New York NYC February Meet-Up

Phil_F_NM said:
The screens from the Nikon F6 would fit also and need less modification but the grit of the groundglass is not as coarse so the scattering angle is very low with respect to the VF exit pupil and as a result, you can't get the perfect sharp focus as easily as with a coarser screen like Canon makes. Nikon still adheres to the belief that everyone uses f/2.8 or slower zooms on their digital cameras!


Phil Forrest
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Tung,

This effect that Phil mentions is what I experience with Beattie screens. The screen may be brighter, but the contrast is lower. It seems that focus on the ground glass is really a matter of maximizing contrast if you like your focus to snap like Phils camera. Beatie makes up for this by making oversized split prisms for the F2 and F3. I like the Beattie screens for some applications, but some people can't use them and see no advantage.

Also know that I have access to tools and a workplace if you ever wanted to mod your own. Perhaps Phil came up with the best solution.

Cal
 
I find the plain screen ("B") most useful for focusing on the F2. Cal, your Black F2+DE-1 is worthy of drool.
 
Cal/Tung, I have the SLR version of the Micro-Nikkor, the extremely rare first version that is preset, and has an ultra-long helicoid that allows the lens to focus to 1:1 magnification without adapters on Nikon SLRs.
 
JMQ said:
Cal/Tung, I have the SLR version of the Micro-Nikkor, the extremely rare first version that is preset, and has an ultra-long helicoid that allows the lens to focus to 1:1 magnification without adapters on Nikon SLRs.
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Jean-Marc,

It would be interesting to see all your gear and John C.'s. I'm sure there is some really rare stuff there.

As I think of all the gear I own perhaps the there are only a few things that are rare: the 35/1.8 Nikkor in LTM (only about 1500 ever made in LTM); my Wetzlar M6 with Titanium top plate only because it is unusual; and maybe my black 28/3.5 Canon in LTM.

Cal
 
Phil_F_NM said:
Tung,
It looks like focusingscreen.com already has a kit ready to go but it's expensive. Twice the cost of the unmodified Canon screen but you get a little tool and some stuff to assist with the mod.

FYI, the screen in my D3 is a Canon Ec-A. They have others as well but the A screen is the one I prefer, personally.

The screens from the Nikon F6 would fit also and need less modification but the grit of the groundglass is not as coarse so the scattering angle is very low with respect to the VF exit pupil and as a result, you can't get the perfect sharp focus as easily as with a coarser screen like Canon makes. Nikon still adheres to the belief that everyone uses f/2.8 or slower zooms on their digital cameras!

There are a bunch of DIY tutorials online about modifying the Canon screens to fit the Nikons. It's not a hard job but it takes a bit of patience and some fit/refit trial and error the first time.

Good luck!

Phil Forrest
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Thanks for your writeup, Phil, so you are saying Canon's screens are supposed to be brighter than Nikon's (which is optimized for f2.8) when I mount a fast glass? if so, I will get Canon's screen, probably from focusing screen.com (to support Taiwanese business :D ).
 
JuJu said:
Thanks for your writeup, Phil, so you are saying Canon's screens are supposed to be brighter than Nikon's (which is optimized for f2.8) when I mount a fast glass? if so, I will get Canon's screen, probably from focusing screen.com (to support Taiwanese business :D ).
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Tung,
The Canon screens have a coarser grit and greater scattering angle. This makes the Canon Ec-A split-prism screen darker than the stock screen but if you are using mostly lenses faster than f/2.8 you won't notice. This screen is optimized for fast lenses being focused manually. You can see this effect by using the split prism aid while watching the focus confirmation dot in the viewfinder. You can see that there is depth of field built in to that focus confirmation sensor. This corresponds to the normal zoom lenses that Nikon and Canon are pushing these days. They don't make many superspeed manual focus lenses anymore aside from the 50mm f/1.2.

Anyway, the Nikon F6 screens are brighter but they don't focus fast lenses as easy as the Canon screens due to the finer grit of the Nikon screen.

The ones on focusingscreen.com are good drop-in units that will work perfectly for your camera, I'm sure. You won't have to worry about scratching the fragile polycarbonate screen with a sharp file. I stressed about mine for about an hour as I slowly cut away material from the Canon screen before fitting it to the carrier. Just make sure you're in a good clean, dust free area and the camera has been blown free of any stray dust. I left a tiny speck of dust under the screen and although it didn't affect anything it drove me nuts so I had to drop the screen, clean it and reinstall. Pain in the butt!

Phil Forrest
 
Understood and thank you so much for your time explaining, Phil. I just ordered a Canon EC-B split image focus screen (I think yours is an EC-B too, cuz' EC-A is microprism type). Focusing with your D3 was so easy, can't wait to put split image focus screen in my D600.
 
During last Sunday's get-together I'd mentioned Amish "Mud Sales"--auctions of almost anything that benefit local Lancaster County fire companies. The largest of these sales, the Gordonville sale, is coming up on March 8th. If anyone would like to come with me, let me know--but I'll be leaving EARLY (about 7AM) from West Philadelphia. There will be lots and lots of photographers around, but I'd dare say that nobody will be using a Polaroid-adapted 20s Voigtlander 4x5.
 
thambar said:
During last Sunday's get-together I'd mentioned Amish "Mud Sales"--auctions of almost anything that benefit local Lancaster County fire companies. The largest of these sales, the Gordonville sale, is coming up on March 8th. If anyone would like to come with me, let me know--but I'll be leaving EARLY (about 7AM) from West Philadelphia. There will be lots and lots of photographers around, but I'd dare say that nobody will be using a Polaroid-adapted 20s Voigtlander 4x5.
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Jim,

Still too cold for me.

Cal
 
Jim,

About 2 decades ago I almost got killed when all of the sudden I found my Jeep broke an axle at 65 MPH and I was three wheeling down an interstate. Somehow I defied the laws of physics and didn't roll my Jeep Scrambler that was lifted and overloaded into a ball of glass and steel. I skid down the highway shooting up a rooster-tail of sparks, I had to fight the sudden urge to urinate because I knew that there was a high probability I could die, but somehow I managed to dampen the swerving and not become a big wet red sponge.

I found myself stuck in West Salem Ohio for a week which was a community for bike gangs, Amish and truck drivers. I ended up being taken in and adopted by a local family, the Smiths, but I also had some trouble with a local skinhead that I thought I might have to kill. I figure that if I'm going to be a victim of a hate crime that I have the right to use deadly force, especially since I was alone at that time and had no back-up.

Cal
 
Cal, thank goodness you were able to escape with your entrails intact! That is one scary story. When you leave a major city, it's a completely different planet. There are times when I felt it more appropriate to bring my passport to the Midwest than to Europe. Sometime I'll have to share my experiences from the National Farm Toy Show in Dyersville, IA, home of the "Field of Dreams" museum (I jest not.)

And here's one I shot in town on the way to the February meet. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/focusit/get+your+sm.jpg.html
 
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