loupe for film evaluation

[Bruce Watson]

I need a new loupe for evalutation my film on a light table. I'm doing 5x4 work, so need something in the 10x or 12x range. I'd like it to be focusable so I can use it with my glasses on. I'd like it to be fairly well corrected so I don't get a lot of color fringing and distortion - my primary use of the loupe is to check for sharpness around the film.

Anyone have a loupe to recommend? Pros and cons of various loupes also welcome.

[Eric Leppanen]

I've been extremely happy with my Schneider 10x loupe, and would heartily recommend it. I believe it fulfills all of your stated requirements. I think I bought mine at Badger.

http://www.schneiderkreuznach.com/foto_e/zubehoer_lupen.htm

[Andre Noble]

I can highly recommend the focusable, 8 element, multicoated Mamiya 4x-12x zoom loupe, but it has it's drawbacks such as price ($220 at B&H) and a relatively narrow viewing angle. I also sampled other Mamiya loupes before getting getting it- Conclusion: the Mamiya loupes are all top quality optics for critical evauation of film. They unsurpassed in performance and are a good value in my opinion.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=216436&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

PS, it looks nicer with supplied metal skirt than than pictured here with glass skirt

The Jobo 8x's and Kenko loupes glass were are also very nice.

For 4x5, you may also consider the Rodenstock 3x, 6x6 Aspheric loupe sold under the Calumet name. I adjusts for eyesight correction from -2 to .5 diopters. It produces a top quality, large image area, reversible skirt, and is on sale now at Calumet for $109 (From $160). This is the loupe I use to evaluate 4x5 sheet film.

See them here at http://www.calumetphoto.com/ctl?ac.ui.pn=search.Search&itemno=cc1005

The identical Rodenstock Loupe at B&H sells for $250 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=125877&is=REG&addedTroughType=search

I looked at Schneider loupes but decided against them due to the competition.

[Eric Leppanen]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7625045923&fromMakeTrack=true

[Matus Kalisky]

I have the Jobo 8x which is done to cover full 35mm frame. It is OK for film evaluation, but I started to use it also for focusing on the groundglass and here I quickly realised that it is not evenly sharp over the whole region so I have hard time to check the corners. I will probably get the toyo. There should be Jobo 22x which is also ment for the film evaluation.

MAtus..

[Capocheny]

Bruce,

Take a peek at the Leitz Macromax loupe... the down-side is that they're pretty pricey!

Cheers

[Dominique Labrosse]

If you have a 50mm lens in your 35mm kit – use that. If you don't have one, old Nikon 50mm lenses are pretty cheap. They are fully corrected and are also focussable. Sharper than any loupe you would find anywhere and great for use on a light table. Just open them up to maximum aperature.

[Michael Gudzinowicz]

There are a number of commercial options, but I'd rather elaborate on Dominique's suggestion. Manufacturers assume that close vision is optimal at about 10" or 250mm. The power of the loupe is its focal length divided into 250mm. For instance, a 50mm "reversed" lens (back of camera lens facing film) would be equivalent to a 5X loupe for most people; a 25 mm lens, 10X.

Using a drilled out rear lens cap, a tube and epoxy, it's simple to make a very high quality focusable loupe from inexpensive manual lenses for the 35mm format. Alternatively, one can use 10mm and 25mm high speed 16mm movie camera lenses which have a narrow view angle, and are exceeding sharp when reversed. The latter make excellent loupes for focusing on the camera's GG. After focusing the lens on the GG, the aperture of f/0.85 to f/1.2 provides a very narrow depth of field that reduces focusing errors.

Mike

[Andrew O'Neill]

I with Mike. Why spend so much $$ on a loupe when you probably already have several kicking about. I just use an old 50mm lens from my old 35mm camera. I also use a magnifying glass that I picked up for a Loonie (a dollar coin for you none Canucks out there) at a dollar store. Works fine and I even use it while spotting prints and negs.

[phaedrus]

I use a 20 diopter aspheric loupe that is orginally meant for indirect ophthalmoscopy, i.e. examination of the eye's retina. Being an ophthalmologist, I had several lying around. Volk makes the best ones, but also Haag-Streit, Nikon and Zeiss. Diameter is about 1.5 inches, magnification is dependent on distance from ground glass (as always). I don't see any chromatic aberration or curvature of field in mine, that last thing is strange as the retina IS curved.