Focus Screen Decision Time ...

I've had my a850 for a couple months now, and one thing I sorely miss is the L-Type focusing screen I had in my a700.

I can get a Sony L Screen for around $40.

I have been looking into a couple other options and the Brightscreen sounds interesting. With the Brightscreen I would get microprism and a microcollar focusing aides as well as true rule of 3rd crop marks ... for $209.

I've never used a camera with micro prism / micro collar focus aides so I'm not sure if I'd find it all that useful. It is kinda rare I use manual focus but I do pause a lot before pushing that shutter button all the way down and take 3 or 4 images to select the most sharp.

The 2 questions in the back of my head:

1. since I'm almost totally autofocus, would the focus aides be distracting and cause me to curse a $200 purcahse?

2. even with autofocus, would the aides help me decide whether or not my image was infocus and if I should push the shutter the rest of the way?


Hmmmm ... Brightscreen or Sony L

Edited by crlowryjr - 25 August 2010 at 21:31

I've been looking into this for my 900 and although I never finished my research the end result is that these screens are not as rosy as they sound and they cause metering issues.

Google this and you'll hit a few other sites and their forums before you make any decisions.

I am a focusing screen user and Love it (BUT).

Yes, there are some problems with spot metering, so I use center weight and malty metering. But to me it is worth it because I manual focus about 80% of the time, and that percentage is going up as I get better and faster at it. The focusing screen is just that much more accurate then auto focus, that I keep going back to it.

It is very much a taste thing, you will like it or hate it. If you really want to try a focusing screen, go to focusing screens . com and order a cheaper model for about $40.00, if it's something that takes your fancy, then go for the Brightscreen. The one thing about focusing screens is, they are easily fully reversible.

I've been researching this for about a month myself, and can't really draw much of a conclusion (some people speak so highly of it, it's like the best thing you can do for your camera, and some people are 'bleck'.)

Grids are pretty much a given for me ... I was sold on the grid the moment I brought it to my eye. My compositions have improved dramatically because I'm more aware of the symetry. I would like a rule of 3rds or a golden ratio grid instead of Sony's generic grid ... but not enough to pay 5x as much for it ; p

The one and only reason I'm contemplating the MP/MC screen is that I want to be able to determine if autofocus hit the spot. I really like shallow DOF and often find the autofocus has landed not where I had hoped. This has lead to me snapping off 4+ shots sometimes, just to be safe and then selecting my favorite while deleting the rest.

What do I shoot ... most of the time it's statues, and carvings in real crappy lighting ... things that haven't moved in a few hundred years, and I can take my time to get the shot I want.

The flipside to that ... I also like taking environmental potraits or candid potraits ... no posing, just walking up and snapping a shot often before the person even notices me. In these instances I have almost no time to focus so it needs to be spot on, and pretty quick (which is why I use auto). I end up throwing a good 50% of these away because I ended up with focus on a nostril, or a stray hair, or the person behind them, etc ... F2.2 ~ F4 most of the time.

For the statues, etc ... I suspect I could end up using manual as I really try to take my time, but so far my experiments with manual result in pretty low successes. This is a huge assumption on my part though.

I may just flip a coin ; p

Zack wrote: As an aside; why isn't there a focusing screen available with rule of 3rds grid markings?

The Sony Type L focussing screen is marked in sixths horizontally and fourths vertically. Every other sixth is a third.

Link to B&H page showing picture of the grid.

I purchased the Brightscreen (split with microprism collar with no grid lines) last Nov for my a850. I use several manual focus alternative lenses, and I recall how much I enjoyed a split screen from the time before autofocus was available. When I purchased, the screen wasn't available with the "tabs" of a Sony stock screen. I had movement problems and contacted Brightscreen's owner. He developed a tabbed version, but I don't believe it's identical to the stock tabs.

In addition to the movement, I had problems with metering. I couldn't establish a standard variance that could be remedied with EV compensation. I returned my screen for a refund.

I have nothing but good things to say about Brightscreen's owner. You can purchase and try the screen without fear of return problems. I now use a dedicated Sekonic spot meter, and assuming the split screen has no movement, I may give it another shot; although I've been reasonably happy with the Sony type "M" screen (especially with an anglefinder VN at 2X), and there always seems another place to drop $200.

Graham

I have the Sony L and M screens. The M has been in most of the time since I have been using my primes a lot. I like the L though, and may swap that back in for a landscape workshop.