Cowboy Studio focusing screens

[tom_christiansen]

<p>Folks,<br>

I'm looking for a focusing screen for my 5D (not mk II). Have any of you tried the focusing screens from Cowboy Studio? At $25/ea, it seems worth a shot, but on the other hand spending $25 for garbage is $25 too much... I can't find reviews for them anywhere.<br>

Thanks,<br>

~Tom</p>

[orly_andico]

<p>It's probably of the same provenance as the Jinfinance and other such screens from ebay.</p>

<p>I've been using Jinfinance screens in my Pentax K20D and Canon 40D. All of them are from China. I see no reason this Cowboy Studio is any better given the price (and given that the Canon screens cost more than 2X as much).</p>

<p>They work just fine, but they are "dirty". If fluff in your viewfinder makes you mad, do not use one of these screens. The one in my 40D doesn't seem to affect metering at all in spite of the split-screen.</p>

<p>Note that not all Chinese screens are created equal. I had a Virtual Village screen in my Pentax K10D and it was off (required bits of tape to shim it, so that when it indicated in-focus, the lens was actually in-focus). The two Jinfinance screens I have have not required shimming. OTOH Pentax AF can be unreliable, but the split-image in my 40D agrees with the AF on all my lenses without shimming. So based on my 3-sample experience, you may want to go with Jinfinance.</p>

[tom_christiansen]

<p>I sent Cowboy Studio an email through Amazon.com but didn't receive a response. This was over a month ago... It's of course possible that my email got lost.</p>

<p>I decided to go with a known good. Jinfinance on eBay sells some screens that get pretty good reviews. I'll let you know what I think once I get mine.</p>

<p>~Tom</p>

[tom_christiansen]

<p>Following up: </p>

<p>I finally got the focusing screen from Jinfinance on eBay. It took 2~3 weeks before the screen shipped as it wasn't in stock. But once it shipped, it arrived in the US in about a week.</p>

<p>The split image field and surrounding micro-prism area are nice and large. Focus with the split image is dead nuts on. However, the matte area of the screen is horrible. Even when the focusing distance is correct, the subject looks out of focus on the screen. There's very little contrast to work with.</p>

<p>As a result, I have decided to go with an Ec-B screen that's been cut to size by the guys at www.focusingscreen.com. I tried grinding my own screen, but found that it needs some shims to get the focus right. It's also very difficult to make the screen center perfectly in the viewfinder. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I'll go with a precision machined device for this.<br>

Just playing around with the screen I ground (600 grit sand paper, lots of patience), I have concluded that while the area in the center of the screen gets rather crowded due to the center AF point, split image field, etc. it's much preferred over a screen that doesn't work on the matte area. The Ec-B matte area is really good. The focus really snaps. I like it...</p>

<p>~Tom</p>