A lovely follower gifted me a new bright screen for my Yashica A after reading the comments on that post. I exchanged emails with someone at the company, who confirmed it was a genuine offer 😉 And a screen whizzed its way to me in less than 2 weeks. The very next day I installed it.

The screen arrived with a detailed three-page installation document. It mentioned how to take out the old screen and install the new one, plus how to adjust it if it wasn’t quite focusing right.

I read everything before starting, but still, not everything went smoothly. Firstly a clip pinged out and I had to retrieve it.

Then, the new screen was a bit of a tighter fit and I struggled to get the clips back in. I was worried that I might scratch the new screen. I thought I had, but it turned out to be a hair, phew.

So here is a before and after shot at infinity to check the focusing.

It definitely looked sharper with the new screen and didn’t need adjusting. Also, the bright screen shot was taken a little later in the day when it had started to rain, so it was duller…not that you can tell, due to the “brightness”??

The next day I took it, loaded with Ilford FP4, to Spofforth. A very English village with a lovely little castle/manor house.

The information with the screen said you would not need to stuff your eye down to the magnifier for a closer look. I still did. I kept checking if what I thought was in focus, actually was…it was. Maybe with more use I will stop doing that. I also did it due to the weather. At times, it was very bright and the hood didn’t quite cover the screen so by stuffing my face down I blocked the light and reduced the reflection. I did find it much easier to focus the camera. The next test will be in some trees as that was where I struggled last time.

I am including all my shots from the roll. Two of them look a little out of focus, but that is camera movement as it turned dark at times, spring storms sprang up throughout the day. The shot of the donkeys was taken at Wonkey Donkey and I used the sports viewfinder, so the screen wasn’t used. I haven’t used this feature before.

Over all, I am very pleased with the new screen. If you love your camera and can afford it, I would recommend a new focusing screen combined with a new mirror. If you are replacing one, you might as well replace the other. I had already done mine on the Yashica A.

A big thank you to Bright-Screen.com and my new friend.