Just an fyi for Nikon F4 owners

rrusso

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Jun 29, 2015
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Might be common knowledge, so forgive me if I'm just late to the game.

I've been on the hunt for a K focusing screen for my F4, but it seems they might be fairly rare. The few I've found on *b*y have been ridiculously overpriced. Cheapest I found was $150, most expensive was $250.

No thanks. You can find near mint copies of the whole camera in that price range.

I started doing some research and discovered that while the metal frame is different, the glass is identical in size to the screens for the F3.

So I paid $16 (shipping included) for an F3 K screen and swapped frames. Four very tiny screws and L-brackets are all that hold the screen in place.

It works great, including auto focus. I thought maybe the metering could have issues (since the center circle of the K screen is so much brighter), but I tested it in spot mode with both the K and the normal B screen and got identical results. I didn't test cw or matrix, but I assume they'll be fine, too. The negatives of the handful of test shots came out great.

Anyway, if you're willing to spend 10 minutes doing simple surgery, you can save a whole bunch of money.
 
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trythis

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Sounds like a new business model for someone.


Typos made on a tiny phone...
 

Chan Tran

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Ditto for the F5.

I am not sure about the F4 but the spotmeter on the F5 isn't in the viewfinder and thus it would work without the focusing screen and/or viewfinder. The spotmeter of the F5 is located at the bottom of the mirror box. This is done to retain metering with waist level viewfinder and I think the F4 is the same.
 
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Great to hear that! I use to have the f4 (now using f6 with the official split focusing screen), tried to find the k focusing screen and couldn't even find it anywhere.
 

chriscrawfordphoto

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The F4 spotmeter is in the mirror box, while the matrix and centerweighted meters are in the viewfinder. The standard finder has an adjustment for the meter for screens that transmit different amounts of light.
 
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Possibly not.
 

nsouto

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Nov 27, 2005
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Sydney Australia
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F100 has thin "plastic"-looking screens.
The F4 are thicker and with a metal frame, a-la F5, F2, F3 and F.
I don't think they can be made to fit either way.
 
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