Focusing screen for Canon 5D Mk2

[hocus_focus]

<p>Is Canon's EG-S screen an improvement for <strong>manual focus in low light</strong> over the default screen?</p>

<p>Strangely, Canon does not make a split screen for 5D Mk2 so I looked elsewhere. Anyone have experience with <a href="http://www.focusingscreen.com/index.php?cPath=21_98">these</a>?</p>

<p>I also contacted Katz Eye and got this reply:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Thank you very much for your inquiry. Unfortunately, we are not able to<br /> support the Canon 5D MkII at this time. Both 5D versions are models we<br /> would like to support, but current technical limitations prevent us from<br /> making screens for these cameras and it is unknown if we will support them<br /> in the future or not. Work is ongoing, but no short term solution is<br /> apparent.<br /><br /> We do not offer the 'Ec-B' screens sold by some eBay sellers. We examined<br /> that possibility, but the Canon Ec-B screen is really too small to fashion a<br /> proper Eg series screen using that material and the results did not meet<br /> KatzEye standards of quality. While you may or may not find success with<br /> the available imported Ec-B screens, I cannot make a recommendation due to<br /> the poor results in our testing. At present, the only solution I can<br /> recommend is the optional Canon screen, type Eg-S, available from most<br /> photographic accessory retailers.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Taking Katz Eye's comment into consideration, how trustworthy are <a href="http://www.focusingscreen.com/index.php?cPath=21_98">these</a>?</p>

[scott_ferris]

<p>Hocus,</p>

<p>It is not strange, AF, generally, doesn't work with a split screen, this means that once you put in a split screen you are MF only.</p>

<p>For $30 I'd try the Canon screen, if you have fast primes. If your lenses are f2.8 or slower then there is very little advantage.</p>

[hocus_focus]

<p>My lenses are f/2.8 and f/2.</p>

<p>Why would I lose the advantage with f/2.8 lenses?</p>

<p>Will the EF-S screen affect AF?</p>

 

[steve_dunn2]

<p>I haven't used any replacement screens, so maybe I'm missing something here, but can you explain why your choice of a focusing screen would affect AF, when the focusing screen has nothing to do with the AF system? The light going to the AF system, which is housed in the bottom of the mirror box, goes through the main "mirror" (technically, a half-mirror), and is then reflected down to the AF hardware off the sub-mirror mounted on the back of the main mirror. The light going to the viewfinder reflects up off the main mirror and is projected onto the focusing screen, which is then viewed through the pentaprism and eyepiece optics.</p>

 

<p>The focusing screen can mess with exposure metering, since exposure metering is done by a sensor looking at the focusing screen; that's why many bodies that officially accept interchangeable focusing screens have a custom function that adjusts metering for certain screens.</p>

[hocus_focus]

<p>Is EF-S worse, better or equal in low light to the default screen?</p>

 

[g dan mitchell]

<p>Are you doing a sort of photography in which live view is not an option? Live view is very functional in low light and provides that capability to achieve much more accurate focus... and more.</p>

<p>Dan</p>

[scott_ferris]

<p>Steve you are right, my mind is only half there today. It is the metering that gets messed up not the auto focus, sorry. </p>

<p>Hocus, because the screen has a transmission efficiency, the S screen is faster than f 2.8 lenses, but after that the lens doesn't pass any more light, so the view is dimmer. Like looking through sunglasses (the focus screen) and a windshield (the lens), if your glasses are dirty it doesn't matter how clean your windshield is (a focus screen scenario with a fast prime and normal screen) but if you clean your sunglasses and mess up your windshield (S focus screen and f2.8 and slower lens) you still get no benefit.</p>

<p><em>"Is EF-S worse, better or equal in low light to the default screen?"</em></p>

<p>Never any worse; with f2.8 lenses and slower, the same; with faster than f2.8 lenses, better.</p>

[hocus_focus]

<p>OK thanks Mr Scott, very clear. I might get the EF-S. My main lens is f/2.8 so that's a pity that i don't get any improvement.</p>

<p>Still looking into <strong>focusingscreens.com </strong><br /> Are they any better or worse than Canon? I'd like a split screen, unless it messes with AF.</p>

<p>Btw, what's a cross screen good for?</p>

[JosvanEekelen]

<p>I have looked at these before, alternatives for Katzeye are also Haoda and Brightscreen. You make check their websites to see if they make the focusing screen you want to have. I have seen one of these al last Photokina, at the Zeiss stand. I don't recall the camera type it probably was a 5D mkI. The screen looked very good (with a Zeiss 50/1.4) but of course I could not take pictures with it.</p>

[Robin Smith]

<p>The Eg-S screen is better for MF at any aperture f2.8 or faster. For a lens slower than f2.8 the viewfinder is darker than the default screen, which might make it worse.</p>

<p>I used to use the Eg-S and have since moved on to the grid screen (which has the same MF characteristics as the default) as I rarely MF, and when I do I use live view, and I prefer the better viewfinder brightness with the 70-200 f4.</p>

[omar_fernandez]

<p>I have no experience with accessory focusing screens, but I remember that the Kirk Tuck Blog had an item about cheap third party screems which he uses and notes that they work. <br>

See here, with link for screen for 7D noted in the blog page:<br>

<a href="http://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/2011/04/digging-around-inside-my-camera-with.html">http://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/2011/04/digging-around-inside-my-camera-with.html</a><br>

also available for the 5D here:<br>

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Single-Focusing-Screen-Canon-Cowboystudio/dp/B003YHZ2R2?ie=UTF8&tag=thev0c1-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969">http://www.amazon.com/Single-Focusing-Screen-Canon-Cowboystudio/dp/B003YHZ2R2?ie=UTF8&tag=thev0c1-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969</a><br>

Good Luck</p>

[craigd]

<p>I use the Eg-S screen on my 5D Mark II. It's definitely superior at fast apertures and definitely a bit darker at slow apertures (but still quite usable in good light).</p>

<p>The focusing screen shouldn't affect autofocus at all, but a split-image rangefinder screen would probably interfere with correct metering because the camera isn't designed with the expectation that a split-image screen will be used. Modern cameras are designed with the expectation that most users use autofocus most of the time. Manual focus, despite being necessary at times and preferable to some people, is really something of a vestigial survival from earlier times in today's cameras, not something the camera makers really pay much attention to.</p>

[philip_wilson]

If you can try it out. My local store suggested that I would not really want to buy it once I tested it. I tried the screen

and they were correct. I thought it would help with MF lenses (I shoot MAmiya 645 lenses on a tilt shift adaptor) but

found while it helped I still had to use live view for exposure settings. Since as Robin points out the screen with my

70-200 F4 L IS and 300 F4 IS was darker I decided not to buy it. Since then I have added the 17F4 TS but did not

test this combination.

[mike dixon]

I've been using the Eg-S screen for several years, first in a 5D, now in a 5D2. It is a definite improvement for focusing in low light with fast lenses. I do a lot of shooting in very-dark environments using an old manual focus lens, and the Eg-S helps quite a bit in attaining accurate focus more quickly.