In an attempt to add to our collective knowledge I forced myself to take a
small pile of telephoto lenses and focus screens to the nearby baylands for
a little not very exact testing ... spent a couple hours looking through
lenses at wading birds, geese, ducks and bayland vegetation ... it's tough
work ;^)
Quick summary for long slow telephotos I found 1-8 and 2-4 to be much easier
to use than standard screens.
I personally prefer the 1-8 to the 2-4 but when the birds started moving
around the wider area of the 2-4 vs the spot in the center of the 1-8 was
helpful. The 1-8 seemed to have slightly more snap. As a rough guess the 2-4
appeared slightly less than one stop brighter (checked by stopping down lens
and trying to remember the other screen)
Lenses
800mm f11 series 1
500mm f8 zuiko
400mm f6.3 zuiko
35-80 f2.8 zuiko (to check at standard lengths)
Screens
1-8
2-4
1-7
1-10
2-13
& Varimagni
The 1-7 screen seemed useless to me. It was very bright but I couldn't focus
the 400mm with it.
Focusing seemed much easier with either the 2-4 or the 1-8 than the 1-10.
The field area of the 2-13 worked as well as the 2-4 but constantly moving
the subject off center then back was too time consuming especially with
moving subjects.
The Varimagni finder also slowed down composing the picture but it seemed to
work well with both the 2-4 and 1-8. It also seemed to add significantly to
getting the best focus.
Both the 1-8 and 2-4 seemed to work well at normal focal lengths. I probably
wasn't as critical - I was mostly wanting to make sure there weren't any
obvious problems.
The 800mm f11 is rather difficult to use with the 1-10. I doubt anyone would
be happy with the lens without either the 1-8 or 2-4. Personally I think its
a great lens.
I'll probably have to give the 1-7 another test. It should have worked.
-jeff
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