Beattie Focusing Screens..where is Beattie?

Having given up finding a used Beattie Focusing screen for my Bronica ETRS, I tried to contact Beattie. I'm not sure they are still in business although their website is still up and running. I tried to 'Google' Beattie and they may have been taken over by another company, but I couldn't come up with anything on that search.

 

So to the more knowledgable posters, is Beattie still in existence and, if so, where are they?

Beattie is part of a US business called Reflexite based in Rochester NY. There's an address on the Beattie Intenscreen website- press the "Contact us " link on the homepage. There's a full dealer list also available with phone numbers so depending on where you are you might be able to call somewhere local to find out what's available these days. Doubt whether they'd sell used though.

Reflexite was absorbed by Orofol, an international company with plants all over. Reflexite makes reflective tape, etc. I managed to find what may be left of Beattie in a division that specializes in all sorts of fresnel screens and so forth. I fear that. Beattie and their focusing screens is no more which is not surprising since mirrorless cameras have absorbed most of the market that DSLR's once had. Mirrorless cameras use EVF's and therefore have no need for focusing screens. Such is progress and I fear that photographic troglodytes like we film shooters don't count for much in the commercial world anymore. I 'll keep looking but in the interim the stock Bronica focusing screen works.

 

What I find strange is that the Beattie website is still accessible. Incidentally, the vendors listed on that website such as B&H do not stock new focusing screens for discontinued cameras, but they do for Hasselblad, Mamiya, Horsmann,and sundry view cameras.

Beattie IntenScreen has been gone for quite awhile now, as has the original mfr of BrightScreen (who unfortunately passed away). The equivalent for DSLRs was KatzEye, which indeed got directly gutted by the introduction of the Sony A7 full frame with EVF (like Beattie, a zombie website for KatzEye still exists, cruelly listing wonderful screens they no longer mfr).

 

For medium format, Beattie was almost always considered a distant third choice, ranked below Maxwell and BrightScreen. Beattie was ultra ultra bright, but difficult to nail exact focus with (great for slow lens composition, not so hot for focusing). Maxwell was generally considered the super premium screen for MF, but the price was and remains higher than most non-pros were willing to pay (Bill Maxwell is still in business, but arranging communication and purchase can be tricky). The original BrightScreen was considered the best compromise between Maxwell and Beattie, but is no longer available in its vintage form.

 

Rick Oleson obtained the rights to BrightScreen awhile back, and after a couple years of teething pains seems to have locked down a consistent supply of materials. His BrightScreen clones are reasonably priced, work very well, but he only makes them for cameras that don't require being individually framed (i.e., he'll sell you one for the early Hasselblad 500C and 500EL, but not the popular 500cm and 500elm). He makes an exception for the Bronica ETR, but it involves some DIY alterations: he'll sell you the screen, but you need to carefully transplant the frame from your original ETR screen onto the new BrightScreen.

 

If you can afford upwards of $290, look into Maxwell HiLuxe, otherwise the Rick Oleson BrightScreen at approx $80 is about as good as you'll find in a brand new aftermarket medium format focus screen today. Given the inexplicable high price still demanded for 20 year old used Beattie screens, I'd probably avoid them unless you have a specific need for extreme brightness at the sacrifice of contrast and snap (or you don't mind relying solely on the central split image aid).

Rick Oleson obtained the rights to BrightScreen awhile back, and after a couple years of teething pains seems to have locked down a consistent supply of materials.

 

 

FWIW, Rick owns the BrightScreen molds and actually physically goes to a molding facility and casts them himself. That's at least what he told me while he was working on fitting one to my 500 EL/M(which he said would probably be the last/only one he did).

 

I have a microprism BrightScreen from him in my 500C, which was an easy and straight forward install. I THINK he said that came from left over BrightScreen stock that he'd acquired. The one in my 500 EL/M(which Rick fitted while I watched and waited) is a diagonal split that was from his own run.

FWIW, Rick owns the BrightScreen molds and actually physically goes to a molding facility and casts them himself. That's at least what he told me while he was working on fitting one to my 500 EL/M(which he said would probably be the last/only one he did).

 

I think thats what the issue was during the first couple years: he didn't yet have complete control over the entire mfg workflow (he was dependent on random stashes of the original new old stock materials that would irregularly turn up). So every few months, the available screen configurations he offered would flip 180 degrees and back again (sometimes you could only get split image, sometimes only microprism, sometimes only plain). if you were in desperate need of a screen during a period he didn't have your preferred central focus aid available, it could be extremely frustrating (esp to newcomers who didn't realize if you waited six months the situation would flip again).

 

Rick seemed to work all the kinks out of the supply chain a few years ago, I haven't seen any indication of limited choices in quite some time. Everyone here on p-net who has purchased one of his recent BrightScreens seems very satisfied: I really need to stop procrastinating and order one myself for a TLR I've had sitting unused for far too long.

Problem solved! As I related, I purchased my ETRS and found everything was great except for the focusing screen. I had trouble getting it to focus with my first roll. I assumed that the standard Bronica screen was crap. So, I thought I'd try a +.5 diopter if I could find one since that is what I use on my Leica M240. I found one at the right price in England and it arrived today. As I was removing the original glass, I turned it over and saw that it was +1.5 diopter. No wonder I couldn't focus. I was effectively shooting blind. I installed the newly arrived +.5 diopter and low and behold, everything sharpened up and the original Bronica screen is very sharp and bright. I'll still consider ordering one from Rick Oleson in the future since the screen in my ETRS has an unsightly scratch on it, but as of now I am happy , Embarrassed, but happy.:)

Funny, you're the second "new" Bronica user in as many days here on p-net to discover their focusing issue had a fairly simple, perfect cure! We should all be so lucky, every time.

 

It is amazing what a difference the right diopter can make. I had happily used Nikon F and F2 cameras for decades, partly because the viewfinder optics were a perfect match for my eyeglass prescription. Then suddenly about ten years ago, my vision shifted in some weird way and every Nikon became infuriatingly difficult to focus. I tried everything: new eyeglass prescription, standard diopter strengths, nothing helped. I could still focus Olympus, Pentax, and medium format waist levels but Nikon remained slightly soft. So for quite awhile I gave up shooting 35mm film, using Nikon AF DSLRs with adjustable built-in diopter instead.

 

A couple years later, I stumbled across a thread here discussing some innate peculiarities of Nikon film camera viewing optics. I learned vintage Nikons shipped from the factory with a built-in -1.0 diopter, which I guess meshed perfectly with my eyeglasses, until it didn't. Most camera systems offer auxiliary diopters in full increments, like -2 -1 +1 +2 etc. When I tried those they didn't work, because neither I (nor my dealers) realized the Nikon optics are a bit goofy to begin with. That forum thread mentioned eyeglass wearers often needed a more obscure, misunderstood Nikon "0" or "0.5" diopter to neutralize the built-in -1. It took some time, but I tracked down several "0" diopters, installed them on all my Nikon film bodies, and now they're crystal-clear easy to focus again (just to for insurance, I grabbed a handful of 0.5 as well). Talk about arcane: with Nikon the diopter marked "0" is actually +1.0 (the true zero, plain glass eyepiece is sold as "replacement eyepiece").

Edited October 16, 2019 by orsetto

Hello all,

This is my first post and rather that starting a new thread I'm reviving this one...anyway I acquired a Beattie screen for my RB67 Pro S on eBay and would like to know more about the one I got being I can't find ANY info on this particular one. According to the case it came in ( assuming it's the right case ) it's a Lifetouch Grid Beattie number 83301 and I know it's gridded for 6x7 and 645 but what are the additional lines for? I'm assuming the small rectangle is for framing vertical portraits or is it for something else? 

If you are familiar with this screens uses I'd love to know more.

Thanks!

Lifetouch was/is one of the largest high-volume portrait photography franchises in North America: they've been in business 80 years, certainly long enough that it seems logical this bespoke focus screen configuration was made by Beattie to Lifetouch precise specifications. Probably not a stock offering in Beattie's catalog: I'd guess this was made only for Lifetouch to offer as a proprietary accessory for their affiliated photographers.

Mamiya was by far the medium format system of choice in the heyday of churn-em-out school and corporate film portrait work (most often the C220/C330 TLRs, but the later RB67 made heavy inroads and even the clunky Universal Press was popular in some applications like passports and IDs). 

The layout of this screen indicates the attached RB67 was expected to remain in fixed portrait orientation at a fixed distance, with the upper small rectangle used to quickly position the face in the overall frame (handy when dealing with an endless parade of schoolkids etc).

Interesting find! Hope it proves to have some utility for you.