Searching for a enlarging loupe - affordable but good

[RSalles]

Hi,

I'm quiet disappointed about the price range of used good enlarging loupes/ focusing magnifiers, as the ones I intended to buy, have in the bay site all have nearby the same price for the new and the used, as the Peak.
Is there an alternative to those Peak used? I'm reluctant to pay 160/170 for a grain magnifier, I would stay in the half of this, 'cause it has to be shipped abroad, with high fees plus importing taxes. The one I own can be correctly focused only in the center of the image, so, I have to guess if the corners are really in focus,


Any help would be very appreciated,

Renato

[Bill Burk]

I never regretted getting the long-mirror focuser. I think they are all the same, Micromega, Peak, Omega.

I see the prices are not reasonable today. I was lucky and watched for a long time before I found it for a reasonable price.

[Luis-F-S]

Get the Peak there is a reason they're not cheap! I bought my Micromega 25 years ago n it wasn't cheap then either!

[RSalles]

Luis,

25 years ago film photo was mainstream, I remember how much did it cost an enlarger or a good film camera at that time, I can resist before going hopeless for a couple of weeks I guess,


Cheers,

Renato

[jp]

The peak really is as good as it costs. I'm sure someone could make something new comparable for less but it's such a small market it'd be tough. Most of the options are cheap plastic junk or peak. (The wide barreled magnasight is not junk, but not as nice as the peak) If you are using grainy film, most anything can focus the grains. I use tmax 400 or fp4+ and don't make big prints, so something crisp like the peak is needed to see the grain in focus.

Here's two suggestions:

Look for darkroom "lots" where people are selling a whole darkroom setup or a box of darkroom items together. Study the photos and look for the enlarger loupes you're after. A diamond in the rough. I got mine locally buying some other darkroom items and asked the seller if they had any other darkroom ods and ends they wanted to sell. I paid $10 for mine, but had also spent a considerable amount on other items, so it all averaged into a nice transaction for both parties.

Get your enlarger aligned. Lasers, rulers, etc... If the planes are flat and the film is flat, the focus will be flat and you may not need to check focus on the edges.

[RSalles]

The peak really is as good as it costs. I'm sure someone could make something new comparable for less but it's such a small market it'd be tough. Most of the options are cheap plastic junk or peak. (The wide barreled magnasight is not junk, but not as nice as the peak) If you are using grainy film, most anything can focus the grains. I use tmax 400 or fp4+ and don't make big prints, so something crisp like the peak is needed to see the grain in focus.

Here's two suggestions:

Look for darkroom "lots" where people are selling a whole darkroom setup or a box of darkroom items together. Study the photos and look for the enlarger loupes you're after. A diamond in the rough. I got mine locally buying some other darkroom items and asked the seller if they had any other darkroom ods and ends they wanted to sell. I paid $10 for mine, but had also spent a considerable amount on other items, so it all averaged into a nice transaction for both parties.

Get your enlarger aligned. Lasers, rulers, etc... If the planes are flat and the film is flat, the focus will be flat and you may not need to check focus on the edges.

JP,

Thanks for your suggestion, searching for a lot didn't cross my mind...
If I don't find an option soon, I'll nail-scratch a dense negative and will try to align all the stages to be sure that all are dead on.
A quick way to check would be a grain inspection on the corners with the lens wide open. That's why I tough about a loupe with a turning mirror option at first glance,

Cheers,

Renato

[EdSawyer]

just another vote for the Peak (long-mirror version). It's really as good as everyone says. I have large magnasight, microsight, and others, but the Peak is easily better than all of them.

[ic-racer]

You really need to see the corners.

[jose angel]

I have Peak (two long mirror units), Microsight and Paterson amongst others. I can use either of them. I have tested them all.
Of course the Peak is probably the best, but IMO it is not a must to have. The Microsight is 25x, reasonably good build, and I like it too. The Patersons are very cheap, and so comfortable to use with its extremely low weight (the Peaks are quite heavy).
I find much more important e.g., to have a good alignment device. This is what makes your life easier and your prints sharper.

[Jac@stafford.net]

What is the advantage to the blue filter in some Peak units?
Mine is missing.
.

[jose angel]

Theoretically, with some lenses (mostly old or really bad ones) a noticeable focus shift due to a longitudinal chromatic aberration may ocur. With the blue filter attached, you can focus with the right wavelenght to get sharper prints.
Reality is that most lenses are well corrected, good enought to focus with white light. Also, the blue filter is so dark, so the image is really dim and very difficult to focus. With other than full powered light sources the filter is simply unusable.
I`d say with "normal" materials you don`t need the filter. I never use it.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Theoretically, with some lenses (mostly old or really bad ones) a noticeable focus shift due to a longitudinal chromatic aberration may ocur. With the blue filter attached, you can focus with the right wavelenght to get sharper prints.
Reality is that most lenses are well corrected, good enought to focus with white light. Also, the blue filter is so dark, so the image is really dim and very difficult to focus. With other than full powered light sources the filter is simply unusable.
I`d say with "normal" materials you don`t need the filter. I never use it.

IOW, for black & white the filter is not necessary, even when viewing under a variable contrast filter. NO?

[Mark Sampson]

I've been using this type of focuser since 1981 (29 years professionally) and I've never used, or needed, the blue filter.

[jose angel]

If the b&w paper is only sensitive to the blue side of the spectrum, and the lens shows noticeable chromatic aberration, it`d be theoretically advisable to isolate and focus with the blue light. Think that a lens without LCA correction is not capable of focusing all the "colors" in the same plane, so focusing with the white light may place the "good blue light" not perfectly focused in the emulsion plane, resulting in some unsharpness, even with b&w materials.
Notice that it is not a paper issue, but a lens problem. Usual enlarging lenses are corrected enough to avoid this behaviour. And nowadays, it doesn`t make sense to use a lens with high LCA issues (good lenses are way cheaper than a Peak focuser!).
Like Mark, in my experience I have never noticed a difference (must say that my lenses have always been good ones). Quite the opposite, I find way easier to misfocus with such dark filter attached.

[ic-racer]

The human eye has horrible chromatic aberration. It focuses red and blue in different planes. Since the device projects an aerial image, the human eye's lens can mess up the focus. If you are certain you are focusing your own eye on the black rectangle, you are fine with or without the blue lens. Otherwise, the blue lens may aid some people in that task.
154467

[Mark Sampson]

Thanks, ic-racer, that explains a lot. Some time I'll have to tell how we used blue light for enlarging at Kodak...not relevant to this thread though. May the OP find his device at a good price!

[jose angel]

Ic-racer, do you want to mean it is not an enlarging lens but a human`s eye issue? Or maybe both?

[Jac@stafford.net]

Ic-racer, do you want to mean it is not an enlarging lens but a human`s eye issue? Or maybe both?

I am not our esteemed Ic-Racer, but I believe he is referring to the human eye's deficiency. Later enlarging lenses are well corrected within their published range of magnification.

[Ted R]

I think the theory is that for black and white work the focus of the blue light is what matters because that's what the paper is sensitive to. In theory the chromatic aberration of the enlarging lens creates slightly different focus for the yellow/green visual peak and the blue photo-active wavelengths of the white light beam. Use of the blue filter suppresses the yellow/green components of the white light image and in theory allows more precise focusing of the important blue light. Whether this makes a difference in practice I don't know.

[Luis-F-S]

Ic-racer, do you want to mean it is not an enlarging lens but a human`s eye issue? Or maybe both?

I think ic is saying not to make up problems that don't exist. If he's not, then I am! I've used d Micromega Critical for 35 years without the blue or any kind of filter and it's never been a problem. But then, what do I know! I'd rather be printing than typing on this dumb computer.

[Jac@stafford.net]

I just checked the new front-surface mirror again and it was not seated properly. I think the replacement mirror is not up to specification - ever so slightly too thin. Several layers of blue masking tape on the back side fixed it.
.

[jose angel]

FWIW, the blue filter is simply unusable to me. I have just taken mine from the closet to give it a new try and I was not capable of distinguish anything on the image (...using a 250 watts dichroic lamp!). It is again on the closet.