split focus screen for the Digital Rebel

[msvadi]

There is a person on Canon Digital Hacking forum (Rachael, Yahoo ID rachaelseven http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canondigicamhacking/ ) who works on split focus screens for the Digital Rebel. As I understand, the project is almost finished. The screens will be offered for sale. She is looking for testers now.

I have no idea how the screens are installed, if there is any danger of camera damage, and what happens to the AF. But it sounds interesting. Can be very helpful for macro, low light photography, or any work that requires manual focusing.

[msvadi]

in the case you are wondering what the split focus screen is, you can read about it here:
http://photonotes.org/articles/split-circle-screen/

[DocFrankenstein]

Nice. What's the expected price?

[msvadi]

Nice. What's the expected price?

sorry, I have no idea. you can join the list or contact her for more information.

[nosquare2003]

Nice. What's the expected price?

The cost of your camera if there's anything wrong. :evil:

[Sketcher]

I really liked that split circle focus thing.

Would love to have that option on my 10D.

:(

[ron chappel]

Nice. What's the expected price?

The cost of your camera if there's anything wrong. :evil:

LOL yeah right...there's explosive packed into that little screen :lol: :lol:

Seriously-changing a focus screen can be done by most people safely.The things that can go wrong are-scratching something (unlikely),introducing dust (too easy) or putting the screen in upside down (focus will NOT work :lol: ..take it out and put it back in right)

One thing that someone bought up when this was first taked about-does it have any effect on metering?

[elfyrulz]

my old minolta X370 MF SLR have split-screen focusing. :D one reason why I still have it.

[jyrgen]

This thread (http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic2/110123) may be of interest.

[ron chappel]

Thanks for the link Jyrgen :)

Elfy-funny you mention the X370-i was servicing a zenit TTL the other day and thought "this sucks big time!! I'm going to replace this screen with something designed in the 2nd half of the 20th century!!!! :x "

I had a look at some potential donors i have in boxes...and the X370 came out easily the best!!
I didn't use the X370 one for the zenit because it was too good to strip for that job.
-I'll do it for the 300D though! :D :D :D

Some time ago my brother converted his screen for gridlines on his EOS 3000 film body.Using a razor the lines look excellent but for one he got abit bent...
So i was thinking that a razor type knife may be required to get crisp acurate edges when chopping the sides off the full size film focus screen
...but in that link above the women admits to using scissors :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Now that i think about it i guess that exact edges are not that critical,only that it can't move sideways too much and that it sit's absolutally dead flat

[wintoid]

How do you get the screen into the camera? Is it done through the lens mount hole with the mirror up or something, or is it done through the viewfinder area somehow?

[DocFrankenstein]

He mounted it between the lenses and the mirror. :shock:

It should interfere with the AF system. :? Or not?

[DocFrankenstein]

That's messed up. But then if you mount it like that, you're gonna get a "dust protection" screen which won't allow any dust to get on the sensor when you chance the lenses. :) Definitely worth trying.

AF sucks usually. When doing portraits, you sometimes want to focus within 1 cm depth to emphasize facial features. And it usually comes out wrong. :(

Split screen is a great feature.

[ron chappel]

He mounted it between the lenses and the mirror. :shock:

It should interfere with the AF system. :? Or not?

No,the focus screen goes above the mirror.

It can't effect the autofocus at all because that's all done underneath the mirror-some parts of the flip up mirror are actually semi transparent to allow some light through to a secondary mirror that directs the light downwards to the focus module.
In fact you can see the second mirror by peeking under the main mirror.
What another focus screen CAN affect is the metering because it is built into the pentaprism box and meters off the focus screen as i understand it

As focus screens can vary in brightness,it's possible for the metering to be out by maybe half to one and a half stops (my wild guess)

If you used an old ZENIT :shock: screen it would be waaaay out :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[DocFrankenstein]

If you used an old ZENIT :shock: screen it would be waaaay out :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Confused again. what do you mean?

[Jon]

They're really dim, so the meter would think it needed to open way up.