new darkroom goodies!

[terri]

My indulgent husband, after watching me struggle with this el-cheapo grain focuser that had a viewer about the size of my thumbnail, surprised me tonight with a brand new Microsight. I printed 11x14's last weekend and struggled with this tiny little plastic piece of junk. I think he took pity on me and jumped on ebay. I'd forgotten what a nice one looks like. I'm excited to get back in there and play with it.

He gave me another thing I never even heard of, and I wonder if anyone else uses them. He called it a magna-scope (?) and it looks very retro, plain gray and feels very solid. I can't wait to fool around with it. The mirror looks huge, it must be two inches across! But apparently you don't focus on the grain, just the image itself?

Does anyone use a combination of the two, or is it personal preference?

 

[ksmattfish]

I can't even see through some of the el-cheapo grain magnifiers. I use a Bestwell Microsight, and it has served me well. I've seen the Magna-scopes in catalogs, but I always just assumed they were another grain magnifier.

 

[terri]

Nope, they look very strange, they are stumpy and have the huge mirror and you don't try to see grain. Brad says he likes them for situations when the grain is tight and hard to find. I guess you focus on an area of the actual image, but don't look to see grain. I gotta try it.

Yes, my new grain focuser is from Bestwell. It actually has some weight to it.

I don't have any printing to do this weekend, but I'm going to pop in some negs and play with this stuff.