Figuring out a Focusing Screen
I recently got a TLR which only had a ground glass, and no fresnel. I really enjoyed using the camera, but found it challenging to focus especially indoors.
Ever the cheapskate, I decided to see what Ebay had to offer. There was an Ebay Seller called "jinfinance" had a fresnel focusing screen listed and it was about 29$ shipped, so I ordered it. When it came, it was basically unusable.
- It wasn't at all brighter than the stock screen, despite clearly having a fresnel.
- The grind on the "ground glass" side of the screen was sooooo coarse. Like unusably coarse. You can see this if you look at the full size images. Hitting critical focus was a terrible time because anything close to being in focus looked the same.
- I wrote a review on ebay with an honest review, and the seller messaged me saying how the coarseness was like that of older Rolleicord screens, which so many people had apparently said were the best screens ever, and that the dimness of my screen was because I failed to take the fresnel out of my camera and the two fresnels were interfering. This could not have possibly been the case because after I removed the original ground glass I was staring right at the mirror. The screen had a split prism, which I'm not so much in favor of either. In short, they tried to convince me they had sold me a better product than they actually had.
I decided to order a screen from Rick Oleson, and have not regretted it one bit. The screen is remarkably brighter corner to corner than the stock screen and far clearer than the ebay screen. Working with Rick Oleson was also a pleasure. He responded to my emails quickly and shipped quickly too. I think it was about a week between placing the order and receiving the screen in the mail. Total cost was 80$ flat. I also got to chose the the 6609 grid lines and the microprism focusing aid.
The full album can be found here.
All images were taken with the same manual settings just a few minutes apart.
Quote from Justin Tung on July 18, 2021, 6:03 am
I recently got a TLR which only had a ground glass, and no fresnel. I really enjoyed using the camera, but found it challenging to focus especially indoors.
Ever the cheapskate, I decided to see what Ebay had to offer. There was an Ebay Seller called "jinfinance" had a fresnel focusing screen listed and it was about 29$ shipped, so I ordered it. When it came, it was basically unusable.
- It wasn't at all brighter than the stock screen, despite clearly having a fresnel.
- The grind on the "ground glass" side of the screen was sooooo coarse. Like unusably coarse. You can see this if you look at the full size images. Hitting critical focus was a terrible time because anything close to being in focus looked the same.
- I wrote a review on ebay with an honest review, and the seller messaged me saying how the coarseness was like that of older Rolleicord screens, which so many people had apparently said were the best screens ever, and that the dimness of my screen was because I failed to take the fresnel out of my camera and the two fresnels were interfering. This could not have possibly been the case because after I removed the original ground glass I was staring right at the mirror. The screen had a split prism, which I'm not so much in favor of either. In short, they tried to convince me they had sold me a better product than they actually had.
I decided to order a screen from Rick Oleson, and have not regretted it one bit. The screen is remarkably brighter corner to corner than the stock screen and far clearer than the ebay screen. Working with Rick Oleson was also a pleasure. He responded to my emails quickly and shipped quickly too. I think it was about a week between placing the order and receiving the screen in the mail. Total cost was 80$ flat. I also got to chose the the 6609 grid lines and the microprism focusing aid.
The full album can be found here.
All images were taken with the same manual settings just a few minutes apart.
Yeah the nailing focus with my Yashica is a struggle too. Does yours have a magnifying glass that flips down? Mine does and I used it, it helps immensely. Things I thought were in focus, weren't actually. I think I'm going to strictly shoot on a tripod to make sure I'm definitely locked in. I haven't considered putting new glass into mine.
Quote from SpruceBruce on July 18, 2021, 11:42 pmQuote from Justin Tung on July 18, 2021, 6:03 am
I recently got a TLR which only had a ground glass, and no fresnel. I really enjoyed using the camera, but found it challenging to focus especially indoors.
Ever the cheapskate, I decided to see what Ebay had to offer. There was an Ebay Seller called "jinfinance" had a fresnel focusing screen listed and it was about 29$ shipped, so I ordered it. When it came, it was basically unusable.
- It wasn't at all brighter than the stock screen, despite clearly having a fresnel.
- The grind on the "ground glass" side of the screen was sooooo coarse. Like unusably coarse. You can see this if you look at the full size images. Hitting critical focus was a terrible time because anything close to being in focus looked the same.
- I wrote a review on ebay with an honest review, and the seller messaged me saying how the coarseness was like that of older Rolleicord screens, which so many people had apparently said were the best screens ever, and that the dimness of my screen was because I failed to take the fresnel out of my camera and the two fresnels were interfering. This could not have possibly been the case because after I removed the original ground glass I was staring right at the mirror. The screen had a split prism, which I'm not so much in favor of either. In short, they tried to convince me they had sold me a better product than they actually had.
I decided to order a screen from Rick Oleson, and have not regretted it one bit. The screen is remarkably brighter corner to corner than the stock screen and far clearer than the ebay screen. Working with Rick Oleson was also a pleasure. He responded to my emails quickly and shipped quickly too. I think it was about a week between placing the order and receiving the screen in the mail. Total cost was 80$ flat. I also got to chose the the 6609 grid lines and the microprism focusing aid.
The full album can be found here.
All images were taken with the same manual settings just a few minutes apart.
Yeah the nailing focus with my Yashica is a struggle too. Does yours have a magnifying glass that flips down? Mine does and I used it, it helps immensely. Things I thought were in focus, weren't actually. I think I'm going to strictly shoot on a tripod to make sure I'm definitely locked in. I haven't considered putting new glass into mine.
Yeah I have a magnifier which you can kinda see in the hood of the WLF. I really like that I was able to get just the microprism from Rick Oleson, which helps me immensely. The screen on my Mamiya 645 has a ring of microprism with a split prism in the middle, and I found myself using the microprism most of the time. If your TLR is going to be mostly a studio queen and you can be slow and careful about dialing in focus, then a new screen might not make that much of a difference, but it definitely does for me!
