Which focusing loupe to buy?

[michael Allen]

Can anyone give me feedback on any of the following Loupes I am considering purchasing? Is anyone aware of the physical lengths on any of these optics? I will be using it with a folding style hood, hence the relatively small list. * Horseman 6x * Wista 7x * Toyo 3.6

[Ted Harris]

The Horseman and the Wista are comparable in the quality of their optics and price. The Toyo is way cheaper and you get what you pay for. I have used the Toyo and found it annoying and unsatisfactory many, however, sing its praises. I use the Horseman with a hood and find it a nice solution. You may find it a bit large but i just call it solid. It is long enough that it protroudes a bit beyond the hood. Sorry it is not in front of me so I can't give you exact measurements. If you need 'em shout and I will measure.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I find the Toyo adequate. I also have a Schneider 4x, which is better, but the Toyo works better with a folding hood. I tend to use the Schneider when I'm shooting 8x10" or 11x14", since I'm using a darkcloth with the larger formats, and I use the Toyo and a folding hood with 4x5". If you have a fresnel screen, you'll probably be better off with a loupe of around 4x. More than 6x and the lines from the screen become more of a distraction.

[Jim Rice]

I have the Toyo, and like it. It's 95mm in length. I'm certain that there are nicer loupes out there (it has a touch of chromatic aberration), but for focusing, and even checking out the finished trannie, It does fine. If I was doing lens testing, I'd probably want something more.

[Kevin Crisp]

Michael: I used the Toyo satisfactorily for many years, and the price is right. BUT, it does not have any focusing ability. If your ability to see up close isn't what it used to be, you're out of luck unless you start making spacers to move it off the gg. With a focusing product, you just adjust it to compensate and everything is fine.

[Jim Rice]

Kevin, I have begun to use mine with my geezer glasses.

[John D Gerndt]

I too find the Toyo adequate but by chance dropped an element from an old 40mm camera lens in the back of a film container and THAT rocked! I started plunking elements from several junk lenses in cardboard tubes to see what I could generate and a couple turned out superb! I use that first one in the film container now more that the Toyo, maybe because it is custom made to my eye and maybe because it is so cool (to me) to have something I made myself out of scrap. It saves money for film!

Cheers,

[Kevin Crisp]

The geezer glasses are for the rest of the ground glass, to be sure. I sold the Toyo and got the Silvestri, which has adjustment, and I think it works very well. But I suspect it is too short for somebody using a focusing hood, which is why I didn't mention it before.

[ronald moravec]

What ever you but, make sure it is adjustable for indidual eyesight. Maybe it`s ok now, but eyes age. I don`t know what brand I bought, but it is a nonadjustable black tube and 4x. I have to hold it 2-3 mm from the glass to have things in focus. Some day I`ll fit an o ring spacer. Plus 3 glasses from the drugstore are a big help to see overall under the hood.

[Jean-Louis Llech]

Who has an experience with the Silvestri tilting lupe 6x ?

[Steve J Murray]

I made a nice loupe out of a 35mm lens without dismanteling it. I posted the whole thing on photonet last year:

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=005cZe

The optics are supurb, although this kind of loupe is heavy. It does allow lots of focus for use with "geezer glasses" or without.

[Eric Rose]

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/loupe/

[Jon Wilson]

I use the Schneider loup and find it works very well for LF. However, my loup came with a frosted and black attachments for the loup so that it is at the proper distance from the ground glass. The problem I had was due to the fact the fact the attachment clicks, but does not lock onto my loup. I lost my frosted attachment and have since taped my black attachment to the loup. No problem now, just miss my frosted loup attachment.

[tim atherton]

whenever you go into an agency which still uses lightables.... there are/were nearly always nice expensive Schneider loupes and they invariably were wrapped around with black gaffer tape to stop the base falling off. You would have thought an optical giant such as Schneider would have been able to find an easy fix... apparently not :-)

I think even the newer "starship enterprise" versions fail in the same way?