wThe Cabin one that Mac Group gave as an incentive?Originally Posted by tgtaylor
wThe Cabin one that Mac Group gave as an incentive?
No. I believe that I bought it used from B&H when I purchased a new Cabin 67Z projector from them. The incentive, $100 off the list price, at the time was on the projector - "Mamiya Day" or something like that.
I just pulled the trigger on a new 10x Peak Scale loupe for $61- a $28 savings from the B&H price. I think this will be a good match with the focuser and will make it easier to evaluate the negatives before putting them in the enlarger.
Thomas
I use just this one, excellent... 10x Peak Scale has a very solid construction and it's a joy to use it.
The clear walls are no problem on a light table, and if the table is inside the darkroom then no problem can be there... The clear walls allow to inspect prints, but of course a good lateral illumination have to be provided. If one is inspecting prints a lot of time then a loupe with illumination is better
My favorite is the Pentax Lupe 5.5x with an opaque skirt. It's big, bright, and high quality. I prefer it to my Rodenstock, Zeiss, Peak, and Horseman loupes.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
Schneider 6x Aspheric and the once free (given away with quantity purchase of Fujichrome film during the 90's) Fujifilm 4x loupe and one Rolyn optics Achromat, 23mm dia. 61mm FL, coated can be used as a magnifier-Loupe.
Top view:
The Fujifilm 4x loupe has a sliding skirt for diffused or opaque viewing. This is not a bad "free" promo loupe. The housing is aluminum and focusable with reasonable color rendition, low distortion and good overall image quality and a nice lens cap. Very good loupe by today's market offerings.
The Schneider 6x Aspheric loupe has an interchangeable diffusor or opaque skirt. It's optical performance is in a completely different level compared to the Fujifilm and similar achromat based loupes. Currently one on eBay at about $50 with about five days to go is the last version made by Schneider. The gray texture paint ones were the original versions. Had this once since new and has been used a lot. Selling $ of the Schneider Aspheric 6x loupe will be telling of how much the market values these loupes.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Schneider-6...53.m1438.l2649
The opaque loupe skirt is not about increasing transmitted light when viewing film on a light table only, it has more to do with accurate transmission of color correct light source from the light table into the film (color) then projecting the image into your eye. Good loupes are used for judging color as well as overall image quality. The diffusor skirt is used for viewing prints for overall image quality.
Bernice
My favorite "loupe" for viewing 4x5 (not quite 5x7) negatives was a front lens cell I'd salvaged years ago from an otherwise wrecked Vivitar Series 1 70-210 lens. Good magnification, enough coverage to see the entire (4x5, but not quite 5x7) negative at once, and sharp edge to edge.
A 35mm format lens is also fantastic, a 50mm is a x5, and a 24 mm is a x10, multicoated!
Also enlarger lenses are great.
Up to this year have mainly used 3 loupes. Pentax in the back. Wish I could find an opaque collar for it. Two loupes in the front were acquired from W. Eugene Smith's son. I know his father used them to photograph an essay on Philadelphia with an 8x10 Sinar Norma that LIFE magazine gave him. The Pentax I found easier to use, but love the feelings of nostalgia of using Smith's loupes. At 71 can still have 20/20 vision and can focus easily at reading distances but suffer from astigmatism. After talking with my eye Doctor, he recommended a pair of glasses that focus at a distance of about 6 inches. Only other similar pair that he prescribed was for a jewelsmith. Special glass used to keep the glasses on the light side. Now I use the glasses 95% of the time and the loupes only to fine focus when need be.
Concur.
Have gone through dozens of loupes. Most of the garden variety inexpensive ones made nowadays are terrible. So much spherical abs. I just trash em. Back in the 70's you could get a useable loupe for a few dollars. If you need a loupe spend some $$ and get a decent one.
Jeeeesus...they should be in a museum. Or at least take some good photos and description and put hi res copies on the Internet Archive.
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