[GoremanX]

PS. if the scratches are on the edges they may not actually affect the view. Did you try washing it to see if they were actually damages to the material? Sometimes it could be surface dirt.

Oh they're visible alright. They annoy the crap out of me, but I'll learn to ignore them eventually. I tried cleaning it thoroughly, but they're not just scratches, they're gouges. There's 3 good ones on the left side of my viewfinder, all in a group. There's also black specks around the microprism and split prism, because those parts of the focusing screen are raised and I can't get them perfectly clean no matter how hard I move the focusing screen through the water.

I was working real carefully while changing it out the first time, and one of my dogs snuck up behind me and startled me (stupid bassets, they're not supposed to be stealthy). The focusing screen plummeted to the floor, and the dog immediately stuck his big nose on it to sniff it, so it slid around on the floor a bit and got a nice bath of dog snot. When I was finally able to pick it up, it was covered in dog hair, snot, drool and dirt, despite my valiant attempt at making a clean and safe area to work in.

I tried to clean by following the procedure you described above (distilled water with dish soap, 2 rinses), but the damage was already done. I even tried wiping it with a lens cloth in desperation, but those scratches are in there good.

And the answer to your question regarding screens is yes. I've purchased about eight screens(some replacements), since my start with Pentax. Though it ended with a Katzeye

I don't think I'll ever move up to a $100+ screen... I *may* choose to order a new K3 at some point if I can't get over the blemishes on my current one.

[JohnBee]

I don't think I'll ever move up to a $100+ screen... I *may* choose to order a new K3 at some point if I can't get over the blemishes on my current one.

I felt the very same way in the begining.

I actually ruined a Katzeye with pretty much the same results as your K3, except that in my case, it fell out of a K200D camera onto the floor while tried to dislodge it for adjustments.
Luckily... the owner of Katzeye took pity on me, and offered me a 1/2 price replacement for the damaged screen.

Following that, I purchased a few cheaper alternatives to practice with and doing screen changes has become much easier since then. Still... its never a good thing when one gets scratched-up.

My biggest improvement with screen handling came when I purchased a box of surgical gloves. It's one thing to handle a screen with the tweezers but it is soooo much better if you use gloves and finger cots. I don't think I've ever even come close to dropping one since then.

PS. I took a look at our replacement K200D katzeye earlier and it's still flawless even after a year of use.

[JesseDavis]

quick question on the K3, jinfinance, katzeye, and stock k-7 screens,

Ive heard they are darker because the diffusion is a little different, making the DOF preview more accurate. Do you all who have them see an improvement here? If so I think I will get one because the optical preview on my stock k10 screen lies, which is annoying when setting up a macro shot.

Thanks

[GoremanX]

Ive heard they are darker because the diffusion is a little different, making the DOF preview more accurate. Do you all who have them see an improvement here? If so I think I will get one because the optical preview on my stock k10 screen lies, which is annoying when setting up a macro shot.

I haven't found that to be the case. With my manual-aperture 50mm, the depth of field through the viewfinder still doesn't match the resulting picture. I'm not sure if there's an improvement or not, I never really paid attention to that before.

[JesseDavis]

I haven't found that to be the case. With my manual-aperture 50mm, the depth of field through the viewfinder still doesn't match the resulting picture. I'm not sure if there's an improvement or not, I never really paid attention to that before.

But are you stopping down for the preview as well (ie: the camera does it for you on m kmounts but not m42mounts)?

[GoremanX]

But are you stopping down for the preview as well (ie: the camera does it for you on m kmounts but not m42mounts)?

I said "manual-aperture". I stop it down myself. When I turn the aperture ring, the aperture gets smaller. The camera has no control over it. What I see is what I get. It's the same thing as using the optical depth-of-field preview, except it's always on.

[JesseDavis]

I see. Usually I flick the M/A switch to the rear of the aperture ring so that I can focus wide open, and then flick it again before I shoot when using one of those. I also have an M k-mount that is stopped down by the camera to the (manually set on ring) aperture when shooting or dof previewing but it stays open when composing, so I was wondering which you had. thanks.

In a way the really old lenses are better, because with my kmount M 50mm 1.4, Aperture priority is useless unless shooting wide open as it won't stop down to meter without actually shooting.

[GoremanX]

I always keep the switch set to Manual because otherwise I forget to change it before taking a picture and all my shots get taken at F1.4

[photogem]

The K3 screen is much thicker than the regular K-7 screen, so its lower surface already ends up sitting lower in the camera body even before any shims are applied. Adding shims below the screen doesn't actually change its position, and adding shims above it only makes things worse.

Also an old thread, this misinformation needs to be corrected:


The K-7 screen and the K3 (KP, K30/50/500, K-S1, K-S2 and K-70 as well) screens are 100% identical.
MF60, ML60, MI60