Split screen focusing screen for a Canon 5D

Lovesong

Hi all. Over the past several months I have been messing around with some B&W film on my old Minolta X-700, and I've come to realize how much I truly miss having a split focusing screen on my 5D. Since I do quite a bit of low light landscapes, and have been wanting to get into some macro photography as well, I wondered if there was any solutions out there that will allow me to manually focus better (my grammar on that one is awful). I have the Ee-S (matte focusing screen) in my 5D now, and while it is a major improvement over the stock screen, I find that it still doesn't really do that much to help me focus (at least not as much as my Minolta).

Searching on google, and several forums, including this one, I have found 2 possible solutions- either the Haoda screens, or the ones made by Brightscreen. While it doesn't really matter which one of the two I go with, my question is about metering. How does having one of those screens affect metering? I've read that the 20D doesn't seem to be affected as much as the 350D, but I thought I'd ask if anyone has had experiences with the 5D. My main concern stems from the fact that as of recently I have been reliant on spot metering, and going back to matrix may be tougher than I think. Any thoughts, experiences, suggestions?

Thanks.

ziggy53

I use a viewfinder magnifier to help with manual focus, but I have to say that the Canon 40D with Live View is the perfect sort of solution for manual focus in controlled situations.

Hopefully the next iteration of the 5D will have that feature.

Lovesong

Thanks Ziggy. Yeah, a friend of mine has the 40D, which he uses with some Zeiss glass. I've played around with that, and manual focusing is indeed easier on his setup (good thing too- those Zeiss lenses are MF all the way).

The 5D MkII will most certainly have LiveView, but I doubt I'd be able to get it for a while (I have an 85L, 16-35, and Q-flash on my list before that).

pathfinder

I am not certain about the 5D, but as I recall the Cat's eye screens used to interfere with Evaluative metering didn't they, Ziggy?

claudermilk

Depends on the camera & metering mode. Read their site for specifics. I know that my KE screen doesn't really affect my 20D's metering at all. I do recall specific mentions of the Rebels at the time & now the 40D in spot metering mode. You just dial in some EC to deal with it.