Posted by Dean Sauskojus on November 13, 2009 at 12:21 AM
I would like to do more manual focusing with my Canon 5d mark 2. I use the 17-40mm L lens and a Zeiss 50mm. Canon makes an Eg-D and an Eg-s focusing screen. Which one is best for manual focusing? Thanks
Posted by Andreas Resch on November 13, 2009 at 7:47 AM
For me the best is to switch to the live view display and go to 10x zoom. You can't beat that with any focusing screen. One of the best things about the 5DMII.
Cheers ... Andreas.
Posted by John Mumaw on November 13, 2009 at 8:57 AM
I agree.
Using LiveView with the DOF preview has been an absolute blessing for precise manual focus and finding the correct hyperfocal point.
Posted by Austin Booth on November 13, 2009 at 2:21 PM
I third that live view suggestion. I don't think either of those focusing screens will be as effective and accurate as switching over to live view and zooming in to 10x. I have several old manual focus lenses I use on my 40D via an adapter and live view works great, I would imagine the higher resolution screen on the 5d MK II will work even more effectively. The one downfall is it eats away battery life but thats why you have extra batteries (you do have extra batteries right?).
Shhhh....don't tell anyone but I've used cheap third party batteries in my 40D and before that my 30D for several years and never had any issues and I can buy 4 of them for the price of one Canon battery. Canon just wants you to think its a bad idea to use third party batteries so you will pay 4 times more for their batteries which are also outsourced to a third party manufacturer in china, they just put a Canon sticker on it so they can charge more for the same thing.
So my advice is to get some extra batteries instead of the focusing screen and use live view. I really don't think those Canon screens will help much and Katz Eye doesn't make a split prism for the 5D MK II. Also like John said if you combine it with the DOF preview the sensor will increase its sensitivity to show you a bright preview image of the depth of field and you can zoom in to see if everything is in focus near and far.
Posted by Scott Fricke on November 13, 2009 at 5:46 PM
I agree with the suggestion for live view, the only drawback to that is sometimes in bright sunlight the screen isn't as usable as I would like and I have to switch back to the viewfinder.
Posted by Austin Booth on November 13, 2009 at 6:05 PM
A viewfinder loupe oughta fix that probem, probably a better investment than one of those canon focusing screens.
3rd party batteries work better with my 50d than the original canon battery. I'm almost glad I lost my canon battery
Posted by Jim Harris on November 14, 2009 at 11:58 AM
I do alot of macro work, so I also do alot of Manual focusing, I changed my focus screen in my 40D to the EF-S and loved it for manual focusing,, for your camera the EG-S looks to be the ticket for manual focusing and its a BREEZE to change !!
Discussion
7 repliesCheers ... Andreas.
Using LiveView with the DOF preview has been an absolute blessing for precise manual focus and finding the correct hyperfocal point.
Shhhh....don't tell anyone but I've used cheap third party batteries in my 40D and before that my 30D for several years and never had any issues and I can buy 4 of them for the price of one Canon battery. Canon just wants you to think its a bad idea to use third party batteries so you will pay 4 times more for their batteries which are also outsourced to a third party manufacturer in china, they just put a Canon sticker on it so they can charge more for the same thing.
So my advice is to get some extra batteries instead of the focusing screen and use live view. I really don't think those Canon screens will help much and Katz Eye doesn't make a split prism for the 5D MK II. Also like John said if you combine it with the DOF preview the sensor will increase its sensitivity to show you a bright preview image of the depth of field and you can zoom in to see if everything is in focus near and far.