Im looking to get a focusing screen for my 20d - but dont know which one to get. Which is the best screen for people photography- especially low light events!
Are there any down sides to the focusing screens?
Thanks for the help
Can someone discourse on what advantages they find on a 20D with different screens? Are they suitable for manual focus i.e. split prism etc? I cannot focus well with my 30D on manual for critical long focal lengths and was wondering if a different screen might help.
The Katzeye is a split prism focusing screen. I have many MF lenses I use with my camera and always struggled to get focus "dead-on" through the viewfinder. This was especially a problem when shooting a macro lens. Just like the old days, when the split prism aligns, that area is in focus. Additionally, as an option, Katzeye offers grid lines for aiding composition and an optical "brightener" to lighten up the viewfinder. I purchased the "brightener" but have to comparison point as it's the only non-Canon screen I have.
There are a couple of issues, however. Slower lenses result in a very dark viewfinder. Anything above f 5.6 is about my limit for accurate focusing, and that's usually on a tripod. F 4 and faster are fine. There may also be some metering issues. Spot metering is discouraged and is supposed to be a problem but I've not tried it as I use the histogram all the time. I do find that certain lenses require EC, but I'm not sure if it's a function of the screen or a result of using a MF lens on my EOS body.
My percentage of infocus photos using MF is probably 3 or 4 times higher than with the original screen now that I have the Katzeye. I have 50 year old eyes, so I'm sure that was a factor. In my case it's resulted in dramatic improvements. I use it on a 20D.
I don't believe Canon makes an alternate focusing screen for the 20D. They do for the 30D and 5D, but that doesn't help you.
The two companies I am familiar with that do focusing screens for Canon cameras are KatzEye and Brightscreen. I am sure there are a couple of others, but I'm not familiar with them.
I think it's the split prism that causes the issue; not the manufacturer. I seem to recall that Canon's EF-S screen (or something real close-it could be EC-S or something similar) for the 5D also has an issue with viewfinder darkness and spot metering. If you do a seach in this forum or the Alternate Gear forum under "focusing screens" you should find many happy, and several unhappy owners of alternate Canon and non-Canon focusing screens.
Unless you use spot metering on your 20D, I wouldn't get to hung up on metering issues. In addition to my Canon lenses I use Olympus, Pentax K and several M42 mount lenses. It's these non-Canon lenses that I find I have the most difficulty with and it could very well be just a function of using someone else's lens and an adapter on a Canon body. I don't worry about it with my Canon lenses or with the one MF lens I own that's dedicated to the EF mount. The biggest concern I would have is lenses that are f 5.6 and slower.
The KatzEye and Brightscreen screens are not cheap. I use several MF non-Canon lenses on a regular basis and needed something to help me focus better. I spent nearly a year agonizing over what to do before I pulled the trigger. In my case, it was a year of many lost opportunities, but again, I shoot perhaps 50% of my shots with MF lenses. For only the occasional picture, I don't know that it's worth it.
You may want to keep an eye on the Buy and Sell forum. Every once in a while I'll see a screen that someone's selling and you can save a few bucks.
Thanks very much for that info. My main problem is with my 400/f5.6 lens with which I am having troubles with critical auto-focus on the 30D. (Currently in for recalibration or repair, again).
I interpret above info to say that a Katzeye screen might not be so useful on my f5.6 especially considering tiny dof at 400mm.
It depends. What you have to consider is, that no matter how good the screen is, the VF is quite a bit smaller than you might have been used to from a regular SLR. I found that THAT factor made focusing more difficult than the f stop.
If your biggest problem seems to be your 400 5.6 in darker situations I agree with you, a new screen won't be a big improvement. If it wasn't for my MF lenses, I wouldn't have changed screens.
Aftermarket screens from Katz Eye or Haoda definitely have as much as -2EV detrimental affect on the accuracy of exposure, as proven by owners of those screens. If you use relatively fast (f/2.8 lenses) affects are minimal, and if you use Evaluative metering again affects are minimual. But if you have slower lenses or you use Spot metering, the bad affect on exposure is proven. In fact, one onwer reports 2EV and another owner reports as much as 3EV difference from correct exposure! The web sites for Katz or Haoda USED TO mention specific changes in what situations, but within the past 12 months those facts have been removed from the web site!
Just found the following comment posted in another forum only a short time ago...
"Thanks again for your answers. I spoke to Rachel at Katz, and it looks like evaluative and centre weighted average are ok, but the partial needs exposure compensation, with spot not really working unless using very fast lenses < F2.0. "
