Jump to content

Brightscreen on R cameras?


Likaleica

Recommended Posts

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I am trying to replicate the legendary brightness of the SL and SL2 viewfinders in my R6 and (soon to acquire) R9. The Brightscreen website says they use microprisms, as Doug Herr has heralded. Does anyone have any experience with these screens? If so, do they truly make the screen brighter and easier to focus than the standard Leica screens?

 

Another related Question: Has anyone tried the eyepiece magnifier on an R6 or R9? Would it be worthwhile to get both items for maximum brightness and clarity in the viewfinder?

 

Most importantly, do they register properly for properly focused images? Any bad experiences here?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Does anyone have any experience with these screens?

Yes, I tried one several years ago for the R6.2. It was ok, bright and all but showing severe vignetting with some lenses.

I also tried their DMR screen and it is brighter and the focusing aids are bigger and more convenient so.

However, focusing was not as precise as the Leica screen so I switched back.

 

Finally, I prefer to have my normal Leica screens enhanced by Precision Optics than the Brightscreen ones.

 

Another related Question: Has anyone tried the eyepiece magnifier on an R6 or R9? Would it be worthwhile to get both items for maximum brightness and clarity in the viewfinder?

I tried it on the R9+DMR with their screen. The magnifier was not really that good optically, at least to my taste.

I much prefer my hand-made adaptation of the Nikon D2X DK-17M magnifier on the R9.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I went the same route as Pascal. I had some of my old R8 screens treated by Maxwell precision optics and the DMR crops engraved.

 

This treatment only brightens the groundglass areas. The microprisms or split image areas do not get any brighter.

 

If you are using f2 or faster lenses, the Maxwell treatment will probably not make a difference. It is aimed at slower lenses, such as f4.

 

With my faster lenses, I use the Leica microsprism screen. It is the one with microprism in the center and the rest is plain ground glass. This darkens too much with slower lenses, so I then go to the standard screen or the grid screen.

 

Robert

Link to post
Share on other sites

I much prefer my hand-made adaptation of the Nikon D2X DK-17M magnifier on the R9.

 

Pascal,

Could you tell us how you adapted the nikon 2x viewfinder to fit your leica? I've looked at this too and wondered if it would work.

 

btw- I also have a focusing screen treated by Bill Maxwell. Actually I have one in each of my cameras, R8, the Canon 5D and now my Rollei 6008

Link to post
Share on other sites

I bought my R9/DMR from an avid Leica user. He was an early adapter of both the Brightscreen and their magnifier. Calibrating the screen to the R9 was difficult and the camera was sent to Brightscreen for shimming. The original owner eventually went back to the grid screen because he wanted to be able to focus accurately using the edge of the screen and he often used the modular telyt system..which is easier with a plain screen . Using the grid screen, it still focuses incredibly accurately with the 80 1.4 summilux so I don t plan on touching it. Even though I would like a microprism screen for using the wideangles . The magnifier works quite well and we got another one for our Canon 5d as well.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I used Brightscreens on my R4s and R7 with success. There was a very noticeable improvement over the stock R4s screen; very little on the R7 (they had improved the stock screen by then). FWIW, I decided not to upgrade my R8s as I felt the screen was acceptably bright; relative to my SL.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...