I Have brought up this question indirectly in some other threads. I used to have an R4, and although the screen wasn't terribly bright, it had good "snap" in and out of focus on the matte portion. I find the standard screen that came with my R7 to be very bright, but the matte portion is too clear, even the out of focus area can still be seen with this screen. I wondered if the other current screens available have a different, coarser matte portion, or if they are the same as the screen I now have just without the center aids. I find I dont like using just the center focusing aids. I was even thinking about picking up an R4 type screen and sending it to Bill Maxwell to run his magic process on it, hoping I'd get the brightness level of the current R7 screen with the snap of the older R series screens. Any experience with screens in this camera would be appreciated.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), September 29, 2000

Answers

I am a little confused as the R4 through R7 take the same focusing screens. Unless you are referring to the R8 which has a significantly brighter screen than the other R cameras. If you are referring to the R7 then just order the latest screen and away you go.

-- John Collier (jbcollier@home.com), September 29, 2000.

They take the same size screens, but Leica changed the screens at some point and went to a brighter screen, but without the snap of the earlier ones. I'm wanting the brightness of the newer screens with the coarser ground glass of the older ones.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), September 29, 2000.

Andrew

I can tell you the serial number of the all microprism spot that I like for my R6.2, but I don't have it with me. I will try and remember tomorrow. It goes without saying you will have to try it yourself as it may not work for you. Although I understand what you are saying, I would always rather have brighter than "snap" I think. Is there not a Leica R groundglass screen too designed for long teles? This might be perfect for you.

As a note to John. Is the R8 screen really brighter than the R6.2? I don't remember thinking so particularly when I compared them a while ago, but of course it is often very difficult to tell.

-- Robin Smith (rsmith@springer-ny.com), October 02, 2000.

Since I posted this, I have been practicing focusing my camera with the screen that came with it, and realize I probably just need to get used to this type of bright screen. I do find the split to be more in the way than an aid for me, so maybe I will keep my eye out for a microprism and matte screen without the split. I found the designation number for that one, it is 14305.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), October 02, 2000.