Loupe with glasses

[Bruce Watson]

I've used jewelers loupes for eye glasses from Donegan Optical for years. Work great.

I went even farther. Had my optician make me a pair of glasses that are about 2x magnifiers (and fully correct my astigmatism). I wear these for looking at the ground glass (from about 6-10 inches back, so it fills my field of vision) for composition. For fine focusing I flip down a 4x loupe in front of my right (dominant) eye. Since magnifications add, that gives me about 6x total magnification which is just about right for what I want.

Clearly, my way isn't the only way. You'll have to experiment some to find what works best for you. But what's nice about my way is that it leaves both of my hands free to work with the camera. And I really like that. But again, YMMV.

[Leonard Evens]

You should be able to use any loupe with your glasses on. Whether or not you can use it with your glasses off depends in part how the loupe is designed.

Some loupes are designed to be used by people with normal distance vision and with one end placed directly on the ground glass. If you used such a loupe, with you glasses on, you would see the gg clearly. (If you have bifocals, make sure you look through the top of the lens.) But if you took your glasses off, the gg might be blurred, just as distant objects are for you with your glasses off.

Other loupes allow you to adjust the distance of the loupe from the gg and some even allow you to focus the other end. With such a loupe you might be able to see the ground glass clearly without your glasses by adjusting the position of the loupe, the position of your eye, and by focusing.

I have one 3.6 X loupe which is designed to be placed directly on the ground glass. I checked what I just told you by looking at it without any glasses---my distance vision has been 20/20 since my cataract surgery. I could see the gg clearly. But when I put on some 5 diopter reading glasses---which would simulate nearsighteness---the gg was blurry.

I also have one 7 X loupe which is designed to be used some distance from the gg and also can be focused. I could use that gg, either without any glasses, or with the 5 diopter reading glasses, but it was easiest to use the first way.

You may not realize it, but with a 4 diopter correction, you actually have an advantage. Remember that all a loupe does is in effect to put your eye closer to the gg while allowing you still to focus. So if you take off your glasses, you are in effect using a 4 diopter loupe. That is not the same as a 4 X loupe---diopters are different than powers---but it is about 1.5 X loupe. Your eye will then be about 8 inches from the gg, and that should be close enough for rough focusing. If you put on some drugstore reading glasses of about power 2 diopter, that will get your eye as close as 6 inches, which is equivalent, roughly to a 2 X loupe. If you use the near far focusing method, as I do, that may be good enough most of the time.

Before my cataract surgery, I needed close to 8 diopters correction, and I found I could focus without any loupe, just by taking off my glasses, but these days that doesn't work. So I had my optician make me some 6 diopter reading glasses. With these I place my eye 5 to 6 inches from the gg. I can see well enough to focus, and it has the advantage that the angle of view corresponds closely to that from looking at an 8 x 10 from about 10 to 12 inches. So it makes it easier to evaluate the scene as a whole.

[Sean Galbraith]

Without my glasses on, I can barely tell there is a camera in front of me.

[Marko]

I got a pair of these, the strongest magnification, and they seem to be working well.

I also use one of their bags. They seem to have lot of interesting gear that is quite usable for LF at a fraction of a price one would pay for strictly photographic equipment.

[tgtaylor]

I've been puttinbg it of for years but an adjustiable diopter loup is what I need. With my current loup, a Toyo which I purchased with my first LF camera - a Toyo of course - the image on the GG is too blury without my distance gasses on. On the other hand, the image on the GG is too 'strong' with my distance glasses on. So I'm always taking my glasses off - usually holding them by the frames in my teeth - to focus, and putting my glasses on to use the loup.

I really wish I had 20/20 vision without having to wear glasses.

[Jim Graves]

I'll second Marko's Cabela's clip-on suggestion. The 4x works great for me also. Link to clip-ons

Since I don't have astigmatism ... just old eyes that require trifocals ... I bought some $10 drugstore 2x reading glasses and attached the 4x Cabela clip-ons. That way I don't have to worry about damaging my expensive full-time glasses by adding and removing the clip-ons. I carry the combination in my camera kit. I flip them down to focus and up (for the 2x) when I'm not under the cloth. Works great ... looks a little funny but keeps me from continually pulling the dark cloth off the camera as I inch farther back while trying to focus. I still carry a loupe but find I use it less and less.

[ljsegil]

Third vote for the Cablea's 4x magnifiers. Without them, I can barely tell where the ground glass is looking through my regular glasses, and my neck can't take tilting my head back far enough to use the reading portion of the lenses. They're a nice compromise, and I too now sometimes shoot without loupe focus confirmation also.
Larry

[Ben Syverson]

I use a $5 10X loupe along with my glasses... it works great