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View Full Version : Focusing lupes: Silvestri Tilting Lupe 6x and others



Masayoshi Hayashi
16-Mar-2000, 20:02
I'm in search for a focusing lupe ( > 5x ) with rubber base. The Toyo focusing l upe seems very popular for good price and performance ratio but I need a bit hig her magnification. I've searched for threads in both photo.net and here in LF ho mepage but not happy. Does anyone have experience with a Silvestri tilting lupe (http://www.sil vestricamera.com/tilting.htm)? (well, I don't know if this lupe has a rubber base though) Any experience and comparison with other ru bber based lupes with neck strap like Schneider 6x, 8x, and 10x? Thanks everyone !

Related threads: <ul> <li>Top-qu ality higher-power loupe (http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000Jbx) <li>Focusing Lupe? (http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000GrW ) <li>Ground Glass focusing Loupes (http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000PQC ) <li>eak 10x Suction Cup Loupe - JOKE? (http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000WnI ) <li>Does anyone use an 8X focussing loupe? (http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0008FA ) </ul>

Robert A. Zeichner
16-Mar-2000, 22:39
I've been using the Schneider 6x for a few years now and am very pleased with it. The base is actually plastic, but works just fine. Be very careful using this around sand or dust. I had to disassemble mine and clean and relube to get it to focus again after getting caught in some blowing sand out amongst the dunes.

Bill Glickman
18-Mar-2000, 16:30
Hi Masayoshi....Toyo 4x loupe with rubber bases is more than sufficent magnification... it's only downside is, it has no adj. for human eye correction. My experience has been that greater than 4x offers no better focus since the gg is limited in its ability to focus at 10x anyway. I do own a 10x sucking loupe, but after using the Toyo 4x and applying it, there is never any change required in the focus position. Its overkill. I have an Silvestri loupe on order, they take a while to get... I bought it soley for the purpose of viewing very wide angle lenses, like my new Rodenstock 55mm Grandagon on 4x5. The center is easy to see, but the edges are very difficult to see due to the extreme angle of light rays hitting the gg. The purpose of the tilting loupe is to align those light rays with your eyes while still maintaing the loupes ability to hold the its plane of sharp focus on the frosty side of the gg. Many people, including myself at one time, can get too carried away with focus. There is one thing that must be remembered, a lens can only focus on one point, thats it, from their you should no what else will be in focus from your DOF charts. DOF must take care of the rest! This changes of course with tilt whereas you can look to be sure the plane of sharp focus is following the entire line you desire. However, this is best accomplished eyeballing the gg from a distance under a dark cloth. Then simply use the loupe to focus on the near point of the plane of sharp focus, because the far point will easily fall in place with the DOF opening up like a cone, or funnel type patterna all the way to infinity. Hope this helps...

paul owen
19-Mar-2000, 14:14
Hi, I've been using the Silvestri loupe for some time now and it really is good. It doesn't have a rubber base but comes with interchangeable bases, one of which tilts while the other is a standard opaque metal one. The build quality is very high. The tilting mechanism is simple but does work, I use it with a Schneider 47mm and it is a great benefit being able to focus and check the extreme corners of the GG. My advice....buy one!! Regards Paul

Masayoshi Hayashi
19-Mar-2000, 23:04
Thanks all of your comments. I think I understand the focusing on GG is limited by the Circle of Confusion (CoC) you see on GG, assuming we can resolve the CoC by the power of a lupe as necessary. CoC increases even on the plane(curvelinear plane) of focus from the center of lens axis to the edge of the GG plane. So I guess Toyo did a right job for making that lupe since as Bill couldn't tell the difference of plane of focus between 3.6x (Toyo) and 10x (Peak).I have been using a different Peak 10x lupe (~$50, no rubber base) since this is the only lupe I have. Maybe I should try the Toyo and Silvestri then. Bill, I'll wait for your follow-up of your Silvestri Tilting Lupe with APO-Grandagon 55mm.

Masayoshi Hayashi
30-Mar-2000, 17:17
I got a Sivestri Lupe a few days ago. At first, I was disappointed with the stiff tilting movement. But once I remove one spring o-ring from each side (there are two of them stacked together on each side), the lupe tilts smoothly and now I'm happy so I can use the lupe with only one hand to tilt and use the other hand to focus. I recommend this simple modification for Silvestri lupe users.

james mickelson
31-Mar-2000, 02:56
sHEESH! yOU GUYS SPEND A LOT OF MONEY FOR LOUPES. bUY AN OLD 80MM ENLARGING LENS($12) AND LEARN TO FOCUS ALL THE WAY TO THE CORNERS PROPERLY. bETTER THAN ANY tOYOS OR sILVESTRIES AROUND. jAMES