- replies between quotes - LeviL <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello > I just signed up to the list and I find something useful right away.
Hi L! (what's your name, BTW?) Welcome to the list. I'm sorry for my late reply, but I took the time to make some side by side comparison between bodies and screens. I feel I made a hurried statement, so I have to clear myself... :-) > I > was just about to buy 2 LX screens for the new improved kind. I was about > to have my MX recaibrated. Looking at > > http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/focusing/screens/index.html > > a site I am sure you are familiar with I was thinking about geting the > SC69 and the SE60 and maybe the SE25 (or one of the other over 300mm kind > to use with the mirror lens I am about to buy) These are exactly what you > advised against. So you say I should just stick to the MX screens because > they are better then these super bright ones and they are better for > super-telephoto aplications over the LX screens especially designed for > these purposes? No. Let's make a step back. I wrote I wouldn't mount a SG-60 or one of the new LX screen due to a bad vignetting in the finder. This is true, but it's effective with a normal or short lens and, I admit I had no time to explain better, if you wear glasses (so do I...). The problem is due to the kind of eyepiece and magnification of the MX too: the LX has a longer eyepoint, so I can see the entire frame. I can't do that with the MX. I have to move slightly the eye to have a complete view. With one of the new screens (as I said, I tried first with the SG-60) and the 50/1.7 I could barely see the center of the frame... > You talk about vignetting. I assume this is just vignetting of the > viewfinder, not the pictures since the screen had nothing to do with the > exposure. Please confirm this. So if I am getting this right you say the > "super great new bright" LX screens are darker in the MX then the MX > sceens? > I can confirm for sure about the vignetting, but I had no intention to state something as a rule. > Gianfranco, please elaborate on your experiences. I also would be qurious > to see what you recommend. My MX screen is all scratched up. I use an LX > screen for Astro, but lightmetering is not an issue there so... There is > no Pentax made clear screen for MX, which I would really like, I would > also like to be able to use a super-tele mirror with high accuracy. Well... Few hours ago I started to try every possible screen/lens coupling. I mounted in the MX the following screens: SE-25, SC-26, SE-60. Since you want to do astrophotography I used the 300/4, alone and with a 2x converter (I could have used a true 600/8 and attach to it different converters - maybe I'll do in the following days), and tried some shorter lens anyway, just to have a reference. The SE-25 is not a great screen, I don't like it even with the LX... The vignetting is visible, but significantly less than with a normal lens mounted (to be precise: the SE-25 vignettes with lenses shorter than 80mm even with the LX). If you do not wear glasses, maybe the vignetting won't bother you too much. The SC-26 is one of my favorite screens. It allows you to focus a 300/4 almost like a 50/1.4 used with the standard SC-21. Used on the MX the vignetting is not that bad (I think it is mostly due to the glasses in this case). At 600/8 you can still use the focusing aids, although the microprisms start to be hard to focus. When I mounted the SE-60 I must admit I couldn't believe to my eyes. This is the less vignetting-prone screen of these three (I'm still talking of tele lenses, of course - I had no time to try a macro set-up). Used at 600/8 you can easily focus objects at infinity and closer, but, most important, I couldn't see any kind of vignetting in the finder (things are different if you use this screen with, say, a 20/4: you will hardly see the subject even at the center of the frame; with the LX this shouldn't happen - I didn't try, though). I think these are good news for you. If you are able to buy a SE-60 screen you should go for it in a hurry. Unfortunately, I cannot comment on the screens specifically designed for astrophotography like the SD-11. What f stop is the lens you use for your astrophotography? This should be the parameter to consider. Hope this is clear enough... Gianfranco Buy the perfect holiday gifts at Yahoo! Shopping. http://shopping.yahoo.com - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .

