Loupe recommendations

[Nitish Kanabar]

I'm looking to buy a good focusable loupe for examining the focus on a ground-glass and fresnel combination.

Any suggestions? What is the optimal magnification ratio - 4x or higher?

thanks in advance

[Ron Marshall]

I use a Silvestri 6x focussing loupe. I find magnification in the 5x to 8x range to suit me.

[Mark Stahlke]

I like the Toyo 3.6x loupe. It's inexpensive, sharp, and has good eye relief. I just wish it was focusable.

[Capocheny]

Nitish,

Although I have the Toyo, Horseman, Kodak, and Sylvestri loupes... I find myself using the Toyo 3.6x and Horseman 6x loupes the most. The Sylvestri and Kodak loupes tend to stay in storage...

Cheers

[Chris Strobel]

I've been using the Toyo for 4x5, and strong drug store reading glasses in place of a lupe for 8x10

[Gary Smith]

I use the Toyo loupe, but I was having a hard time focusing my wide angle lenses with it, so I recently bought a Horseman 6x. It made all the difference in the world, its focusable, and the optics seem to be better than the Toyo. My WA shots are now much sharper.

Hope it helps.

Gary

[David A. Goldfarb]

For general use, I like the current Schneider 4x loupe. I've also got an older Schneider 6x and an older Schneider 4x, and the new 4x is definitely better than the old one. I like 6x when I'm using a camera that doesn't have a fresnel screen, since there isn't the issue of magnifying the fresnel pattern.

The Silvestri 6x tilting loupe is handy with wide lenses for focusing away from the lens axis.

I like the long Toyo 3.6x when I'm using a camera with a folding hood instead of a darkcloth.

[Bill McMannis]

I used to use a the older model of the Schneider 4x loupe. It had two problems. 1) The plastic lugs to hold the neck strap wore through and 2) scratched the heck out of my Linhof Fresnel. (Interestingly, I never had the scrathing when using the Schneider on my Sinar or cheaper Fresnel on my Zone VI.) I relegated the Schneider to edit 35mm slides and now use the Toyo 3.6x for focusing on the Fresnel. The rubberized ends protect the Fresnel and it sharp, though as mentioned above, fixed focus.

[CXC]

Conventional wisdom says use a 4x loupe, though I don't know why. I am happy with my 7x loupe.

[John Kasaian]

Don't buy expensive beer to drink or expensive loupes for focusing on the gg.

You never truly buy beer---you only rent it for a short time.

A $7 Agfa loupe works better than you can imagine.

I'm not advocating Schlitz Whizz or Cracker Jack prizes either.

Heineken and Silvestri (or Toyo) have advantages but they aren't going to cost you a hundred bucks either. Look for features you realistically think will be an asset.

If you can't think of any features that you want, those $7 Agfa loupes really begin to look pretty good!