[JohnBee]

I'm about ready to pull the trigger on a Kx camera to replace our dedicated K200D unit and I wanted to know if anyone knew if the Kx has interchangeable screens similar to Pentax's other camera's?

The ideal would be to drop in a katzeye with an 11 point etching so that we'll have a markers to use under manual focusing conditions.

[LeDave]

The Pentax K-m/K2000 has aftermarket focusing screens from Katzeye, Jinfinance, and probably others. I'm not sure if the K-x shares the same screen as it though, but I'm almost certain they do because I don't think they changed anything about the viewfinder and pentamirror.

[JohnBee]

I hope someone with a K-x could have a peek and confirm this.
It would really mean alot if we knew for sure.

The Kx seems like such a nice camera for the price, that I'm really hyped about getting one now.
Though I can't really justify the move if we can't replace our current camera with it.

[philbaum]

I hope someone with a K-x could have a peek and confirm this.
It would really mean alot if we knew for sure.

The Kx seems like such a nice camera for the price, that I'm really hyped about getting one now.
Though I can't really justify the move if we can't replace our current camera with it.

Another option might be to call or email Katzeye and ask them if they have a focus screen for it. I suspect they stay on top of new cameras for business purposes.

[frank]

I just changed the K-x focusing screen for my friend w/ a K3 split screen from focusingscreen.com which was bought for his K200D camera (I installed the same screen for his K200D too as I did for quite a few friends here. He sold the K200D but kept the screen for the newly bought K-x). The focusing is spot on w/ the newly installed split screen, there isn't any problem installing it either, exactly the same as w/ a K200D camera (which has the same screen as K-m/K2000).

[JohnBee]

Great news!

Thanks very much for your input guys
Now I await word from Katzeye to see if they can design an 11 point AF screen

[WerTicus]

yeah an 11 point markers so you know where they are is a good idea.

[frank]

Actually from the AF point selecting screen on K-x, plus the two brackets in the viewfinder, you'd roughly know where the AF point is set pretty easily:



Those red dots aren't shown in the viewfinder, but you can see the currently selected point clearly on the back LCD screen. I don't think it's a good idea to mark all the 11 dots on the focusing screen.

[JohnBee]

I've been communitcating with Rachael from Katzeye to see if we can't devise a way to scribe the points on the screen accuratly. I think I'm going to ship a unit to him so he can study it further(yes I trust him that much ).

The cool thing about a matt focusing screen like a Katzeye is that the points vanish when the subject is in focus. So though the AF indicators may seemto stand-out at some stage of focusing, they become(nearly) invisible when focus is acheived.

Though I do realize this is purely subjective, for what we do with our K200D, we really need those points.

I have to say though, It's really nice to know that Katzeye is willing to reverse engineer and(even) fine tune a screen for the unit. We might even say, its the katz meow!

[Eruditass]

Actually from the AF point selecting screen on K-x, plus the two brackets in the viewfinder, you'd roughly know where the AF point is set pretty easily:



Those red dots aren't shown in the viewfinder, but you can see the currently selected point clearly on the back LCD screen. I don't think it's a good idea to mark all the 11 dots on the focusing screen.

Yep, the brackets are very useful.

Unfortunately, the cheaper focus screens do not have these brackets

The only thing keeping me from $25 perfect MF is this!

[JohnBee]

Hi Frank, that's a very good image(example) of the K-x AF points.
I was thinking of something very similar, however... with what we could call a subdued layout.

A little more like this:


I'm hoping that this design would strike a balance between getting AF points on screen without obstructing the composition frame.

[pbo]

I have a Focusingscreen.com K3 screen on my K-x. Pain to install (because K-x focus screen was designed as a non-interchangeable one), but focus seems good with original copper shim in place. Also, I paid for the rule-of-thirds grid layout on the screen, and the focus points are roughly at intersection points of the grid.

[JohnBee]

I have a Focusingscreen.com K3 screen on my K-x. Pain to install (because K-x focus screen was designed as a non-interchangeable one)

Oh?

Well that's a very important piece of information(thanks for that)
Can you expand on what it involved and what issues it may have presented you with?

Thanks for the info. btw.
I'm very glad you shared with this us.

BTW. I just received work from the owner of Katzeye and he told me that the nature of the splitscreen doesn't allow for etching in the center of the prism. So I updated my custom screen design to reflect that. Though I don't think this will impact the center focus accuracy very much since the prism makes it quite easy to center a target with.

[pbo]

Oh?

Well that's a very important piece of information(thanks for that)
Can you expand on what it involved and what issues it may have presented you with?

There are two guides on internet about how to change the screen. One is on Katzeye's site - which, IMO, makes the process seem easier than it actually is. Another one is closer to reality, and though it is written in poor Engrish, it's quite generously pictured - here on focusingscreen.com instructions section
I had several problems while installing the screen. First one - latch was a bit hard to open. Then, the screen can wiggle around in the chamber before locked down - so you have to juggle a bit with twizzlers to get the screen into place (once in place, it will stay there). And finally, the screen seems to be a bit thicker than original - the latch lock doesn't click in as nicely as it does with original
It was a bit tiring process for me - since I also tried different combinations of shims and such - but once I got it all figured out, screen is a joy to use. So far, I haven't even missed AF brackets much. But even if I need to guesstimate the AF points - I have the grid.

[pbo]

So, I sort of tried to merge the picture you got there with the one focusingscreen.com use to show their screens (hope it's okay ). It's not perfect - but it does show where those AF points lie w.r.t. split image, microprism, Nikon's reference circle, and grids - and the relative position does match with my observations.