Patent: Variable Diffusion Focusing Screen

[Lawliet]

Yeah! But it is much easier to just do this to a wall with the same effect over one whole area.

You're not constrained to shade the wall uniformly - the more elaborte ones allow for sectional control, basicly a grayscale matrix display.

Even with an EVF or live view screen this is tough. but with an in camera DSLR focussing screen...?

Take the focus mask from a Phase One and feed it into the display's control input.

Just WOW!
(please correct me, if I get this patent wrong)

Maybe I'd be more impressed hadn't our kindergardeners figured out how to entertain themselves during travel by playing a variation of "magna doodle" or the shadow theatre game on those seperators. ;D

The new part is just the use in the viewfinder, to replicate parts of the functionality an EVF has.

 

[Loswr]

In spite of the naysayers, this will be a very useful technology for anyone shooting with a mix of fast primes and slower lenses, and innovative of Canon to work toward a dSLR implementation of the technology.

 

[Sporgon]

In spite of the naysayers, this will be a very useful technology for anyone shooting with a mix of fast primes and slower lenses, and innovative of Canon to work toward a dSLR implementation of the technology.

Yes, photographers like me. I use fast primes but slow ( 24 to 300 range ) zooms, principally because I don't want to weigh myself down with heavy zoom lenses. The different screen characteristics required are a nuisance. It would be pleasing to have both in one.

My only concern is that is is going to be done with activating LCD, which in itself may not give the crisp clear screen view of current S screens when in focus.

 

[vscd]

I use the Canon Ee-S and it's quite good to focus, even on f1.2. The downside is to use lenses with f2.8 or faster, but that's doable in most cases. Is the 5D Mark3 able to change the Focus Screens anyway? I don't think so... ;(

 

[Joe M]

All of this is useless until the image quality itself improves, along with resolution, frame rates, and codecs.

So shooting a fast prime is worthless right now as we don't have resolution, frame rates or codecs? I'm not sure I understand this. Why is being able to manually focus a fast prime of no value right now?

 

[Mitch.Conner]

It just dawned on me, how useful will this be at night without some type of focusing screen illumination?

 

[AcutancePhotography]

It just dawned on me, how useful will this be at night without some type of focusing screen illumination?

Probably no more or less of a problem than with a traditional Manual Focusing camera.

 

[Maximilian]

(please correct me, if I get this patent wrong)

Unfortunately, I think you have misunderstood slightly. The screen isn't changing diffusion locally based on where the image is or is not in focus, it's changing the global diffusion.

Okay! I did (and still) read it a little bit different, but if it is so, it's still very nice but no longer "wow", that's true.
Thanks for giving me your interpretation.

 

[Keith_Reeder]

So shooting a fast prime is worthless right now as we don't have resolution, frame rates or codecs? I'm not sure I understand this. Why is being able to manually focus a fast prime of no value right now?

Don't feed the whiny troll...

In fact, check out his Flickr stream and then tell me why we'd give a toss about his "opinions":
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidbphotos/

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

And forgive my ignorance but why aren't modern DSLRs fitted with split prism focusing screens. I shot with a Canon AE-1 and/or A-1 for 20 years and never, ever missed focus on anything. I was 50/50 in focus with the 5DII and 70-200 2.8 Mk I. Now with the 5DIII and 70-200 MkII I'm about 90% in focus but still...

They are optional on 1 series. I bought one for my 1D MK III, but found that it really did not impress me in terms of improving my manual focus ability to the point where the results were as good as autofocus. Just my moving slightly forward or backwards would throw the focus off.

Third party focus screen sellers take the one series screens, and shave off the edges to fit other cameras. Sometimes they even cut down MF screens. Their markup is very high, cutting down a screen that they pay $10 - $15 for and selling it for hundreds of dollars.

 

[Eldar]

Third party focus screen sellers take the one series screens, and shave off the edges to fit other cameras. Sometimes they even cut down MF screens. Their markup is very high, cutting down a screen that they pay $10 - $15 for and selling it for hundreds of dollars.

I bought an S-type screen equivalent for my 5DIII from www.focusingscreen.com (Taiwan) and paid less than USD100 for it. Made and delivered to Norway in less than 2 weeks. It is a lot better than the standard screen, for manual focus, but I have more success with the Ec-S mounted in my 1DX. But I believe some of that is due to the exceptional view finder of the 1DX. None of them are supported by the camera though and they both give a slightly unpredictable exposure. No compensation in some cases and -1EV in others, which both should have been +/-0.