Viewfinders

[shakey]

Over the years I've had three cameras..Olympus OM2n, Nikon F80 and Nikon D70. For the first time I've compared their viewfinders in low light. Had to blow off the dust from the OM2n..and the F80 for that matter. The OM2n gives a nice large view with the brightness only marginally less than reality. The F80 image is smaller and duller and the D70 is even smaller and duller still. It's sort of like looking down a dark tunnel. I'm going through this process because I just got a Katzeye focusing screen for the D70.

With the split screen and the microprism the Katzeye really helps with manually focused shots on the D70, but I sure do wish the D70 had a viewfinder like the OM2n.

[gstark]

Have you had a look at the viewfinder on the D200?

[bonou2]

I have both the D200 and D70s (cant use either of them) but the viewfinder in the D200 is simply amazing 2 the D70s.

Dan

[shakey]

Have you had a look at the viewfinder on the D200?

I have, but only briefly, and its way better than the D70 .

[Kyle]

The only real problem i've encountered with the VF on my d70s is picking the focal point at night. it's quite a pain.

[gstark]

Have you had a look at the viewfinder on the D200?

I have, but only briefly, and its way better than the D70 .

Which was my point.

How do you think it (D200) compares with the Oly and the F80?

And I will be very interested to hear your opinion of the Katzeye, after alittle bit of use.

[shakey]

How do you think it (D200) compares with the Oly and the F80?

And I will be very interested to hear your opinion of the Katzeye, after a little bit of use.

A guy in my ski lodge had the D200. I was lusting after the D200 and he was lusting over the 70 - 200 VR attached to my D70. We agreed to do a bit of "lust exchange". I didn't check out the D200 in low light, but certainly the size of the D200 VF is significantly larger than the D70. I suspect its larger than the F80 and a little smaller than the OM2n, but without doing a side by side I can't be definite. Brightness in low light is another issue. Something I didn't test. If the standard VF in the D200 is significantly brighter than the D70 it would increase my incentive to buy. Not having used the Oly for about 6 years I was amazed how bright the viewfinder was compared to the F80 and D70.


The Katzeye...fairly easy to install. If you can install a RAM chip into your motherboard you should be able to install the focusing screen into your D70. Ideally I'd say that you should record tests with the original screen of AF vs MF at wide aperture with your lenses. Of course you need to make sure that the diopter adjustment on the body is optimised for your eyesight before you do these tests. It would be best to use a standardised focus test. I use Tim Jackson's one http://FocusTestChart.com Anyway after you've replaced the screen you can repeat the test to see how accurate the focus is. In this controlled situation there should be no difference in focal point between AF and MF. If there is then either your diopter adjustment is out or you need to change the shim or adjust the camera's focal point (The Katzeye site explains this). Fortunately I didn't have a problem in the focal point.

Other points..

I didn't opt for the Optibrite treatment.. since I'm bitching about low brightness VFs maybe I should, but the Katzeye site warns about the optibrite treatment throwing off the light meter readings

The green dot focusing indication on the D70 is very accurate in my body. There were test shots I set up where I was happy the my MF technique. Using the Katzeye gave accurate focus to my eye but the green light was not on. A minor adjustment to focus made no difference to what I could see on the screen but brought the GL on. I couldn't tell the difference between the 2 photos at 100% in PS. This is at wide apertures.

Microprism blackout was not an issue

So who's it for?

Those who use lenses which don't have AF and who like to focus the shots in the VF rather than keeping half an eye on the green dot.

Macro shooters

Shooters who always need to use MF because of conditions where AF doesn't work.

People who just need to have a new toy (hey...that's me!!)

I bought it mainly for the Noct and the tamron 90mm. I'll give it a bit of a workout in the next month or two.