I am going a little crazy here about one of those things in life where
we have a choice between two items, neither of which is optimal.
My brief flirt with the (wonderful) Nikon F - which is now safely
displayed in a cabinet for the time being - has taught me the value of
a focusing screen that, though dimmer, shows accurate depth of field.
Now let's be honest - absolutely any traditional focusing screen looks
like a dirty windscreen compared to a Olympus Lumi Micron Matte. I
have recently noticed, however, how dramatically better the Lumi
Micron screens make the image appear than what it really looks like
captured on film. When this happens, you photograph things that look
great through the viewfinder, but not so great on film (you rely more
on your eyes, and less on your mind's eye, to spot a great
composition). And then there's the issue of focusing accuracy -
focusing fast lenses when you see their DOF at f/2.8 - f/4 is not all
that accurate, unless you can take your time focusing. Not great for
grab shots or moving objects.
I've been shooting my 3Ti with the plain matte / grid focusing screen.
The grain seems to be just right - not too grainy, but not as smooth
as the too-smooth, semi-transparent 1-8 screen. The problem? The big
bright beautiful viewfinder is reduced to a *much* dimmer, less
contrasty experience. To be honest, in this configuration, the Nikon F
finder blows it out of the water.
So, I'll probably put the Lumi-Micron back in - but I have a question
for you guys: Is it even theoretically possible to decisively
accurately focus f/1.4 and f/2.0 lenses with this screen? Or is it
literally the case that one will always have the margin of error,
equivalent to the difference in field depth between f/1.4 and f/4 ?
In good light, I really like (and prefer) the plain matte with grid
screen, but in poor light, it's really not that great. Much better on
an OM-1/2 of course, which has that extra half-stop of brightness or
so due to the solid mirrors.
Happy new year all! I am going to shoot some colour this year :-)
Dawid
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