Rob Brigham posted: > No, I havent succumbed and bought an LX yet and know nothing about > screens, so am posting this for a friend who needs some advice. Thanks > > "The Pentax User Magazine site "http://www.pentaxuser.co.uk/index.html"; > has for sale under camera accessories "Beattie" replacement focusing > screens for the Z1/Z1P, MX & LX. Does anyone have any experience of > these. I do a lot of available light shooting with Pentax MX & Z1 and > any extra focusing help would be usefull as the Z1 is dim, though the MX > is allready very bright. I mostly use fast lenses for this 1.4-2.8 but > use normal 3.4-4.5 zooms the rest of the time. One thing I'm concerned > about is that If I get one with a focusing aid for the Z1 that it would > interfere with the autofocus ? They also do a clear one. Anyone had any > experience with them ?"
I've used a Beattie Intenscreen with split-image in my PZ-1. I didn't pay a lot of attention to the difference in brightness; the diagonal split-image rangefinder worked well and didn't seem to interfere with the autofocus at all. My main issue with it, though, was the split-image circle was much larger than any other I'd ever seen and therefore rather distracting. But to answer the question, it should not interfere with the autofocus (and I found no problem with the meter either). Can't comment on the MX as I've never owned one; nor the LX since all three screens I've used in mine have been Pentax ones, not Beattie.
