Fujica/Minolta Focus Screens

[themoleman342]

This is a weirdly specific question so I suspect this will go unanswered but here it goes... I have old very broken Minolta SRT201. I hate just throwing things in the bin, so I usually salvage what may be useful in the future (things like prisms, mirrors, focusing screens, mounts, viewfinders). The focusing screen on the Minolta is a beautiful one, small center split screen with micro-prism collar.

My favorite camera in recent months has become a fujica st701. This has a simple micro-prism which I like too but someone in the past definitely scratched it up nicely and left some dust in there. This is rather distracting to me. So a switch out would be fabulous if it could be done.

To my eyes they look about the same size. I know there is only one way to really find out, but can anyone guess if they might be interchangeable? Really just a shot in the dark would do. Many thanks in advance!

As an aside to that...would the minolta screen be darker?

~Marc

[themoleman342]

Well I did it! Took about an hour of careful work, but the minolta split screen has replaced the fujica's original. Oddly enough the focus screens were exactly the same, the curved overlaying glass and shims were not. So I just used the fujica's again. Not sure if that was the best, as it retained some of the scratches I was keen on fixing, but it works. I'll have to confirm infinity tomorrow. Till then...

[themoleman342]

I was able to get infinity! Stupidly I closed up the whole camera thinking I had done a great job. What I should have done was leave the glass exposed until morning so I could adjust if needed. Sure enough it needed adjusting. The entire housing is built on three springs that can be tightened/loosened to obtain the correct focus. By evenly unscrewing each I was able to get it right.

Not sure if the screen is significantly brighter or darker. It's probably around the same.

And now ends the one-man thread...