Good to hear from you Dave.....I second the motion, Toyo 3,6x loupe it is. This ends two years of researching, e-mails, phone calls, offers, counteroffers, and picking the brains of some intellectual giants that gave me the tools to get the LF gear I was after at a reasonable price. I want to thank you folks for that, and now I'm going to put it all together, get comfortable with it, and start shooting! Ciao
I think every LF photographer at one time or another used a Toyo, I have the long one and I am happy with it, but I really love the Silvestri 6x tilting one....oh men does it make your life so much easier when trying to check the corners....specially in 8x10.
Jonathan: I have used 5X, 6X, 7X and 10X loupes from Leitz, Horseman, and Silvestri. The 10X, a Silvestri I find just perfect. Where the 7X loupe did not give me as fine a definition of sharp focus, the Silvestri does to perfection, and with it, the tiniest movement of the cam on my Linhof Technika can be detected on the GG. This loupe comes with an excellent reticle, -which I do not use. It has a relatively large diamter and it is adequately long to keep the nose off the GG. The maximum magnification loupe that is practical I think is relative to the coarsness of the screen. With coarser screens you may want to stay with lower magnifications. With the fine screen I use on the Technika, the 10X's magnification is just right, with coarser screens it might be too high. For viewing the whole GG I have special prescription glasses and with those I can see the 4X5 screen at as high a magnification as feasible while viewing the whole screen.
I have an old Omegaron $12 80mm enlarging lens that works better than my friends Toyo ground glass loupe. He's trying to sell it. Can see clearly and as brightly all the way to the corners.James
For those using the Silvestri tilting loupe, why not just tilt a normal loupe at an angle?
Tony as you tilt the loupe you get reflection from the ground glass since the Silvestry has an open design there is less reflection and you can see the image better.
for loupes that require the user to place the front of the loupe on the gg surface, looking into the corners darkens the image due to less light hitting that part of the gg. And turning the loupe into the line of site of the lens makes the loupes focus out of focus. James
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks