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Looking for something to view my 35mm negatives with

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hyphmngo

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May 1, 2013
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Location
Rancho Cucam
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35mm
Hello all I'm looking for something to view my 35mm negatives with. I came across the Gepe Pro Daylight Slide Viewer 1.8x but I'm not sure if its any good. I'm going to start developing my own B&W film and I want to be able to view them to decide which ones I want to take to the local lab to print.

Any recommendations?
 
A light box, and a loupe magnifier is what most people use to evaluate negs. and slides.
 
I have a nice 4'x18" light box for sale. I'm in Indiana... 100 miles south of Chicago.
$70.
 
A slide Viewer is no bad idea. But typically one would have to modify them to push a film trough easily. An alternative would be a illuminated film cutter with attached loupe (Kaiser).

But as said above, typically a light box and a lose loupe are used.
 
I bought a 24"x16" light box off Ebay for about $30.00 including shipping. It was packed in an oversized box and I think they must have paid close to $30.00 for all the shipping peanuts they used! :D
 
I use several methods.

1) Look at contact sheet I made
2) Look at negatives on light box
3) Use loupe with one of above
4) Use a stereo microscope at 10x
5) scan and view on computer

I don't have a one best way. I wish I can make an enlarged contact sheet but I don't have that capability in my own darkroom.
 
What is the idea of using a stereo-microscope?
Or do you mean binocular-microscope?
 
hyphmngo said:
Something like this?

http://www.amazon.com/Artograph-Lig...r_1_11?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1377289065&sr=1-11
Click to expand...


Notice a striking resemblance to something you might be reading this on?

Meanwhile... a binocular microscope... would be stereo in other words.

I have a Bausch & Lomb StereoZoom 4 which I use for retouching negatives because you can see depth where the brush is going...

Thanks for giving me a great idea tkamiya... This weekend I have plans to do some printing... I can mount up that microscope over my light table and "proof" my negatives for sharpness before committing them to paper.
 
A stereo microscope has two lenses (and two eyepieces), giving two perspectives (of 3D matter). A binocular microscope has just one lens, but two eypieces, facilitating viewing (of plain matter).
 
AgX said:
What is the idea of using a stereo-microscope?
Or do you mean binocular-microscope?
Click to expand...


No, stereo microscope, ie. dissection microscope.... obviously, it being a stereo has no merit in this application.... but a microscope of this type has a wilder field of view and lower magnifications than a regular (compound) microscope. Mine goes down to 10x. It also have a larger transmitting type light source, which is basically a dedicated light box. I also happen to have one handy....

I have an Indian made scope. It's QUITE handy for many things....
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The B&L has two lenses - true stereo. I waited and got a good deal on mine, the prices today seem unrealistic.
 
I recommend something like a Carson MV-820 that is both an 8X loupe as well as a 40X microscope.

standard.jpg




Of course if you have a bellows setup + slide copier that works too . . .

standard.jpg




For scrutinizing the frame of film down to the grain, then you may have to resort to a microscope setup . . .

large.jpg
 
I use clear negative pages, 8x loupe and light table or box. I use multi-element wide-field 8x Kenko loupe like this: used_8x_excel_professional_lou_q4689412.jpg
 
Bill Burk said:
Notice a striking resemblance to something you might be reading this on?

Meanwhile... a binocular microscope... would be stereo in other words.

I have a Bausch & Lomb StereoZoom 4 which I use for retouching negatives because you can see depth where the brush is going...

Thanks for giving me a great idea tkamiya... This weekend I have plans to do some printing... I can mount up that microscope over my light table and "proof" my negatives for sharpness before committing them to paper.
Click to expand...

Yep, a dissecting microscope is a very handy thing. If you're patient you can sometimes find them very cheaply.
 
Yes, I think I took 3 months waiting and checking the bay ... and I got a very good deal but risked getting garbage by taking the very ugliest... Only needed some scrubbing up, the optics needed a little adjusting. But it turned out I got lucky and then I used an old enlarger column to mount it.
 
The guy just wants to look at his negatives to see which he likes before he sends them to a lab to enlarge, not a science project.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Just laying out the options.

A normal 50mm SLR lens makes a very good Loupe as well.

I looked at many negs last night through my B&L StereoZoom 4 last night thanks to this thread.

So if nobody got anything useful from the thread, at least it helped me push forward what I wanted to do last night...
 
benjiboy said:
The guy just wants to look at his negatives to see which he likes before he sends them to a lab to enlarge, not a science project.
Click to expand...
Well, he just might want to know if they're sharp or not. And there are many options for that. He may want a good look at the negative only, rather than going to the trouble and expense of having it printed. He may need to sort out whether it's a mushy negative or a sloppy lab that's responsible for an unsharp print...
 
E. von Hoegh said:
Well, he just might want to know if they're sharp or not. And there are many options for that. He may want a good look at the negative only, rather than going to the trouble and expense of having it printed. He may need to sort out whether it's a mushy negative or a sloppy lab that's responsible for an unsharp print...
Click to expand...
And can't you tell with a good loupe and a light box ?
 
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