Katz eye, split prism focus screen

Just received my Katz Eye split prism focus screen with microprism collar, rule of 3rds grid lines and Optibrite treatment.

First impression is this is bright and clear and manual focusing is brilliant, especially for things like macro pics. The microprism collar is amazing as it is a fantastic aid in critical focus as is the split screen. It's almost like using my old ME Super except with a smaller VF, so the manual focus brigade will love this focus screen! The screen itself is beautifully made and a bit thicker than the original plastic screen.

I tried to ascertain whether the exposure is affected and so far it seems like there is little difference if any. Preliminarily, it looks to have a slight tendency to over expose rather than underexpose, but as I have literally only just received it and put it in the camera a few hours ago, it is difficult to make a definitive judgement.

Exposure accuracy was good with my previous Pentax LL60 1/3rd grid screen, so I hope that the Katz Eye is as good as I would hate to have to give up the magnificent microprism collar, split focus screen and super bright and clear screen.

It will take me some time to evaluate the exposure accuracy as I believe it can't be done with test charts and the like as they do not reflect real world results.

--
Lance B
Lady Astor: 'Winston, you're drunk'
Winston Churchill: 'And you madam, are ugly, but tomorrow I'll be sober'
Lady Astor: 'Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your tea!'
Winston Churchill: 'Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!'
GMT +10hours

Lance presumably you installed it yourself? Was it a straightforward process and would you advise the technically ungifted to do it?
--
tim

Good to hear Lance, well actually bad cause it means I'll have to start saving. Let us know impressions further down.

timo said:

Lance presumably you installed it yourself? Was it a
straightforward process and would you advise the technically
ungifted to do it?

Click to expand...

It's not difficult to install, but you may get a few heartaches thinking you've done things wrong when you haven't. The whole thing is a lot more robust than you think. When installing mine, the Katz Eye screen didn't pop straight into the holder correctly and I had to juggle it around a bit, but that's about it. Just take your time.
The installation procedure can be viewed here:

there is no http://www in this address.

timo said:

--
tim

Click to expand...

--
Lance B
Lady Astor: 'Winston, you're drunk'
Winston Churchill: 'And you madam, are ugly, but tomorrow I'll be sober'
Lady Astor: 'Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your tea!'
Winston Churchill: 'Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!'
GMT +10hours

The url won't come up for some reaso, so I will try this:
http : tinyrul. com/7rrbl
Remove any spaces

Lance B said:

timo said:

Lance presumably you installed it yourself? Was it a
straightforward process and would you advise the technically
ungifted to do it?

Click to expand...

It's not difficult to install, but you may get a few heartaches
thinking you've done things wrong when you haven't. The whole
thing is a lot more robust than you think. When installing mine,
the Katz Eye screen didn't pop straight into the holder correctly
and I had to juggle it around a bit, but that's about it. Just take
your time.
The installation procedure can be viewed here:

there is no http://www in this address.

Lance B said:

--
tim

Click to expand...

--
Lance B
Lady Astor: 'Winston, you're drunk'
Winston Churchill: 'And you madam, are ugly, but tomorrow I'll be
sober'
Lady Astor: 'Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your
tea!'
Winston Churchill: 'Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!'
GMT +10hours

Click to expand...

--
Lance B
Lady Astor: 'Winston, you're drunk'
Winston Churchill: 'And you madam, are ugly, but tomorrow I'll be sober'
Lady Astor: 'Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your tea!'
Winston Churchill: 'Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!'
GMT +10hours

Lance B said:

The microprism
collar is amazing as it is a fantastic aid in critical focus as is
the split screen.

Click to expand...

Hi Lance,

I agree about the microprism collar. After getting mine, I actually inquired if they had plans to make a screen with just the microprism aid -- Ms Katz replied that they weren't planning on it . . . but if enough people inquire. . .

I'm very happy with mine -- it's just the plain plus screen with no extras -- I especially like the fact that you really can't see the Fresnel rings (I always found them distracting) -- and I could be wrong, but it seems to be easier to clear dust particles with a Rocket blower than with the OEM.

Scott

Gareth_R said:

Good to hear Lance, well actually bad cause it means I'll have to
start saving. Let us know impressions further down.

Click to expand...

Shall do.

--
Lance B
Lady Astor: 'Winston, you're drunk'
Winston Churchill: 'And you madam, are ugly, but tomorrow I'll be sober'
Lady Astor: 'Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your tea!'
Winston Churchill: 'Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!'
GMT +10hours

snostorm said:

Lance B said:

The microprism
collar is amazing as it is a fantastic aid in critical focus as is
the split screen.

Click to expand...

Hi Lance,

I agree about the microprism collar. After getting mine, I actually
inquired if they had plans to make a screen with just the
microprism aid -- Ms Katz replied that they weren't planning on it
. . . but if enough people inquire. . .

Click to expand...

Actually, I think I could live with just the microprism collar and not the split screen too. I wonder if the microprism collar affects exposure?

snostorm said:

I'm very happy with mine -- it's just the plain plus screen with no
extras -- I especially like the fact that you really can't see the
Fresnel rings (I always found them distracting) -- and I could be
wrong, but it seems to be easier to clear dust particles with a
Rocket blower than with the OEM.

Scott

Click to expand...

--
Lance B
Lady Astor: 'Winston, you're drunk'
Winston Churchill: 'And you madam, are ugly, but tomorrow I'll be sober'
Lady Astor: 'Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your tea!'
Winston Churchill: 'Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!'
GMT +10hours

Could someone explain the difference between split screen and micro prism ? How does it help manual focusing ?

Thanks.
--
Add yourself to the map !
http://www.frappr.com/pentax

An interesting side note. The central focus indicator is above the split prism line rather than the split prism line going centrally through the central focus indicator. Actually, the bottom of central focus indicator sits almost directly on top the split prism line.

I could be wrong, but I would suggest that the split prism focusing line would not be allowed to go through the centre of the focus indicator as it may cause an upset of the AF in thew camera.

All I have to ascertain now is whether the focus indicator is centrally located top to bottom in the middle of the screen or the split prism is centrally located top to bottom in the middle of the screen.

If anyone else has one of these Katz Eye focus screens, can you tell me whether the above is the same with yours?

--
Lance B
Lady Astor: 'Winston, you're drunk'
Winston Churchill: 'And you madam, are ugly, but tomorrow I'll be sober'
Lady Astor: 'Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your tea!'
Winston Churchill: 'Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!'
GMT +10hours

The Katz Eye screen is indeed MUCH brighter when you decide to use the DOF preview button on apertures like f8 and f11 etc. Previously with the Pentax standard screen or the LL60 1/3rd grid screen, if you checked the DOF with the preview button, it was almost impossible to see what the DOF was as it was too dark. This is a great boon to those who macro and want to check their DOF!
--
Lance B
Lady Astor: 'Winston, you're drunk'
Winston Churchill: 'And you madam, are ugly, but tomorrow I'll be sober'
Lady Astor: 'Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your tea!'
Winston Churchill: 'Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!'
GMT +10hours

Hi Lance,

Mine's like yours. On my DS, the bottom of the indicator seems to be right on top of the split line -- and actually a touch to the left of center.

Scott

snostorm said:

Hi Lance,

Mine's like yours. On my DS, the bottom of the indicator seems to
be right on top of the split line -- and actually a touch to the
left of center.

Click to expand...

Hi Scott,

Aha, then my suspicions are correct. Probably done so as not to upset the AF and also, maybe to keep the split prism focus line away from the spot metering as well!

snostorm said:

Scott

Click to expand...

--
Lance B
Lady Astor: 'Winston, you're drunk'
Winston Churchill: 'And you madam, are ugly, but tomorrow I'll be sober'
Lady Astor: 'Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your tea!'
Winston Churchill: 'Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!'
GMT +10hours

Lance B said:

Just received my Katz Eye split prism focus screen with microprism
collar, rule of 3rds grid lines and Optibrite treatment.
First impression is this is bright and clear and manual focusing is
brilliant, especially for things like macro pics. The microprism
collar is amazing as it is a fantastic aid in critical focus as is
the split screen. It's almost like using my old ME Super except
with a smaller VF, so the manual focus brigade will love this focus
screen! The screen itself is beautifully made and a bit thicker
than the original plastic screen.
I tried to ascertain whether the exposure is affected and so far it
seems like there is little difference if any. Preliminarily, it
looks to have a slight tendency to over expose rather than
underexpose, but as I have literally only just received it and put
it in the camera a few hours ago, it is difficult to make a
definitive judgement.
Exposure accuracy was good with my previous Pentax LL60 1/3rd grid
screen, so I hope that the Katz Eye is as good as I would hate to
have to give up the magnificent microprism collar, split focus
screen and super bright and clear screen.
It will take me some time to evaluate the exposure accuracy as I
believe it can't be done with test charts and the like as they do
not reflect real world results.

--
Lance B
Lady Astor: 'Winston, you're drunk'
Winston Churchill: 'And you madam, are ugly, but tomorrow I'll be
sober'
Lady Astor: 'Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your
tea!'
Winston Churchill: 'Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!'
GMT +10hours
http://i.pbase.com/o4/21/489821/1/53232042.SydPano16mmOrigCrop.jpg

Click to expand...

Thanks Lance for the update. I'm quite interested in the LL60 actually, but no shop carries it here in Singapore And the Pentax agent (J&J) just dropped their Pentax line, new Pentax agent isn't up for service yet ...

And I guess the LL60 is a lot cheaper too ;-p Need to locate one now ...

Cheers,
--
Frank
GMT+8hours
http://www.weisphoto.com/

Lance B said:

An interesting side note. The central focus indicator is above the
split prism line rather than the split prism line going centrally
through the central focus indicator. Actually, the bottom of
central focus indicator sits almost directly on top the split prism
line.
I could be wrong, but I would suggest that the split prism focusing
line would not be allowed to go through the centre of the focus
indicator as it may cause an upset of the AF in thew camera.

Click to expand...

Focusing screen cannot upset the AF, because AF in its entirety located into the bottom of the mirrorbox. It gets its light tru the main mirror center, which is semitransparent. There is small mirror behind the main mirror, which reflects the light to the AF sensors in the bottom of the mirrorbox. Thus focusing screens cannot make any difference to AF.

Screen can only have an affect to the ligh measurement because those sensors actually senses the lighness of the focusing screen. And they are also located to the prism chanber above the focusing screen.

Lance B said:

All I have to ascertain now is whether the focus indicator is
centrally located top to bottom in the middle of the screen or the
split prism is centrally located top to bottom in the middle of the
screen.
If anyone else has one of these Katz Eye focus screens, can you
tell me whether the above is the same with yours?

Click to expand...

As you probably know, focusing screens (of any brand) are quite delicate
and must be cleaned very carefully. Here are my recommendations:

In the camera, about all you can really do is blow the dust off with a
bulb blower. I don't recommend canned air, as the possibility exists to
blow freezing liquid into the camera. The only other thing that can be
done in-camera, is that you can loosen any stubborn dust particles with
a very soft brush - a sensor brush or something similar.

With the screen out of the camera, you have a few more options. Again,
the bulb blower is the preferred option because it is the safest.
Sometimes dust will adhere to the screen by a static charge; here's a
little trick to help with that - just give the screen a breath of warm
air, as if you were trying to fog up a window, and immediately blow the
screen off with the bulb blower. You may need to repeat the process
several times. I know it sounds a little strange, but the slight
moisture in your breath will actually help to dissipate the static
without contaminating the screen. Of course, the sensor brush is just
as valid out of the camera as in-camera. In addition, the canned air is
safe to use outside the camera, although you should still try to avoid
letting the freezing liquid hit the screen. Don't panic if it does - it
probably won't hurt the screen; but avoid it if you can.

If the screen has become fingerprinted, contaminated with oil, or
heavily soiled somehow, it is possible to wash the screen. Avoid this
if at all possible, but if you have serious dirt or oil that won't
respond to the gentler methods, here is what you should do. Get a very
soft artist's brush

• red sable works nicely. Wet the screen with warm tap water; place a

drop of liquid dish soap (like Dawn) directly on the screen. Wet the
brush and work the soap thoroughly into the screen. On the matte
(prism) side, you can use any motion you'd like. On the other side,
there is a Fresnel lens that has a series of concentric grooves; to
clean them properly, you will need to work in circles starting at the
middle and getting progressively larger. When you're done, rinse
thoroughly in warm water using the brush to help to soap get off. Then,
follow with another thorough rinse, this time in dead cold water.
Finally, blow the water off the screen with canned air (making sure not
to freeze it) or a big bulb blower (like a rocket blower). The key is to
blow the water off the screen before it can evaporate and leave water
spots.

As a final bit of advice, here are some things you should NEVER use on
the screen. DO NOT USE alcohol, nail polish remover, paint thinner,
Windex, commercial lens cleaning solutions, or any other sort of
solvent. Some of them might be safe, but you use them at your own risk

• the plastic of the focusing screen can be softened and smeared by

solvents. Also, DO NOT dry-rub the focusing screen with a lens cloth or
lens tissue - it will almost certainly scratch. And finally, although
it might seem obvious, DO NOT touch the either face of the screen with
bare fingers - fingerprints are very difficult to get off. Hold the
screen only by the edges or by the tab and if you want to be really
safe, put on some latex gloves before you do any serious handling (like
the washing procedure above).

If you have any questions or need more clarification about cleaning,
please feel free to email or call - I'm in the office 8am-6pm EST,
Monday through Friday.

Best regards,
Rachael Katz
Katz EyeT Optics
http://www.katzeyeoptics.com

--
It's in the 'signature' ;-} wjwncpro (GMT-6)



Current level on the learning curve......^....................................................

I have two *istD cameras. After I dropped my first camera on some stone, I thought that the focus indicator became unaligned, but it appeared not to affect the autofocusing.

I got a second body - one of the last one sold in Europe, and the center focus indicator is misaligned in this brand new body, which have only been used for studio work.

In both bodies the center autofocus indicator is misaligned slightly to the left of the center of the spotmeter circle.

Cheers
Chris

And both bodies squeak when switching on

Harri R'is'nen said:

Lance B said:

An interesting side note. The central focus indicator is above the
split prism line rather than the split prism line going centrally
through the central focus indicator. Actually, the bottom of
central focus indicator sits almost directly on top the split prism
line.
I could be wrong, but I would suggest that the split prism focusing
line would not be allowed to go through the centre of the focus
indicator as it may cause an upset of the AF in thew camera.

Click to expand...

Focusing screen cannot upset the AF, because AF in its entirety
located into the bottom of the mirrorbox. It gets its light tru the
main mirror center, which is semitransparent. There is small mirror
behind the main mirror, which reflects the light to the AF sensors
in the bottom of the mirrorbox. Thus focusing screens cannot make
any difference to AF.

Click to expand...

Of course, you are correct and I had forgotten about that!

I wonder why then, that the split prism focus is under the focus indicator rather than in the middle of it? Maybe the spot metering is the same size as the centre AF indicator and therefore needs to be away from the split prism so as not to affect metering?

Harri R'is'nen said:

Screen can only have an affect to the ligh measurement because
those sensors actually senses the lighness of the focusing screen.
And they are also located to the prism chanber above the focusing
screen.

Harri R'is'nen said:

All I have to ascertain now is whether the focus indicator is
centrally located top to bottom in the middle of the screen or the
split prism is centrally located top to bottom in the middle of the
screen.
If anyone else has one of these Katz Eye focus screens, can you
tell me whether the above is the same with yours?

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
Lance B
Lady Astor: 'Winston, you're drunk'
Winston Churchill: 'And you madam, are ugly, but tomorrow I'll be sober'
Lady Astor: 'Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your tea!'
Winston Churchill: 'Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!'
GMT +10hours

I have the 'plus' version (no ultrabrite treatment). Very easy to mount, no worries at all.

Only thing is, the split circle tend to be half dark with my "slow" M 135 pentax lens, making it difficult to use it (I tend to use the microprism 'crown' in that case) - Anybody else had that problem?

Lance B said:

An interesting side note. The central focus indicator is above the
split prism line rather than the split prism line going centrally
through the central focus indicator. Actually, the bottom of
central focus indicator sits almost directly on top the split prism
line.

Click to expand...

Hi Lance!

Glad you got yours! I love mine and can't imagine how I ever managed to focus clearly without it. (An over-exaggeration, I'm sure, but it is VERY nice, expecially with manual focus lenses).

The focus indicator on mine does sit above the prism line and to the right of center.

Lance B said:

I could be wrong, but I would suggest that the split prism focusing
line would not be allowed to go through the centre of the focus
indicator as it may cause an upset of the AF in thew camera.
All I have to ascertain now is whether the focus indicator is
centrally located top to bottom in the middle of the screen or the
split prism is centrally located top to bottom in the middle of the
screen.

Click to expand...

Mine has 3rd's grid lines. From these it seems the prism is exactly in the center of the screen both top to bottom and left to right. Thanks Lance, now it seems that I've noticed that the focus indicator is actually off-center. :-( LOL!

--
Tracy
7:06 AM