Nikon K3 Focusing Screen for FM3A Cameras (Replacement)

Comments about Nikon Focusing Screen K3 for FM3A:

As you would expect, it's a well-designed screen for general photography. I bought mine to replace the existing K3 which had a small smear on it. It comes in a protective plastic case, along with an included plastic "tweezers" accessory which is desgined to grip securely to the tiny tab protruding from one of the long edges of the focussing screen itself. This is a good way to remove current the screen from the body and to move the replacement screen in (note that you will still need a regular pair of tweezers in order to pull the metal tab above the foucsing screen housing and release the focusing screen carriage).

My experience is that although the K3 is a durable screen (yes I have dropped it), like all screens it will dirty easily if mishandled. Avoid touching with your hands if at all possible (my advice is to clean your hands beforehand anyway). The tab on the screen is so tiny that you really need to be careful not to lose your grip on it. If you need to clean the screen, use an air-blower in the first instance. The central split-image area of the screen protrudes ever so slightly from the surrounding screen and is likely to be the most delicate part of the whole thing. If you decided to use a very clean (and only very clean) microfibre cloth for cleaning, use it super-gently - epsecially around that area. In a perfect world (or at least with a little care) we will transfer the screens without having to touch them at all.

All in all, it's a great focusing screen - possibly the best choice for most FM3A users.

Comments about Nikon Focusing Screen K3 for FM3A:

Having a split image viewfinder has made focusing so much easier! After some adjustment, I now trust my eye more than the camera's autofocus readings, when focusing manually. It has made my camera much, much more useable.

The K3 is a fairly bright screen, and is reasonably priced for the quality. It comes in a case with a tool for changing screens. I cut this screen down to fit into a Pentax K7, after finding that the best aftermarket split image screens available were K3s that had been trimmed down (albeit by more practiced and precise folks).

I do notice some blackout of the split image and microprism kicking in at f5.6...not all the way to f11 as some people claimed for this screen, so I wouldn't expect miracles from it in this regard. Overall, though, it's at least as good and/or better than other screens in terms of blackout.

I'm very pleased with the screen, and would certainly buy another.

Comments about Nikon Focusing Screen K3 for FM3A:

I bought K3 screen for one of FE's. K3 screen fits FE without any problems. For compensating the extra brightness of the screen I increased the exposure by +0.5 using the exposure compensation index. It seems Nikon FE2 doesn't need any compensation at all. Now I have 3 FE's with K, K2 and K3 screens. K2 screen is a brighter version of K but the split image on both K and K2 behaves the same. If I place my eye a little off-centered on the viewfinder upper or lower half circle of split-image immediately darkens, becomes absolutely opaque. For the same situation split image of K3 screen darkens but never goes opaque, always stays translucent so split screen can be used with slow lenses. One feature of K3 split-image that annoys me is that the split-image on K3 screen shows an unfocused image when the lens is not focused. This never happens on K or K2 screens, split-image on K and K2 always stays crisp, in-focus even the lens is way out-of focus.
I tried K3 screen with different lenses: 50/1.4 AI: Very bright. 50/2 AI: Very bright, no difference compared to 50/1.4: 35/2 Very bright. 105/2.5: AI Very bright but split image darkens a little. 135/3.5: Ais Bright, split image darkens but usable without being opaque. 20/3.5: Ais the same as 135/3.5. 35-105/3.5-4.5 Ais: K3 is very much usable with this lens, split image darkens but still stays translucent, this is the only FE body that I can use this zoom lens now. 80-200/4.5: usable. 400/6.3 non-Nikkor: split-image is usable but darkens quickly with an off-centered placement of the eye to viewfinder, although stays translucent.

Comments about Nikon Focusing Screen K3 for FM3A:

I bought this screen for my D70, and modified it myself to fit. It has greatly improved my focusing accuracy. One of my lenses is a manual focus telephoto, and before the change, it was hard to tell when the focus was perfect. With this screen, it is very obvious when the focus is spot on. It's also great for shots with my macro lens. All in all, a great improvement, and I have no regrets about taking on the rather daunting task of cutting this down to fit my camera.

Comments about Nikon Focusing Screen K3 for FM3A:

The K3 is the default focusing screen for the Nikon FM3a manual-focus film SLR, but it is also usable in the older FE and FE2 cameras. I am using it in an FE and it is a big improvement over the original K screen. The K screen's central split prism focusing aid blacks out with slow lenses (it's almost unusable with an f/4.5 lens, and dodgy even with an f/4 lens), but the K3's split prism doesn't black out at all, even if I use the DOF preview lever to simulate an f/22 lens. The K3 also provides a noticeably brighter image than the K screen, which is a welcome improvement. One thing to be aware of, though, is that since the camera meters off the focusing screen, the brighter image requires +0.5 exposure compensation for correct metering.

Comments about Nikon Focusing Screen K3 for FM3A:

Central split image with microprism surround. Somewhat fussier in use than I had anticipated - split image darkens, even with high-speed lenses, unless you keep your eye perfectly centered; microprism collar is a bit narrow for convenience.