diff --git a/examples/corsika.cpp b/examples/corsika.cpp
index 078b9d2be23c4332d59df0009ae86597946e6819..09e024287b619b0f39accbfcc59e284ec8b9a10a 100644
--- a/examples/corsika.cpp
+++ b/examples/corsika.cpp
@@ -156,7 +156,8 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
   // parse the command line options into the variables
   CLI11_PARSE(app, argc, argv);
 
-  string const loglevel = app["verbosity"]->as<string>();
+  string const loglevel =
+      (app.count("--verbosity") ? app["verbosity"]->as<string>() : "info");
   if (loglevel == "warn") {
     logging::set_level(logging::level::warn);
   } else if (loglevel == "info") {
diff --git a/examples/mars.cpp b/examples/mars.cpp
index 0a9d7610ba072bc5b3dc2ea9539351f37e3e9f9d..73ca6fbf900457a8791229b9dcbd8a9efc8b7264 100644
--- a/examples/mars.cpp
+++ b/examples/mars.cpp
@@ -184,7 +184,8 @@ int main(int argc, char** argv) {
   // parse the command line options into the variables
   CLI11_PARSE(app, argc, argv);
 
-  string const loglevel = app["verbosity"]->as<string>();
+  string const loglevel =
+      (app.count("--verbosity") ? app["verbosity"]->as<string>() : "info");
   if (loglevel == "warn") {
     logging::set_level(logging::level::warn);
   } else if (loglevel == "info") {