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 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

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

My focusingscreen.com K3 screen arrived this morning in an apparently original Nikon box, complete with what looks like the same black plastic fitting tool that is shown in the Katzeye installation instructions. The labelling on the outside is in English, German and French. It says that it is "FOCUSING SCREEN TYPE K3 (for FM3A)"

Where do the Katzeye screens come from, if not Nikon?

Andrew

I ordered a K3 screen just before the start of the Taiwanese holidays. From the Taiwanese postal system tracking system, you can readily find out where the parcel is. You might be interested in where it goes and the delays at each stage .....

Order:__________________________9 Feb 2010
Despatch:_______________________12 Feb 2010
Arrived UK customs:_______________16 Feb 2010
Arrive delivery office:_______________23 Feb 2010
Due for delivery:__________________25 Feb 2010

So, it takes 7 days for focusingscreen to manufacture the screen and have it delivered, approx 6200 miles to the UK Customs office in Coventry. It then takes another 7 days to travel about 120 miles from Coventry to the Parcel-Force depot in Manchester and 2 more to actually deliver it to an address in Oldham.

When they receive the parcel, Parcel-Force then send you a letter, asking for payment of the £9.89 VAT that they paid to Customs on your behalf plus a fee of £13.50 for doing that.

So, for those who think that the cost of the focusingscreen K3 screen with "Rule of Thirds" markings is a mere £51.15, you might be surprised to discover that it works out like this .........

£51.15___Cost of screen
£8.79____Postage and packing
£2.04____Taiwan sales tax
______
£61.98___Subtotal

£9.89____UK VAT
£13.50___Parcelforce fee
______
£85.37___Total

Parcel-Force helpfully suggest in their letter that if you want the parcel delivering on a Saturday, they'd be more than happy to arrange that for an extra £12, which would take the total to £97.37

Let's hope that the screen is more impressive than the process for obtaining it ...........


Andrew

What an incredible illusion!!!

They definitely look different to me, which is how I answered the poll.

If you paste the graphic into PS, then select and copy "squares" A & B and drop the copies next to each other on the white border, they look exactly the same. Amazing .........

Andrew

Lenses manufactured by Kino Precision and by Komine have a cult status. They seem to be regarded by many as being a cut-above most other Third Party lens manufacturers and by repute above (some) lenses produced by OEM camera makers too.

Is this reputation justified? What's the Pentax user's take on this? Is it worth seeking out Kiron and Komine lenses on Fleabay for use with my K200D?

Andrew

Yep, me too - at least half a stop dark.

Andrew

... and another from me.

Just ordered the K3 screen from focusingscreen.com - I do miss the split screen and microprism focusing on film SLRs (mind you, I still have some Fuji Reala 100 in the fridge, so I suppose I needn't).

Andrew

If I'd thought of it, I'd probably have used it too.

Andrew