[pure-silver] Re: focusing loupe

  • From: Peter De Smidt <pdesmidt@xxxxxxx>
  • To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:23:05 -0700

Shannon Stoney wrote:
I lost my focusing loupe some time ago and I've been making do with a cheap loupe that I think is really for looking at negatives with. So I was looking at loupes on the internet. I was surprised at how expensive some of them are. What is the difference between a "ground glass focusing loupe" for, say, $95 (or more) and a little plastic loupe that you can buy at your local camera store for say $15? is there any reason to have a sure nuff focusing loupe?

--shannon
Yes, there's a difference. The cheap camera store loupes are terrible. The expensive apo loupes are mainly for looking at positives and negatives on a light table. Ideally, a viewing loupe is long enough to keep your breath away from the ground glass, as getting too close can fog the screen. Toyo used to make a reasonably price 4x loupe. It's non-focusable. Peak makes a very nice square 4x loupe, which can be focused. I like the latter as well as the more expensive apo's from Rodenstock and Schneider. How much magnification you will need depends on how fine the grain of your ground glass is, and whether you use a fresnel lens on the ground glass. The size of the grooves on the fresnel will also make a difference. With a very fine screen, I prefer a 7x or 8x loupe, but that's overkill for most screens. A good alternative is to use reading glasses.

-Peter
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