No Focusing Screens for 5D MIII?

[dr croubie]

2. Has the Katzeye a self installing option too? Easy? Advantages towards focusingscreens.com ?

I can answer in a few weeks, if you don't mind the wait.
Katzeye say:
"However, the Canon 7D focusing screen is not designed to be user changeable and the procedure is only recommended to be performed by a professional camera technician. No tools or technical support for installation issues will be provided. An installation guide is available for download here, but this should not be construed as endorsement of customer-installation of the screen — this guide is intended for professional use only!"

In short, you can do it yourself, but don't whinge to us or blame us (or ask for repair money) if you penis it up. I'm an electronic engineer with experience in service and repair, so I'm confident I can do it without breaking too much. But if you're not me, you value your camera more, or trust yourself less, and can do without your camera for a few weeks, send it to them (or buy it and get a local camera-techie to do it).

ps, it's http://www.focusingscreen.com/, i'd never heard of them before but i'm checking them out now, they look to be cheaper and have a lot more to choose from, horizontal/vertical/diagonal/double split prisms, with or without microprisms. They also seem to have a few of each in stock, KatzEye is made-to-order so they're running a few weeks behind. They don't have an equivalent of KatzEye's OptiBrite though, i've got lenses down to f/5.6 (or worse with teleconverters) so the Optibrite will probably be fairly useful for me...

 

[te4o]

2. Has the Katzeye a self installing option too? Easy? Advantages towards focusingscreens.com ?

I can answer in a few weeks, if you don't mind the wait.

I don't mind at all, Dr. I am not an electronic engineer unfortunately and I'll be afraid to screw on a new 3500+ body... I'm glad you try first.
As usual, time will tell. From the fredmiranda discussion on this topic it seems that AF confirmation won't cut it even with the best AF in the world - that's because of some averaging of active Af points. Anyway, it's a long time to go until I get a 5D3. Thanks for your reply!

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

The bigger 100% viewfinder, just like the 1 series is going to help. Otherwise, you might want a 1 series, Canon seems to have left a lot of little things out of the 5D MK III, but its half the price.

 

[nighstar]

bad news.....

from Q&A with Chuck Westfall (Canon Technical Advisor) at: http://blog.planet5d.com/2012/03/questions-answered-for-the-canon-eos-5d-mark-iii-hdmi-video/

Q: There is an issue here that has not been mentioned in the previews I have seen so far.
The specifications on Canon’s website tell that 5d3 has a fixed focusing screen, like 7d, while 5d2 has an interchangeable one. How is this fixed screen compared to the standard screen and the Eg-S screen for 5d2? Does this fixed screen on 5d3 show precise focus regarding to depth of field on higher apertures than f:2.8?

CW: The EOS 5D Mark III’s focusing screen has about the same overall brightness and depth-of-field characteristics as the EOS 5D Mark II‘s Eg-A standard focusing screen. This is a brighter screen than the Eg-S with most lenses, but it does not depict depth of field accurately for apertures wider than about f/4. Manual focusing accuracy using the optical viewfinder is about the same, lens for lens, on the 5D Mark III as it is on the 5D Mark II with an Eg-A focusing screen.

 

[Ryan708]

My 60d has 3 options in the custom functions for selecting what focuys sceen I have installed. And the manual says if i change the focus screen to set the custom functions correctly. Does this mean my 60d has interchangeable focus screen and the 5d MkIII does not????

 

[Invertalon]

My 60d has 3 options in the custom functions for selecting what focuys sceen I have installed. And the manual says if i change the focus screen to set the custom functions correctly. Does this mean my 60d has interchangeable focus screen and the 5d MkIII does not????

Correct. But your 60D does not have the advanced transmissive LCD either displaying the grid lines, focus points, AF modes, etc...

That is the tradeoff... Focus screen or awesome viewfinder information. I will take the advanced LCD!

 

[noxious_nasties]

Well here are the instructions for the 7d with katzeye.

http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/files/install_12.pdf

Doesn't seem too difficult at all - at least nothing that a good techie can't handle.
I wouldn't be too concerned about getting a focus screen from katzeye or focusscreen.com
for all the mf people out there.

 

[nighstar]

Well here are the instructions for the 7d with katzeye.

Doesn't seem too difficult at all - at least nothing that a good techie can't handle.
I wouldn't be too concerned about getting a focus screen from katzeye or focusscreen.com
for all the mf people out there.

yes, getting a good focusing screen isn't really the issue. it's voiding your warranty by installing it and the lack of built-in metering compensation that's the real problem, imho.

sure, i can buy and install a katzeye focusing screen, but then my metering will be off and there will be no way of fixing it. cameras that allow interchangeable focusing screens have built-in metering adjustments, which the Mark III won't have.

 

[Loswr]

That is the tradeoff... Focus screen or awesome viewfinder information. I will take the advanced LCD!

Not exactly. The 1D X has the transmissive LCD that provides 'awesome viewfinder information', and it has interchangeable focusing screens. Canon simply chose not to include that feature on the 5DIII - which is unfortunate for all those people who need MF for fast lenses (anyone using expensive Zeiss lenses on a 5DII, for example).

 

[noxious_nasties]

Metering will be an issue I agree. It's a big downside in my opinion that it can't change screens as I like macro work but at least the option is there.

I can't see it being bad on the warranty when done correctly though - you'd just have to replace the original when/if you need the warranty.

 

[chito]

this is really starting to bother me.. I don't do a ton of MF but I like to see the DOF of my ridiculously priced L primes, and I hate the 1 series form factor..


I wonder what Jeff Ascough thinks of this.. I read that he MF a lot, and he uses the 50L... Maybe Canon will make a special 5D3 just for him...

 

[wickidwombat]

bummer I hope Katzeyez do one for the 5D3
I would have thought a bigger VF might have made it more like the older 1 series
which to be honest absolutely kill the 5D2 in this department even with the EG-S screen in the 5D2 my 1Dmk 3 with standard screen in is significantly easier to use MF on

 

[te4o]

bummer I hope Katzeyez do one for the 5D3
I would have thought a bigger VF might have made it more like the older 1 series
which to be honest absolutely kill the 5D2 in this department even with the EG-S screen in the 5D2 my 1Dmk 3 with standard screen in is significantly easier to use MF on

WickedW, I contacted brightscreen.com and they are preparing one. Doesn't seem to be difficult. However, what you say is very probable because the EgS was not extremely helpful. So, please let me know when you get yours from leederville what is the VF experience! I use only CZ an rely entirely on MF, started circling the 135/2 though to get an idea of the new AF...

 

[wickidwombat]

bummer I hope Katzeyez do one for the 5D3
I would have thought a bigger VF might have made it more like the older 1 series
which to be honest absolutely kill the 5D2 in this department even with the EG-S screen in the 5D2 my 1Dmk 3 with standard screen in is significantly easier to use MF on

WickedW, I contacted brightscreen.com and they are preparing one. Doesn't seem to be difficult. However, what you say is very probable because the EgS was not extremely helpful. So, please let me know when you get yours from leederville what is the VF experience! I use only CZ an rely entirely on MF, started circling the 135/2 though to get an idea of the new AF...

yeah will do, Since I will keep 1 5D2 for MF duty i'll most likey get a brightscreen for it

 

[nighstar]

WickedW, I contacted brightscreen.com and they are preparing one. Doesn't seem to be difficult.

good to know, thanks.

i am really hoping to use old MF lenses on my Mark III without having to always reference liveview for focusing.... i should be getting the Mark III on the 22nd, so time will tell. i have no 5D Mark II to compare with, though.

 

[Isurus]

Why do you say the viewfinder does not go wider than 5.6? I thought until the time of the shutter, the aperture is fully open and so should be at the F level you are trying to use.
Maybe i am mistaken, but can you explain a bit more please.

That statement isn't really correct for the aperture - it's actually f/2.8. The focusing screens in modern dSLRs are laser microetched to make them brighter, so they work better with slow lenses which are common these days. One consequence of that is that the viewfinder shows the DoF of an f/2.8 lens even with lenses that are faster than that. If you have a fast prime, test it yourself - use the DoF preview button as you stop down from wide open, and you'll see that the VF doesn't start getting darker until you hit ~f/2.8 (or f/2.5 with some lenses). The high-precision Eg-S screen for the 5DII is a 'brighter' screen that shows the true DoF for fast lenses (but f/5.6 lenses are pretty dark, unlike with the stock screen).

I use an Eg-S on the 5DII, and the lack of a similar option for the 5DIII is very disappointing. It's true that there will likely be 3rd party screens as there are for the 7D, but the focusing screen on the 7D is not considered user-replaceable, and doing yourself is a challenge, so most of the vendors that sell 7D screens also offer a service to swap them out. Personally, I prefer the flexibility to easily change them out on-the-fly - Eg-S when I'm going to be using a fast prime, Eg-A (the stock screen) when using a slower zoom, like the 28-300L where I might be outdoors or inside.

Per Chucky, the f2.8 isn't accurate either; it's actually f4.0. 8) Regardless, having used the 7D quite a bit over the past couple years and finding manual focusing with wide apertures to be an exercise in frustration, this is probably a deal breaker for me.

I had completely forgotten about this (even though I started the thread - lol) until this thread got resurrected. While I've indicated in other threads I was leaning towards getting the MIII over the 1D X simply because of cost, I've decided to cancel my pre-order and wait for the 1D X. Manual focusing is too critical for me and I'm not interesting in having to pay attention to the aperture I'm using and then adjust metering compensation accordingly.

 

[7enderbender]

Looks like the standard screen that it's going to come with is a grid-style focusing screen... thank g-d. I shoot architecture, and without a grid, I'd be dead meat, and this would have been a deal breaker.

No, the standard screen has no grid. The grid is part of the 'intelligent viewfinder' and is a feature that can be turned on/off. It's generated by the transmissive LCD that sits next to the focusing screen. The 7D and 1D X have a simliar feature - unlike most cameras, you can actually completely turn off the AF points displayed on them.

I'm still thinking about getting the gridded screen for my 5DII. Do you happen to know if that one is as bright as the original or more like the EG-S?

 

[Pyrenees]

No interchangeable focus screens is disappointing. I've noticed that the Nikon D800 has the same limitation.

I guess, however, to offset that to some degree, the 5dIII has a decent 3.2" lcd screen which will make liveview-based-focusing a bit easier than on the mark II.

 

[Loswr]

I'm still thinking about getting the gridded screen for my 5DII. Do you happen to know if that one is as bright as the original or more like the EG-S?

The Eg-D grid screen is like the stock Eg-A screen (but with gridlines) - brighter with slow lenses, but doesn't show the true DoF with fast lenses (and less bright than Eg-S with a fast lens - you haven't seen a bright VF until you've looked through an f/1.2 lens with the Eg-S screen).

 

[candyman]

Has anyone tried this with his 7D? http://www.focusingscreen.com/work/7den.htm


And, how does the K3 focusing screen work for you?