Suggestions for buying a loupe

[Flotsam]

Has anybody used the Adox loupe that JandC sells? That looks like a nice 4x at a resonable price. They don't mention how many elements though.

[jandc]

Has anybody used the Adox loupe that JandC sells? That looks like a nice 4x at a resonable price. They don't mention how many elements though.

Elements/Groups: 3/1
Viewing Area: 46mm
Aperture: 25mm

[John McCallum]

As already mentioned, it's tempting to go higher mag than 4x - but don't do it for viewing ground glass, you'll definately get interference on the image from the glass surface.

For viewing 35mm slides and negs I would recommend a 6X or 8X mag lupe to view the fine enough details required for print enlargement.
best, John.

[Dave Parker]

John,

I beg to differ a bit on the ground glass magnification, I have been using higher than 4x for over 20 years now and never encountered interference, could you explain a little further please.

Dave Parker
Ground Glass Specialties
Satin Snow(TM) Ground Glass

[John McCallum]

John,

I beg to differ a bit on the ground glass magnification, I have been using higher than 4x for over 20 years now and never encountered interference, could you explain a little further please.

Dave Parker
Ground Glass Specialties
Satin Snow(TM) Ground Glass

I haven't been viewing Ground Glass images for as long Dave, and having now read your previous post, I could have been more diplomatic with my suggestion (pls excuse that). My experience is; of buying a quality 8x loupe (the Rodenstock) with my 4x5 field camera. The GG that it came with did not give a bright enough image for my preference of low light landscape subjects so I changed it for one of those well-marketed Fresnel Lens GG's. The image now seemed at least a stop brighter, however it came with a compromise of significantly increased interference from the glass surface. Sufficient that my lovely Rodstk 8x loupe has been relegated from my camera bag to the light box at home, and replaced by a 4x loupe instead.
I understand that the Satin Snow GG has quite a different surface than that of the Fresnel(?)

[Dave Parker]

Hi John,

I complety understand what your saying about the fresnel, higher magnification with a fresnel can really bring out some things that make focusing very difficult, the concentric lines of the fresnel under high magnification have a very strong tendancy to interfere with actually seeing what your focusing on., before I perfected the process we are currently using, I had actually stopped using my fresnels in favor of seeing the whole image under higher magnification.

I am sorry, I did not mean to sound smug or anything, was just trying to understand what you were saying, I actually enjoy using my 8x Rodenstock now and love using my 10x at times because of the detail I can see.

Thanks for the clarification.

Good shooting

Dave Parker
Ground Glass Specialties
Satin Snow(TM) Ground Glass

[John McCallum]

Dave - you are able to use and 8 & 10X mag on your ground glass?

[Dave Parker]

Hi John,

Feel free to take a look at my testimonials page, these are all real feedback from my customers, it is located at:

http://www.satinsnowglass.com/html/testimonials.html

Also you may want to take a look at the feedback I have received on ebay, as that has been one of the areas we have sold a lot of screens on, our user ID is:

montanaphotoguy

and Yes, I use both an 8x and a 10x on my screens with no problem.

Thanks again.

Dave Parker
Ground Glass Specialties
Satin Snow(TM) Ground Glass

[Flotsam]

I tend to agree with John. the higher the magnification, the more the granularity of the GG competes with the image. My personal preference is to use the lowest magnification that allows critical focusing of the image.

If only somebody would make and market a Ground Glass with a significantly smoother texture. Oh well... No sense in dreaming crazy dreams.

[John McCallum]

.... If only somebody would make and market a Ground Glass with a significantly smoother texture. Oh well... No sense in dreaming crazy dreams.

Ya know! I recon that Satin Snow stuff would be worth a crack! D#mm, wish I hadn't spent the budget on the Fresnel.