Horizon 10x lupe in Germany?

I bought a light box at last, a Kaiser model, and inspected some of my
transparencies closely with the 10x loupe over the weekend. I use
Provia 100F for MF and Kodak Elite Chrome 100 Extra-Color for 35mm film
(mostly used in a Horizon 202). Considering both manufacturers describe
this as a fine-grained film, I am amazed at the difference. Even the
sharpest Elite Chrome transparencies look speckly and grainy
(dye-cloudy?) at 10x magnification. I would guess they would only look
good at 6-7x magnification. However the Provia transparencies still
look sharp and good at 10x magnification. It is most noticeable in the
blue sky near the horizon. Although the Elite Chrome gives me the
colours I want, I think, on the basis of this inspection, that I will
be moving over to Provia 100F (and maybe Velvia) entirely (I shoot
landscape 99% of the time). I am sure there are many who would disagree
with my findings.

"RolandRB" wrote in message
oups.com...
It arrived today. It took 2 weeks in the post from Russia to Germany.
The lupe is of very high quality. It is adjustable but I nearly have to
unscrew it completely to get things in focus (my eyesight requires a
-0.5 diopter correction). It has a scale on the bottom with millimeters
marked off (removable) which is handy.


Interesting, my eyes are about -1.4, but I don't have to screw my Horizon
loupe all that near to the end of its travel. Eastern Bloc manufacturing
tolerances, perhaps! Still, I agree that the optics are very nice - and the
price is hard to beat.


Peter

RolandRB wrote:
I bought a light box at last, a Kaiser model, and inspected some of my
transparencies closely with the 10x loupe over the weekend. I use
Provia 100F for MF and Kodak Elite Chrome 100 Extra-Color for 35mm film
(mostly used in a Horizon 202). Considering both manufacturers describe
this as a fine-grained film, I am amazed at the difference. Even the
sharpest Elite Chrome transparencies look speckly and grainy
(dye-cloudy?) at 10x magnification. I would guess they would only look
good at 6-7x magnification. However the Provia transparencies still
look sharp and good at 10x magnification. It is most noticeable in the
blue sky near the horizon. Although the Elite Chrome gives me the
colours I want, I think, on the basis of this inspection, that I will
be moving over to Provia 100F (and maybe Velvia) entirely (I shoot
landscape 99% of the time). I am sure there are many who would disagree
with my findings.


Provia 100f is RMS8, as is Velvia 100f and teh upcoming (at least in non-japan)
valvia 100. Valvia 50 is rms 9. velvia 100f should give you similar grain
to provia 100f execept with more saturation (but slight bluish hue easily,
so a warming filter may be a good idea). astia 100f is a rms7 film - you
might give it a try if you want ultra-low grain film, but it might not give
you the colours you want.

If you can, get and "burn" a roll of each and compare the results and pick the
one you like most.

--
Sander

+++ Out of cheese error +++

If you need -1.4 to see at infinity then you are quite short-sighted so
it is no surprise you do not need to unscrew the loupe much. Try
wearing your long-distance glasses (if you have any) while you are
viewing through the loop and adjust it then. Do you have to unscrew it
a lot? Just curious.

I saw RMS 11 quoted for that Kodak Elite Extra Color film.

RolandRB wrote:
I saw RMS 11 quoted for that Kodak Elite Extra Color film.


11 is quite high - provia 400 is rms 13, so KEEC is closer to it than it is
to Fuji 100 speed films.

--
Sander

+++ Out of cheese error +++

"RolandRB" wrote in message
oups.com...
If you need -1.4 to see at infinity then you are quite short-sighted so
it is no surprise you do not need to unscrew the loupe much. Try
wearing your long-distance glasses (if you have any) while you are
viewing through the loop and adjust it then. Do you have to unscrew it
a lot? Just curious.


Just tried it. With my glasses - which I really only use for driving, at
the cinema or theatre, etc. - the loupe focuses close to the middle of its
range, maybe a bit nearer to the short- than the long-sight end of it.

Of course, my prescription is quite old (thinks, better do something about
that) and I base my estimation of the correction my right eye needs on what
I have set the prisms of my LX bodies at, and the fact that a -1.5 is the
best eyepiece lens to use on the MX and X-Pan bodies: ie., it isn't an
optician-measured value.



Peter

Sounds as though I got a bum loupe. I shouldn't be surprised about
anything Russian.But the optics are still excellent.