Looking through viewfinder I see subject in small circle instead of large rectangle

Question

I apologize off the bat for my ignorance in this field & the simplistic language! I have a canon T1i and I love it. Had a problem with my 18-55 lens and sent it to Mack Camera where I had a warranty. Decided to send the body as well even though it seemed fine. Lens needed focus assembly but body was said (by Mack) to be fine. When I received it back & put both lens I had on it I noticed that it looked different through the viewfinder. Usually I see my subject in a full sized rectangular view, but now I see my subject through a much smaller round area with black all around it. Almost as though I was looking through just the lens and not the body. I am NOT impressed with Mack camera's customer service at all! Takes them forever to get back to me & apparently they send back broken equipment. Hoping it's a setting and not broken.

Thanks, Mike

Answer 1

You can take the lens off and look through the viewfinder without a lens attached, if the problem still exists, then it's the body. If not, it's the lens. Nothing will be in focus, but you should have a full very of light without a lens attach.

Look through the front of the lens and make sure the aperture is open all the way, it's possible it's stuck or they didn't put everything back together correctly. It should be open by default. If it's stopped down even after the camera is turned on, then the lens is broken, or your contacts between the lens and the body aren't functioning correctly.

Most likely an element got knocked loose during shipping.

Answer 2

Sounds like a circular component has come loose inside the lens, and is causing vignetting (blocking) of the image circle cast by the lens.

Can you confirm the same circular image occurs when you take photos with this lens? If not then there is something circular blocking your viewfinder!

Answer 3

Seems like your image circle got smaller...

Do you have the hood on properly?

Is the lens locked properly in place?

Answer 4

Is the circle centered in the view finder? If so, I'd suggest taking a picture and seeing if the image also has the circle on it. If it does, then something is wrong in the path of light coming in to the camera body. It could be that the lens is mounting too close to the camera body or could be a problem in the lens either obscuring light or causing it to focus the light on a smaller area.

If it is not visible in the images captured by the camera, then something must be happening after the light enters the camera body. There could be a problem with the mirror or the viewfinder itself. If, for example, they replaced the view finder with a prism with the wrong magnification, it could end up with the problem. Also, if your camera has interchangeable view finder overlays, it is possible that they replaced that with the wrong overlay. Are the edges of the circle soft or hard?

Answer 5

Simple things first: Is the battery charged and in the camera? I see something similar when the battery is out of the camera.