Haoda Fu Split Screen
I got myself one of those Split Screen for my new DSLR from Haoda Fu. A word of caution: i found it not-so-easy to install. I struggled a lot on removing the original screen, struggled so much I was THIS close to give up…and then on my last try…BAM! scratched the damn screen (!). I almost cried…literally. It was a point of no return: I would need to install the new screen.Â
I emailed Mr. Fu for assistance and–sure enough–after a few minutes, I got a response with the pictures showing how to remove the original screen and install the new screen. I managed to remove the original screen, pop in the new screen…and gave myself another heart attack: DUST got on the screen!  AAARRGGGHHH! I said, OK, I can live with a little dust…I just didn’t want to go through that again!
But when I tested the focusing with auto-focus on, the split screen was off by a mile! Turns out, I installed the screen backwards! I wasn’t sure, but that could have been the only explanation…if not, I just blew $1,700 and my sanity. So I REMOVED it again carefully and used compressed air to remove the dust, invert it, then put in back in.
A sigh of relief: the camera can focus fine, no dust! :-) and screen is so now much brighter. I can focus manually perfectly without having to rely on the camera’s built-in electronic rangefinder.Â
I will conduct more tests, but for now (after running a few quick tests…like trying to focus using a 50/1.4 on minimum focusing distance) I say it is definitely worth the money ($72 + $5 shipping as of this writing).Â
There is another alternative called Katz Eye, but it’s more expensive. While I haven’t tried that product, I’m pretty positive that it can’t be THAT much better, considering how good the Haoda Fu screen already is.
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May 27th, 2006 05:24
[...] Like I have mentioned a while ago, I have successfully installed the screen, but i failed to mention that it’s somewhat misaligned. According to Mr. Fu, this is normal…but my anal-retentive personality forced me to re-install the screen…and i realized it’s not that hard when you did it the…um, 4th time. I re-installed it and it’s now even better. [...]
September 9th, 2006 11:35
[...] When I switched from Nikon (F5) to Canon (10D) to buy my first digital SLR, I somewhat felt that I downgraded. While it is true that 10D’s auto-focus is more silent (and perhaps faster, though i never actually measured the difference), I was surprised at how large those auto-focus points are–so large you can’t really tell where those large “pointsâ€? are focused on. I was also surprised at how unusable the focus points are other than the center focus point. I was so irritated by such inaccuracy that I just left the focus point on the center all the time. Now you’re probably asking what D200 has offered to the table as far as auto-focus technology is concerned. While I haven’t really measured how fast it is, I can fairly say that it is fast enough for my use; I usually shoot portraits and occasional landscapes so an even faster auto-focus is an overkill for my application. One thing that I did notice about the D200 is how accurate the auto-focus is. It is more apparent with the use of split-focusing screens like the Haoda Fu screen. The D200 also features fancy grouping of auto-focus points which I’m not that all excited about. It may be useful for sports and wildlife shooters, but not for somebody like me whose quickest subject is a 2-year old toddler who ate too much candy. [...]