Best place to get a good loupe [Archive] - Large Format Photography Forum

tgtaylor

27-Mar-2011, 20:37

I've been eyeing this loupe for several years now - ever since it was priced at $99 - but so far have stuck with the $39 Toyo loupe that I purchased with my first LF camera - a new Toyo 45CF. You may possibly find this at a bay area supplier such as K&S in Palo Alto, Looking Glass in Berkeley or Adolph Gasser in San Francisco.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/44934-REG/Rodenstock_260010_4x_Loupe.html

Leigh

27-Mar-2011, 21:58

Daniel Stone

27-Mar-2011, 23:50

for camera, or darkroom use?

I have a schneider loupe that I use, but I've personally been considering buying a $25 PEAK linen tester. It takes up much less room in the bag.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/40617-REG/Peak_1301006SA3_6x_Linen_Tester.html

-Dan

Richard Mahoney

28-Mar-2011, 01:28

Dear Lenny,

I saw a nicer loupe than mine the other day and thought it might be nice to upgrade. (Being a good tool junkie.)

Can someone tell me where the best place to et a great loupe is? ...

Barring that, maybe some great view camera store?

Ideas?

To my mind this is about as good as it gets, with the ground glass or with a transparency in front of a lamp ;)

http://camera-antipodea.indica-et-buddhica.com/about/equipment/6-times-linen-tester.jpg

I bought one from this crowd for next to nothing:

Linen Tester TT61 :: Conservation Supplies
http://www.conservationsupplies.co.nz/lines/487.html

The fellow who sometimes makes drum scans for me seems to have one permanently in his pocket, though I think the bottom part of the stand has (been?) broken off.

Kind regards,

Richard

Bob Salomon

28-Mar-2011, 01:57

Bear Images, Keeble % Schuchat, Cameras West

Preston

28-Mar-2011, 07:36

A nice Rodenstock 6x Aspheric lists for about $500...
- Leigh

Boy, now that would throw your pocket book for a loupe, wouldn't it!

--P

Bob Salomon

28-Mar-2011, 08:03

A great loupe? Depends on your budget.

A nice Rodenstock 6x Aspheric lists for about $500, although you can find it cheaper http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/162505-REG/Rodenstock_260300_6x_Aspheric_Loupe.html

- Leigh

The 4x Rodenstock Aspheric full frame 35mm loupe, with sliding skirt, lists for $213.99 and a Wista 5X Focusing loupe with clear and opaque skirts lists for $65.00 and the 7x Telescoping one lists for $140.99 so there are ones for all budgets. The Gepe 8x Agfa type is less then $15.00.

Lenny Eiger

28-Mar-2011, 09:41

for camera, or darkroom use?
I have a schneider loupe that I use, but I've personally been considering buying a $25 PEAK linen tester. It takes up much less room in the bag.
-Dan

That would be for the ground glass....

I have a Mamiya for the light table, a big 6x7 one I got in a rebate once... It's amazing in contrast to the plastic junk I used to use. Nothing like glass....

Lenny

Mark Tweed

29-Mar-2011, 22:01

Lenny,

I have the Rodenstock 4X loupe, the one listed for $150 at B&H, and have been extremely pleased with it. With nicely coated glass elements, it's lightweight, sharp, focusable and compact. So that I could snug it up into the corners of the ground glass even tighter, I removed the sliding outer black shade (it moves up and down allowing or blocking light as desired) and simply added carefully positioned black craft tape to the inside of the frosted sleeve to achieve the same effect.

Fortune smiled on me as I found one on Craigslist for a song.

wishing you a similar find,

Mark

neil poulsen

29-Mar-2011, 22:07

If you keep your eye peeled long enough, EBay's a good place to find lupes.

I think that I have a 4x, aspheric Rodenstock lupe, and it's excellent. It's just like the one above with the red string, except that it's marked Calumet. For a long time, I used a cheap lupe for a long time. What a difference when I finally got a good one. It's worth every penny.

tom thomas

30-Mar-2011, 00:36

Like Richard, I find the linen tester a good loupe to use. The metal base is very smooth, corners gently rounded so it slides easily on the ground glass. I can easily see in the corners to check coverage. Round loupes don't get that close in the corners.

Cheap too.

I also use the loupe with light table to check negs afterwards.

Tom

Brian K

30-Mar-2011, 05:07

I have the 4x rodenstock, the 4x schneider, the 10x schneider, the big 4x Peak, the Mamiya, the Horseman 6x, the Toyo 4x, and the Mamiya zoom loupes. I also had 2 high mag finders from Nikon F3's turned into loupes and those are the best of the bunch. And for super critical work I use a stereo microscope.

So I can speak from some experience about loupes. But the question is, what do you want the loupe for? Viewing film on a box? Focusing on a GG? 35mm or MF viewing?

I find for GG work the Toyo loupe which is the simplest, is the best. If you need a little more magnification and your GG has a very fine texture, then maybe the 6x Horseman. They are thin and allow you to get the loupe closer to the edges of the GG.

For viewing an MF neg, the Big Peak 4x enables you to see the whole neg.
The other loupes, like the Rodenstock and schneider while exceptional optics try to be more of a general use loupe. They don't do one thing specifically great, but they do all things well. The sliding collar on the Rodie makes it fat at the base and that gives it positioning issues when viewing the edges of a GG.

The mamiya zoom has the advantage of variable magnification but is lower contrast, much heavier and bulkier than the others. The nikon high mags are excellent optics and are great for critical viewing a small portion of film. But when I want to be really critical it's the stereo micro.

As for purchase locations in SF, Adolph Gasser is a fairly professional store.

Lenny Eiger

30-Mar-2011, 09:02

I have the 4x rodenstock, the 4x schneider, the 10x schneider, the big 4x Peak, the Mamiya, the Horseman 6x, the Toyo 4x, and the Mamiya zoom loupes. I also had 2 high mag finders from Nikon F3's turned into loupes and those are the best of the bunch. And for super critical work I use a stereo microscope.
As for purchase locations in SF, Adolph Gasser is a fairly professional store.

Brian, that's a whole bunch o' loupes....

I found the difficult part to be that the stores often have one loupe to try, and it isn't possible to compare. I understand the reason, they can't be selling to many of these but its frustrating nonetheless.

This loupe is for the ground glass. I currently use a Horseman. I like the magnification, I could even do more. It's very heavy, for what it does, and when I was out with the local group the other day someone showed me a Mamiya 6x, which was a much larger diameter than the Horseman. It brought it a lot more light, as a result, which was really nice. It was also nice and sharp...

A local store says they carry Silvestri, which tilts, apparently. Wondering if anyone that has one of these could comment...

Gasser's doesn't list any loupes on their site, I guess I'll have to call them...

Thanks everyone for their responses.

Lenny
EigerStudios

Randy

30-Mar-2011, 15:04

I tend to do things on the cheap...out of necessity, not desire.
I made this lupe out of 1 5/8 inside diameter PVC and a coated anastigmat lens (probably from a copier) that has a 5" focal length. I painted the PVC black and glued the lens into it. I use it on my 8X10 and it works like a charm...but I don't have anything to compare it to.

John Kasaian

30-Mar-2011, 18:14

I saw a nicer loupe than mine the other day and thought it might be nice to upgrade. (Being a good tool junkie.)

Can someone tell me where the best place to et a great loupe is? It would be nice if there was a store in the Bay Area that had Rodenstock, Schneider and Mamiya loupes that I could see.

Barring that, maybe some great view camera store?

Ideas?

Lenny
EigerStudios
Adolph Gasser should have loupes to look at. There is a Calumet in SF as well. My "up grade" loupe is an italian 6x tilting job.

Peter De Smidt

30-Mar-2011, 18:24

I have a number of loupes. My favorite for ground glass viewing is the Peak 6x6cm 4x square one. IMO that's plenty of magnification, although you can get away with more if you have a fine-grained ground glass and don't use a Fresnel. I haven't tried any of the tilting ones.

Capocheny

30-Mar-2011, 21:25

Hi Lenny,

If you have a friend with a Hasselblad system... ask if he/she has the stove pipe magnifying hood that you might borrow.

Although bigger in size than the other loupes it is a 6x's magnifier and a major advantage is that it has an adjustable eye piece for focusing.

Lastly, they can be had for a song on EBay these days.

It's my loupe of choice for 8x10. For 5x7 or 4x5... I prefer either the Toyo 4x or the 6x's Horseman loupe.

Best of luck in finding "your" loupe of voice.

Cheers

Bob Salomon

31-Mar-2011, 06:10

Ari

3-Apr-2011, 09:34

I've been quite happy with a Peak 5x loupe, and I'd buy more of them from B&H; they're about $10, and work very well on a GG.
On the other hand, a Fujinon 4x loupe that I recently purchased does a great job with both GG and slide viewing.

evan clarke

3-Apr-2011, 10:15

Lenny Eiger

3-Apr-2011, 12:41

I have about all the loupes listed above. The Silvestri 6x is by far my favorite. It comes with a doohickey which is supposed to let you angle it but I removed this on both of mine and affixed the normal barrel. It's very compact and especially well made..Evan Clarke

Evan, thanks for that. I am going to take a look. A store near me sells them....

Since you own them all - which one has the most light coming in ? Does your favorite hold up on that score?

Lenny

Hans Berkhout

3-Apr-2011, 16:44

Leitz OTVXO, the upright 5x magnifier, part of the Visoflex II or III system. Adjustable eyepiece. Well built, fine glass.
Good luck Lenny.
Hans

John Kasaian

3-Apr-2011, 21:17

My 6x Silvestri has held up very well. So has my 9x plastic Agfa. It is kind of hard to wear out a loupe. You can kill them by driving off with one one the roof of your car, or dropping it into a geyser pool, but that is why the expensive ones come with lanyards (I'll bet you were thinking those lanyards were to make on lookers mistake you for Otto Preminger!:D)

Ben Syverson

3-Apr-2011, 21:59

I've been loving my 8X Gaoersi loupe... The rubber on the end to avoid marring the GG is a nice touch, and the view is much wider and clearer than my plastic loupes.

Richard Mahoney

4-Apr-2011, 02:34

Dear Lenny &c.,

All this talk of loupes and linen testers and which one(s) each of us prefers is making me curious. Without wanting to appear overly facetious I'm wondering how much use we *really* make of them when we're in the field. You know, when, for one reason or another, we have to rapidly set up, take a photograph, take down, and move on. If I'm going to be honest, my linen tester rarely leaves my pocket or satchel. I'm far more inclined just to use the depth of field knob -- occasionally having a cursory look over the glass once I'm stopped down, but on the whole, just trusting it. (Its just so fast and convenient.) Am I alone in this?

Kind regards,

Richard

http://camera-antipodea.indica-et-buddhica.com/about/equipment/cambo-legend-depth-of-field-calculator.jpg

bsimison

4-Apr-2011, 07:46

I've acquired a few good "loupes" by disassembling old, cheap 35mm zoom lenses from the likes of Vivitar, Sears, and Kiron. At best, they were mediocre performers in their previous life, but quick dissection reveals component optics that are just as good as store-bought loupes.

Ben Syverson

4-Apr-2011, 08:25

Without wanting to appear overly facetious I'm wondering how much use we *really* make of them when we're in the field.
My cameras have no markings and no detents, so yes, a loupe is an absolute necessity.

Drew Wiley

4-Apr-2011, 09:06

I use a loupe every shot, period, and use it carefully, even with the 8x10. Can't imagine how anything could be seriously enlarged without checking first. I prefer something around 7X.

Preston

4-Apr-2011, 10:00

I use a loupe on every shot, without fail. Given the cost of film and processing these days, I cannot afford not to.

--P

evan clarke

4-Apr-2011, 11:34

Evan, thanks for that. I am going to take a look. A store near me sells them....

Since you own them all - which one has the most light coming in ? Does your favorite hold up on that score?

Lenny

It's as good light wise as any I own but it's also built like a tank and it's tiny..Evan

Richard Mahoney

5-Apr-2011, 01:30

Hello Drew,

I use a loupe every shot, period, and use it carefully, even with the 8x10. Can't imagine how anything could be seriously enlarged without checking first. I prefer something around 7X.

Although the question of whether or not one always needs `to loupe' is tangential to Lenny's initial query -- so please pass over this note at will -- I *am* interested in peoples' views on this. I certainly wouldn't dispute the appropriate use of focus and the use of a loupe -- in my case a 6x -- to achieve it. What I have found in my own case, though, is that it is far more satisfactory for me to use my depth-of-field calculator to achieve what I think is the optimal focus. I do this with the aperture opened right up, setting the farthest point of sharp focus, followed by the nearest point. The depth-of-field scale indicates the aperture I will need to achieve what I want, and only then, taking its word, do I stop down. Initially, when I didn't trust my beast I used to double-check the darkened glass with my linen tester, but now, after so often finding this superfluous and just a waste of time, I rarely bother. I'm sure my tester feels quite contemptuous of me, but at least it still gets used once the film is developed. Anyway, although I'm generally loath to fall in line with advertising claims, I'm going to have to agree with Messrs. Cambo on this:

It's quick, easy, and -most important- accurate.

Kind regards,

Richard

P.S. This is pretty representative of what happens in the field. I'm assuming -- as it was primarily a studio camera -- that the depth-of-field calculator could also be used to good effect in close up product photography.

How to Impart Image Quality? [page down]
http://camera-antipodea.indica-et-buddhica.com/news/low-resolution-images

Capocheny

6-Apr-2011, 10:04

Hi Bob,

That's what one of the local Blad dealers told me... :)

Regardless of whether it's a 3x's or 6x's... it seems to work well for me.

[If it is indeed a 3x's... thank you for the correction.]

Cheers,

rdenney

6-Apr-2011, 14:41

It's as good light wise as any I own but it's also built like a tank and it's tiny..Evan

I use one as well and I agree with Evan's description. I removed the tilting base on mine. The base has an angle cut on one side to allow the tilt, and I just tilt it as necessary. The base was a bit too big and interfered with the corners of the ground glass frame. The other side is at right angles to the axis of the lens so it's also easy to hold it straight onto the glass when necessary. I have had no complaints in terms of brightness. What it gives up is coverage--it's for focusing, not for seeing a big chunk of image. The tilting feature is essential for me--I frequently enough use the Sinar with a 47mm lens and a roll-film holder.

I've been using my Pentax 6x7 chimney finder on the light table. It works very well, requiring only a bit of caution about resting it on the film. I think I'll make a felt base for it when I'm using it for that application. I think it's about 3.5x or so. Bright, with good eye relief and no distortion. I like it on the camera, too.

I can't compare these with high-end loupes because I've never handled them. But these seem to get the job done.

Rick "who doesn't want to ever see what a $500 loupe provides" Denney

Roger Cole

6-Apr-2011, 14:47

Hello Drew,

Although the question of whether or not one always needs `to loupe' is tangential to Lenny's initial query -- so please pass over this note at will -- I *am* interested in peoples' views on this. I certainly wouldn't dispute the appropriate use of focus and the use of a loupe -- in my case a 6x -- to achieve it. What I have found in my own case, though, is that it is far more satisfactory for me to use my depth-of-field calculator to achieve what I think is the optimal focus. I do this with the aperture opened right up, setting the farthest point of sharp focus, followed by the nearest point. The depth-of-field scale indicates the aperture I will need to achieve what I want, and only then, taking its word, do I stop down. Initially, when I didn't trust my beast I used to double-check the darkened glass with my linen tester, but now, after so often finding this superfluous and just a waste of time, I rarely bother. I'm sure my tester feels quite contemptuous of me, but at least it still gets used once the film is developed. Anyway, although I'm generally loath to fall in line with advertising claims, I'm going to have to agree with Messrs. Cambo on this:

Kind regards,

Richard

None of this will work if the camera doesn't have a distance scale for focusing, which my de-rangefindered Technika certainly doesn't.

I do find a loupe absolutely essential. What I don't find essential is a good loupe. I'm not viewing and enjoying the final image through it. A cheap one will show me best focus as well as a good one, or so it seems to me as I've never really used a good one. Same for dropping it on a transparency or negative on the light box. If there's a little chromatic aberration or whatever, no matter. I can see what I need to see.

One that could get into the corners easier would be valuable and I may try one of those. But otherwise my 8x and about eight bucks old Agfa loupe seems fine to me. Maybe I'm missing something here and maybe I should avoid ever trying a good one! :eek:

rdenney

6-Apr-2011, 14:51

...Initially, when I didn't trust my beast I used to double-check the darkened glass with my linen tester, but now, after so often finding this superfluous and just a waste of time, I rarely bother.

The problem with depth-of-field markings on a lens (and my Sinar has them, too) is that I don't know what standard they are using. Are they basing it on the Zeiss formulat (c of c = picture height / ~1500) the way it is normally done in small format? That may be abundant or it may not be enough, depending on the desired print size.

But if it's sharp enough with a 6x loupe on 4x5, it's sharp enough for any print I'm likely to make.

Any secondary measure may be accurate, unless I mess up something on which it relies, but a loupe on the ground glass tells no lies. And mostly I'm checking tilts and swings, and the depth of field scale doesn't tell me if I've nailed the focus plane. Getting the focus plane nailed really helps make the depth of field work for me instead of covering up my lapses. And often enough I just can't keep my subject still for a half-minute exposure, and just need to open the lens up a bit.

Rick "who finds the focus scale on a view camera more fiddly than any loupe" Denney