Loupes

[chris_autio]

I have two loupes, 8x and 10x, neither of which focus on 4x5 glass nor light table. I have to pull loupe back about an inch to focus.  what's the deal?

[AJG]

I just checked 2 of my loupes--an 8X Schneider and a 4X Fuji.  Both have focusing  mounts that function like the diopter control on most current camera viewfinders.  Check yours and see if the eyepiece will move--el cheapo Agfa Lupes and their clones won't do this and you may need to move them further away from a ground glass or light box to bring images into focus for your eyes.  

[Jochen_S]

I neither know what you bought, nor am I familiar with your or their previous owner's eye sight / prescription. 

The Eschenbachs I like come with a focusing mount. Seasoned co-workers bend the corporate linen tester in a way that makes it moremdistant from the paper below it. 

Maybe not every loupe was made imagining its user's nose tip touching the subject it is placed upon? Some might not be intended to stand on the subject? I 'd try to DIYna foot for those, if I had to photograph with them.

[q.g._de_bakker]

16 hours ago, chris_autio said:

I have two loupes, 8x and 10x, neither of which focus on 4x5 glass nor light table. I have to pull loupe back about an inch to focus.  what's the deal?

Not a problem, really.  Just hold the loupe, instead of resting it (and adjusting the distance) on the focussing screen.

[AlanKlein]

Your loupes can also be used to look at prints and other objects that are not back lighted like a light table or ground glass.  If you had to put the loupe on the print, there would be no ambient light to see the print.  Some loupes like this come with a clear skirt that would allow light to enter when you press against the print.  

 

De Bakker gave you the solution for your loupes. 

[rodeo_joe1]

A lot of loupe designs have a transparent perspex (Plexiglas) tube that allows ambient light in for reflective subjects. Sometimes the perspex tube gets broken and/or removed and lost. This may well have happened to your loupes. 

A focussing loupe that 'floats' free above the GG screen is near useless IME. Because it's almost impossible to hold it steady and in the optimal position for critical focussing if you can't press it steadily to the screen. 

A cheap linen-tester that you can rest against the screen would be far better than an expensive loupe that's lost its distancing tube. 

[q.g._de_bakker]

YMMV, and all that, but handheld loupes that do not rest on the groundglass are far from useless.

They, for one, allow viewing in the direction of the light, making focusing much easier than those lightbox loupes that sit perpendicular to the ground glass.

Holding them steady is not difficult at all.

[rodeo_joe1]

4 hours ago, q.g._de_bakker said:

Holding them steady is not difficult at all.

Oh, no. Not difficult at all. Almost as easy as simply contradicting people that actually know what they're talking about. Or the manufacturers that make focussing magnifiers that sit firmly on the GG. 

Edited October 23, 2022 by rodeo_joe1

[q.g._de_bakker]

4 minutes ago, rodeo_joe1 said:

Oh, no. Not difficult at all. Almost as easy as simply contradicting people that actually know what they're talking about.

That's why you keep doing that all over PNet all of the time, of course.