Brighten Fuji EVF when shooting in manual mode with flash

I hope what I need can be done with a Fuji X-T20.

I will be shooting headshots and portraits in manual mode with monolights/speedlights. My setting are usually around 180/125th second at f4. The problem is that at those settings, in a normally lit room, the LCD/EVF are too dark to see what my subjects are doing. I tried the Preview Exposure in Screen settings but all that appears in the VF is a fleeting brighter image that only lasts for a fraction of a second. If I go to f2.8, I can see fine but I would rather shoot with a little more depth of focus.

 

Is there a way to preview the seen as if I was shooting in Aperture mode or some Auto setting so I can see that what's going on?

 

Thanks,

Google came up with this:

 

The Setup Menus (SCREEN SETTING)

 

About 1/3 down, there is a feature called:

PREVIEW EXP./WB IN MANUAL MODE

 

I believe that this will do what you want, but check your owners manual. On occasion, I do shoot with studio flash units with my Olympus mirrorless, and use a similar sounding EVF setting.

You need to turn 'preview exposure in manual mode' to OFF.

 

The brightened EVF image only applies (on my X-E1) when the shutter button is half pressed. Using an adapted manual lens in low light, I have to focus at full aperture, then stop down to the taking aperture, not normally an issue with flash as studio flash tends to imply that the camera to subject distance isn't going to be changing much.

 

In better light, I can focus with the lens stopped down using focus peaking.

 

So, to recap;

Figure out your exposure.

Focus with lens wide open.

Stop down to taking aperture.

Half press shutter release (viewfinder brightens).

Frame your shot.

Shoot.

Edited August 4, 2019 by steve_gallimore|1

Thanks Steve. Turned the Preview off. Seems to be working now.

Olympus has an "Optical Viewfinder Simulation" where the view is at a constantly bright view just like traditional SLR finders. I have a custom button dedicated to enable this mode anytime I want access to it for ease of viewing with a single press, manual exposure indoor when using flash being one of the prime reasons.