Using the Silvestri Tilting Loupe? How to peep into corners?

[l2oBiN]

Could someone explain how exactly do you use the silvestri tilting loupe to maximum effect? How do people "peep" into corners of the gg? Is there any focusing or refocusing with the loupe tilted? How much tilt to apply and how to position the loupe? etc.

[Steve Hamley]

Just try it and see. I found it was just as easy to tilt the Silvestri (or any) loupe without the tilting base it fits into.

Cheers, Steve

[rdenney]

Could someone explain how exactly do you use the silvestri tilting loupe to maximum effect? How do people "peep" into corners of the gg? Is there any focusing or refocusing with the loupe tilted? How much tilt to apply and how to position the loupe? etc.

The base tilts around the nodal point, so changing the tilt does not change the focus in the center of view.

I focus the loupe on the grain of the ground glass, and it stays focused on that well enough.

With really short lenses, the loupe has to be tilted into the lens to see the image at all. The Maxwell screen helps because it has a fine enough Fresnel to focus through. But no regular Fresnel is designed to work reasonably with 65mm and shorter lenses, and you really have to point the loupe right at the rear aperture of the lens to be able to see the image at all.

Rick "who never needed one when a 90 was his shortest lens" Denney

[l2oBiN]

But how do you get to see right into the corners? The tilt is always to wards the pointy end of the base.. which means that if you tilt towards the back of the lens aperture you are actually tilting away from the corners! :/

[rdenney]

But how do you get to see right into the corners? The tilt is always to wards the pointy end of the base.. which means that if you tilt towards the back of the lens aperture you are actually tilting away from the corners! :/

I took off the base for that reason. But you are right, you can't see absolutely to the corner. The shape of ground-glass frames is no help, either. The ground glass is set deep into the frame, and tilting anything pushes up against the frame. But with really short lenses, there's no way around that. The Silvestri is narrow and that helps. The Maxwell screen minimizes the required tilt and that helps.

For the smaller roll-film formats (6x9 and smaller), it's no problem--the corners of the format are not up against the ground-glass frame. For 6x12 its more of an issue, but still less of a problem than with 4x5.

The alternative is to use a loupe without a base skirt, and hold it outside the frame. Even then, the GG frame will occlude the corner of the image. At least with the tilting loupe, what I can see I can see well.

Rick "short lenses do impose challenges" Denney

[l2oBiN]

I took off the base for that reason. But you are right, you can't see absolutely to the corner. The shape of ground-glass frames is no help, either. The ground glass is set deep into the frame, and tilting anything pushes up against the frame. But with really short lenses, there's no way around that. The Silvestri is narrow and that helps. The Maxwell screen minimizes the required tilt and that helps.

For the smaller roll-film formats (6x9 and smaller), it's no problem--the corners of the format are not up against the ground-glass frame. For 6x12 its more of an issue, but still less of a problem than with 4x5.

The alternative is to use a loupe without a base skirt, and hold it outside the frame. Even then, the GG frame will occlude the corner of the image. At least with the tilting loupe, what I can see I can see well.

Rick "short lenses do impose challenges" Denney


Finally someone who is seeing the same problem! I thought I was going crazy not being able to use the loupe efficiently!

[John Kasaian]

Ha-ha! Loupe the corners? Ha-ha-ha! I've got clipped corners! Chortle chortle! Snort snort! Ho-ho-ho!

[Frank Petronio]

It's one of those items for the photographer who has everything....

[rdenney]

Ha-ha! Loupe the corners? Ha-ha-ha! I've got clipped corners! Chortle chortle! Snort snort! Ho-ho-ho!

So do I. Of course, they are irrelevant when using a roll-film holder.

But they are also irrelevant when using a 47mm lens. By the time I can see the aperture through the notches, the openings are occluded by the ground-glass frame. Those are useful for lenses down to about 90 in my collection. But at 65, it's hard to see anything useful through the clipped corner.

Rick "glad you are having fun!" Denney