Bright screen for Minolta Autocord - necessary?

I just received my Autocord today. I'm ready to send it out for a CLA, but I

want to find out if I should have a Maxwell screen installed at the same time.

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Everyone is raving about the improvement of a Maxwell screen on a Rollei. There

is no doubt a modern bright screen can transform a old Rollei and it is almost a

must-have upgrade.

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But what about the Autocord? Some people say it is good to have the screen

upgraded. At the same time, many people say the original autocord screens are

clearly brighter than the Rollei's.

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I emailed Karl Bryan (a pro repairman specialized in Autocord) and asked for his

opinion. That's what he said:

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"I have found that the Beattie and Maxwell screens are grainy compared to the

Autocord. Yes, the screen is bright but the large Fresnel lines bug me. The

Autocord Fresnel lines are smoother and almost not visible. If you want to see

a truly bright screen that has super fine Fresnel lines, check out an Ikoflex

Favorite. The Favorite screen looks like a bright ground glass screen rather

than a ground glass screen with a Fresnel lens behind it. As far as inferior,

what are you defining as inferior. The design parameters used by the engineers

for the screens were not the same. Beattie and Maxwell aimed at bright screens

for large format cameras where you are shooting at f/32 or f/64. The reason

they wanted a bright screen is the focus of some large format lenses shifts as

you stop down and most large format camera users are fanatical about focussing.

So without a bright screen you ended up staying under a hot focus hood in the

hot sun until your eyes adjusted and then tried to focus. It was later that the

screens were made for TLRs, due to requests from Rollie users because Rolleiflex

didn't know how to make decent screens. The Autocord/Diacord screens were

designed specifically to emulate a ground glass screen but to be brighter. It

was their way of setting themselves apart from the horde of Japanese TLRs in the

50's and 60's. Yashica TLR screens are bright but grainy but Yashica got away

with it because they undercut the other manufacturers in cost.

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I would recommend trying the Autocord screen before spending the money on a

Beattie or Maxwell screen."</i><br><br>

 

 

 

 

So now I just received the camera and have spent some time with it. The screen

is decent and workable, but I still wish it could be brighter. <br>

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Here are my questions:<br><br>

1) How much brighter is a Maxwell screen?<br><br>

2) Do you find the pattern on the fresnel lens of your Maxwell screen to be

distracting?<br><br>

3) I'm new to TLR. Is the extra brightness beyond the original autocord screen

going to help much in the operation of the camera?<br><br>

4)Some people prefer a plain matte screen and some prefer screens with a split

rangefinder in the center. What's better for TLR? Is it simply a matter of

personal preference?

 

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I was always happy with the screen that came with my Autocord. I'd save the money and buy more film.

Perhaps an indicator of the quality of Minolta screens is that Hasselblad went to Minolta when they needed a better screen for the 500 series cameras.

 

John

But did Minolta already make these excellent screens when they built the Autocord?

I think the screen okay on my Autocord, but would definitely recommend replacing the Rolleicord screens. I find the Autocord screen is bright enough and on a par with my older 500C. My eyes are 56+ years old and are less happy with poor viewfinders. The Minolta variety are still fine, but everyone's opinion may differ. When I had Mamiya TLRs I also tweaked those! The new Hassy screens are beauties compared to the older ones, IMO.

Jeff: When you say the autocord screen is on par with your older 500C, and the new hassy screen are beauties compared to the older ones. Does that mean a new hassy screen is much better than the autocord screen?

 

If that's true, a modern bright screen would be a worthwhile improvement over the original autocord screen. Isn't it?

I've been shooting with Autocord since the early 1960's and never had a problem with the screen. I've also had a Hasselblad 500C and several models of Rollieflex TLR's and a Yashicamat. The Autocord screen has always satisfied me.

Why not see how you get on with it before having the screen changed? One point is to make sure the mirror is in good condition.

Jack,

 

You sent your camera to a GREAT repairman! Karl has worked on the two autocords I got last summer and they work great. Like you I was worried about the screens being dim but I have not found that to be a problem at all. I have used and sold a Yashica Mat 124G and Mamiya C220, the Autocord screen is just as good if not better than the screens in the other TLRs I had. I got hooked on TLRs after checking out a Rollei at a local used camera dealer-nice feel to the camera but that screen was DIM and the camera was in bad condition and cost a LOT! Autocords are a much better deal for what I wanted to do.

 

When you get your camera back see how it works for you. The CLA may help a bit because a lot of the used TLRs have dust on the viewing lens mirror and once that is cleaned off the projected image will be brighter.

 

Scott

Thanks everyone for your input.

 

John: The screen seems reasonably bright for bright outdoor condition. But for dark interior situation I find it difficult to see the shadow area on the screen. Since I don't have a modern bright screen to compare with, I don't have a reference point of how good a bright screen can get.

 

My original thought was that 40+ years of improvement in technology should give us a much brighter screen. And a screen upgrade will make the camera a much more practical shooter - esp with today's low grain high speed film.

 

 

Maybe it is unrealistic to expect from a TLR the type of clarify that I'm used to with a SLR viewfinder, isn't it? Maybe TLR isn't meant for handholding in dark available light situation and I should learn to live with the limitation?

 

 

I took Karl's advice and sent him the camera for CLA without adding a Maxwell screen. Let's see if it will get brighter after the cleaning.

The later Autocords (citizen shutter) have an additional fresnel screen under the ground glass. On those, if the mirror is in good condition and you clean the lens/mirror/fresnel/ground-glass the image is very good. Not as bright as the Maxwell (I have tried two of those: One with split image and one with grid only) BUT it snaps into focus as easy (dare I say better?). As others have mentioned the autocord comes with a much brighter screen than the Rolleis do. The problem I have with Maxwell screens is that they project light straight up. If your eye is not directly above the center of the screen the brightness drops dramatically. Not a problem if you use a prism or while you focus with the magnifier. But it is a problem when you try to compose waist level and the image darkens on one or the other eye (as you move). Someone mentioned the Hasselblad's newer acute matte screen. Now those are nice. They are as bright as the maxwell and have a much wider angle of view. I can use both eyes on the entire screen and focus has a great snap. Problem is that they are a bit thick and a bit small to fit the autocord. I took one apart and made a plastic extension to fit the hooks/springs of my autocord. It is my favorite screen. Be very careful, the maxwell and the acute matte (once taken apart) are VERY easy to scratch. The original autocord is very durable.

Your problem may be the dim viewing lens on the Autocord. Some Yashica TLR cameras have a 2.8 viewing lens which is quite a bit brighter.

Hi,

I have, well, several Autocords. The exact number is secret, at least from my wife. I love shooting with them, and love the results, which are not distinguishable from my Rolleis.

They've all been CLA'd, and 3 have Maxwell screens, both the plain matte and split image types. I find that I prefer to use the Maxwell screen ones, especally the split-image. A baseball or boonie hat helps too, to keep the sun off the screen, whichever one it is.

My personal, and totally subjective answers to your questions are:

1. How mush brighter? Lots.

2. Fresnel pattern distracting? No. It's really not very visible when the camera is at waist level, and doesn't matter when you hold the camera up close for critical focusing.

3. Extra brightness helpful? It is for me.

4. plain vs. split: I really like the split image. I have had shots ruined in situations where it's not very bright and there isn't much depth of field, and I just missed the focus by a little bit. The split image seems to help that, and if the spot in the middle is distracting at first, I think you get used to it.

Anyway, that's just me.

Opinions differ.