Experiences of TT split focusing screen on E300

Disclaimer:
I'm just a photography enthusiast, starting from shooting Nokia XXX phone camera(that's a shame!), Fuji S3800, Olympus XA, then I had a chance to have a broken OM1n, shooting it for a while, and got a full set of a beautiful OM2s + 3 lenses + accessories with only $150 from oboy(still exciting with the deal). When E330 was announced, I noticed that the price of E300 plunged, I'm sure it's lowest price a new E300 could be sold, I got it for $299 from Cameta. It didn't come with a digital lens. I want 14-54mm on it but that's too expensive if buying separated from body, so I bought MF-1 and started using it with my OM Zuiko lenses. Right now, I still have no digial lens, the price of 14-54mm has never dropped. 14-45mm as far as I've seen the result on internet, it's even poorer than my old Zuiko lenses. Just heard that 14-42mm is coming out, I'm eager to see how it performs comparing to the price, it would be my first digial lens. Manual focusing on E300 stock focus screen has never easy and takes a lot of time, just too see if object is in 99% focused. My girlfriend, who is my main shooting subject, usually gets bored when I told her to stay in the same position while I was doing clumsy focusing. Focusing small subjects like eye balls is also not easy, not to mention macro focusing which caused lots of fatique to my eyes..

The package:
Okay, let's back to the focusing screen, TT offered me discount for being a pioneer user of his new split focusing screen, I don't know the exact price but expect it to be cheaper than the Katz-eye(There are 3 manufacturers creating this cool thing that I've heard of, Katz-eye, Haoda, and TT. The package contains a focus screen, plastic protector, installation manual for E300 and a tweezer. Oh I forgot his site: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/screen_expert/, he also has split focus screen for other models.

The screen
It looks like normal focusing screen built perfectly for E300/E330, the center is aligned, has matt surface around the split circle, and has the same size as the circle of the stock E300 focus screen which is around 1/9 of the total area.

Caution:
There are many E300/E330 users who want to use split focusing screen, but are scared of installation.. I was one of them. Even though, right now I can put it in, take it out with not much effort, I'm still sweating everytime. Because replacing screen in E300 line is really hard, I don't think most camera shop could do it perfectly all the time, if they don't have very right tools. E300 line is not built for focus screen changing.

Installation:
Here's my tools - many kinds of tweezers and a bended paper clip, and a compressed air.

1. Use an appropriate tweezer to pick the holder of the focusing screen out, by prying on the leg of the secure metal.

2. Take the metal out.

2.1 Use the compressed air for cleaning the new screen, metal and inside the camera if it looks dusty.

3. Put the new screen in.

4. Put the metal back to its place, it legs should be in the small holes at the bottom of the screen holder.

The above steps are very easy, I believe you could figure it out, do what you need to do.

5. This last step is the hardest, you need to press the top of the metal at the CENTER inorder to lock it to both crooked tips on the body using the bended paper clip.(There are 2 small plastic crooked tips for locking the metal inside camera, you might need the dentist mirror inorder to see them).

I've found the installation manual is useless to me, they suggest to pull the old screen out, put the new screen in without getting the nasty metal out.. I did several scratches to the new screen, but that's not affect its performance, it sit on my head for a couple days, then I started to get used to it. You have to make up your mind that there's might be some chances to damange the screen when replacing, but for me, it's worth enough to take the chance.

Accuracy
Using Zuiko 50mm/F1.4:

At f:1/1.4

At f:1/2

At f:1/2.8

At f:1/4

Notice that at wide open the lens is the least sharp, however, it made perfect focusing to my eyes.

Autofocus light

Autofocus light comes out as usual, I tested with my friend's 14-54mm, it can do auto focus with this screen. It's quite amazing when auto focus kicks in, the split focusing screen can show the proof if it's perfect or not, if it isn't I can apply a little effort to fix by manual focusing. That is another reason that support my need of a digital zuiko.

Blackout
Blackout effect is common in split focus screen, in normal light condition,

at f2.8 is clear,
at f3.5 is hardly noticeable,
at f4 is quite noticeable, but if you can change eyes position a little bit, it's gone,
at f5.6, it'll make you uncomfortable, but still usable with adjusting eyes position,
more than f8, the center including the matt is unusable, but the remedy is using the area outside circle to focus instead, if not too dark.

I've noticed that the black out effect is equivalent to my OM-2s stock focusing screen(1-13). Putting this focus screen on E300, is like having a smaller version of the familiar 1-13 screen on it. (It's smaller but the split circle+matt surface are a lot bigger)

Blackout is even annoying when using old lenses with MF-1, since you have to use stopped down metering which means you should manual focus at wide open to avoid any blackout, then meter the light after that. It's not any problem shooting steady object, but when shooting moving object with high DOF, you might need to focus in small aperture with blackout, that's pain. Why don't Olympus built MF-1 supporting old zuiko lens aperture mechanism !? I think it's possible.

However if using with digital lenses, focusing is always done at wide open, it'll be very useful.

Light meter
Focusing screen besides the stock usually caused light meter deviated. I can't say about the accuracy, since due to lacking of technical skills, but what I've compared with my friends' E1 and my OM2s, in most circumstances, it gives the same number, so my conclusion is, the screen might have something to do with light meter, but very slightly.

Worth for money/effort
Yes, if you don't mind doing dentist work and don't plan to use it with very slow lenses. This screen is useful for digital lenses in focus proving, and is necessary for serious manual focus users. Before I have this screen, about 5% of my shooting are way out of focus, 20% are not perfect, I can sense the smell of a little out of focus on them, after I use this screen, my result is improved, my girlfriend stops grumbling which is the most important.

I'm curious of how Katz-eye + brightness enhancement performs, it causes around $99 for the screen + $50 for the brightness, which is too expensive to make mind up to accept any damange when replacing.

I always want very the wide thing, if you know what I mean, the great 7-14mm/f4. If I got bonus, I might shop it, but f4 is quite slow, in dim light condition, I'm not sure if it would black TT screen out.