Nikon D90

[BMbikerider]

I have just bought a used Nikon D90 to be carried when I am touring on my motorcycle because it has a quite lightweight body compared to my D800. What I found when I started to use it I realised that it had a split image rangefinder screen. I have never seen one used in a digital camera before. Is this likely to be a 'one off' professional conversion?
It is accurate shown by the electronic confirmation in the viewfinder but as the D90 cannot normally be used with manual lenses I wonder if this was for a 'special' purpose

 

[BMbikerider]

I bought a used Nikon D90 to use when I am out riding my motorcycle. It is lighter and easier to carry than my D800 and not so expensive if it were damaged in a crash.. When it arrived from the dealer on 1st examination everything appeared normal just like any D90. But I then noticed that the focussing screen grid lines were permanent and could not be turned off and the grid lines were more obvious than what I would have expected. Not only that, there was split image rangefinder in the middle of the screen that worked and is accurate when compared to the electronic rangefinder at the bottom left of the screen. With the batteries removed the screen dimmed just like a standard D90 body. The screen cannot be removed (Even if I wanted to). I assume whoever made the change would have had to remove quite a bit of the camera to get at the screen to change it

I spoke to Nikon UK and they have never come across one before and as far as they could say they certainly never made one. Any thoughts please?

 

[joe bosak]

See focusingscreen.com for replacement D90 screens with split prisms. Looks like they are easy to replace (they have instructions).

 

[joe bosak]

Apart from metering, there seems no reason why the D90 should preclude MF lenses other than whether you can actually mount them - AI/whatever.

 

[Paul Howell]

Although not a digital body I put a salvaged spilt image screen from a Miranda in a Pentax SF1. The SF1 had the option for several screens but no split image so replacing was a matter of cutting the Miranda screen to fit. So, the screen in you Nikon might be an aftermarket screen or a DIY replacement.

 

[BMbikerider]

See focusingscreen.com for replacement D90 screens with split prisms. Looks like they are easy to replace (they have instructions).

I tried to find their website as you suggested but there seems there was nothing to connect to.

 

[joe bosak]

Try this: https://www.focusingscreen.com/work/d90en.htm