[Leica] That 'grit' thing on R8 screens

[Myers Pete <MyersPete@aol.com>]

Thanks Ted for your suggestions on where to seek info on SL screens. Why is it
that the obvious thing is always the one thing one never thinks of?! Calling
Leica, what a novel idea! hee hee hee I feel  a bit silly right now.

Regarding the 'grit' I see in the R8 viewfinder with the current screens:

Perhaps its just me, but I see a strong patterned grit in the finder - looking
like ground glass. It shows up the most in viewing blue sky or anything of
uniform and textureless surface.

Both the Canon 1N and the F5 have laser matte screens. They have no focusing
aids, so the original screens are made up from a mold produced by a laser
engraving, creating very small facets of uniform size, shape and smoothness.
It creates a very bright view in the finder that is smooth as smooth can be.
You never seem to see the finder, but look through the lens. I have more
experince with the 1N in this regard.

Introduce focusing aids for a manual focus camera. Apparently you can not make
a laser matte screen with focusing aids. The screens are fresnel. Which seems
to lead to seeing the 'grit' of the screen and the image seemingly 'projected'
on the screen as if it were ground glass, rather then seeing through the
screen and through the lens.

To me, it is uncomfortable after having shot the 1N for years. To me it
abstracts the high image quality that is coming through the lens and rather
dulls out the image quality. Some people dont mind this or even prefer it, but
not me. I want to look through the lens as cleanly as looking through a motion
picture camera.

Thus, my quest for a screen. I can adapt a laser matte screen to an R8, but
then I have no focusing aids. I shoot wide and focusing aids are a help to me.

I have been going back through the different approaches that have been used
for screens over the years - pre autofocus - and I was rather startled to find
such high praise of the Leicaflex SL (not the SL 2) focusing screen. The
screen had coarse microprisms in the center and very fine microprisms on the
rest of the screen. It supposidly was very bright and clear. If this is true;
a) its a possible solution for me, b) what happened to this approach?????????
why did Leitz stop using these types of screens?

So, this is not just a practical question - although that is most of the
motivation for me - but also an inquary to the historic approach to screens
for SLRs. I must admit at age 38 to have missed a lot in this regard having
grown up in an autofocus age.

Pete Myers