[Managarm]

Hi everyone,


Following the positive response about the Canon Ee-S, I also bought one for my K-5.
But I haven't installed it yet, because there I still have a question regarding this procedure:

All of you mention that the shim has to be adjusted/changed/removed. But how do you actually get the shim out of the camera?
I couldn't do it just be picking it with the tweezers. Is it fixed somewhere and do I have to loose that fixation first? Didn't want to pull too hard and break it or anything else inside.

Please give me this one more remaining advice that stops me from nice manual focus with my fast lenses. Thanks.

[dlacouture]

There is a metal retainer, just like the one holding the focus screen in place. It's small and kinda hidden just next to the screen retainer, right behind the foam shock absorber.

[Managarm]

Ah, got it. Thank you very much.

By the way, I just tried cutting the screen to the right dimensions with a hot knife. The cutting itself was surprisingly easy, but it led to rims of some molten material on both sides of the screen. So I don't recommend this method to anyone else considering this, as it's almost impossible rasping the rims down to an equal level again without damaging the more central parts.
Anyway, there's still enough space left, so I'll try with a saw next. If all fails, I can still buy a new one.

Let's see, how it goes...

[riff]

I feel I need a better focusing screen for the K-5, Is this the focusingscreen.com recommended earlier in the thread?

<snip>
K-5 S TYPE Focusing Screen (AF Frame) US$82.45

"AF Frame" Super precision matte focusing screen for PENTAX K-5. This screen can strengthen depth of field in the view finder window. As use bigger diaphragm lens can ease of focusing when doing manual focusing.
<snip>

The Ec-B was highly rated in this thread https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-camera-field-accessories/77151-foc...reviews-2.html. Anyone tried both?

Regards

[rreader]

I have a question.

I have purchased a K5 yesterday, and so far the only lens I have is a M 1.7, so the ee-S would be a benifit there.

I'm just wanting to know if the ee-S will interfere with the metering of any AF lenses I get the future, and if it will make lenses with smaller max apertures darker? I will buy a crappy long zoom which is 4-5.6 which won't bother me too much, because I'm not expecting to use it often, but I think I'd like a 15mm Ltd f4 or a 21mm Ltd f3.2 and expect whichever I get to see a lot of use, along with a Tamron 17-50 2.8 I've ordered.

I'll go with the ee-S if it affects the crap zoom's darkness, but probably not if It affects metering on all AF lenses, or degrades the Ltds I'm looking at much.

[dlacouture]

rreader: short answer is that the EE-S screen actually improves metering, as all your lenses will now meter identically (which was not the case with the stock screen).

Now, regarding viewfinder brightness:
- faster than f/4, the viewfinder will be comparatively slightly darker (but with fast lenses it's not really a problem).
- slower than that, the EE-S will be in fact brighter than the stock screen.

[rreader]

Thank you dlacouture.

I think I'll get one. Look forward to modding my camera!

[Managarm]

I feel I need a better focusing screen for the K-5, Is this the focusingscreen.com recommended earlier in the thread?

<snip>
K-5 S TYPE Focusing Screen (AF Frame) US$82.45

"AF Frame" Super precision matte focusing screen for PENTAX K-5. This screen can strengthen depth of field in the view finder window. As use bigger diaphragm lens can ease of focusing when doing manual focusing.
<snip>

The Ec-B was highly rated in this thread https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-camera-field-accessories/77151-foc...reviews-2.html. Anyone tried both?

Regards

Yes, this is the one: K-5 S TYPE Focusing Screen (AF Frame) US$82.45
This is the same, but without the AF markings: K-5 S TYPE Focusing Screen US$75.54

They don't always list both. Just email them if your preferred version is not available.

Since you can buy them completely ready for installing, I recommend doing so. All this sawing and cleaning and stuff is way more hassle than I expected. Next time I will just order one, even if it costs twice as much as the Canon original.

[dlacouture]

Yeah, at the time I did this, FocusingScreen was not proposing the S screen in K5/7 flavor, so I was forced back to the saw-and-sweat option...

But today, I'd order it in a blink, as they include shims (and here in France, official Pentax shims are 4€ apiece!).

[Managarm]

Yeah, at the time I did this, FocusingScreen was not proposing the S screen in K5/7 flavor, so I was forced back to the saw-and-sweat option...

But today, I'd order it in a blink, as they include shims (and here in France, official Pentax shims are 4€ apiece!).

But still, all your effort helped a lot of people and I guess everyone around very much appreciates this thread.

Thanks!

[steve1307]

Perfect timing!

I've been reading up about various focus screens this week, read a few threads on the Katzeye, jifinance ebay ones and the even the reviews of al the K20 ,K7 Canon & Nikon variants on focusingscreens.com.

Then I stumbled on this thread when thru over 100 post & was set to order a full sized Canon for surgery until clicking the last page.

Just ordered a pre-cut one, from focusingsreens.com too easy. OK so it was $30 more but hey, I'd probably get blood all over it if i had to DIY.


K-5 S type (plain matte) "This product was added to our catalog on Monday 10 October, 2011"




Just one question. With the plain matte screen, I assume the spot metering relatively unaffected? (the main complaint of the Katzeye and most other split prism screens)

[Jonathan Mac]

I just googled these screens & they´re a lot cheaper than the Katzeye I installed in my K200D. But I wouldn´t know where to start cutting & shimming it.

[Eruditass]

I'm quite curious to try one out after many people have said they like them better than a split-prism. However, I've found my dual-diagonal split prism so much easier than one split horizontal split prisms. One area where I really value them is in low light where it's hard to make out sharpness but I can still line up things. How well does the EE-S do in the dark?

[riff]

Yes, this is the one: K-5 S TYPE Focusing Screen (AF Frame) US$82.45
This is the same, but without the AF markings: K-5 S TYPE Focusing Screen US$75.54

They don't always list both. Just email them if your preferred version is not available.

Since you can buy them completely ready for installing, I recommend doing so. All this sawing and cleaning and stuff is way more hassle than I expected. Next time I will just order one, even if it costs twice as much as the Canon original.

Thanks Managarm! Interesting site, S type without the AF markings wasn't listed when I looked yesterday.

[Managarm]

Thanks Managarm! Interesting site, S type without the AF markings wasn't listed when I looked yesterday.

They take some offers on and off depending on availability instead of just setting the stock number to zero. So some versions are on, a few hours later off, just to be on again after some more hours.
The moment I write this, the version without the markings is on and the one with markings off. But might be very different again once you check back.

Very strange behaviour, don't ask me why...