The Canon XL H1's viewfinder (the eyepiece monitor) is controlled by menu options. There are controls for brightness, etc.

For me, the key is calibrating the monitor is to set the camera to display color bars, selected by the buttons on the side of the camera.

Then check the viewfinder for a correct display of the color bars.

Mine, and others, from the factory, were way to bright .

The following link, from another post on this site, provides a method to properly adjust the viewfinder or any other monitor.

http://www.videouniversity.com/tvbars2.htm

thanks; I'll give it a try, should be getting it in next week.
Steve