[jpzk]

It will work with the DA* lenses just fine. I personally did not use the Katzeye on my k-7 because I sold it not long after the k-7 Katzeye came out. It should work just as well.



No. You will always see the Katzeye "working" while you look through the viewfinder. It doesn't matter if you are focusing or the camera is focusing.



Not at all. In fact, I used it most to confirm that the AF was working properly. If I noticed that the AF missed, I would press the shutter button again, or MF if needed. The confirmation of AF is what I liked best.



Yes! I never tried it without Optibright, but those that have say it is dimmer. Especially for slower aperture lenses.

Best of luck!

Thanks PentaxPoke!
That really helps me because I am just about to order it for both the K20D and the K7.
There is, however, one last thing to add/consider and that is a direct answer from Rachael Katz to a couple of questions I had asked. She was very nice to answer quickly. I am not sure if I am allowed to post her answer here but, to make a long story short, she says that:
they have concerns with both the K7 and K20D vs. their MF calibration (nothing to do with AF). She goes even one step further to offer MF calibration as part of their normal installation service.
I wasn't aware that this could be a problem, so I am reporting this here.
If allowed, I could post the entire reply as well.

Cheers,

JP

[PentaxPoke]

Thanks PentaxPoke!
That really helps me because I am just about to order it for both the K20D and the K7.
There is, however, one last thing to add/consider and that is a direct answer from Rachael Katz to a couple of questions I had asked. She was very nice to answer quickly. I am not sure if I am allowed to post her answer here but, to make a long story short, she says that:
they have concerns with both the K7 and K20D vs. their MF calibration (nothing to do with AF). She goes even one step further to offer MF calibration as part of their normal installation service.
I wasn't aware that this could be a problem, so I am reporting this here.
If allowed, I could post the entire reply as well.

Wow that is very interesting. I found Rachael to be very helpful, and I believe what she says. If she lets you, it would be interesting to hear her reply.

[jpzk]

Wow that is very interesting. I found Rachael to be very helpful, and I believe what she says. If she lets you, it would be interesting to hear her reply.

OK, I will send her another email and ask specifically if she would allow for posting the entire reply.
Back soon with more news.

JP

Edit: Email sent to KatzEye people ... waiting for a response.

[jpzk]

OK, I will send her another email and ask specifically if she would allow for posting the entire reply.
Back soon with more news.

JP

Edit: Email sent to KatzEye people ... waiting for a response.

OK' so I did get a reply and I won't quote it.

The screens will likely work fine for the great majority of users, if installed properly.

I am ordering a screen for both my K20D and my K7 because I trust it will work great for me.

Thanks for sharing the information which will be very useful for someone like me, having an inherent visual/focusing problem.

Cheers.

JP

[adwb]

Having had my Katzeye in my K10d for about a month I have found,
manual focus lenses are much quicker to focus accurately
the battery test showed a slight front focus problem
the Katzeye unlike the cheap one from virtual village does not darken even at f16
my K 10 now underexposes by about a 1/3 in matrix and centre mode
my k10 centre spot exposure is however useless and way out all over the place depending on how bright or dark the spot is.
Over all worth buying, I can't comment on the expensive optibright treatment because I don't have it and don't think I have the need for it either.
Alistair

[ABQPX]

Thanks to PentaxPoke I have converted my K10D and K20D to KatzEye™ with OptiBrite for excellent control over focusing. KatzEye™ is great to work with: competent, helpful, prompt and kept me informed at all critical points of the conversion process.

[kuau]

So, my recommendation is, if focusing in MF is important to you, it's a no-brainer, get the KatzEye with OptiBright.

And there's a good chance you'll find out for the first time that your cam has an FF/BF problem--a problem that is pretty much unnoticeable with the factory screen. If you want to save money, be persistent and get Pentax to fix it for you. It may take weeks, if not months.

If you want to save time and much agony, get KatzEye to do the calibration/installation for you. They know what they're doing.

I am thinking about getting the KatzEye for my K7, I usually do manual focus.
I use the DA15mm limited, 20mm Voigtlander, FA31mm Limited and the FA77mm Limited lens.

Do I need to get OptiBright? and is it difficult to calibrate for MF or should I send in my K7 to katzeye?

thanks

steven

[BillM]

Hi everyone,
have had with opti-brite for 3 months and wont go back.
noticed as others have, inconsistancies with metering in regards
to a couple of golden oldies I have, one a K200/2.5 has been a
really crooked learning curve. Just upgraded K20d firmware and have
noticed more consistence when stopping up/down with that lens and metering
on K20/katzeye. (went from ver. 1.03 to 1.04)

[dcunitedfan]

PentaxPoke, thanks for the information. I just bought a K-x this weekend (longtime K-1000 user) and have found the stock viewfinder experience maddening. I simply cannot rely on the viewfinder to focus and don't like the idea of having to rely on the AF sensor - am too used to having the viewfinder visually indicate focus. So glad there is a way out!

[pyiyha]

Thank you for this thorough review. I was on the fence about getting a Chinese copy or forking out for Katzeye, but I think I will go for Katzeye now.

This will be my Christmas present to myself.

[pyiyha]

Jewelltrail,

I am also looking to get the screen from jinfinance or Katzeye.

I have three questions:

1. At what aperature does the Chinese one black out?

2. Does the split image line up at the center as it should?

3. From the pics on the ebay, it seems the finish on the screen seems a bit crude, what is your impression?

Thank you.

[orly_andico]

I have both the virtualvillage and jinfinance ones.

Both of them show focusing errors (e.g. when the AF thinks its in focus, the split-screen says it's not).

The problem is.. I don't know which is right! one my my lenses (16-45) needs a huge amount of focus correction (+120um on my old K10D, +10 on my K20D). But it seems that the cheap screen needs a shim (when it indicates focus, things are somewhat OOF). But this only happens with my 100mm Macro at short-ish distances (say less the 5 feet). So shorter lenses or longer distances, the focusing error is masked.

I tried shimming my old VV screen with tape (that's why I now have the jinfinance one! -- the tape adhesive got all over the screen and ruined it). Brass shims would be good.. if one could get some.

But the reality is I have totally forgotten about the split-screen, since I hardly use MF lenses anymore, AF is too convenient.

[Abstract]

I am pretty confused, mostly about optibrite. I have looked over countless topics and thier site but this is what I am confused about: Ok lets say I am in daylight, and I feel like using a fstop of 22 will it become dark or is higher fstops just affected at night(Where in I would use a 1.4-2.8 prime)?

Will I be restricted to fstop 11 at the most in any lighting situation?

My lenses
8-16mm F4.5-5.6 DC HSM Ultra-Wide Zoom Lens
DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL WR Zoom Lens
70-210 Vivitar Seris 1 F3.5
Pentax 50mm F1.4
Pentax 28mm F2.8

The 8-16 I would like to do long expures at smaller Fstops at night....will this pose a problem?

[adwb]

I have a non optibrite non etched split screen fitted to my K10d. I can occasionally get a dark half circle at some of the small stops BUT if you move your eye slightly this often will go away.
It has never caused me any problems or caused me not to be able to focus or compose a macro of a flower or any other image on any of the lenses listed below

Will I be restricted to fstop 11 at the most in any lighting situation?

the short answer is no.
speak to katzeye they are very very helpfull.

[eadrian75]

Sure, reading a review clearly trumps any first-hand experience I had.

Oh, congrats on the viewfinder pictures, though. They're excellent.



I'm aware of that and I also have fast lenses. But unless your subject is dead center on the composition you'll have to move the camera to recompose and doing that you lose the focal precision the split screen gives you.

I have yet to read the entire post, but i have to pause here and say that you bring an excellent point to my cons list. Rarely are my subjects dead center, except perhaps when an extreme macro shot fills the frame. But that's just a small percentage of my shots.

Though i really do miss the split screen from my old film camera and always wondered why they didn't use it with digital.