If you keep your eye peeled long enough, EBay's a good place to find lupes.
I think that I have a 4x, aspheric Rodenstock lupe, and it's excellent. It's just like the one above with the red string, except that it's marked Calumet. For a long time, I used a cheap lupe for a long time. What a difference when I finally got a good one. It's worth every penny.
Like Richard, I find the linen tester a good loupe to use. The metal base is very smooth, corners gently rounded so it slides easily on the ground glass. I can easily see in the corners to check coverage. Round loupes don't get that close in the corners.
Cheap too.
I also use the loupe with light table to check negs afterwards.
Tom
I have the 4x rodenstock, the 4x schneider, the 10x schneider, the big 4x Peak, the Mamiya, the Horseman 6x, the Toyo 4x, and the Mamiya zoom loupes. I also had 2 high mag finders from Nikon F3's turned into loupes and those are the best of the bunch. And for super critical work I use a stereo microscope.
So I can speak from some experience about loupes. But the question is, what do you want the loupe for? Viewing film on a box? Focusing on a GG? 35mm or MF viewing?
I find for GG work the Toyo loupe which is the simplest, is the best. If you need a little more magnification and your GG has a very fine texture, then maybe the 6x Horseman. They are thin and allow you to get the loupe closer to the edges of the GG.
For viewing an MF neg, the Big Peak 4x enables you to see the whole neg.
The other loupes, like the Rodenstock and schneider while exceptional optics try to be more of a general use loupe. They don't do one thing specifically great, but they do all things well. The sliding collar on the Rodie makes it fat at the base and that gives it positioning issues when viewing the edges of a GG.
The mamiya zoom has the advantage of variable magnification but is lower contrast, much heavier and bulkier than the others. The nikon high mags are excellent optics and are great for critical viewing a small portion of film. But when I want to be really critical it's the stereo micro.
As for purchase locations in SF, Adolph Gasser is a fairly professional store.
Last edited by Brian K; 30-Mar-2011 at 06:14.
Brian, that's a whole bunch o' loupes....Originally Posted by Brian K
I found the difficult part to be that the stores often have one loupe to try, and it isn't possible to compare. I understand the reason, they can't be selling to many of these but its frustrating nonetheless.
This loupe is for the ground glass. I currently use a Horseman. I like the magnification, I could even do more. It's very heavy, for what it does, and when I was out with the local group the other day someone showed me a Mamiya 6x, which was a much larger diameter than the Horseman. It brought it a lot more light, as a result, which was really nice. It was also nice and sharp...
A local store says they carry Silvestri, which tilts, apparently. Wondering if anyone that has one of these could comment...
Gasser's doesn't list any loupes on their site, I guess I'll have to call them...
Thanks everyone for their responses.
Lenny
EigerStudios
I tend to do things on the cheap...out of necessity, not desire.
I made this lupe out of 1 5/8 inside diameter PVC and a coated anastigmat lens (probably from a copier) that has a 5" focal length. I painted the PVC black and glued the lens into it. I use it on my 8X10 and it works like a charm...but I don't have anything to compare it to.
Adolph Gasser should have loupes to look at. There is a Calumet in SF as well. My "up grade" loupe is an italian 6x tilting job.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
I have a number of loupes. My favorite for ground glass viewing is the Peak 6x6cm 4x square one. IMO that's plenty of magnification, although you can get away with more if you have a fine-grained ground glass and don't use a Fresnel. I haven't tried any of the tilting ones.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
Hi Lenny,
If you have a friend with a Hasselblad system... ask if he/she has the stove pipe magnifying hood that you might borrow.
Although bigger in size than the other loupes it is a 6x's magnifier and a major advantage is that it has an adjustable eye piece for focusing.
Lastly, they can be had for a song on EBay these days.
It's my loupe of choice for 8x10. For 5x7 or 4x5... I prefer either the Toyo 4x or the 6x's Horseman loupe.
Best of luck in finding "your" loupe of voice.
Cheers
Life in the fast lane!
I've been quite happy with a Peak 5x loupe, and I'd buy more of them from B&H; they're about $10, and work very well on a GG.
On the other hand, a Fujinon 4x loupe that I recently purchased does a great job with both GG and slide viewing.
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