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I am a beginner in
Astrophotography. I bought a Nikon F2 a year ago. It had a focusing screen with
a large circle & grid on it & I thought it was a Beattie screen. I used
it for the last year, thinking I had the brightest focusing screen - the
Beattie. I just removed it & see that it is really the Nikon E focusing
screen. (I'm dumb now, but was even dumber last year!) My question is - is
the Beattie screen brighter than the E? Are the Nikon C & D screens brighter
than the E?
Thanks,
Lydia Rufleth
Hi,
I also use the Nikon F and F2. The question about
focusing screens is a little more complex than simply which one is
"brighter". With astrophotography. which lens you are using with each
focus screen also makes a huge difference in what you are going to see in the
viewfinder. I use either an A, C, or another whose designation escapes
me at the moment but I <think> it is a G. With wide angle lenses
that have a lot of vignetting (like a 28mm or shorter focal length), the C
screen (simulated ground glass with a clear central spot) is all but worthless
because you can't see the edge of the field. But the same screen is a
dream with a 135 or 200 mm lens, virtually like looking through an eyepiece in
a telescope. The same with the G screen, great with long lenses, but
terrible with short lenses. The standard A screen with its freznel lens
evens the field illumination with short lenses and you can see the whole field
while the same A screen kind of fuzzes up the view with longer
lenses.
So... the real question at this point is what are you
shooting with? I swap screens along with lenses so I can see the field
in the viewfinder.
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