Putting the Light Back in the Viewfinder

My first serious camera was a Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic. I loved that camera. When I wanted to take a picture I turned it on, focused it, set the aperture and shutter speed, and hit the button. Focusing was pretty easy because the camera came with a lovely split prism viewfinder that enabled quick and very precise alignment of the image, resulting in sharp focus.

As we have moved into the era of reliable and fast autofocus, the split screen viewfinders have gone away. They aren’t needed anymore since the camera and lens do all the work. Except when they can’t.

What counteracts this convenience is the greater and greater light sensitivity of today’s DSLRs. My Nikon D3 can take quite good pictures in very dim light situations. The D3S can do even better, and I’m not going to try to predict what the sensitivity of a future D4 or D4 S may turn out to be.

While the sensors have become more sensitive, the autofocus systems have simply not kept up. They hunt and, usually, miss in a low light situation … when extremely precise focus is most necessary because you’re shooting wide open with an f/1 .4 or f/1 .8 lens.

So, last week I took a big leap. I had the focus screen in my D3 replaced with an old-fashioned split screen viewfinder. It’s like there’s a new world out there! Focusing in those dim light situations, albeit with the camera autofocus disabled, has taken me back to my days of the Spotmatic. And it works.

My bottom line here is that if you are a person who likes to shoot available light in those extremely marginal conditions with a very fast lens, take a look at the option of replacing your focus screen. This simple surgery on my camera cost me $125 and it re-opened a whole new world of in-focus lowlight photography.