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Archive 2015 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus

  
 
jancohen
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


I'm wondering if anyone has tried replacing the focusing screen on the D810 to support the use of non-AF lenses and, if so, what sort of impact doing so might have on the use of AF lenses in conjunction with the new setup.

Focusing screens used to be available via Katzeye, but they've apparently shut down operations. There is a company in Taiwan though that makes screens for the D810, for about US $100: focusingscreen.com



Jun 13, 2015 at 06:12 PM
Reagan
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


It will take a little practice but you ca do it without changing the screen
I had a D300 with a Katzeye and it was right on the money with the green dot focus light
The Katzeye was not as good as the split screens you would find in a film camera
I shoot 95% of the time with manual focus lens on my D700 and I am comfortable doing so
It just takes practice and rely on the green light
Check out the Nikon Manual Focus thread. I don't think more than 1 person has changed out the screen


Reagan



Jun 13, 2015 at 07:18 PM
mysh
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


I use the D810 with manual lenses and don't find it too hard. One thing I have found is the green dot stays on for a small amount of ring movement. It all will be in some focus but there is an exact spot that is critical focus. I shoot at infinity a lot and going to it stops will show the green dot but backing off a hair on most my lenses is even better.
Overall I find it easy enough to not bother with changing the screen.



Jun 13, 2015 at 07:35 PM
Vilk
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


wish i could say what the others said alas, my keeper rate with the stock screen was below 50%; i was actually getting better results guessing and pre-focusing on the distance scale. yup, that bad. the green dot has a tolerance that renders it completely useless. mostly 50/1.2 and 35/1.4, a bit better with longer lenses

since replacement with focusingscreen.com S-type, i haven't had an unintentional miss yet. yup, that good

my second one arrives monday, just in case he goes out of business like the other one

(no, i'm not his buddy; just happy i didn't have to do the cutting myself)



Jun 13, 2015 at 07:57 PM
jancohen
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


Thanks, guys. Some might find it weird, but I never used the green dot when I owned the D700 a couple of years back. Maybe it was a matter of not knowing everything about the camera at the time, but I was weaned on the F2 way back in 74, and I think it was just that old habits are hard to break thing.

Anyway, I've got a new-old 85/1.4 ai-s I'm going to try this coming week on the D810. If I get some good pix, I'll post them in the manual thread.



Jun 13, 2015 at 08:01 PM
jancohen
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


Vilk wrote:
wish i could say what the others said alas, my keeper rate with the stock screen was below 50%; i was actually getting better results guessing and pre-focusing on the distance scale. yup, that bad. the green dot has a tolerance that renders it completely useless. mostly 50/1.2 and 35/1.4, a bit better with longer lenses

since replacement with focusingscreen.com S-type, i haven't had an unintentional miss yet. yup, that good


Ah, missed you while I was answering the other two. I'm going to give the green dot method a whirl, it's the least I can do. If that gives me trouble, I'll look into getting a different screen.

Btw, have you noticed any difference when using AF/AFS lenses because of the screen change?



Jun 13, 2015 at 08:08 PM
Vilk
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


jancohen wrote:
Ah, missed you while I was answering the other two. I'm going to give the green dot method a whirl, it's the least I can do. If that gives me trouble, I'll look into getting a different screen.

Btw, have you noticed any difference when using AF/AFS lenses because of the screen change?


no worry. i know your pain--i had shot F2 bodies exclusively until I finally got my first digicam last xmas, the 810 and know what? i love my S-type now, but even that is nowhere near a B-type in the F2, not in the same spacetime

i never owned an AF lens so i cannot help you with the difference question, sorry. i'm reading there's no impact though (the AF sensor is on a different path)



Jun 13, 2015 at 10:27 PM
Alan321
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


The green dot approach is unreliable. Look up dottune focus adjustment for tuning AF and you'll see there's quite a range of focus adjustment covered by the green dot indicating accurate focus.

if you change the focus screen then you risk a worse viewfinder image with lenses that have a smaller maximum aperture. There's no free gains to be had from focus screens.

if you can afford it, then try a zacuto finder that attaches to the camera and lets you focus on the lcd screen. Somewhat bulky but very effective and it bypasses the focus screen. Live view gives you the added option of zooming in on the part that needs critical focus without changing the focal length, and it can present a bright focus image even in poor light. There'll be cheaper alternatives than zacuto.

- Alan F.





Jun 14, 2015 at 11:18 AM
jancohen
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


Thanks, Alan, the Zacuto finder certainly sounds like an alternative, and seems much like the Hoodman finder I used in the past.


Jun 14, 2015 at 11:32 AM
trenchmonkey
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


Then some us have little trouble MF'g with the D810...shooting action even
Handheld, wide open Zeiss 135 f2 APO...just sayin'



more from this session here:
https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1367577/999999#lastmessage

Edited on Jun 14, 2015 at 11:58 AM · View previous versions



Jun 14, 2015 at 11:53 AM
jancohen
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


trenchmonkey wrote:
Then some us have no trouble MF'g with the D810


Ah, but to have your eyes

Torn retina in left eye twice, stable macular hole in right eye. I refuse to give up though.



Jun 14, 2015 at 11:58 AM
trenchmonkey
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


I'm not liking that you have eye problems. Mine are 67 yrs old...
that's ~201 in 'monkey years.

Edited on Jun 14, 2015 at 12:15 PM · View previous versions



Jun 14, 2015 at 12:05 PM
jancohen
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


trenchmonkey wrote:
I'm not liking that you have eye problems. Mine are 67 yrs old...
that's ~191 in 'monkey years.


Believe me, I'm not liking it either, but it is what it is. Always was near sighted, from very early on. A few years back, diabetes took its tool on me.

I figure I'll continue to shoot until if and when I can no longer do that. Then I'll go to Denali and seek out an old schoolbus of my own, and maybe, just maybe, a movie producer.




Jun 14, 2015 at 12:13 PM
lichtspieler
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


jancohen wrote:
I'm wondering if anyone has tried replacing the focusing screen on the D810 to support the use of non-AF lenses and, if so, what sort of impact doing so might have on the use of AF lenses in conjunction with the new setup.

Focusing screens used to be available via Katzeye, but they've apparently shut down operations. There is a company in Taiwan though that makes screens for the D810, for about US $100: focusingscreen.com

I had my experiences with focus screens with my D300/D700 (KatzEye, EG-s, EC-A, K3 etc.) and the only one usable with f/1.2 - f/1.4 was the EG-S (Canon super precission mate).

I replaced the screen in my D810 in the first weeks after the purchase and ~6 months later I use the D810 mainly with the otus 85 and avoid my AF lenses if I can.

I see no big difference between the stock screen and most split-image focus screens - the KatzEye was a big dissapointment for me with the D300. The split-image couldn't replace the green dot for precise focussing and was most of the time not even usable with the horizontal split. The rest of the screen was just as good or bad for big apertures as the stock screen.

Just as when I wanted to get rid of manual focusing alltogether, I tried the Canon EG-S and I found the perfect match for my f/1.2 - f/1.4 MF lenses.

Changing the focus screen in the D300 / D700 / D810 is very easy and needs no tools or skill.
Some people underestimate how enjoyable manual focusing can be with the right focus screen.



Jun 18, 2015 at 09:57 AM
Mark_L
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


For some cameras the screen just isn't mounted accuracy enough, my D700 was a mile off and I had to play for weeks with shims and even then I'm not sure I ever got it perfect.

I have better than 20/20 vision, started on all manual focus cameras and the only lens I have I can reliably manual focus to pixel sharpness with the D800E is the sigma 50mm. I think wide open contrast is vital for critical focus, the green dot isn't accurate enough.

Really, if manual focus is your thing I'd look at sony's cameras with focus peaking.



Jun 18, 2015 at 10:20 AM
Vilk
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Manual lenses, critical D810 focus


Vilk wrote:
wish i could say what the others said alas, my keeper rate with the stock screen was below 50%; i was actually getting better results guessing and pre-focusing on the distance scale. yup, that bad. the green dot has a tolerance that renders it completely useless. mostly 50/1.2 and 35/1.4, a bit better with longer lenses

since replacement with focusingscreen.com S-type, i haven't had an unintentional miss yet. yup, that good

my second one arrives monday, just in case he goes out of business like the other one

(no, i'm not his buddy; just happy i didn't have to do the
...Show more

i think i owe future generations of thread crawlers a correction to my earlier observations: i had a chance to do another round of fiddling today and i no longer think the D810 stock screen is substantially worse than the S-type from focusingscreen.com; it is mostly nikon's generous tolerances that result in hopeless manual focus... careful and patient shimming can bring the two screens very close to each other in manual focus performance



Jan 17, 2016 at 09:07 PM





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