I have seen this banner off and on for awhile, and I finally decided that waiting to try this product was not an option especially with a 20% sale going on.   This manufacture has been designing and selling special focusing screens for cameras for over 29 years and has been calling the product Brightscreens.  The brightscreen product replaces your 35mm cameras standard focusing screen with a screen that has a split image with a micro prism collar….eh….you remember (before digital displays on camera backs) when most cameras used to have a viewfinder with a split image, and once you aligned the splits the picture was in focus ?  This allowed very fine adjustments in any lighting, and your eye didn’t go wandering around looking for a illumination or a waiting to hear a beep to know the camera was in focus.

In addition to the 6 standard configurations on over 150 cameras, Brightscreens can also be ordered to come with screens etched with one of six Crop line configurations for an extra $50.

I ordered over the phone because I had a few questions and the people I spoke with were friendly and accommodating to some of my neophyte questions. These Brightscreens are manufactured in Tennessee, and that southern drawl evoked trust, and you can take that from someone who lived there for three years.  The advertised lead time was four/six weeks and I was prepared to wait it out, but the screen that I ordered was a popular configuration, and it came securely packaged three days later.

Installation was very straight forward, and they have a web-link with step by step photos to show you the proper orientation and preparation techniques.

How does it perform in the field ?: Superb, I am very pleased with this addition. I can now watch auto focus align the prisms or I can override and go into manual mode. In manual mode, or when the camera autfocus goes on the fritz, I now can keep my eye on my subject, set the focus on the lens and not hunt around for a green light to indicate focus and then back up to compose the shot.   Also,  all the red selectable focus points are highly visible (and in the D3 luminosity can be adj if required) and can still be moved to anyone of 9 of 51 locations. The crop lines are bolder than the Nikon type E screen, and are on a rule of third grid, this is also an improvement over the Nikon E screen. Additionally, the split image is does not obscure my focusing at all.

For me the results have been very beneficial, especially when taking some recent Images at Barberville Falls (white snow, and w/manual Focus PCE 24) and at Troy Alley and Troy Lady Blue, both contrast-less situations.

One thing that I am still keeping an eye on is that the screen seems to attract its fair share of dust, and of coarse it lands directly in the center of the split !  I’m not sure why and I plan to call in and ask why they recommend dry cleaning only, so for now the best removal technique is to use a blower and the 8mm visible dust brush.

Supplier Link: BrightScreen

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This entry was posted on January 28, 2010 at 10:14 pm and is filed under ImageCapture, News, TopSuppliers, accessories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.