K3 focusing screen - focusingscreen.com

My new split focusing screen arrived yesterday from focusingscreen.com, about two weeks after placing the order. The total cost inc UK VAT and a ParcelForce "Clearance Fee" of £13.50 was just over £85. I built up the courage to fit it in my K200D this morning. It went quite smoothly, so unless you are even more dithery than I am (unlikely), you'll probably have no particular difficulty.

I've had a quick play with the K200D this afternoon, but it's been heavily overcast and tippling down with rain & sleet, so I haven't ventured out. Having said that, pointing the camera into the gloom through wet double glazed windows taking shots of a satellite dish, a neighbours Land Rover and trees and taking shots of furniture inside the house with curtains open/closed and with lights on/off is pretty much a worst case, so when the sun comes out, it'll be even better than I've seen so far.

Briefly:

In daylight, the K3 focusing screen works very well with every lens I've tried so far - a XR Rikenon 50mm f1.7, Pentax 18-55mm Mk2 kit lens at 55mm (so f5.6) and Pentax 75-150mm f4 zoom. Even an old manual t-mount Tamron 400mm f7.5 set at f11 was usable - the screen was darker as you would expect, but the split image wasn't blacked out and still worked. For comparitive purposes, I tried the same lenses on a Ricoh KR10 Super film camera, which has a similar split image focusing screen - and there's not a lot of difference.

Indoors with curtains open but no lighting switched on and the 18-55mm kit lens fitted, the split image screen was still very usable. Although you can provoke one half of the split image to darken a little by shifting your eye to the corners of the viewfinder, that didn't happen if you used it normally. With curtains closed and no lighting on, you are in trouble - but then again, the camera's autofocus didn't work either. With a single 10w halogen spot in an otherwise darkened bedroom, focusing manually using the split image screen with the kit lens at 55mm (hence f5.6) was OK too - so focusing any manual lens I'm likely to use in a relatively dimly lit pub or club should be a breeze.

I know from a previous test that the K200D's autofocusing is pretty accurate with the kit lens. Focusing using the split image screen pretty much agrees with the K200D's autofocus using the kit lens - and with the focus confirmation hexagon when using a manual lens, which is comforting. So far as I can tell, the matrix metering and centre weighted metering works fine but spot metering was way out, over exposing by maybe a couple of stops - which is pretty much in line with what the reviews I've read previously suggested.

Overall, I'm delighted with the new focusing screen and am glad that I bought it. If you have used a film camera with a split image screen and are happy with that then I think you'll also be happy using the focusingscreen.com K3 screen.

Andrew

Thanks for posting this Andrew.

The K3 screen is one I'm considering for my K-m, along with some of the cheaper eBay equivalents.

It seems that spot metering is the only drawback, which isn;t really a problem for me as I tend to use centre-weighted the majority of the time.

Good to hear your report Andrew, did you go for the plain K3 or the grid version?
Just wondering what the rule thirds grid engraving quality is like. The spot metering is also affected with the Katz eye screen btw.

My K3 (grid) is in the country and has bee waiting to clear customs for two days now according Parcel Force tracking!

The Ec-B also seems to be pretty good.
http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/camera-studio-accessories/73353-some-pentax-f...

I did order the grid version of the K3. The engraving quality seems to be excellent. It's not distracting in normal use either - so it's a definite plus.

Andrew

Thanks Andrew, I'm looking forward to receiving mine but not looking forward to the duty and VAT

Yes, I saw that thread before ordering the K3. I read somewhere else that the K3 was the brightest of the screens - and that was one of the reasons for ordering it. If you see the Screen Comparison page here , the brown dress does look brighter for the K3 screen compared with the Ec-B.

I don't agree with WheresWaldo's comment about the split image being too large on the K3 screen. It looks fine to me.


Andrew

I can't say that I'm too happy about the delay either. It took focusingscreen.com 7 days to manufacture the screen and have it shipped 6200 miles from Taiwan to Coventry. It then took Customs and ParcelForce another 9 days to move the parcel the last 130 miles.

You'll get a letter through the post from ParcelForce asking you to pay the VAT (£9.89) and their "Clearance Fee (£13.50)". You can pay online, so should get the delivery the day after you pay.

I haven't really worked out what the "Clearance Fee" is for. ParcelForce pay Customs the VAT on your behalf, so I guess it's effectively an interest charge. If a loan shark charged the same rate (several thousand percent), I suspect he'd be sent to prison. Ho hum ....


Andrew

That'll be a flat rate handling fee for collecting and passing on the VAT. It's a bit cheaper with the Royal Fail: £8.

I'm surprised such a small pacakage went via Parcel Farce.

Parcel Force is part of the Royal Mail Group. On this Parcel Force web page, they explain the charges as:

"We have two levels of clearance fee for import parcels. There is a charge of £13.50 for express parcels imported through the EMS (i.e. International Datapost equivalent) and GLS (i.e. Euro 48 equivalent) networks and also for high value standard parcels (valued at over €1000). For all other import parcels, an £8 charge will apply."


Andrew

But photos don't say anything, the sky is darker with the K3 screen for example.
WheresWaldo says he find the Ec-B slightly brighter but later on someone said he finds the k3 brighter so it seems they are both bright.

Like you said I think you would need to choice if you want the microprism or not in the viewfinder, I think I would prefer the smaller Ec-B myself as well.

I might get one for the K10D since I use manual quite a lot some help might be helpfull.

The only modern lens I have is the 18-55mm kit lens that came with the K200D when I bought it. I do, though, have half a dozen PK fit manual lenses, some of which were from a previous life and some that I've picked up for very little on Ebay.

The manual lens I use the most is a Pentax-M 75-150mm zoom which I really rate - but I do have difficulty (sometimes) in getting focus confirmation. Maybe my eyes aren't quite what they used to be.

A thought crossed my mind last night whilst I was using the K200D with it's new focus screen. Maybe it's an unworthy thought, I don't know. Maybe some will take exception, but I'm sure others will agree. The thought was "Wow, this is just like using a real camera".

(Dons hard hat & asbestos underpants and ducks under parapet)

Andrew

I sort know what you mean, I don't think I would be without a split prism focus screen now, it adds a further degree of user control that adds more than the cost/value of the part (that's my feeling).
Of course it was pretty much indispensable years ago with my C***n AE-1 and now even though I use manual focus probably much less than half of the time its great to have that extra visual confirmation.

Did you receive any shims with the K3 and did you need to use any?

Yes, a couple of shims were included. No, I didn't use them.

Andrew