Is there value in getting a loupe to look carefully at negatives?

tomfrh · Mar 21, 2016

Loupes are great. I use a peak 4x loupe as well as the grain focusser eyepiece for checking fine detail. Viewing slides with the loupe is awesome too.

rpavich · Mar 21, 2016

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the responses. I don't know why the forum isn't alerting me to additional posts here. Hmm....

M Carter · Mar 24, 2016

Also, they're extremely handy when you have that one spot of dust you can't seem to get off your neg.

I have one of those Edmund "retouching" loupes - they're still sold by someone - that have room for a brush under the lens. I've spotted some really tiny marks in prints due to scratched negs with that thing, very good when your spotting ekes into "retouch" territory. or when you get a really wicked splinter...

DREW WILEY · Mar 25, 2016

My favorite darkroom magnifier is a 7X unit sold by Edmund Optics which has a good amount of space under the lens, an adjustable diopter, and a
cutout on the clear skirt below to allow something like a retouch pen to be precisely used. I think these were around ninety bucks last time I looked,
but well worth it. I have both higher and lower powered loupes too, for estimating the look of a neg at higher or lower magnification. A good light
box is important too. I do have various Peak loupes for both the darkroom and groundglass viewing on view cameras. These are generally a very
good value.

winger · Mar 25, 2016

I have a loupe leftover from my lab days that has a clear bottom section and a measuring scale. I tried to find a picture of one online, but couldn't. It's so handy I wish I had 5 of them. If I'm looking quickly, I hold the neg up to the ceiling light, but I use the light table if I'm going to look at a whole roll. It's faster to tell which frame I might want to print than if I were to scan them. As with most stuff, experience will be key. The more you look using a loupe, the better you'll get at evaluating negatives. Comparing the neg to the contact sheet will help you start to see small differences that will be important when printing an enlargement.

Ken Nadvornick · Mar 25, 2016

And just to round out the oddball loupes category, I sometimes use a 10x Hastings Triplet over 35mm negatives on a light table. I have two. An original no-name from the early 80s. And a more recent and very nice Edmund Optics version in a beautiful golden-colored polished brass swing-out frame.

These triplets are from my long-ago geology days, when they were used for examination of rock and mineral hand samples and chippings. Now they are used to examine negatives.* Too high-powered for regular use. But if one needs to look really, really closely at something with clarity, ideal.

[Edit: Edmund Optics Hastings Triplets]

Ken

* Or to tell the difference between iron pyrite and gold flakes when I went recreational panning up in the abandoned Monte Cristo mining district of Washington State. I left the nitric acid at home to save the knees in my jeans...

Arklatexian · Mar 25, 2016

Ken Nadvornick said:
And just to round out the oddball loupes category, I sometimes use a 10x Hastings Triplet over 35mm negatives on a light table. I have two. An original no-name from the early 80s. And a more recent and very nice Edmund version in a beautiful golden-colored metal swing-out frame.

These triplets are from the long-ago geology days, when they were used for examination of rock and mineral hand samples and chippings. Now they are used to examine negatives.* Too high-powered for regular use. But if one needs to look really, really closely at something with clarity, ideal.

Ken

* Or to tell the difference between iron pyrite and gold flakes when I went recreational panning up in the abandoned Monte Cristo mining district of Washington State. I left the nitric acid at home to save the knees in my jeans...

I second the motion to buy a Hastings triplet. As you pointed out, in addition to use in photography it is usefull looking at rocks, not only to find GOLD but to see cleavage planes, etc. I bought mine to use in botany. Being able to see pistils, anthers, other parts of flowering plants and are sometimes important in identifying plants. As for lower power magnifiers it has already been pointed out they are a help in viewing ground glass when focusing LF cameras and are generally useful to have in the darkroom.......Regards!

chip j · Mar 26, 2016

I look at my 35mm contacts w/a 10x magnifying glass--very revealing.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 27, 2016

rpavich said:
Just wondering about what folks think about this. Is there value in getting a loupe to carefully examine negatives these days?

I'm just wondering because I am just barely realizing the importance of good negatives and I wanted to start visually correlating the proof sheet, and print, with what a negative looks like.

Do you look at your negatives on a light box or similar and why or why not?

How can you live without?

rpavich · Apr 1, 2016

RalphLambrecht said:
How can you live without?

I'm finding out that I really was missing out. All of the clues about how good my negs are was only visible with a loupe (at least to me) and I've learned 10x more since getting my loupe than before.

kreeger · Apr 1, 2016

So, are you thinking about a lightbox next?
I bought both my Schneider 4x Lupe and Hall Production Light Box from eBay. Both of these items will last a lifetime and won't depreciate much.

My light box is 18"x24"...

rpavich · Apr 2, 2016

kreeger said:
So, are you thinking about a lightbox next?
I bought both my Schneider 4x Lupe and Hall Production Light Box from eBay. Both of these items will last a lifetime and won't depreciate much.

My light box is 18"x24"...

I actually did get a light box too. That really was necessary. I was using my ipad but that was not optimum at all.

kreeger · Apr 2, 2016

You're on your way then....

craigclu · Apr 3, 2016

rpavich said:
Ahh..I have an extra lying around, I'll do that, thanks.

I have some good loupes (Rodenstock 4X, Mamiya 6X7, Peak 20X) but I must admit, I tend to reach for an old Konica Hexanon 50mm ƒ1.7, partly out of habit but also for the great clarity it affords. I had an old locked diaphram paper weight in a shelf and used it in reverse one day and was startled at how effective these can be as a loupe. I had a shallow lens hood that happened to be the right dimension for light table focus and I removed the lever extension from the lens and it works great.

chip j · Apr 18, 2016

kreeger said:
So, are you thinking about a lightbox next?
I bought both my Schneider 4x Lupe and Hall Production Light Box from eBay. Both of these items will last a lifetime and won't depreciate much.

View attachment 153713
My light box is 18"x24"...

Hey Buddy!! You should have a black skirt on that loupe in the your picture!!

Is there value in getting a loupe to look carefully at negatives?

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