Hi, all -

An old article in View Camera has provided me inspiration, and some frustration today. Want to make a lens from a suitable magnifying glass, but finding the magnifier is proving difficult. Mark Sawyer found his, including a 14" FL one, at a dollar store. So, this morning, I packed the kids off to Dollar General, which, it turns out, isn't a dollar store. No joy there. Drive cross town to Five Below. Nothing. Stop at WalMart. They have one, but it's a bifocal one, and only 75mm FL. Try CVS, and while they have several, they're all bifocal as well.

So, I'm reduced to eBay. But I don't want to do this 20 times. So I ask, what should I be looking for? I've been told higher magnification equals shorter focal length. But I have no frame of reference on this. Is 5X to strong? What about coverage? Lens size?

Any help would be appreciated. I'm really excited about doing this, but am having trouble getting off the ground.

Scott