[24X36NOW]

I ordered my Katz Eye screens for both my K10D and my *istD and can't wait for them, since I have all manual focus lenses (and would manually focus even if I had autofocus lenses anyway). Having said that, there's nothing like my LX viewfinder, as you pointed out, and that's yet another reason I want a FF Pentax.

Personally, I think the advent of autofocus was a big downgrade for photo enthusiasts, since all it has done is reduce the choices available in the all-important lens selections. Back in the old days, EVERY lens from EVERY third party lens maker came in PK mount! Now, with all the cost involved in "reverse engineering" each camera maker's proprietary autofocus gadgets, lots of juicy optics have unfortunately become Canon and Nikon only (with maybe Sigma and 4/3 thrown in here and there). Even the better third party lenses that are made in PK mount always seem to be in "back order" status at B&H/Adorama, while everything you heart desires can be had in C/N mount.

[24X36NOW]

Katz Eyes in on both bodies now...great to have actual focusing screens suitable for manual focus in my digital bodies. Glad Pentax saw fit to make both the *istD and K10D with interchangeable screens

Actually I'd have been even happier with a really simple small microprism dot and groundglass ala the K1000 - I was never a big split image fan. Still MUCH better than those stupid autofocus screens though

[Lowell Goudge]

A bracket unclips and swings open... use tweezers to pull out the old... put in the new... close the bracket... done. They send you access to online instructions with giant pictures. It takes five minutes.

I haven't tested the metering yet. That will be tomorrow. I shot in 'center-weighted' mode earlier.

I'm very interested in metering performance especially with non AE lenses.

Any chance of doing a test sequence with a fast lens (F1.4 50mm is a good candidate) either K mount or KA mount but out of AE mode

take shots at a uniformly illuminated block wall,
-meter with green button at each apature,
-measure grey scale in center of frame for each apature and
-plot grey scale vs apature

Might be interesting for each metering mode also

[Gooshin]

what colour wall do you want?

[ve2vfd]

I'm keeping an eye on this thread... I'm curious how those screens perform.

I'm also definetly interested in a decent manual focus screen for my manual lenses.

Pat

[Gooshin]

all i know is that i love mine,

my camera tends to underexpose in dark conditions, but i think thats because in M mode i cant select full screen metering.

but its a constant +0.3/0.7 ev, and if using the green button i crank the shutter back 1 or 2 notches.

[wildboar]

It's been a busy week here, and I've been traveling, so I haven't had a chance to test the spot metering with the K10/KatzEye.

[deejjjaaaa]

there is also Haoda : Focusing screen for Nikon Minolta Olympus and more

[Lowell Goudge]

what colour wall do you want?

i use a concrete block wall or paved roadway grey to white. Send me a PM and I will give you info on where you can send the trial series.

[sashae]

I picked up a KatzEye for my K10D with the focus points and the UltraBright treatment, and I'm super happy with it. Makes manual focus a breeze. Way better than the original screen.

[Eaglerapids]

You've convinced me to give this a go, I hope it works. I'll deal with any exposure problems if I can just get better reliable critical focus with my fast older lenses. Does it impact auto focus capabilities with auto focus lenses? In other words are you giving up any auto focus capabilities to gain manual focus capabilities. I just checked their website and they say it doesn't so that's good..

[Fl_Gulfer]

I love my Katzeye and my O-ME53 Magnifying Eyepiece for manual lenses, I sure got alot better focusing them now.

[Eaglerapids]

I got mine in the mail today, it's installed and I love it! I've run my manual focus lenses through the focus test and it appears to be right on, thank goodness. I'm going out tomorrow and do some shooting in the real world but from what I've seen so far this is the ticket. We'll see about exposure but I'm so happy to be able to manual focus, hopefully much more reliably.
I haven't tested ALL of my lenses but the Katz Eye has brought my SMC Takumar 50/1.4 right into line, this lens failed the focus test badly (back focused) with the *ist D screen that I had in the camera.
Expensive fix but well worth it. I didn't get the Optic Bright treatment, just to much more money at this time, but this screen is fantastic!
Hmmm, gotta check the A 35-105/3.5....... looks good:-)

[Chickenhawk]

Several years ago, I ordered a Katz Eye screen for my istD. I eventually stopped using it because it changed my focus points very slightly, which may have been because it was an early version and the screen was quite a bit thicker than the stock one. It never seemed to lock in place in its mount as well as the stock screen.

But the interesting thing is that, at the time anyway, you could order a screen and then have them delete the center split prism. This left a plain ground glass screen, and was it nice! I added the 8x10 crop marks and the grid pattern but it was sure nice to get the center so clean and easy to focus manually.