Mamiya RZ67 Pro II/IID has a huge bright waist-level viewfinder and the moment you look through it, you would definitely fall in love with it. After using my camera in some dark locations, I came to this conclusion that a possible brighter focusing screen would be helpful in nailing the focus. So, I started my research about different brands of bright-screens. There are lots of mixed reviews and discussions about such screens and so far have never seen a single photo comparing the original and after market screens yet!

Anyway, when I found out the Jonathan Canlas also uses bright-screens by Bill Maxwell, I set my heart on one of his plain matte screens. I emailed him and he kindly explained how the screens work in different situations depending on manual focusing method (center focusing or off-center focusing). So, finally I placed an order for a Hi-Lux Brilliant plain matte screen. When I received the screen, I quickly setup the little Fuji X100 to do a test to see how bright the screen is! The camera setting for both shots are f/2, 1/60s at ISO 3200.

Here is the result:

As you can see, the Bill Maxwell screens looks BRIGHTER than the original Mamiya screen. Another good thing is that there is no circle spot in the middle of screen. That makes it much easier to focus in every situations, specially when you want to focus off-center. I happily recommend to anyone who is in search for a brighter focusing screen.

*UPDATE (28th Sept 2012)*

As requested by some of you, I have added two color photos to help seeing the difference Bill Maxwell screen can make. As you see, the Bill Maxwell screen is not only brighter and more contrasty, it is even less reflective then the original Mamiya screen!