Minolta X-700 focusing screen problem
Jan Brittenson
> My Minolta X-700 has a focusing screen with a split circle at the
> center. This split circle seems to be more of a nuisance than a
> focusing aid because sometimes the whole of the split circle part
> becomes black(opaque) for certain camera angles.
Looking through the transparent split-field center is like looking
directly through the lens - like looking through a tube of a certain
length using a magnifying glass. If the tube has a narrow opening
(f/5.6 seems to be a critical point on my X-700) you will have a hard
time aligning the center with the opening. At least one of the halves
is likely to be pitch black. With brighter lenses a blackened half
indicates that you're not observing the ground-glass screen at a
90-degree angle. The micro-prism around the split-field works the same
way, although on the standard X-700 screen I don't find it `micro'
enough to produce interference patterns - rather, fragments of the
prism circle simply black out. Pretty crude. Perhaps replacing the
standard screen is wise.
> Our local Minolta dealer told me that replacing the focusing screen
> involves some disassembling of the camera and it would cost about $22
> for labor.
I've removed and cleaned the screen myself, several times. I think
the `disassembly' talk is just that Minolta doesn't *encourage* people
to remove the screen themselves; it's made of plastic and is easily
scratched. If you're not careful it'll fall down on the mirror, or
into the finder.
The screen itself is easily removed; there's a small clip on the
long side closest to the lens mount, just inside the padding. You
simply pull it a little using a toothpick or a *very* fine
jewelry-style screwdriver. This is what I'd recommend:
1/ Remove the battery.
2/ Put a piece of lens tissue over the mirror. If you have
to cut it down, use a pair of scissors. (Tearing=lint.)
3/ Align the camera so that the mirror (& lens tissue)
is horizontal and the screen approximately 45 degrees.
4/ Gently pull the clip until the screen comes loose.
5/ Let it fall onto the lens tissue.
6/ Pull out the lens tissue with the screen on it.
7/ Do whatever you have to do.
8/ Put the screen roughly back in place holding it with some
lens tissue, or a pair of tweezers.
9/ Gently push it up until it's secured by the clip.
Look through the finder and make sure it seems OK.
10/ Reinstall the battery.
11/ Shoot a dozen-or-so times without a lens.
Point 11 above is from personal experience. A friend of mine
replaced the screen in his Maxxum 7000, put on a lens and did a test
shot. The screen wasn't secured well enough and so fell down and got
stuck between the mirror and the lens. The mirror got jammed on the
way up, and wouldn't under any conditions come back down, not even by
removing the batteries. The mirror held the ground-glass screen locked
in a position that prevented the lens from turning. Fortunately, after
some time of clever twisting and shaking, the lens came loose. Caution
is recommended!
As usual, when dealing with fine mechanics, make sure you've done
it all in your head before touching anything - you don't want to end
up in an awkward situation, wishing you had a third hand, or needing a
tool that's in a drawer somewhere. That's when things Go Wrong. Make
sure you have a good light and plenty of clean table space.
Don't pay your dealer $22 to change screens for you. After all,
this is a prime opportunity to become more familiar with your camera!
fy...@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
>> > My Minolta X-700 has a focusing screen with a split circle at the
>> > center. This split circle seems to be more of a nuisance than a
>> > focusing aid because sometimes the whole of the split circle part
>> > becomes black(opaque) for certain camera angles.
>>
>> Looking through the transparent split-field center is like looking
>>directly through the lens - like looking through a tube of a certain
>>length using a magnifying glass. If the tube has a narrow opening
>
> [stuff deleted]
>
> Thanks for very informative and detailed explanation
>
>> I've removed and cleaned the screen myself, several times. I think
>>the `disassembly' talk is just that Minolta doesn't *encourage* people
>>to remove the screen themselves; it's made of plastic and is easily
>>scratched. If you're not careful it'll fall down on the mirror, or
>>
>> Don't pay your dealer $22 to change screens for you. After all,
>>this is a prime opportunity to become more familiar with your camera!
>
> Some people who responded to my original posting cautioned me not to do it
> by myself. One person said that Minolta's service charge of $22 is not too
> much. I agree, I didn't intend to save money by doing the replacement myself.
> And as I suspected, the replacement is not that complicated and doesn't
> involve any disassembly as the Minolta dealer lied to me.
>
> I removed and replaced my standard screen without taking the precautionary
> measures suggested by Jan. My screen ended up with some scratches but that
> is OK because anyway I want to get rid of it.
>
>
> -- Ramesh Chitturi
>
> chit...@lactic.cs.wisc.edu
I had an interesting experience on this note. My fiance is getting a x-700
from me for a wedding present, as I have a x370 and she wants to use some of
the lenses I own. One of our reasons for choosing the x-700 was that it has
replacable focusing screens, and we most often use a 400mm 5.6 for bird photos,
which causes the middle of the split image focusing screen to black out. I
went down to the store to buy one of the "clear" focusing screens and was told
that it needed to be replaced by a "minolta service center", but that the store
counted, and so all I had to do was to give them the $18 for the screen, they
would order it, and when it came in they would install it for me. After 4
weeks, a "normal" split image screen arives! Figuring minolta made a mistake,
they sent it back to get the "clear" screen. Minolta tells them that they will
ship replacement normal screens, but not any of the other 4 or 5 available for
this camera, as these must be replaced at the factory! Furthur, they never
give labor estimates for work to be done there until they see the camera! Even
though this camera is brand new, right out of the box, not only will they not
send the "clear" (no split image, no doughnut) screen to my store, but they
will not even estimate how much this replacement will cost me until I send them
in my camera! Well, as this could obviously cost me an arm and a leg for
labor, I decided to just try to live with the default screen for a while. It
is nice to hear that I can do this operation myself, but it sounds like minolta
won't let me have the screens to do it with! Any ideas?
Donald Drinkwater fy...@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
Mike Swatko
Distribution: usa,rec
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
In article <4364.2...@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>,
fy...@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes:
> I went down to the store to buy one of the "clear" focusing screens
[...]and was told
Be careful to get the right kind of "clear" focusing screen! They make
clear screens that are really CLEAR (like a piece of clear glass) and then
there are plain matte focusing screens. You want to get the plain matte
screen. If you get a CLEAR (non-matte) screen, you cannot focus optically
using it because there is nothing for the image to fall on. It will pass
straight through the clear focusing screen and into your eye. With the
matte version, the image forms on the focusing screen which your eye can
then focus on.
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