[excanonfd]

I was searching for Beattie Intenscreens on eBay and those few that came up were all matte screens with grid lines. I emailed KatzEye to ask if it would be possible for them to treat an oem Pentax DSLR focus screen, I received a reply from Rachel Katz saying that they do not, but can sell me one of their own all matte screen without the split prism, treated with Optibrite.

Does anyone here have ordered such a focusing screen from KatzEye and what is your opinion of it? I have habitually used the matte portion of the focusing screen on the Canon T90 to focus when I shot long and slow lenses (prism blackout) and I thought about getting a Beattie Intenscreen back then but they were very expensive, much more so than I could afford. I would think a bright matte screen would be great for manual focus on the DSLR especially if used with the O-ME53 magnifier. Any real experiences with an all matte screen treated with Optibrite would be appreciated. And if anyone has one but is no longer using it, please pm me and we could come to an agreement to transfer it to yours truly.

Thanks,

[mysticcowboy]

This is a subject that gets a lot of attention here in the forums. There are a number of threads discussing various focusing screen options. I have used a Katz Optibrite screen and find it a high quality product that works as advertised. The coating does provide a nice bright screen. I do prefer the split screen for focusing. The faster the lens you use the brighter the split screen is.

[excanonfd]

Most waist level finders on medium format cameras do not have split prism screen, usually it's matte screen with a large circle in the middle. I should have a KatzEye screen without Optibrite fairly soon, that would be more or less like a 35mm SLR screen. Have you tried to focus using the matte portion of your Optibrite treated screen only? If so, how was your experience doing it like that?

Thanks,

[BillM]

Hi excanonfd, I'm fitted out as mysticc is, do use matte portion as final 'tweek'
to focus and find it excellent product. Thought of all matte screen with opti-bright is something to be considered,
great thought. The more I use this screen, the more
I use matte portion and have an interest in your ideal.

Might be a little awkward of me to ask,in regards to price, but how do they compare...
matte vs. full kat Can you give me just a smile or a frown? An up or down?
Have already bought into another company's system with more reliable auto-focus
like the thought of being able to use 'the old stuff' on it.
Cheers,
Bill

[excanonfd]

Hi excanonfd, I'm fitted out as mysticc is, do use matte portion as final 'tweek'
to focus and find it excellent product. Thought of all matte screen with opti-bright is something to be considered,
great thought. The more I use this screen, the more
I use matte portion and have an interest in your ideal.

Might be a little awkward of me to ask,in regards to price, but how do they compare...
matte vs. full kat Can you give me just a smile or a frown? An up or down?
Have already bought into another company's system with more reliable auto-focus
like the thought of being able to use 'the old stuff' on it.
Cheers,
Bill

Sorry for the late reply, have been preoccupied with RL issues. I approached KatzEye about Optibrite treatment to Pentax oem screens, but Rachel Katz replied that they have not tested the Pentax oem screens' compatibility with Optibrite treatment, but that she would be happy to supply one of their own matte screen treated with Optibrite for my K20D for $160.00 USD. I will be getting a used KatzEye screen with split prism shortly (in transit), so this option has been put on hold.

At the moment, I am looking for the brightest SLR screens that I am thinking of cutting down to fit on my K20D. Canon AE1-P had one of the brighter screens in their FD mount line up, I just don't know the thickness or find one for sale on eBay. Canon T90 also had fairly bright screens, I might have better luck finding one of these than the AE1-P screen.

If I go for the Optibrite treated matte screen, it will be for the next upgrade model as K20D screen is not compatible with the K-7 and probably not with K-5.

I think my reasoning is sound on all matte screen for better manual focus. You don't need to worry about split prism blackout, and no effect on the spot metering. Just a brighter, higher contrast image to make focusing easier - just have to remember; what you see isn't what you're gonna get.

Thanks,