Grain Focus Finder

[Auroraua]

I am looking for a focus finder, I know that Peak is the best, but well out of my budget.
Is there a difference between the LPL and the Scoponet?
Are they slightly better than the Paterson?

 

[Alex Muir]

The Paterson works for me, but can't get into the corners, and sometimes is limited in smaller prints. To improve on that, you need a bigger mirror and perhaps a way to tilt the device. That points to the Peak. Others I have seen are either similar to Paterson, or the big type like the Kaiser or Magnasite models. I've tried the Magnasite, and it doesn't offer any great improvement.
Alex

 

[R.Gould]

I have both Patterson and LPL, both work fine for me, although the Patterson has a slight edge

 

[RobC]

I am looking for a focus finder, I know that Peak is the best, but well out of my budget.
Is there a difference between the LPL and the Scoponet?
Are they slightly better than the Paterson?

Is it the best? It's certainly the most expensive.

The only advantage and its a very slim one is that it can check focus out to the corners of the print. Well to get your easel parallel to film plane with lens perpendicular to both requires other instruments. And once done a Peak isn't required.

Under or near the lens axis a Peak is no better than any other grain magnifier. I bought one in my ignorance thinking it would be so much better. But I use my cheap paterson magnifier most of the time because once you set its focus you can lock it whereas the peak doesn't and you're constantly refocussing the the damn thing. And I find the paterson easier to find enlarger focus with.

 

[MattKrull]

Under or near the lens axis a Peak is no better than any other grain magnifier. I bought one in my ignorance thinking it would be so much better. But I use my cheap paterson magnifier most of the time because once you set its focus you can lock it whereas the peak doesn't and you're constantly refocussing the the damn thing. And I find the paterson easier to find enlarger focus with.

I'm the opposite. I used both a peak and a patterson at the photoschool's darkroom and I had a very hard time with the patterson. The peak (they have a range of models, and this was definitely one of the higher end ones) was perfect. Grain was huge and made focusing very easy. In total fairness, being a school situation, not all equipment was in pristine condition, and it is possible the pattersons I used were not as good as a new one would be. Certainly the peaks withstood the riggors of student useage better than the pattersons did.

When I setup my own darkroom I got a Magna Sight thinking it would be similar (but huge - oh how I wanted a giant visible area). It is a focus finder, not a grain finder, so the magnification is much lower. I can use it for focusing, and to be honest the end result is probably not visibly different from what I get using the peak, but it is a different tool to be sure. Mostly I use it to inspect areas of the image before printing. I did end up buying a used Peak (a lower end model than what the school had), and I greatly enjoy using it.

Now, I should point out, I only focus based on the center of my print. I'm not putting the finder in the far corners or anything, I'm just not that sophisticated a printer.

 

[chip j]

I used a Paterson for yrs, but a Bestwell Micro-Sight beats all hell out of it. Not expensive on ebay.

 

[fotch]

I have & used many of them, also the old fashion magnify glass, which works well.

 

[RobC]

if you have enough light from your enlarger and dark enough darkroom you can focus pretty accurately by eye. So it does beg the question of why you need a highly expensive magnifier. But each to his own. I'm just pointing out that you are not missing out much if anything by having a cheap magnifier which does the job.

 

[AllanD]

The better lenses in the expensive magnifiers mean that you get a sharper image of the grain and more contrast. This helps if you are trying to focus on dye clouds with colour film or when using fine grained B&W, especially if printing big.

 

[jose angel]

I use both the cheap Paterson and the most expensive Peak as well (I have used others but settled in this two).

Believe me, I prefer the Paterson. It is way lighter, easy to use, fast, that is, comfortable to use. It has a nicely designed cover and cap.

The Peak is an extremely heavy thing, awkward to use, prone to be knocked here and there, looks like it loves to fall over the floor. It can check the corners and come with a useless blue filter. If there any sharper image on it, I`d say the difference is negligible.

To check enlarger alignment with the magnifier is a real pain; I rarely check the corners with the Peak (=never), so I think you`d be better buying a Paterson and after that, seriously think about to spend your funds on a good alignment device.
How many of you have checked the functionality of the magnifier? Just check the Paterson, calibrate it (if needed), and run.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Any method that allows you to focus easily is all you need, but then some focus finders or grain focusers allow you to focus just that much easier in appalling conditions.

To answer your question directly, The Patterson and the LPL unit are much the same beast, I’ve used both and own some Patterson units. My preference would be the Patterson unit, but really there isn’t much in these units. I do not know anything about the Scoponet, never heard of them until you brought them up and now having done a search, they look alright, but I have no idea.

Think of huge enlargements whereby you are enlarging say 20 to 30 times magnification but only making a sectional print of a small part of the image available. It is under these conditions that bigger, brighter and with a greater coverage angle, the better units work.

There is also one other aspect, failing eyesight as you age, coupled with poor and/or low light, which is often the case when enlarging with a biggish enlargement, you really are starting to run out of light to focus on.

I have a Patterson unit, it’s excellent and very usable, but when push comes to shove, I certainly use my Peak Model 1 and there is a noticeable difference in my ability to get super crisp prints as opposed to good looking and nicely focused stuff, but if I wish for crispness of grain type print, then the Peak it is.

There are many of these around second hand, including in crummy Australia, which is a country that has a noticeable lack of nice stuff for darkrooms at reasonable prices. I bought mine second hand after using the Peak Model 1 in a work situation; it would be one of the last things I would let go from my darkroom.

I would suggest you should be able to pick up a Patterson unit for under $10 USD almost anywhere in the world. If you’re not in a hurry, you’ll probably get one for free. I have about four Patterson focus finders that have been gifted to me from people closing down darkrooms. Brand new they are around $25-30 USD last time we did a search when trying to price second hand ones, for a photographic flea market.

Mick.

 

[RobC]

depth of focus at the easel from a 35mm neg with a 50mm enlarging lens at F4 with 30X enlargement factor is of the order of + or - 20mm (depending on your enalrging lens coverage (I have used 43mm coverage which probably about right) ).

depth of field at the negative on the other hand is 0.046mm.

So I would be more worried about my negative stage being truly parallel with my paper and the lens being truly perpendicular to both than whether my focus finder was a peak or a paterson.

If your focus finder was showing grain sharp you could lift your easel up a full 1 cm and it would still look sharp without adjusting focus.

 

[Neal]

Dear Auroraua,

The Bestwell Micro Sight is a very good product at a very reasonable price. However, as others have noted, don't neglect your alignment.

Neal Wydra

 

[MattKing]

Dear Auroraua,

The Bestwell Micro Sight is a very good product at a very reasonable price. However, as others have noted, don't neglect your alignment.

Neal Wydra

Last year I found a Bestwell Micro Sight at a Goodwill store in the USA. It was still in its box and still had the mirror cover and the original instructions. I think I paid $5.00 for it.

It works very well.

I also have the Bestwell Magnisight, which works well in conjunction with the Micro Sight for large enlargements.

In addition, I have a Nova Hocus Focus, which is quite ingenious, and allows you to check focus into the corners, but really requires two hand use, so it isn't well suited for me. Here is a link: http://www.secondhanddarkroom.co.uk/product.php/nova_hocus_focus_focuser/?k=:::6187684

 

[Arklatexian]

Any method that allows you to focus easily is all you need, but then some focus finders or grain focusers allow you to focus just that much easier in appalling conditions.

To answer your question directly, The Patterson and the LPL unit are much the same beast, I’ve used both and own some Patterson units. My preference would be the Patterson unit, but really there isn’t much in these units. I do not know anything about the Scoponet, never heard of them until you brought them up and now having done a search, they look alright, but I have no idea.

Think of huge enlargements whereby you are enlarging say 20 to 30 times magnification but only making a sectional print of a small part of the image available. It is under these conditions that bigger, brighter and with a greater coverage angle, the better units work.

There is also one other aspect, failing eyesight as you age, coupled with poor and/or low light, which is often the case when enlarging with a biggish enlargement, you really are starting to run out of light to focus on.

I have a Patterson unit, it’s excellent and very usable, but when push comes to shove, I certainly use my Peak Model 1 and there is a noticeable difference in my ability to get super crisp prints as opposed to good looking and nicely focused stuff, but if I wish for crispness of grain type print, then the Peak it is.

There are many of these around second hand, including in crummy Australia, which is a country that has a noticeable lack of nice stuff for darkrooms at reasonable prices. I bought mine second hand after using the Peak Model 1 in a work situation; it would be one of the last things I would let go from my darkroom.

I would suggest you should be able to pick up a Patterson unit for under $10 USD almost anywhere in the world. If you’re not in a hurry, you’ll probably get one for free. I have about four Patterson focus finders that have been gifted to me from people closing down darkrooms. Brand new they are around $25-30 USD last time we did a search when trying to price second hand ones, for a photographic flea market.

Mick.

I am certainly glad you mentioned "failing eyesight". It was taking me forever, even with a grain focuser, to focus my negatives. I blamed cameras, enlarger lenses, all sorts of things. Then in 2013 I had cataract surgery. Next time I tried to focus a negative, everything had gotten better: camera lens, enlarger lenses. Even the grain focuser was much easier to use. My point: please, please, all of you, get your eyes checked and if you have developed cataracts, get the procedure done that removes them. It could cost you money, however. I don't mean having the cataracts removed, I mean you will see so much better you will want to refurbish your darkroom and equipment. I spent a good part of 2014 redoing mine. At age 84, I am enthused with darkroom work again.........Regards!

 

[MartinP]

I have all three of these, bought at various times - the Paterson Mini (from when I started in a spare bedroom/darkroom), a Scoponet (because it is physically higher and has a larger magnification hence easier for larger enlargements) and a Peak (because a neighbour was selling it and it seemed much brighter than the other two). Of the three I now use either the Peak or the Scoponet, depending on which enlarger I'm using usually, but sometimes if the neg is dense or the grain small then I would choose one specifically.

Alignment is not something I use a magnifier for, as I bought a laser aligner long ago with a work-bonus. They make checking and adjusting very fast, but normal adjustments are rarely needed fortunately. When occasionally enlarging on to the floor or a wall then the time saved with the laser tool is huge, and makes it worth while to own.