I need a good loupe...on a hunch I gathered various lenses that I don't use anymore and peeked into the hood of my Century.

The winner is my alltime favorite enlarging lens, a Fuji 105 4.5 from the 70s (I collimated various 105s when I bought it new...this lens was equal or better than Nikkors and distinctly better than Componons)

It makes the Century's ground glass/fresnel into a giant (3-X?), brilliant TV monitor...super-accurate focusing...covers about 1/3 of the field of view, perfectly evenly lit.

You can pick up great 105 enlarging lenses on Ebay for less than Toyo/Horseman/Rodenstock loupes.

Looking thru a 135 Xenar I got full frame coverage, but it wasn't as good as the 105 because it had to be held further from the ground glass and focus was fussy.

A dead 101 or 103 or maybe even 90 might be good...a wide field 90 or 100 might give full 6X7 frame but might not be as even as an enlarging lens.

The challenge now is to make a safe, good-looking leather wrapper with folding lens caps, and attach that to a reliable neck strap. Maybe I'll butcher an old Durst lensboard to make something to which I can affix the neck strap. The Durst's column is now a copy stand.

I'm not going to bother making the front tube that's commonly rested against a ground glass because there's no necessity...my hand and the Graflex hood provide plenty of shade and its easy to hold the focus distance (about 1"
outside the hood) with this optic.

I've often commented that many screw mount 50mm lenses make very good loupes without the aid of an added focus tube.

f1.7 and f2s are dirt cheap and a bit lighter than a 1.2

It's an interesting suggestion for a lovely lens. Using a 6x Schneider loupe is probably as far as I could recommend; with a 10x Konica loupe mostly magnified grain from the ground glass appears.

Perhaps the width of the lens barrel makes critical focussing on the corners of the ground -glass difficult?

I'll revive an old thread here and simply state that Toyo makes a great 3.6x loupe in a cylindrical housing with rubber protection on the business end (i.e., the ground glass), equipped with lugs and neck strap. It's available from B&H Photo (catalog item #TOL) and mine cost around $40 some three years ago.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Henry on 2004-12-12 12:11 ]</font>

I just tried for a Toyo on EBay... went for $45 or so, plus shipping...therefore I decided to check my clutter of weird and unused optics...

...hard to imagine anything better than the 105 Fuji enlarging lens...

...surprising depth of focus (depth of field?)...distance variation from ground glass seems acceptable within maybe 1/2"...1/2-1.5" OUTSIDE the hood... with hand-shading (or the lensboard in which I've mounted it) it's perfectly useful in bright sunlight with a 5.6 taking lens.

Somewhere I have a 60mm Leitz Focotar in a 1" tube (macro lens)...much more compact than the Fuji, maybe better or maybe too short.

The Fuji covers 1/2-2/3 of the field of view, right into the corners if you look, has no problem with Ektalite, and does not vignette perceptably.

Wow, maybe Toyo no longer makes that loupe? The thing I like about it is that it's long enough to use without having to fold up the folding focusing hood on my Century or work your fingers into uncomfortable positions. It also is pretty good for getting into the corners. I too have an Ektalite mounted, and also a new ground glass from a guy out West who makes them ( http://www.satinsnow.com/index.html ), and I'm very happy using this set-up with the Toyo loupe.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Henry on 2004-12-13 08:43 ]</font>

I've heard Satin Snow glass is great, but I'd guessed Ektalite would remove the advantages...what's your experience with the combo?

I'd planned to remove the Ektalite until I discovered the utility of this enlarging lens as a loupe.

Several sites claim to have Toyo loupes in inventory at over $50 plus shipping. Not surprising, considering the skyrocketing prices of their competitors, Schneider and Rodenstock, who suffer from the collapsing dollar.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: djon on 2004-12-13 09:37 ]</font>

Yeah, I forgot about the weak dollar. That'll do it, alright.

The satinsnow gg + Ektalite fresnel is a dandy combo; the gg is so smooth that you hardly see the fresnel lines. It's the best gg I've ever had, and the price was right: four 2x3 for $20. Highly recommended!

Thanks...I'll spring for a couple...

Another decent choice for a loupe is a linen tester. They were originally designed for counting threads in cloth. Rectangular field, about 6-8 power, usually fixed focus on the open, flat bottom plate. Edmund Scientific has them in the 10-20 dollar range. The one I have happens to be focused about 1mm below the bottom plate - perfect for the ground glass thickness.

The best Loupe I have ever used is a fingerprint loupe, it is the kind the old finger print guys used in Police work, talk about sharp and flat field, if you can find one now a days, they sell for about $10.00 talk about value for the buck, I found two of them at the local Police auction and have been happier with these than I was ever with the commercial loupes I purchase and I have a Toyo, Schenider as well as a Leica...

Dave

Funny you should bring this up! But just the other day, I was looking around, well maybe surfing around, looking for a good loupe.

I wound up in Edmunds Scienctifics, and had some good ones for 10 bucks, but what really caught these sore eyes, was a 4x5 rectangular magnigfier lens mounted with hinges on a wire frame, it was kind of on the pricey side, but I thought .............."Maybe! it could be adapted to fit on the viewing hood of the 4x5 Speed Graphic.........Hmmmm!
Anyway it's worth a look, or surf !