Best screen ever for manual focus : Canon ee-S!!!

lammie200 · 12-22-2011, 03:02 PM

Originally posted by vonBaloney

Yes, exactly.

Thanks, meat.

dlacouture · 12-22-2011, 03:10 PM

Originally posted by derekkite

Initially (only had it for two days) the S screen is darker at F (300mm2.8+ 1.7 AF tc) 4.5-5 than the stock screen. But, big but, the stock screen loses detail, while the S screen just darkens and maintains the detail. The stock screen in low light with a moderately fast lens makes it very difficult to see focus at all. This one seems better. In a couple of weeks I will have a firmer opinion on the matter.

Exactly! The stock screen, while maybe a tad brighter with "standard" apertures (we're talking about 0.5Ev or 1Ev here, so not really meaningful), becomes rapidly grainy and coarse in low-light, and so is really unreliable in such conditions.
The EE-S remains clear and well defined even in low-light.

Now, You have to keep in mind that this is valid only for apertures between f/1.4 and f/4.5, roughly... Anything outside this range, and the EE-S will be on par with the stock screen (if not brighter)!

davide · 12-22-2011, 11:42 PM

Originally posted by dlacouture

Exactly! The stock screen, while maybe a tad brighter with "standard" apertures (we're talking about 0.5Ev or 1Ev here, so not really meaningful), becomes rapidly grainy and coarse in low-light, and so is really unreliable in such conditions.
The EE-S remains clear and well defined even in low-light.

Now, You have to keep in mind that this is valid only for apertures between f/1.4 and f/4.5, roughly... Anything outside this range, and the EE-S will be on par with the stock screen (if not brighter)!

My favorite lens is the Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 100mm F/4 Macro. I've found that the small maximum aperture causes the split-ring focus screen in my ME Super to black in anything except bright light. Part of what's holding me back about getting a K5 is the thought that this lens would be too hard to focus on it, as I have a similar problem on my K100d Super. I know this thread has discussed mostly focusing large aperture lenses, but would the EE-S screen improve the ability to focus at small apertures? If not, any suggestions on a screen that would?

jolepp · 12-23-2011, 04:48 AM

Just got mine in the mail (fast!

). Enclosed is a snap of what was in the pacakge (#1), and two crops of the same: a set of clear plastic shims (#2) and another plastic baggie with something that looks like as shim as well (#3). Based on what I have read here I expected #2 (to replace the stock shim with a 0.20mm one as a first approximation) but I'm not sure what #3 is actually for. Also with the shims from set #2, these might be of different thicknesses but it might be hard to tell what is what without a micrometer or at least a quality vernier caliper, so are these in fact of different thicknesses and is there a neat way to tell them apart?

The kit consists of:

- instruction sheet (single A4, folded in the picture, refers to the web page, does not quite explain #3)
- metal tweezers
- finger 'condoms'
- what looks like a single shim (#3) in a plastic baggie
- set of clear plastic shims (#2) in a plastic baggie
- the focus screen itself (in a plastic baggie) in what appears to be the orginal Canon box, this also has a tool in it

Last edited by jolepp; 03-03-2017 at 02:38 AM.

**baro-nite** · 12-23-2011, 06:01 AM

#3 are pads in case the provided shims don't include a perfect match. Use as needed. Edit: that is, use a pad in addition to a shim, if needed.

Edit again: Taking a closer look at your photos, I see that what I thought were pads are actually shims. I got pads, no shims, but that was for a K10D. I just kept the stock shim and added a pad. So from here it looks as though you have two different types of shims. Are the clear ones fairly rigid? The pads I got are flexible.

dlacouture · 12-23-2011, 07:28 AM

Is that a metal shim?
Man, I'm so totally envious! Really beats the cr@p out of my "scotch tape" shims!
Damn Pentax France for being totally useless (they don't even "know" about these shims!).

derekkite · 12-23-2011, 08:25 AM

It isn't metal. It is a stiff plastic, similar to screen protector material.

jolepp · 12-23-2011, 08:39 AM

I think the lone shim is plastic as well, could be that 'coppertone' on the edges is there so that one can tell it apert from the others, but then Focusingscreen.com's instruction page (here) mentions 0.25mm right under the picture of both kinds of shims (?). Be that as may it seems that both kinds of plastic shims result in a bit of back focus for me while the stock metal shim gives a bit of front focus with the Porst 55mm 1:1.2. I think what I need is something like 0.3mm.

An El-Cheapo vernier caliper would seem to vouch for all the shims that came with the screen to be 0.25mm while the stock would be 0.4mm (but then the caliper is rather crappy and this would be a micrometer job anyway).

**baro-nite** · 12-23-2011, 08:52 AM

Hmm -- odd that they would send you 3 or more shims of the same thickness. Well, I successfully use the Post-It "shim" atop the stock shim when I was still using the stock screen.

jolepp · 12-23-2011, 09:10 AM

Well, anyways, the screen itself is *good*, it reveals the DOF of my Porst 55 1:1.2 and the M 50 1:1.4 fully open rather nicely

.

kh1234567890 · 12-23-2011, 04:12 PM

Originally posted by jolepp

but I'm not sure what #3 is actually for

On my K-7 I had to take out the factory metal shim and use the '#3' shim instead to get a perfect focus alignment.

Regarding exposure - contrary to what was said earlier on in this thread, I'd found that with slower auto lenses (f3.5 - f5.6, e.g. kit 18-55mm etc.) I have to overexpose by roughly +1 EV when metering through the viewfinder. Something to watch out for, if you can't be ar*ed to swap the screen every time you change a lens.

derekkite · 12-23-2011, 11:27 PM

A bit more experience with long lenses. I use a Tamron 300mm 2.8 with a 1.7 af tc. I would definitely recommend this screen.

dlacouture · 12-25-2011, 01:52 PM

Regarding low-light focus, I've made my usual crop of "kids by the Xmas tree" photos, and focus is a treat even in low-light conditions (I mean, 6400iso, f/1.4, 1/60, here), whereas AF is really struggling...

KH, that does not strikes me as strange : the stock focus screen starts overexposing by f/5.6 (and goes wild at F/11), so using the EE-S with a f/5.6 lens will indeed "underexpose" compared to the stock screen...

derekkite · 12-25-2011, 04:11 PM

Tried my 60-300mm tamron which is f5.4 zoomed. The screen is slightly darker than the stock, not much, but no coarseness. I don't think it would be worth getting one for slower lenses, but it is as good or slightly better than the stock one. In other words, I won't be swapping lenses and forced to swap focus screens. With the stock screen I was typically -2/3-1/3 ev exposure adjustment. Now with my 2.8 I had it at 0 and things came out slightly underexposed., and with the slower lens I could probably go +1/3 at least.

kh1234567890 · 12-26-2011, 07:05 AM

Originally posted by dlacouture

KH, that does not strikes me as strange : the stock focus screen starts overexposing by f/5.6 (and goes wild at F/11), so using the EE-S with a f/5.6 lens will indeed "underexpose" compared to the stock screen...

This is for example with the kit 18-55 lens. Shooting into a white balance lens cap and comparing viewfinder metering vs LV vs analysing the RAW file - i.e. not comparing the EE-S to the stock screen. On a K-7 the EE-S with viewfinder metering through a selection of f3.5 to f5.6 lenses the EE-S consistently underexposes by about a stop (+/- half a stop), which agrees with the perceived darker viewfinder image with these lenses. Real life tests confirm this. Just something to watch out for.

12-22-2011, 03:02 PM	#316
lammie200 Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: San Francisco Photos: Albums Posts: 1,033	... Originally posted by vonBaloney Yes, exactly. Thanks, meat.

12-23-2011, 06:01 AM	#320
baro-nite Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: North Carolina, USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,294	#3 are pads in case the provided shims don't include a perfect match. Use as needed. Edit: that is, use a pad in addition to a shim, if needed. Edit again: Taking a closer look at your photos, I see that what I thought were pads are actually shims. I got pads, no shims, but that was for a K10D. I just kept the stock shim and added a pad. So from here it looks as though you have two different types of shims. Are the clear ones fairly rigid? The pads I got are flexible. Last edited by baro-nite; 12-23-2011 at 07:34 AM. Reason: clarification; correction

12-23-2011, 08:39 AM	#323
jolepp Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Finland Photos: Albums Posts: 3,196	I think the lone shim is plastic as well, could be that 'coppertone' on the edges is there so that one can tell it apert from the others, but then Focusingscreen.com's instruction page (here) mentions 0.25mm right under the picture of both kinds of shims (?). Be that as may it seems that both kinds of plastic shims result in a bit of back focus for me while the stock metal shim gives a bit of front focus with the Porst 55mm 1:1.2. I think what I need is something like 0.3mm. An El-Cheapo vernier caliper would seem to vouch for all the shims that came with the screen to be 0.25mm while the stock would be 0.4mm (but then the caliper is rather crappy and this would be a micrometer job anyway). Last edited by jolepp; 12-25-2011 at 01:58 PM. Reason: correction

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Canon ee-S focus screen, anyone?	dlacouture	Pentax Camera and Field Accessories	2	04-30-2011 01:22 PM
Some Bird Shots - Manual focus with Canon 'Frankinlens' on K10D	gscara	Post Your Photos!	10	04-09-2011 05:16 PM
K-x manual focus screen?	nixcamic	Pentax DSLR Discussion	1	12-07-2009 10:45 AM
Manual Focus on Pentax DSLRs - I want my split prism screen	PentHassyKon	Pentax DSLR Discussion	17	02-22-2009 04:42 PM
Do we require split screen for manual focus?	madhurvyas	Pentax DSLR Discussion	32	07-23-2008 03:51 PM

12-22-2011, 03:10 PM	#317
dlacouture Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Var, South of France Photos: Albums Posts: 1,074 Original Poster	Originally posted by derekkite Initially (only had it for two days) the S screen is darker at F (300mm2.8+ 1.7 AF tc) 4.5-5 than the stock screen. But, big but, the stock screen loses detail, while the S screen just darkens and maintains the detail. The stock screen in low light with a moderately fast lens makes it very difficult to see focus at all. This one seems better. In a couple of weeks I will have a firmer opinion on the matter. Exactly! The stock screen, while maybe a tad brighter with "standard" apertures (we're talking about 0.5Ev or 1Ev here, so not really meaningful), becomes rapidly grainy and coarse in low-light, and so is really unreliable in such conditions. The EE-S remains clear and well defined even in low-light. Now, You have to keep in mind that this is valid only for apertures between f/1.4 and f/4.5, roughly... Anything outside this range, and the EE-S will be on par with the stock screen (if not brighter)!

12-22-2011, 11:42 PM	#318
davide Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: New York City Posts: 31	Originally posted by dlacouture Exactly! The stock screen, while maybe a tad brighter with "standard" apertures (we're talking about 0.5Ev or 1Ev here, so not really meaningful), becomes rapidly grainy and coarse in low-light, and so is really unreliable in such conditions. The EE-S remains clear and well defined even in low-light. Now, You have to keep in mind that this is valid only for apertures between f/1.4 and f/4.5, roughly... Anything outside this range, and the EE-S will be on par with the stock screen (if not brighter)! My favorite lens is the Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 100mm F/4 Macro. I've found that the small maximum aperture causes the split-ring focus screen in my ME Super to black in anything except bright light. Part of what's holding me back about getting a K5 is the thought that this lens would be too hard to focus on it, as I have a similar problem on my K100d Super. I know this thread has discussed mostly focusing large aperture lenses, but would the EE-S screen improve the ability to focus at small apertures? If not, any suggestions on a screen that would?

12-23-2011, 04:48 AM	#319
jolepp Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Finland Photos: Albums Posts: 3,196	Just got mine in the mail (fast! ). Enclosed is a snap of what was in the pacakge (#1), and two crops of the same: a set of clear plastic shims (#2) and another plastic baggie with something that looks like as shim as well (#3). Based on what I have read here I expected #2 (to replace the stock shim with a 0.20mm one as a first approximation) but I'm not sure what #3 is actually for. Also with the shims from set #2, these might be of different thicknesses but it might be hard to tell what is what without a micrometer or at least a quality vernier caliper, so are these in fact of different thicknesses and is there a neat way to tell them apart? The kit consists of: - instruction sheet (single A4, folded in the picture, refers to the web page, does not quite explain #3) - metal tweezers - finger 'condoms' - what looks like a single shim (#3) in a plastic baggie - set of clear plastic shims (#2) in a plastic baggie - the focus screen itself (in a plastic baggie) in what appears to be the orginal Canon box, this also has a tool in it Last edited by jolepp; 03-03-2017 at 02:38 AM.

12-23-2011, 07:28 AM	#321
dlacouture Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Var, South of France Photos: Albums Posts: 1,074 Original Poster	Is that a metal shim? Man, I'm so totally envious! Really beats the cr@p out of my "scotch tape" shims! Damn Pentax France for being totally useless (they don't even "know" about these shims!).

12-23-2011, 08:25 AM	#322
derekkite Pentaxian Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Nelson B.C. Posts: 3,782	It isn't metal. It is a stiff plastic, similar to screen protector material.

12-23-2011, 08:52 AM	#324
baro-nite Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: North Carolina, USA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,294	Hmm -- odd that they would send you 3 or more shims of the same thickness. Well, I successfully use the Post-It "shim" atop the stock shim when I was still using the stock screen.

12-23-2011, 09:10 AM	#325
jolepp Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Finland Photos: Albums Posts: 3,196	Well, anyways, the screen itself is good, it reveals the DOF of my Porst 55 1:1.2 and the M 50 1:1.4 fully open rather nicely .

12-23-2011, 04:12 PM	#326
kh1234567890 Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Manchester, UK Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,653	Originally posted by jolepp but I'm not sure what #3 is actually for On my K-7 I had to take out the factory metal shim and use the '#3' shim instead to get a perfect focus alignment. Regarding exposure - contrary to what was said earlier on in this thread, I'd found that with slower auto lenses (f3.5 - f5.6, e.g. kit 18-55mm etc.) I have to overexpose by roughly +1 EV when metering through the viewfinder. Something to watch out for, if you can't be ar*ed to swap the screen every time you change a lens.

12-23-2011, 11:27 PM	#327
derekkite Pentaxian Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Nelson B.C. Posts: 3,782	A bit more experience with long lenses. I use a Tamron 300mm 2.8 with a 1.7 af tc. I would definitely recommend this screen.

12-25-2011, 01:52 PM	#328
dlacouture Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Var, South of France Photos: Albums Posts: 1,074 Original Poster	Regarding low-light focus, I've made my usual crop of "kids by the Xmas tree" photos, and focus is a treat even in low-light conditions (I mean, 6400iso, f/1.4, 1/60, here), whereas AF is really struggling... KH, that does not strikes me as strange : the stock focus screen starts overexposing by f/5.6 (and goes wild at F/11), so using the EE-S with a f/5.6 lens will indeed "underexpose" compared to the stock screen...

12-25-2011, 04:11 PM	#329
derekkite Pentaxian Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Nelson B.C. Posts: 3,782	Tried my 60-300mm tamron which is f5.4 zoomed. The screen is slightly darker than the stock, not much, but no coarseness. I don't think it would be worth getting one for slower lenses, but it is as good or slightly better than the stock one. In other words, I won't be swapping lenses and forced to swap focus screens. With the stock screen I was typically -2/3-1/3 ev exposure adjustment. Now with my 2.8 I had it at 0 and things came out slightly underexposed., and with the slower lens I could probably go +1/3 at least.

12-26-2011, 07:05 AM	#330
kh1234567890 Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Manchester, UK Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,653	Originally posted by dlacouture KH, that does not strikes me as strange : the stock focus screen starts overexposing by f/5.6 (and goes wild at F/11), so using the EE-S with a f/5.6 lens will indeed "underexpose" compared to the stock screen... This is for example with the kit 18-55 lens. Shooting into a white balance lens cap and comparing viewfinder metering vs LV vs analysing the RAW file - i.e. not comparing the EE-S to the stock screen. On a K-7 the EE-S with viewfinder metering through a selection of f3.5 to f5.6 lenses the EE-S consistently underexposes by about a stop (+/- half a stop), which agrees with the perceived darker viewfinder image with these lenses. Real life tests confirm this. Just something to watch out for.