Canon Focusing Screen Options

[stevetoney]

Sorry for all of the photography questions...I know I should start posting to a good photo forum, but you guys are my buds and you've already been so helpful that I can't help but think to ask this group first.  Hope you don't mind talking more photo gear...LOL...(made myself chuckle there, because I KNOW you don't mind.)

Anyway, the question of the day is what focusing screen ya'll prefer?  Frankly, even though it's been 35 years, I distinctly remember the screen in my old AE-1 and I really like that one better than the what's in 40D that I just got.  In particular, I really liked how well I was able to focus in low light.  That viewfinder had a kinda split circle inside of a bigger circle.  The splits would be out of alignment when the image was out of focus and then as the focus came spot on, the splits would line right up with each other.

I've got the standard viewfinder in the 40D, which I guess is just the matte viewfinder.  So, I'm wondering whether or not the EF-S focusing screening is anything like the old AE-1 focusing system.  Link is provided below:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/523870-REG/Canon_2379B001_EF_S_Focusing_Screen_for.html

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any sites that show what the different focusing screens look like, although I do see from B&Hs site that the third screen is just a basic grid, which I'm not intersted in.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide!

Steve

[stirinthesauce]

Can't answer your question buy I have my Dad's passed down old AE-1 in the bag and I too like the focusing screen on it.  Hell, I like the camera.  Got 3 primes, a 35, a 50 and a 100.  Think I should buy some good film and go take some pictures.   

[neutrino]

Sorry this doesn't answer you question but only poses another.. but have you really found yourself the need to manually focus? With the ability to spot focus on my Canon 5D, I've never found a need to focus manually and have found the auto focus capabilities of the camera to be highly accurate.

[stevetoney]

Sorry this doesn't answer you question but only poses another.. but have you really found yourself the need to manually focus? With the ability to spot focus on my Canon 5D, I've never found a need to focus manually and have found the auto focus capabilities of the camera to be highly accurate.

I've only been back in the game for a couple of months, but I'm finding myself quickly falling back into my 35 year old habits, which includes being anal retentive about controlling depth of field.  I've done a bit of pseudo macro shooting with the 70-300 lens that has required going into the manual focus region which is identified as 'macro' on the lens.  In low light, I'm also using manual focus a bit when the camera isn't all that great on its own.

Finally, I have no problem with the auto focus capability in normal and I don't really think it's giving any better or worse focusing capability than manual focus, but I guess since I'm only back in the game for a couple months, I still get off on grabbing the lens and controlling focus.  I've always been a composition freak and I'm totally anal about controlling depth of field, including always paying attention to the entire composition of the photo not just the subject.  So I rather enjoy having the ability to offset my blur a little forward or send it back a little bit, however the shot dictates.  What it actually is all about is that I will typically experiment with my focus a little bit as I'm composing the shot...it helps me decide what is gonna be the best end result.

I guess I'm just saying that I enjoy the control that I have putting my hand on the lens, even though at this point its probably only 30 or 40 percent of the time that I'm manually focusing.  It might be that, with time as I get more used to using the 40D, I'll shoot less and less without manual focus, but my habits do go back 35 or more years, so I rather doubt it.

[Sanjay]

Look into Katz Eye focusing screens, I have one for my D200.  I like mine quite a bit.  It's more expensive than the Canon one, however it gives you the lines and guides which are much more like the split screen focusing screens of the AE-1.  That to me is invaluable.

http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/

[stirinthesauce]

ahhhh, that looks sweet!  Thanks Sanjay 

[stevetoney]

Perfect!  Thats spot on what I was wanting.  Thanks x 2 Sanjay!