Alan321 Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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Perhaps stating the obvious, the bigger the details are in the viewfinder the easier they are to see and generally the easier they are to focus on. A sharper lens helps. A longer focal length helps. A shorter focus distance helps until you get so close that your own motion makes it hard to focus. VR helps, but is generally on AF lenses that have in turn generally poor manual focus characteristics. A decent focus ring on the lens helps - one that has a lot of travel for the focus distances you are shooting at (like the Zeiss 2/100 Makro at close-up to mid-range but definitely not like that lens at infinity). And of course a working viewfinder helps - it wasn't until I tried a second Zeiss lens and still had a lot of trouble focusing that I realised there was a fault with my D800E viewfinder. Naturally it proved to be an intermittent problem as if a part was physically loose inside. One new viewfinder later and things are much better.
I use the Nikon 1.2x viewfinder magnifier and it helps me a lot, but it restricts full-screen vision from one eye position. Then again, so does wearing my eyeglasses, so it doesn't matter that much.
A better focus screen can indeed improve the situation if it is matched to the maximum aperture of the lens/TC combination that you are using. Otherwise it can make things worse in multiple ways. I'd be concerned about using a third-party focus screen for the following reasons...
1. They won't be user-changeable like the Canon focus screens, and I think they need to be.
2. Whatever focus screen works at bright maximum apertures is usually unsuitable at darker maximum apertures, and vice versa. e.g. they may go very dark in the microprism and split prism focus aids; they can go disproportionately dark in darker areas of the image; they may totally obscure DOF by accentuating defocus. This matters to me because my lens collection includes a variety of maximum apertures from f/1.2 to f/6.3.
3. When the maximum aperture does not suit the focus screen the focus screen will alter the image going to the matrix metering system in the pentaprism and may interfere with both exposure and AF - and not consistently. The errors will differ according to the scene brightness especially where the AF sensors would be looking.
(I know that the viewfinder image is not actually seen by the AF sensors but the matrix metering affects exposure and the colour sensing can affect AF tracking in AF-C and/or face recognition in AF-S).
Unfortunately, I think the standard focus screen restricts focus to an equivalent of f/2 or f/2.8 DOF. It just won't reveal a DOF as narrow as that of an f/1.4 lens at maximum aperture and therefore an element of guesswork is involved. It's not an issue with f/2.8 lenses and not bad at f/2.
Some or even most of the non-Nikon lenses require the focus ring be turned the Canon way instead of the opposite Nikon way. That might mess with you quick reaction manual focusing or else your SWM manual focus tweaking of AF results.
Using the live view is difficult on the D800E because it throws away two out of three lines even when zoomed in. That might be clever for video work but it's a crappy choice for still photography (especially handheld) and as the years roll by it is quite evident that Nikon has no intention of fixing it with a firmware update.
An alternative might be to use an attachable HDMI monitor, preferably with its own focus aid whereby it flashes high-contrast (i.e. sharp) edge transitions. However, it involves using a tripod too.
Yet another option is to use a Zacuto Z-Finder Pro. It is an LCD viewing hood, a large eye cup and a lens with dioptre adjustment that attaches to the back of the camera and becomes the defacto viewfinder. It lets you focus on the LCD while you are using live view mode and that lets you better judge focus. It works even when you zoom the LV image and like the normal viewfinder it lets you use your head to support the camera and reduce motion. You cannot do that if you hold the camera at arms length to look at the LCD without the Zacuto. The downsides are the cost, the extra bulk, and the extra power consumption needed to run live view. If power consumption is too much of a problem then you can add more cost by using the optional battery/grip and fill it with rechargeable AA cells.
If you want to play with manual focus then do it before your eyes go wonky in your 40's or 50's. They'll never get any better and they'll probably get a lot worse than they are now.
- Alan
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