# Focus Screens and Calibrators



## Eagle Eye (Aug 16, 2011)

Hey all,

Two questions: 

How does the Brightscreen manual focus screen compare with Canon's own, say the EG-S for the 5D Mark II?

What do people have to say about the Spyder Pro or Elite display calibrator? Anything more highly recommended?


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## neuroanatomist (Aug 16, 2011)

3rd party focus screens offer more and useful options, such as a split prism with microprism collar, that can facilitate MF. Canon's is just plain matte. However, some 3rd party screens can affect metering (so does Canon's, but there's a C.Fn to compensate, and that can work for 3rd party screens, too). Also, some screens prevent the AF points from lighting up. 

I use an X-rite i1 for calibration, works well. I don't know that one does better than the others, they're all calibrating to the same standard. Some are faster, but the end result should be the same.


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## danski0224 (Aug 16, 2011)

Any input on a nice manual focus capable screen for a 5DII?


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## Eagle Eye (Aug 16, 2011)

Is the Brightscreen worth $200 compared to Canon's $30 screen for Zeiss lenses on a 5D Mark Dos?


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## alipaulphotography (Sep 13, 2011)

I use an EE-S (I think) for the old 5D. It is a matt screen that is much more useful for manual focus or focus recompose than the original focusing screen. You need to have good eyes though.

I use wide aperture prime lenses where depth of field is very shallow. The only downfall to them is if you want to use a smaller aperture as the view through the view finder becomes very dark. So it helps to have them both just incase you plan on shooting wide apertures and need a bright viewfinder.

I think I still prefer the screen in my manual focus Olympus OM-2 film camera though...

Any idea if they have something similar for a 5D?


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## neuroanatomist (Sep 13, 2011)

alipaulphotography said:


> The only downfall to them is if you want to use a smaller aperture as the view through the view finder becomes very dark. So it helps to have them both just incase you plan on shooting wide apertures and need a bright viewfinder.
> 
> I think I still prefer the screen in my manual focus Olympus OM-2 film camera though...
> 
> Any idea if they have something similar for a 5D?



Just to clarify, you mean the standard screen is better if you want to use a lens with a smaller max aperture, not select a smaller aperture on a fast lens (focusing is always done at max aperture, and the lens stops down as you take the shot).

Not sure about the OM-2 specifically, but most film SLRs used a focusing screen with a split prism and microprism collar. Brightscreen has those, as does Katzeye (for some models).


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