Leica 5x Loupe [37 350]- Picked one up new a couple yrs ago. Cost $250. Slides from my M4-P on Agfa Optima & Kodak E100VS jump out at ya! Seems like 3D. Lots of "oohs & Ahhhs"! What I liked about the Leica Loupe is the feature that holds the slide or negative strip to the loupe. Only one minor complaint: The thingy that holds the neg strip fast is comprised of a bristle brush, with fine hairs. These shed onto the neg strip. Maybe a piece of foam rubber, covered with chamois would solve the problem. You can remove the slide/neg viewer and use the loupe to examine a flat object on a table. Haven't seen these advertised and wonder if they were a flash in the pan....?

-- Frank Horn (owlhoot45@hotmail.com), September 18, 2001

Answers

It is actually made by another German company. Leica still has it listed:

http://www.leica-camera.com/produkte/projektion/universallupe/i ndex_e.html

Cheers,

-- John Collier (jbcollier@powersurfr.com), September 19, 2001.

Its a complete ripoff, like every other Leica accessory. $250! It almost costs as much a Pradovit P300 slide projector! And its not ergonomic-the slide holder is very tight, needlessly so.

For a cheaper alternative, look for the previous generation Schneider 4x loupe with a slide holder attachment, or an EMO Macromax loupe.

And they are still available. And despite the ranting, I own one.

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), September 20, 2001.

Same player shoots again. At present, this loupe is in stock everywhere, and is in fact also bought very often. The present price here of DM 398 (being today's USD 183) is basically okay. It's like the story about acceptance of what everything else costs here on our forum. How about Leica's tablelap tripod (14100) and/or its head (14110)? Or any of the lenses? Or for that matter, the whole body itself?

My notes w/a to any new buyers of such a loupe: when comparing models of any other company, first check if they too have: (a) outside (black metal) barrel removal for changing from light transmission through the bottom (e.g. via viewing box) to light reflection vertically through the top (via daylight), (b) adjustment of ± 2 diopters, and (c) rubber eyepiece support which prevents glasses from being scratched.

Absolutely my favourite projector!

P.S. Sorry, never seen any shedding. My thingy that holds the negative strip has no hairs at all.

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), September 20, 2001.

The new Schneider 4X loupe is nice and costs a good deal less than the Leica. Loupes are very difficult to choose. One thing few seem to give is quite enough focussing movement, my Schneider 10X is like this although the 4X is fine. 4x is not enough to see whether anything is critically sharp though - that is where the 8-10X loupes come in.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), September 20, 2001.