Lightbox and loupe help

[raptor84]

Thinking of getting a medium sized lightbox and loupe to view my unmounted slides. The light box shloud be about A4 size or slightly bigger and any decent loupe to view 135 format slides will do. Prefebly all should cost about $200 or so. Is this price to low or is it more than enough?

 

[madmacs]

i got my lightbox from ruby. think less than $50 can view 8x10 size. loupe depends on brand and magnification. got cheap got ex.

 

[raptor84]

Any idea on the price range? Like does more magnification mean more $$ ?

 

[madmacs]

cant remember the price. cathay has a good range.

 

[raptor84]

Thanks will go down when i have the time

 

[kex]

a 4x loupe will cover a 35mm slides nicely.

i would recommend a schneider 4x which cost ard $200 if i'm not wrong.

dun get a low quality one,u will get dizzy viewing thru it..

 

[raptor84]

Wah kinda expensive :O hehe maybe i try the reversed 50mm trick ...

 

[MDZ2]

I made my own loupe with the eyepiece of an old binoculous and a translucent film canister. Its about 10x and gives great details.

 

[sweat100]

Since you are seeing slides, I suggest you get the colour calibrated ones at 5000k. I am using the Gepe one bought from cathy. 4" x 5" viewing area is around $100. It was a bit ex, but then when you compare to those non calibrated ones, u can tell the difference. Also it doesnt flicker, so it wouldnt hurt your eye.
As for loupes, try to get a decent quality one. I once got the $12 loupe from ruby and returned it the next day because there is too much colour fringing. See already will make you dizzy. For viewing 35mm, you can try the peak 8x ones. It is designed to fit the whole full 35mm frame. 8x is critical for checking picture shapness. Pretty good. Still have fringing though. If you can fork out more, do go for the rodenstock or schnieder ones. I have seen rodenstock 4x selling at cathy at $199. The contast and sharpness is :bigeyes:!

 

[raptor84]

Haha this first roll of provia may have been a very expensive mistake and making my BBB virus worse... well after seing the colours and 3Dness i'm pretty hooked.

What are the reccommended brands for light boxes and loupes in general. So far i have learnt that the good light tables are bout $100 for small sized ones and the loupes are 2x the price... I ws hoping for a decent set up for about $200-$250. If that means sacrificing too much in either the light talbe or loupe i will problably hold off untill i cna aoffrd good ones.

But if i get a $100 lightable and a $100 loupe will it be good enough for normal viewing. I think think i'll be doing high volume shooting with slides as they are not cheap..

 

[ericp]

I second the advice about color-corrected lightboxes and good quality loupes. I have a simple flourescent lightbox which I bought when I ventured into slides years ago, and the difference with my current color-corrected Cabin panel now is quite apparent ... the non-corrected lightbox will give a bluish cast.

I also bought a cheap Kaiser loupe when I started ... used it all of 2-3 times before I got dizzy. Easiest path to spoil your eyesight. I then bought a Nikon, still not quite there, though a major improvement, and now I'm on a Cabin loupe that's superb. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be sold anymore at Cathay where I bought it ... IIRC it was around $120 or so ... I think it's 5X.

Just bring a few good slides, with good detail and colors, down to Cathay, Ruby or any of the other shops you can get to, and just test things out. Make note of how good they are, and how much they cost, and I'm sure you can find something that'll fit in your budget. You just gotta be careful ... I made the "mistake" of looking through a 6X Schneider loupe at Cathay ($300+, I think), and nearly handed my credit card over :bsmilie: ... it was sooo nice ...

 

[raptor84]

Haha never try something you cannot afford... I'll find one free day to go down and see. Only jsut shot my first roll of slides

 

[sweat100]

Haha never try something you cannot afford... I'll find one free day to go down and see. Only jsut shot my first roll of slides

Same here, it was my first roll of velvia that made me pour out nearly 200 bucks for a lightbox and loupe. Go down to cathy and look for christopher, he is very good and can tell you alot about it. Peak loupes are $80+ so it should fit ur budget. "Prevent" urself from looking though the rodenstock loupe they offer. :devil:

 

[madmacs]

found my loupe box.. mine is a peak 10x loupe. price tag says $31. this one is pretty good.

 

[raptor84]

THanks for the help all.. hehe i will try to solve my BBB delimma soon. Admins please Close this thread now...

 

[Terence]

You can close the thread yourself, check out the thread tools.

Cathay has a Rodenstock 4x in stock for $199 (quite a bit on the pricey side), superb. Another great line of lightboxes would be the Just Normlicht Smart Light series which come in many different sizes.