T3D Loupes Review

[jacob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Gabriel Jacob)]

With all the discussion about designing custom oculars vs. using off
the shelf loupes, I thought you might find this interesting. It's an
extract from an article. The author rates quite a few loupes and also
gives sources.


DESIGN FEATURES OF A GOOD EDITING LOUPE

The main things we need in a quality editing loupe are these:

*  Fully covers the 35mm film frame thereby giving us the ability to see the 
entire frame easily from corner to corner. This is especially important.
*  Opaque skirt for slides (may have interchangeable translucent skirt).
*  Magnification about 4X. The conventional editing standard is 4X. It may 
be an exaggeration to call this a standard, but 4X is just about right for 
evaluating 35mm material. Higher power is neither necessary nor 
desirable for general 35mm editing.
*  High quality optical glass, monocoated or multicoated with multicoated 
preferred.
*  Three or four element, highly corrected optical construction is best. 
Aspheric elements which correct spherical aberration are desirable. 
Minimum construction should be two-element achromatic to avoid color 
fringing.
*  High eye relief (viewing distance from top of eyepiece to eye or 
glasses).
*  Adjustable focusing
*  Bottom must fit comfortably over a 35mm slide mount.
*  Other features are just bells & whistles although neck straps can be 
handy for some people. 


WORST LOUPES (Under 50.00US)

*  Agfa 8X; Short, circular design. 

This item is a complete disaster and outright disservice to consumers. It is 
responsible for turning off more photographers from the real usefulness 
and great pleasure of loupes than any other product in history. Not only 
does it inhibit full frame viewing, but it distorts the image and creates 
color fringing. It is not sharp and the contrast is poor. Eye relief is low.
Full 
frame viewing not possible. If you own one, throw it out. You're better off 
without a loupe than trying to use one of these plastic calamities.

*  Hama 8X; A private labeled version of the Agfa 8X tragedy.

*  Photoco 8X; Another disaster; may be the same product as the Agfa 8X 
& Hama 8X but under yet another private label.

*  Peak 8X; a very similar or possibly identical to the Peak 8X was 
marketed under the Nikon name some years ago. This is another horror. 
Like the Agfa / Hama, it has turned off many photographers who 
purchased one for around $40.00US thinking it would show them either 
how good they are or how bad they are. In fact, it does neither. It distorts. 
The contrast is poor. Full frame viewing is somewhere between awkward 
and impossible. The eye relief is so low that you have to jam your eye or 
glasses against the top to see all four corners simultaneously. The 
sharpness is better than the Agfa / Hama and there is somewhat less 
distortion. Still, if you have one, throw it out. Literally. The Peak 8X will 
only prevent you from learning the real values and pleasures of a quality 
loupe.

*  Many other optical scourges & editing tragedies are floating around.


ADEQUATE LOUPES (approximately $50.00 to $75.00US)

*  Peak 4X Rectangular (#2038) has distinctive curved or sloping 
"shoulders"; highly corrected achromatic lens; interchangeable skirts. 

*  Additional adequate, mid-priced loupes are beginning to appear in the 
market place. 


BEST LOUPES ($75.00US & Up)

*  Schneider Universal 4X; This much loved German-made, Schneider / 
Kreuznach loupe is more or less the standard for photo editors and 
discriminating photographers. The quality is remarkable and the design a 
classic. It's an eye opener. Interchangeable translucent and opaque 
skirts. This is the same Schneider that is renowned for high quality large-
format and enlarger lenses. Street price around $120.00US.

*  Schneider Multi-coated 4X; This new version of the classic Schneider 
Universal 4X incorporates their high grade multi-coating technology to 
improve light transmission and reduce reflections. (The Schneider 6X6 is 
also available with multi-coating.) As of November 1995, the suggested 
list price is only $99.00, so the street price will be significantly lower. Is 
Schneider lowering the price of their loupes in response to increase 
competition during the last 2-3 years? I recommend this loupe as a *Best 
Buy*.

*  Rodenstock 4X; Comparable in every respect to the Schneider and 
adored by many. Beautifully designed. Street priced around $125.00US, 
about the same as the Schneider Universal.

*  Macromax 5X; Very expensive (well over $200.00); Called wonderful & 
worth the price by some. Somewhere I may have read that Macromax 
users feel that it is the finest loupe available. I'd be interested in any 
comments readers of this file might have. I have not used the Macromax.

*  Peak Professional Anastigmatic 4X; an excellent, highly corrected 
loupe; Street priced at around $125.00US.

*  Kenko Aspheric Lupe 4X; Kenko's top of the line editing loupe appears 
to be very similar in design to the Schneider and Rodenstock 4X models. 
Multicoated. Price not known at this time.

*  Kenko Precision Lupe 4X; I have not seen this one but believe it to be 
excellent. Probably identical to the Fuji Professional 4X. Monocoated. 
Price not known at this time. I recommend this loupe as a as a *Best 
Buy*.

*  Fuji Professional 4X; Circular design with vertically sliding hood (skirt) 
design that creates an opaque barrel when the hood is in the down 
position. This excellent loupe was offered by Fuji as a premium for 
purchasing a substantial volume of professional film during the summer 
of 1994. I find the sliding skirt feature unnecessary and have super-glued 
mine permanently into the down (opaque) position. As far as I know this 
loupe is not available commercially unless it is, as I strongly suspect, 
identical to the Kenko. The Fuji loupe is a dead ringer for a Kenko 
brochure illustration of the Kenko Precision 4X Lupe. One side of the 
Fuji's hood carries a "Fuji Professional" logo showing a looped cable 
release. Both loupes, however, read: "Fuji Professional, 4X Power 
Magnifying Loupe, Made in Japan" (3 lines on the sliding hood). The 
Fuji Professional 4X appears to be a private label production run of the 
Kenko loupe.

*  Hoya Continuous Focusing 4X; More or less a Schneider knock-off. I 
recommend this loupe as a *Best Buy*. Street price around $90.00US.

*  Peak 4X Anastigmat Measuring Loupe

*  NPC Pro-Lupe 5.5X; A nice loupe, partly despite and partly because of 
the somewhat exaggerated 5.5X power. Despite the extra power it 
completely covers a 35mm frame. The viewing area is large enough that  
the eye must scan from corner to corner and cannot readily encompass 
the entire image area in a glance. In other words, for some users the eye 
may seem "too close" to the image. The black anodized aluminum skirt is 
an integral part of the design. It screws up and down on widely spaced 
helical threads and cannot slip down when in the up position. In a side-
by-side comparison with the Schneider 4X for viewing 35mm slides I 
concluded that I'd like to own both but that if I had to select just one I'd 
choose the Schneider over the Pro-Loupe 5.5X.  Any peripheral 
distortion was negligible. Street price around $100 - 120.00.

*  Kenko Precision Lupe 6X; Permits viewing of entire 35mm frame 
despite the stronger magnification. Not as desirable for general editing 
unless you have special need for the stronger power. Monocoated.


OTHER LOUPES (Insufficient information)

*  Horizon 2D-S 4X Variable Focus Magnifier; 48X48mm field of view 
(oversized for 35mm frames); glass achromatic multi-coated lenses, 
aluminum construction; interchangeable skirt; Bogen Order Code 2554.  I 
am uncertain about the street price, but it may be about $40.00US. If this 
is correct, this may prove to be the lowest priced quality loupe for 35mm 
slide editing. I have not yet seen it (November 1995).

*  Eschenbach 4X; large (2 1/3" diameter) loupe, coated acrylic lens. High 
eye point. The Eschenback line of German magnifiers are imported by 
Domke. Does anybody have experience with this loupe?

*  Hama #5489; The description I've seen sounds very good (high 
resolution, coated optics, interchangeable skirts.  Expensive. This one 
may fall into the "Best Loupes" category. 

*   ISTON 4X;  two skirts (Translucent and Opaque); NYC street price 
around $50.00. This one could be interesting. I'll check it out sometime 
& update this file accordingly. Anybody out there know this loupe?

*  As an aside, Kenko's loupe line includes a well-designed 3X loupe 
with sliding hood which fully covers a 6 X 7 frame. 


JIM'S CURRENT "BEST BUYS"

*  Schneider Multi-coated 4X; The Schneider Universal is something of a 
standard among photo editors because of its optimum magnification (4X), 
elegant design and remarkable optical quality. This new multi-coated 
version is lower in price and may well begin to replace the original 
Universal loupe as the loupe of choice.
*  Horizon 2D-S 4X; This may be the best low priced 4X editing loupe 
available. See discussion under "Other Loupes".  
*  Kenko Precision Lupe 4X
*  Hoya Continuous Focusing 4X

WHERE TO GET LITERATURE 

*  Schneider Corporation of America
400 Crossways Park Drive
Woodbury, NY 11797
516-496-8500
FAX: 516-496-7508

*  THK Photo Products
1512 Kona Dr.
Compton, CA 90220
800-421-1141
310-537-9380

*  Kenko Co., Ltd.
Nakamura Minami 3-18-8
Nerima-ku
Tokyo, 176, Japan
International phone: 81-3-3998-2001
International fax: 81-3-3999-6921

*  Bogen Photo Corp.
565 East Crescent Ave.
P.O. Box 506
Ramsey, NJ 07446
201-818-9500
FAX: 201-818-9177
(Horizon loupes)

*  NPC Photo Division
1238 Chestnut Street
Newton, MA 02164
617-969-3487
FAX: 617-969-4523


WHERE TO PURCHASE A TOP LOUPE AT A BOTTOM PRICE

Mail order is the realistic purchase route for most of us. Ordinary camera 
stores are able to carry only junk loupes. They can't justify stocking 
quality loupes because far too few, if any, would be sold. Even the larger 
professional shops will have a limited selection of decent loupes and 
those will tend to be overpriced. Therefore, the best places to find a 
selection of good loupes actually in stock and at good street prices are 
the New York discount houses. A little telephone shopping will probably 
pay off. Always ask about shipping costs. 

*  THE FILTER CONNECTION, The Most Complete Selection of Filters & 
Adapter Rings in the US. P.O. Box 155, South Windham, CT 06266; 
203-456-3990; FAX: 203-423-2738. Selection of mid-priced to high-
priced loupes. Good source for a lot of things. Their catalog is an 
education on filters.

*  ROBERTS DISTRIBUTORS
255 South Meridian Street
Indianapolis, IN 46225
800-726-5544
FAX: 317-636-5793
(Rodenstock, Schneider, Hoya, NPC Pro)

*  DOMKE ENTERPRISES
P.O. Box 411
Lansdowne, PA 19050
215-522-0502
FAX: 215-522-9660
(Eschenbach, Peak)


In my personal experience, the following NYC mail order sources are 
reliable and relatively pleasant to do business with by phone. There are 
other good ones as well. 

*  ADORAMA
42 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
212-741-0052
800-223-2500
FAX: 212-463-7223
(Schneider, Rodenstock, Peak, NPC & others)

*  B&H
119 West 17th Street
New York, NY 10011
Orders: 800-947-9902
Information: 212-444-5002
FAX: 800-947-7008


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