My Favourite Loupe

[Armin Seeholzer]

My best one is the long Horseman loupe its really a good one also the Silvestry tilting loupe which I like for the corners on wide lenses!

Cheers Armin

[ROL]

Though perhaps not specific to favorite loupes, there are other tangential threads on GG focusing here on LF. I have foregone my old Toyo in favor of 3.5 Diopter 99¢ eyeglasses long ago.

[LF4Fun]

I've had all manner of loupes over the last few years, ranging from $10 cheap-os to used $150 Leitzes to Chinese knock-offs at $60.
I've sold them all.
The one I keep coming back to is a cheap-o as well, but it's perfect, at least for me.
A simple Peak 5x

They're on sale now at B&H for about $8, I got me three of 'em.

Long enough to use with a hood, not too high a magnification, bright, weighs a few grams, and is almost unbreakable in everyday usage.
Just passing it along.

Ari,

thanks for the tip. $8 is hard to beat + free shipping too.
How tall is the loupe?

[Ari]

How tall is the loupe?

About 2.5 inches, or, in the parlance of our times, 66mm.

[Darin Boville]

My #1 criterion for the ideal loop (which I'm not sure I've found yet) is a good neck cord. When I'm working with LF I carry the thing around my neck, all day perhaps.

I had a fancy Schneider one but the elastic lug broke. I have a cheap Hama but no strap lugs. I mainly use some sort of heavy duty unit now--metal with diopter adjustment. I think it is a Fuji--had to spay paint it since the bottom was translucent. Has metal poles which I've attached an eyeglass strap to but that may not last...

--Darin

[jeroldharter]

$8 is hard to beat, but I would want a neck cord too. Hard to argue that a neck cord is a feature worth $50 but I would buy a Wista loupe if I needed another one because it is a small loupe, currently available, good quality, and has a cord.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ing_Loupe.html

[anglophone1]

Another vote for the Toyo. My understanding is that this loupe is no longer on the market. Has that changed?

John

They seem hard to find I would like two but can't seem to source them at anything like a decent price

[Yo' Vinny]

Dumb question...does the use of a focusing loupe enable you to get focus in the field without a dark cloth? The Summers are hot and humid in the Houston,TX area and I would like to avoid the dark cloth if possible. I can handle the searching on the glass at various points to confirm focus.

- Vince

[DJG]

I don't have anything to compare it to, other than a really super cheap one, but I really like my Toyo. Perfect size, I like how it's covered in rubber on the edges, and is long enough that focusing is pretty easy (I don't have to rub my nose or forehead on the ground glass).

I still need a dark cloth on my cameras. Maybe it might work with a camera that has one of those folding out backs, especially if it's a long loupe like the Toyo. Maybe one of those binocular viewers would work if you don't want a dark cloth in a humid area, but I have never used one.

[Robert Oliver]

if you want to focus without a dark cloth...

one way is to find a Peak 10x suction cup mount. reverse the suction cup mount to use as an eye piece and wrap the clear part of the lupe with black gaffers tape. works pretty good. Would be simple to fashion a simple neck strap onto it.

This of course doesn't solve the issue of being able to see the entire image at once, but it does allow you to spot focus on specific parts of the ground glass.