Which mf split screen for 5d2/6d?

[Marsu42]

A friend of mine is about to buy a mf screen for his 5d2 and asked me which to get. Does anyone have any experiences with the actual products and knows if it's "worth it" getting the expensive ones? How is the performance, i.e. drop in light and dodgy metering?

This seems to be the "better" one(?): http://www.focusingscreen.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_98&products_id=761

This is the cheaper one (yes, .de site, but you get the picture): www.amazon.de/Delamax-Schnittbildmattscheibe-180°-für-Canon/dp/B003UUDL94/

Thanks for sharing any experiences!

 

[sanj]

This sounds great. Will it fit 1dx? I really really want a nice manual focus screen for 1dx to go with my Zeiss lenses.

 

[AcutancePhotography]

I wished all DSLR's came with the option of changing the focusing screens. For most photographers it won't make a difference but for those who do want a focusing screen, it is important.

 

[Eldar]

In my view, the Eg-S (6D and 5DII) are the best for manual focus. But they only work well on fast lenses (preferably no more than f2.8, maximum f4). You can buy the Canon screens for about $35. They are fully supported by both bodies.

I have the S-screen for my 5DIII from www. focusingscreens.com. It is 3x the Canon price, well made and fit perfectly, but it is not as good as the Canon Ec-S I use on my 1DX. Both of them require manual exposure compensation, but that is not very difficult. All the 1D-type screens fit the 1DX and quite a few are also fully supported.

Sanj; You should be able to use the Ec-B on your 1DX. You can check your menu system to figure out if it is supported. I believe it is.

 

[Marsu42]

In my view, the Eg-S (6D and 5DII) are the best for manual focus. But they only work well on fast lenses (preferably no more than f2.8, maximum f4). You can buy the Canon screens for about $35. They are fully supported by both bodies.

Sure, and it's a budget option - but with my friend, I suspect his eyesight is not what it used to be and the 5d2's vf is not as large as 1d or film cameras. That's why I think an old-school split screen is the safest bet for him, and probably allows you to mf faster as you've got a clear indication if your subject in in general focus or not.

 

[Eldar]

In my view, the Eg-S (6D and 5DII) are the best for manual focus. But they only work well on fast lenses (preferably no more than f2.8, maximum f4). You can buy the Canon screens for about $35. They are fully supported by both bodies.

Sure, and it's a budget option - but with my friend, I suspect his eyesight is not what it used to be and the 5d2's vf is not as large as 1d or film cameras. That's why I think an old-school split screen is the safest bet for him, and probably allows you to mf faster as you've got a clear indication if your subject in in general focus or not.

To some extend I agree. My eyesight is not what it used to be either, but with the diopter properly adjusted and with the S-screen, I get very high keeper rates. And it is so cheap it´s well worth a try. Shifting the screens is a very simple operation.

 

[Nethawk]

I've been looking into this as well. My understanding is that the EG-S does not work very well if you want both AF and the split screen for MF? I don't mind switching out the focus screen but it would be great if at least some AF functionality existed.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Marsu42]

My understanding is that the EG-S does not work very well if you want both AF and the split screen for MF?

My understanding is that you can forget about center point af with the split screen. Another problem is that it has an impact on the metering, but the more expensive version(s) seem to do better than the cheap one (according to an amazon review).

 

[tolusina]

......My understanding is that the EG-S does not work very well if you want both AF and the split screen for MF? ......

There is no split screen about the EG-S. It's just brighter with fast lenses, darker with slow lenses.
I find it bright with 50mm f/1.8, very usable with 40mm f/2.8, acceptable with 24-105 f/4.0 except in low light.
AF is fine no matter which lens except in darkness, if there's enough light to see by, it's fine.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Nethawk, Marsu.
I hope this is not a stupid question, but why would the focus screen affect AF, isn't AF done from a separate sensor in the bottom of the body via the secondary mirror, therefore not going anywhere near the focus screen?

Cheers, Graham.

I've been looking into this as well. My understanding is that the EG-S does not work very well if you want both AF and the split screen for MF? I don't mind switching out the focus screen but it would be great if at least some AF functionality existed.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Marsu42]

I hope this is not a stupid question, but why would the focus screen affect AF, isn't AF done from a separate sensor in the bottom of the body via the secondary mirror, therefore not going anywhere near the focus screen?

Good point, thanks for thinking. I stupidly took this information from an internet customer review and we all know how much these are worth. You're correct, the screen shouldn't affect the af system!

But it does seem to affect metering because the Canon fw settings for exchanged screens don't seem to fit the 3rd party item, I've read this more than once

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi Marsu.
It is easy to get led astray by the internet, I should be getting back to work about now but here I am replying to you! ;D
I too have read about the metering, and am led to believe this is because the metering is done somewhere in the viewfinder, the eyeball side of the focus screen, hence we are supposed to use the cover on the eyepiece when not using an eyeball to cover it.

Cheers, Graham.
Ps going back to work now only led astray for 7 mins.

I hope this is not a stupid question, but why would the focus screen affect AF, isn't AF done from a separate sensor in the bottom of the body via the secondary mirror, therefore not going anywhere near the focus screen?

Good point, thanks for thinking. I stupidly took this information from an internet customer review and we all know how much these are worth. You're correct, the screen shouldn't affect the af system!

But it does seem to affect metering because the Canon fw settings for exchanged screens don't seem to fit the 3rd party item, I've read this more than once

 

[Marsu42]

I too have read about the metering, and am led to believe this is because the metering is done somewhere in the viewfinder, the eyeball side of the focus screen, hence we are supposed to use the cover on the eyepiece when not using an eyeball to cover it.

Yes, the same reason why Canon is rumored to be really unable to make the 5d3 illuminate the af points while tracking - it throws off the metering. With the larger prism/vf box of the 1dx it seemed to have worked.

Unfortunately with my current camera (6d, 5d2 is the same) I'm getting the worst of both worlds: mediocre af system and mediocre mf capability at the same time. These cameras are ff in name, but even my old film cameras (620, rt) have a far bigger and brighter viewfinder making mf more accessible.

Ps going back to work now only led astray for 7 mins.

Smart choice, if I'd be even packing groceries for all the time I spend procrastinating on CR, I'd own a 1dx+600L by now

 

[Eldar]

Unfortunately with my current camera (6d, 5d2 is the same) I'm getting the worst of both worlds: mediocre af system and mediocre mf capability at the same time. These cameras are ff in name, but even my old film cameras (620, rt) have a far bigger and brighter viewfinder making mf more accessible.

On the 6D you can use the Eg-S screen. That makes manual focus very simple.

 

[Marsu42]

Unfortunately with my current camera (6d, 5d2 is the same) I'm getting the worst of both worlds: mediocre af system and mediocre mf capability at the same time. These cameras are ff in name, but even my old film cameras (620, rt) have a far bigger and brighter viewfinder making mf more accessible.

On the 6D you can use the Eg-S screen. That makes manual focus very simple.

I didn't try that (I've got the grid screen installed, the eg-s wouldn't work with my f4 lenses in dimmer light, and from what I read the real difference is for faster lenses than f2.8.

But I imagine it's as much matter of magnification as of the screen displaying the dof - at least 1d users wrote on CR that their vf makes mf much simpler as it's simply larger. As written above, looking at my old film cameras I tend to believe that.