Re: Horizon 4x loupe review (more info)

[Greg Erker <erker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

  I compared the Horizon loupe against
my Edmund Scientific 36mm dia by 82 mm FL
achromats.

  The Horizon loupe has more magnification.
Matching up some lines with the two loupes
(one on each eye) I found 13mm equated to
11mm distance in the Horizon. Thus the Horizon
has 13/11 times more magnification.

  So my 36x82's magnification is 250/82 = 3.05
Thus the Horizon is 13/11 times 3.05 = 3.60
magnification (thus the FL is 250/3.6= 69mm).

  So the Horizon is somewhere between the
two possible focal lengths (if they use
the 250/FL method vs the 1+250/FL method).

  The higher magnification is part of the
reason why you can only see a 2" diameter
circle (and the 29 mm clear aperture). Viewing
a mounted superslide with it showed very
slight corner clipping unless you move your
eye around to see one particular corner.

  Another thing I tried is fitting the
Horizon loupe onto the focusing screen of
my stereo Ricohmatic 225. It fits nicely
inside the finder sidewalls. By having
both finder covers up I can use the loupe
for critical focusing using one and the
unmagnified one for framing. Works very
slick.

  The Horizon is too big to fit inside the
side walls on my Bronica S2A. But luckily
it is removable (so you can attach a prism
or Bronica's chimney finder). So the Horizon
should work well on that camera too.

  Needless to say I'm quite pleased.

  Oh, I also sanded the gloss of the inside
of the black skirt since I didn't like the
reflections you can see on the sides under
certain conditions. Much better now. (I
can't return this baby now1 :)

---
  BTW photos of my multiformat (double achromat)
viewer (Realist, 2x2x2 and Superslides) are up on
my web page. Top link at:
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/erker

Greg