Live View display disappears?

[AlainaD]

Hoping you knowledgeable people can help me with an issue I'm having. I have a new (one month) D3400 that I have been using without issue until today. I was just out in my back yard with the camera to take some photos of a woodpecker in a tree, but when I turned the camera on and put it in live view (which I always use), the display was blank. Like, visually looked like the camera was off entirely. After playing around with it, it seemed to sort of fade in and out as I moved directions, but was always very faint at best. I seem to recall having the same issue a few years ago with my previous D3100, and if memory serves it always happened when I was outdoors. I'm thinking maybe something to do with the lighting, as it is bright and sunny right now, but I was very much in the shade of the large tree I was under and the camera was directed into the shade. However, as soon as I brought it inside, it's completely back to normal. Is there a setting or something I need to adjust?

 

Thanks for your help.

[ShunCheung]

If the back LCD is working fine indoors, most likely it is just fine. You can turn on the brightness for outdoor usage.

[Andrew Garrard]

Silly question: Alaina, were you wearing sunglasses outside? The camera display is an LCD - it's polarised. If you wear polarised sunglasses, it'll block out the light from the screen. If this is the problem, it should go away if you turn the camera through 90 degrees (between "portrait" and "landscape").

 

That might be completely a red herring, but just a thought. The LCD certainly has to fight against ambient illumination, so it's never going to appear as bright when you're in bright surroundings. Good luck!

[AlainaD]

Silly question: Alaina, were you wearing sunglasses outside? The camera display is an LCD - it's polarised. If you wear polarised sunglasses, it'll block out the light from the screen. If this is the problem, it should go away if you turn the camera through 90 degrees (between "portrait" and "landscape").

 

That might be completely a red herring, but just a thought. The LCD certainly has to fight against ambient illumination, so it's never going to appear as bright when you're in bright surroundings. Good luck!

 

HA! Oh lord, well this is awkward. Nailed it. It didn't even occur to me until you mentioned it - I wear glasses all the time, so half the time I don't even really acknowledge when I'm wearing sunglasses vs. regular glasses - there's just always glasses on my face. Crisis averted, thanks ;)

[Sandy Vongries]

Silly question: Alaina, were you wearing sunglasses outside? The camera display is an LCD - it's polarised.

Great catch, Andrew! Never thought of it. I don't wear sunglasses when using cameras (rarely use live view) but good to know. Thanks to Alaina and you for the info.

[Andrew Garrard]

:-) Glad to help, both. I'm allowing myself to feel slightly smug about catching that one!

[bebu_lamar]

May be future cameras should have OLED. Or are they already have them? Many phones have OLED displays.

[Andrew Garrard]

Nikon moved to OLED output in the finder with the D810, although I don't know if this was part of the reasoning. OLEDs tend to be slightly thinner, which helps - Samsung's cameras, I believe, tended to have OLED screens, but then Samsung has been heavily pro-OLED on its phones for a while. Historically there's been a maximum brightness and longevity problem with OLEDs, which probably dissuaded camera manufacturers from moving too soon - these aspects have got better, but there are probably still arguments both ways.