Loupes

[Leigh]

Hi Dan,

You're right. I stand corrected.

I don't use a dark cloth, so that didn't occur to me.

I have a Maxwell screen that's bright enough I don't need a cloth, even outdoors.

- Leigh

[John Kasaian]

If Sophia Loren were a loupe, she'd be this loupe---
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...G&A=details&Q=

[Andy Eads]

This might sound whacky but I've been using the DW-2 6x magnifier from a Nikon. It weighs a ton but has huge coverage with no fringing or other artifacts clean to the edges. I picked mine up on the famous auction site for about $50. Cheapskate that I am, I also used a 2" projection lens from a super 8 projector. That worked nicely too.

[Drew Wiley]

I wonder if anyone has tried either of those long thin Chinese loupes adv on Fleabay?

[Kodachrome25]

and here is the other one,both look like they have good glass
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...10x_Loupe.html

That's the one I use, I wrapped it around a lanyard with black gaffer's tape which blacks out the clear skirt. Only once and awhile do I want for less mag but love the 10X for doing things like fudging the focus out for IR film and checking the corners. It's cheap and tiny, it works for me and the folding hood on my Chamonix 45N2 gets me in the ballpark for composing the shot.

I bought one of those Toyo loupes not long ago, found to be too big and did not offer much over my tiny 10X Peak so I returned it for a refund....

[Alan Gales]

If Sophia Loren were a loupe, she'd be this loupe---
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...G&A=details&Q=

John, the Silvestri is tilting. Sofia Loren is titillating.

[gevalia]

10x is too strong for me. I have one of the Rodenstock 4x aspheric loupes and like it for critical focusing, although for most situations, a good pair of drug store reading glasses, as Fred Picker suggested many years ago, gives me much more freedom under the dark cloth. YMMV.

+1

[Bob Salomon]

+1

So everyone is aware. The Rodenstock Aspheric 4x, 6x and 3x loupes are out of production and our stocks of them are totally gone. Some dealers may still have some.

[Leonard Evens]

10x, even 8x is too strong for most users.
I use a large 6x peak which is a cheap loupe but serves it's purpose.

I agree. If the loupe magnifies too strongly, you will end up focusing on surface features of your ground glass instead of on your image.

I use the near point-far point method, and my images are always in focus. Also, I can estimate pretty well how much I have to stop down.

I use a special pair of glasses my optometrist made for me which lets me get my eyes 6 inches from the gg. That corresponds for a 4 x 5 image to looking at an 8 x 10 image at 12 inches (or a larger image from proportionately further away). I choose a near point and far point which together delineate my desired depth of field, note the positions on the rail for each and set the standard halfway in between. The distance on the rail between those points, called the focus spread, can be used to determine the f-stop. I use the following rule of thumb: multiply the focus spread by 10 and divide the result by 2. I then stop down from half to a full stop beyond that. This rule works reasonably well if the aperture is not so small that diffraction becomes an issue. The LF Photo website suggests other approaches that work well.

You can often check dof by stopping down to the chosen f-stop and looking, but it is hard to see much of anything at f/22 and beyond.

I rarely need to use a loupe, but when I do, I don't use one which magnifies greater than 6-8 X. One thing to keep in mind about the use of a loupe is that any magnification greater than 2 x will reduce the apparent dof of what you see.

[tangyimail]

+1

I agree. If the loupe magnifies too strongly, you will end up focusing on surface features of your ground glass instead of on your image.

I use the near point-far point method, and my images are always in focus. Also, I can estimate pretty well how much I have to stop down.

I use a special pair of glasses my optometrist made for me which lets me get my eyes 6 inches from the gg. That corresponds for a 4 x 5 image to looking at an 8 x 10 image at 12 inches (or a larger image from proportionately further away). I choose a near point and far point which together delineate my desired depth of field, note the positions on the rail for each and set the standard halfway in between. The distance on the rail between those points, called the focus spread, can be used to determine the f-stop. I use the following rule of thumb: multiply the focus spread by 10 and divide the result by 2. I then stop down from half to a full stop beyond that. This rule works reasonably well if the aperture is not so small that diffraction becomes an issue. The LF Photo website suggests other approaches that work well.

You can often check dof by stopping down to the chosen f-stop and looking, but it is hard to see much of anything at f/22 and beyond.

I rarely need to use a loupe, but when I do, I don't use one which magnifies greater than 6-8 X. One thing to keep in mind about the use of a loupe is that any magnification greater than 2 x will reduce the apparent dof of what you see.