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Harlequin565

Harlequin565

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Ian
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Ah the joys of getting old...

This morning I was making an effort at my latest 52 entry. Toys (blurb here).

It's the first time I've tried to focus using ground glass and I had real problems with my eyesight. I have distance glasses for driving, and middle distance specs for monitor work, and for reading I don't use specs at all. Without specs, I lose focus on the subject at about 8 inches away. With specs it's worse.

Looking on the ground glass, it was very difficult to tell whether I was in focus or not.

2021-05-15-panf-tommy-04.jpg

I was at f/32 so obviously giving myself a bit of wiggle room, and the resulting images look acceptably sharp to me, so I managed it ok, but there were a lot of crossed fingers and the occasional naughty word under my black cagoule.

I've heard that people use loupes to get good close focus, and I've never used one myself, but before splashing out on one, I wondered whether the fact that I can't close focus will still cause a problem.
Anyone got any thoughts, or should I trundle off to an optician?
 
I bought some swing up 4x clip on magnifiers that fit my normal glasses from eBay £5.59 they work well for groundglass focussing and also for fiddly repairs to cameras and electronics.
 
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I am short sighted, with my left eye clear vision ends a literal handspan away. With contact lenses, I use very powerful reading glasses to see the ground glass from a short distance. I always use a loupe.

My caveat has to be that at least some loupes are set up for people of normal vision; without glasses my Rodenstock loupe fails to deliver a clear image unless I adjust the dioptric setting. So, loupe highly recommended, but either get one with dioptric correction or use distance glasses with it.
 
P.S. I got a new loupe for Christmas, so if you'd you'd like to see if a loupe works for you before buying, you are welcome to borrow my old 4x loupe. My new one is 6x.
 
Thanks guys. Sounds like a loupe is the way forward. The clippy-on-glasses ones sound good. Something I don't have to carry about (and lose) sounds right up my street.
 
Failing eyesight ...... just don’t go there. l:runaway:

Loupe is for some , the answer.
For me it varies.
I too have a new 6x loupe with diopter control but tbh I can sometimes judge better with nothing more than the reading section of my glasses.
Personally i find that if too much time is spent trying to nail focus , I actually end up missing it :banghead:
Similarly in the darkroom when critical focusing on the easel
It’s all very frustrating:mad:

auto focus enlarger anyone?!!
:p
 
Like Stephen my clear vision in both eyes ends within a hand span. I use a loupe with my glasses on and it is a boon with them off even more so.
 
What adjustable 6x loupe are people using? they do seem to vary in price quite a lot.
 
I have the same as Asha - bought on his recommendation.
 
I don't know their reasoning, but when I bought my first loupe from Linhof and Studio at their stand at Focus, although they had a range of magnifications, I was recommended to buy a 4x or 6x for 5x4.

My reasoning ties it back to degree of enlargement. At 4x, I'm seeing the sharpness on a 20x16 print from 5x4, and that seems adequate. A 6x means a 60x48 print from 10x8, viewed close up. That seems acceptable.
 
I bought a Kaiser 2351 4.5X loupe which has some eye relief, all of which I need in order to focus on the glass!
 
RaglanSurf said:
Now I do like them but I don't think Im cool enough to rock that particular look.
Click to expand...
You could just get some reading glasses with an extra +3 or so to the diopter portion of your normal prescription & switch glasses for looking at the ground glass. From on-line sources made to spec prescription glasses can be as little as £10.
I no longer need glasses for everyday use so off the shelf reading glasses would be equivalent for me.
I'm fairly sure I'd get better results with a loupe, having just found one at a price I like only £3 for a 10x model in a charity shop. :)
 
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Not sure how strong Tiger (Danish "tat" shop) make their readers but they're (literally!) cheap as chips and do the job (for reading).
 
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