Quick EF-S screen and general VF question

After seeing my dad's old manual focus 35mm film SLR's VF, I got a bit more into viewfinders

I ordered a EF-S precision matte screen for my 40D to use with my primes, and I had a quick question... I think I read somewhere that the screen was meant for lenses f/1.8-f/2.8. Does that mean I won't be able to see any DOF difference between say f/1.2 and f/1.8?

Also, for those of you who have tried both the 1Ds mk III or 5D and manual focus 35mm SLRs...how do the viewfinders compare? It's been awhile since I've used a 5D. Something tells me the manual focus VF is larger, but just wanted to see if that was true.

I still prefer my old manual focus viewfinders over my 1Dsmk3 viewfinder, which seems to still be the king in digital VF size.

The MF finders I use seem brighter. And then when I put in my Ec-B split prism focusing screen, the 1Dsmk3 viewfinder gets really dark, especially when I use the 24-105. The MF viewfinders have the split prism AND are super bright (in addition to being bigger).

This is why I kinda laugh when people talk about how the 5D viewfinder is such a life-changing amazing experience. I still think it's small and dim. oh well.

I'm crossing my fingers that they'll release a camera with a viewfinder that is worth having.

whoa cool, didn't know they sold split prism for the 1Ds

IIRC, the manual focus VF on my dads cam made much more of an impression on me than the 5D, but i just wanted to see what other peoples opinons were

after seeing what VFs used to look like, i wish they made some bigger brighter ones too...it really is a nice thing to have. that said, doesn't the fact that autofocus cameras are autofocus mean they are a bit limited as to how good the VF can get?

Dimmer viewfinder is the price we pay for the light which passes thru the reflex mirror and gets bounced downward to the AF sensor!

Split-prism is sooo cool. I took out my mom's old AE-1.. canyon of a viewfinder compared to the XTi.

thanks for the table wilt, i ran into it recently.

can anyone answer the EF-S question? i'm thinking of getting a f/1.2 lens in the future, so it would be nice if it showed depth of field at f/1.2, instead of showing it at f/1.8. i guess showing f/1.8 is better than f/2.5, or whatever the standard one shows.

Don't worry about the f/1.2...what Canon means to indicate with the 'f/1.8 to f/2.8' characterization is simply 'best suited for any fast aperture lens larger than f/2.8'

so basically it will do a good job showing correct DOF on any lens with aperture larger than f/2.8?

The coarseness of a focusing screen not only improves the precision in being able to see 'in focus', but it also improves the delineation of within DOF vs. outside DOF with the lens stopped down...if you have enough light to see at the shooting aperture while stopped down!

I have the ef-s screen, just got it a couple of weeks ago. All of my lenses are 2.8 or faster. There is a very slight darkening with a 2.8 lens, but nothing that makes much of a difference even in low light situations. I was using it yesterday to shoot some outdoor sports and I can tell you that it was significantly better than I thought it would be. You can see the focus move very clearly. When I was indoors in lower light, it was a little tougher to tell. Overall I am pretty happy with it, but I wouldn't recommend it for people using slower lenses as I don't think the trade off of improved focusing versus darker viewfinder is worth.

james_in_baltimore wrote in post #6286250
I have the ef-s screen, just got it a couple of weeks ago. All of my lenses are 2.8 or faster. There is a very slight darkening with a 2.8 lens, but nothing that makes much of a difference even in low light situations. I was using it yesterday to shoot some outdoor sports and I can tell you that it was significantly better than I thought it would be. You can see the focus move very clearly. When I was indoors in lower light, it was a little tougher to tell. Overall I am pretty happy with it, but I wouldn't recommend it for people using slower lenses as I don't think the trade off of improved focusing versus darker viewfinder is worth.

thanks, were you shooting sports manual focus?

just received it, and its making a difference on my 24-70/2.8L and 50/1.4, the first two lenses i grabbed to try it with. i didn't think it'd make much of a diff on f/2.8, but it does (albeit slighty dimming it). going to try it out on my 70-200/2.8L and 85/1.8 in a second. looks like it'll stay in my camera (don't use my slower lenses that much)

Sfordphoto wrote in post #6289112
thanks, were you shooting sports manual focus?

no, used autofocus, but it still is nice when in servo mode so you can avoid hitting the shutter when the subject is not in focus.