Brighten up your medium format viewfinder with a new ground glass focusing screen.
Medium format cameras accept 120mm film, which provides a much larger negative than standard 35mm film. The amount of detail captured by 120 film is stunning, making it an ideal choice for landscape and portrait photography. A medium format focusing screen, which consists of a thin piece of ground glass encased in a sturdy metal frame, offers a bright, clear image in the camera's viewfinder. If your focusing screen has been scratched, cracked or dimmed by dirt, installing a replacement is a quick fix.
Instructions
Removing the Old Focusing Screen
1. Depress both of the small buttons near the top sides of the camera body. While the buttons are depressed, lift off the viewfinder hood on top of the camera. This provides access to the focusing screen mount frame.
2. Locate the small mount screws on the outside edges of the mount frame. On most medium format cameras, four slotted screws hold the focusing screen in place.
3. Loosen and remove the screws with a slotted or Phillips micro screwdriver. Set them aside in a plastic container.
4. Grasp the focusing screen's metal frame using a pair of tweezers. Lift the screen out of the camera body and set it aside on a paper towel.
5. Blow away any interior dust from the inside of the camera with an air blower bulb.
Mounting the New Focusing Screen
6. Orient the screen so that the matte, or dull, side of the focusing screen faces downward. The shiny side of the screen should be facing upward.
7. Grasp the metal frame of the new screen with tweezers.
8. Lower the new screen into the camera, ensuring that it is seated the same way as the old screen. Proper alignment is necessary for reinsertion of the screws.
9. Insert the screws into the metal frame. Snug them using the appropriate micro screwdriver.
10. Depress both of the viewfinder release buttons and replace the viewfinder hood. Release the buttons to lock the viewfinder in place.
Tags: focusing screen, metal frame, camera body, Depress both, format cameras, medium format, micro screwdriver