Loupe recommendations

I'm in photography school now and need a loupe as our first semester is colour slide film (probably for not much longer as the bastards are now closing the colour darkrooms down).

Anyway I would like some recommendations for good loupes with reasonable prices bearing in mind I"m in australia the land of expensive photographic equipment. the crappy cheap $12 loupes for sale at the stores are horrible.

I eventually want to get into medium format my dream would be a hassy 6x6 but who knows what the reality will be!

SO please let me know what would be a good loupe that i will be able to treasure for years to come.

I like the peak 8x that runs about 30 bucks.
do a search for your topic since this has been discussed many times before

Seriously consider a second-hand 50mm lens. These make excellent loupes and cost very little.

Cheers,

Roger (www.rogerandfrances.com -- where you'll find other ideas like that in the free 'Hints and Tips' module in the Photo School)

Thanks.
Actually I did do a search on this topic before I posted but when I did the search to show posts, about three pages were full of references to using a loupe but not any actual threads about recommendations

I've used an old Canon 50/1.8 lens and an old meniscus lens I found god knows where. Both has worked well enough for me. But if you find the $12 loupes crappy and want to spend some money on something to last for a while - then a Peak or the Nikon 8x loupe would work well. If you think about upgrading to medium format, then check if the loupe covers the bigger negative or not. The Pentax 5.5x loupe also looks nice, but I haven't used it.

I have a Mamiya 3.5x loupe which covers 6x6 and I love it. I find it so annoying to look at large negatives with a loupe designed for 35mm.