, because the camera has to focus the lens backwards and forwards through the image until it detects the maximum amount of contrast.

Alternatively, you can choose to use the normal view nder AF system to take a picture during Live View, but it’s rather clunky as the mirror has to ip back down rst, causing the

Live View image to black out temporarily. Camera manufacturers are also beginning to add phase-detection AF functionality to SLR sensors like the Canon EOS 70D’s Dual Pixel AF system, o ering faster continuous autofocus during Live View.

WHY DOES THE LIVE VIEW IMAGE

SOMETIMES LOOK GRAINY?

By amplifying what little light there is, the Live View display helps you to accurately frame and focus in situations where you couldn’t ordinarily see anything through the view nder, such as at night or when a strong neutral-density lter is attached to the front of the lens. is is why the image can look blotchy – Live View is essentially amplifying the weak incoming signal to create a usable preview image. Don’t worry: your pictures won’t look like this.

If the Live View image appears dark, this is likely to be because the image is being displayed in exposure simulation mode. You can use this to gauge whether you need to make the image brighter or darker.

WHY DOES LIVE VIEW KEEP SWITCHING

ITSELF OFF?

One of the problems of using Live View is that the sensor can get hot. is can increase the amount of noise (ugly digital grain) in pictures. To combat this, the camera will intelligently switch Live View o to prevent itself from overheating.

Live View is also a drain on the camera battery, and you’ll get far fewer shots from a single charge than you do when using the view nder.

ARE THERE ANY OTHER DRAWBACKS?

Camera shake can be a problem when shooting in Live View. When you use the view nder, you can support the camera tightly against your face, but to see the image on the back of the camera in Live View mode, you need to hold it further away, which reduces stability.

Combine this with Live View’s slower autofocus speeds, and there’s a risk that you’ll end up with fewer sharp shots than you’re used to. at’s why it pays to x the camera on a tripod during Live View.