ballon focusing hood vs. monocular focusing hood

[chin-fan so]

Hi all,

I think focusing with a dark cloth is too slow, it usually makes the interesting light gone. So I am thinking about either to use a monocular or a ballon focusi ng hood. I heard that it assist focusing, makes it much faster. 1) I suspect using a wide angle will make the corner too dim to be seen by the m onocular, at this situation, may a balloon hood with a loupe helps. 2) Or will the ballon hood just as tedious as a dark cloth, 3) or light will steak in when using the loupe with balloon hood?

Any comments regarding the pros and cons of them are greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance. Chin.

[Scott Walton]

I have a monocular and a Beattie and it works great. Magnification is about 2.5x and with the brightness of the beattie in the studio, no problems.