Beattie intenscreen in Nikon F2

I was given a Nikon F2a, dirty, neglected, bad foam etc. I have it in useable condition, but the screen puzzles me. I find it very difficult to judge correct focus. With a 28/3.5 it is just impossible, I might as well use the scale. 35/2, not much better. 50/2, it's starting to become useable at close distances, but farther out beyond say 5m very little confidence. Jump to 105/2.5, it's kinda OK but not as good as an old Pentax H1a with a 50/f:2.2 lens. It's a plain screen and has a 12mm circle for the Nikon metering pattern but no focussing aids. It's clean. Compared to the Nikon plain GG, I find the Nikon easier to focus across the board.
Oddly, with all lenses it's a tiny bit better in low light. It's marked "Beattie Intenscreen F F2" and is mounted in plastic. It also appears to give less than 100% viewfinder coverage. Did people really spend money on these, or are aging my eyes betraying me? This is the only screen/camera I have this issue with, and I have some with REALLY dismal VFs.



edited for spelling in title.

I only have Nikon screens for my F2 cameras. If the screen isn't installed properly, that can case problems. I usually for for an E screen. The grid pattern helps in composition and the lines serve as a sharpness reference. You also need to find out whether you need a diopter correction for the finder. The Nikon Eyepiece Correction Lenses are pretty easy to find.

dynachrome said:

I only have Nikon screens for my F2 cameras. If the screen isn't installed properly, that can case problems. I usually for for an E screen. The grid pattern helps in composition and the lines serve as a sharpness reference. You also need to find out whether you need a diopter correction for the finder. The Nikon Eyepiece Correction Lenses are pretty easy to find.

Click to expand...

I have a good assortment of Nikon screens, they're all easier to focus than the Intenscreen in any lighting situation. The screen is properly installed. I've been using eyepiece diopters for the past 40 years. I have no trouble focussing anything else, from f:10 lenses on LF groundglass to dim tiny squinty rangefinders.
To iterate; my question is, has anyone else had this experience with the Intenscreens? I know they were made for low light situations, perhaps they work better with faster (i.e. f:1.4/1.2) lenses than I am using with it? Yes it's bright, but if you can't focus with it...

.That should be Beattie Intensreen

benjiboy said:

.That should be Beattie Intensreen

Click to expand...

A Beattie Intenscreen is made to be 'brighter', and in general that often CAN mean that the focus precision is less because the screen is less textured than a stock focusing screen. Today's dSLR suffers from the 'brighter' screen which is necessary to compensate for the light which is diverted downward to the focus sensor at the bottom of the body.

Decades ago, I did a test for Jim Beattie using his screen in a Bronica ETRSi with AE-III metering prism . I found that in repeated trials that particular screen was indeed brighter but not with the undesireable characteristic of lowered focus precision. (The brighter screen does mean that the user must compensate meter readings, so as to not underexpose chronically.)