I have a Canon 1000D and it doesn't come with a focusing screen. Sometimes my camera cannot focus in low-light. I'd like to manually focus, but without a focusing screen I haven't been able to do it accurately.
How do you manually focus accurately without a focusing screen? Or is the standard solution to get a focusing screen?
The 1000D has live view. If you're on a tripod, you could zoom the live view to 100% and use that to focus. This is going to be more accurate than a focusing screen anyway.
(Of course, the camera needs to support live view zoom, and I don't know whether that's the case for the 1000D).
Or you could turn on the focus assist, which will use the flash to illuminate the subject so the AF works.
You can also try the "focus confirmation light" in your VF. It's not always accurate, but it gives you a better chance than nothing.
I would recommend getting a focus screen, but that's not specifically going to help your manual focus efforts. My suspicion would be that camera shake, either by hand or mirror slap, is a more likely culprit for the blur. This is entirely common in low light, slow shutter situations, especially when hand-held.
The easiest solution is a focus screen, however in lieu of a focus screen, I recommend focus and recompose.
Find an object that is on the same plane as your subject, and focus on that, then while maintaining focus lock, recompose your shot, then take the picture.
Additionally, since the 1000D has a built in flash, you can use it to illuminate your subject long enough for the AF to kick in.
