Loupes

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Leica Photography : One Thread

Does anyone have any thoughts/experiance with Leica loupes? Any suggestions for 35mm viewing? Thanks for your input. BVA

-- Brooks (bvonarx@home.com), July 02, 2001

Answers

For years now I have simply been using my 50mm Summicron, viewing backwards through the front element. I know that I can't see the entire image at once, but I can check the sharpness and therefore the enlargability. I have not been let down using this technique. Already owning several 50mm Summicrons, I was happy to not have to buy something else.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), July 02, 2001.

You can even estimate the magnifying power of a lens used in this way. Just divide the focal length in inches into 10. For the 50mm, 10/2 equals 5, so it functions as a five-power magnifier. A 35mm lens has a focal length of about 1 & 1/2 inches, so it's about a seven-power. The shorter the focal length, the stronger the magnification.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), July 02, 2001.

I suspect the Leica 5x loupe is a reincarnation of EMO-Wetzlar 5x Macromax loupe, which was quite popular a few years back, and photodealer often called it "Leica loupe" because of Wetzlar.

Now Macromax 5x loupe disappeared from the market, and Leica 5x loupe shows up.

Using camera lens to check negative or slide is ok, because a lens is also a magnifier. However a lens is quite heavy, and expensive if fall to the ground.

Personally I like to used another product by EMO-Wetzlar

OCTOSCOP

Octoscop, as the name implies, provides eight different magnification, from 2x 4x, 6x... up to 28x.

I like to use 6x to view overall slide/negative, and use the 28x loupe to check fine details.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), July 02, 2001.


Okay, there is the Leica Universal Loupe 5x (Ordering No. 37350 for looking at slides) which was always presented at Wetzlar seminars. It is indeed good quality, but it's official price is USD 173.

Mike

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), July 03, 2001.


5x loupe is good for general viewing of composition, content of slide and negative, but far from enough to check for accuracy of focus and sharpness of lens.

A good 35mm lens can resolve about 85 (Contax T3 Sonnar ) to 95 lpmm (Summilux 50 ), but a 20/20 human eye can see about 4-5 lpmm a 5x loupe can only boost the eye to about 25 lpmm, a 20x loupe can boost it to 80-100 lpmm, a 25x loupe boost the eye to over 100 lpmm, capable to see the finest detail on negative.

I also use EMO-Wetzlar Emoscop.

Emoscop

Emoscop was designed by former Leitz designer Arthur Seibert, who also designed the COMPLAN lens on Minox, the sharpest photographic lens ever made.

Emoscop has a variaty of magnification, 2.5x, 5, 10, 15 and 25.

Emoscop 10 x loupe is good for general viewing of slide/negative, its 25x mode is good for checking sharp lens, sharp focusing.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), July 03, 2001.



EMO-USERS DISCUSSION GROUP

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), July 03, 2001.

The Octoscop at 28x and Emoscop at 30x is capable of boosting the eyes from 4 lpmm or 8 dot per mm to 8x 28 = 224 dpmm that is 5600 dpi, well over the limit of finest printer; great for checking quality of printer for print head defect such as missing dots

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), July 03, 2001.

i used a schneider 4x loupe and have wanted one since. makes your work leap off the page!

-- charles (charles@chho.com.au), July 08, 2001.

Yes, I use the Schneider 4x for slide editing and for checking negatives and negative carrier glass for dust before enlarging. It's especially good for long editing sessions because there's no eyestrain with it. But you'd be hard-pressed to use it for checking for critical focus, lens image quality, etc. For that, I use 9x and 12x loupes by Edmund Scientific Company. Now that MArtin's talked about using 15x and 20x loupes, I'm getting interested in trying out something in this range, like maybe the Emoscope or Octoscope . . .

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), July 08, 2001.

The box says contribute an answer but really I must interject a question.

Why do you need a loupe to view a slide? I find out whether my slides are sharp and in focus by viewing via my projector. Doesn't the projector, and it's natural enlargement of the slide, do the same thing as a loupe?

Since I don't have a loupe and am too lazy to reverse a lens and look at my slides I don't seem to understand the fuss with viewing slides with a loupe?

-- David S Smith (dssmith3@rmci.net), July 08, 2001.



Projection lenses vary in quality. With premium projection lenses such as the Golden Navitar, or the premium series from Buhl Optical, Leitz lenses, etc., projection is a fine way of viewing slides. That's what slides are for, anyhow. But if you project with plastic Kodak Carousel lenses, you haven't seen what your Leica lenses can do, yet.

The loupe is a convenient way of editing and sorting slides on the light box. A show can be assembled much faster if you don't have to stick every slide in the projector to make a decision about it.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), July 08, 2001.


Loupes are great for picking out that right negative to enlarge. When you take a series of photos with only subtle exposure differences a loupe is the best way to find the right Neg. Cheaper loupes dont always pick up those subtle differences, buy one and you will have it for life, they never wear out if you keep them well. Like poor quality binoculars, if i look through them alot they give me a headache. A Leica loupe will be worth the money if you do use it alot, and hold its value if you ever need to sell.

-- Joel Matherson (joel_2000@hotmail.com), July 08, 2001.

Wizard of Wetzlar, Arthur Seibert and Emoscop

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), July 08, 2001.

Arthur Seibert Octoscop

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), July 08, 2001.

There are many versions of Emoscop. I like the original "EMO-Wetzlar Arthur Seibert Emoskop" best. It was made of metal, with fine grilled rings and engraved lettering. This is the only version with "Arthur Seibert" name on it. The later version changed to Emoscop SM, with scop instead of germanic skop. It is made of plastic, still "made in Germany", optically it is identical to Emoskop.

My first Emoscop was sold by Havershill, it is made of metal, but its 2.5x mini telescope does not focus as close as Emoskop or Emoscop.

Emoscop some times shows up on ebay. One time I bid on an Emoscop, I was high bid at $90, but withdrew the last minute, because that unit had no "Germany" on it.

Octoscop never shows up on ebay, rather hard to find. I bought it new.

I may buy two or three Emoscop.com Emoscops as Xmas presents for my friends, it makes wonderful gifts. The Emoscop.com is abut 1/2 the price of a Havershill and 1/4 of Emoscop SM, good deal

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), July 08, 2001.



I just bought an original style EMO on ebay and got it today. Luckily the seller didn't have the word "EMO" in the title and called it a "Siebert Wetzler magnifier". It is a very compact and useful optical piece. At full power, I can see that 70 LPMM is resolved on the chart on a velvia slide taken with my Leica 90mm lens wide open. The angle of view of course is super tiny at 25 to 30 X. I also use a 10X standard B&L jewelers triplet that has remarkably good clarity for checking if the neg can go 11X14 and still look decent.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), July 13, 2001.

Andy, you are lucky fella, it took me a long time to get the original Seibert Emoskop.

You can unscrew the first lens as a 10x loupe.

there is a yahoogroups about Emoscop, Octoscop etc at EMO-users group

You are going to have a lot of fun with your Emoskop.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), July 13, 2001.


Emoscop SM instruction taken from EMO-Users group "Files"

I first learned about Emoskop from Moses and John Wade's book "Spycamera, the MINOX Story " 2nd edition

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), July 13, 2001.


There was only one thread mentioning Emoscop in LUG archives at Listquest.com, no indepth discussion; search LUG for Octoscop turns up nothing.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), July 13, 2001.

There was a thread about Emoskop in Olympus OM archive

http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/archives/1998/msg17136.html

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), July 13, 2001.


It should be very clear by now, that 5x or 10x loupe is not enough to check slide or negative for finest detail. There is no way a 10x loupe can see 70 lpmm. And it should be very clear that A 10x print cannot reveal all the finest detail

It is also clear, that a highly corrected loupe of 25x-30 such as Emoscop or Octoscop is necessary

70 lpmm is not a high number. When it comes to sharpness no Leica/Zeiss/Nikon/Canon photographic lens can match Wetzlar wizard Arthur Seibert 's COMPLAN at 177 lpmm at wide open.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), July 14, 2001.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ