My Pentax 5.5 came with both bases. I thought they all came that way - at least if bought new.
BTW, I do love mine! Bruce Tuesday, April 20, 2004, 10:24:13 PM, you wrote: SB> The Pentax loupe has two options for viewing. One is a clear SB> base that sits over the neg, the other, more unusual and SB> more difficult to find afaik, is a black base. The black SB> base reduces stray light, and, therefore, increases the SB> color and contrast while reducing flare, when using the SB> loupe on a light box. I wonder how many people have SB> compared the Schneider, which, iirc, has a dark base, to the SB> clear base of the Pentax loupe? SB> shel SB> Alan Chan wrote: >> >> I tried one many years ago so I don't remember anything about distortion. I >> do remember, however, the Schneider 4X MC has the extra punch and appears >> slightly more contrasty, better colour and less flare. However, the Pentax >> 5.5X is still a very fine loupe. With the loupes that I have (Schneider 4X & >> Cabin 8X), I have found distortion would be most noticeable when my eye was >> not positioned dead centre. I guess some people viewed from a distance so >> they thought there was huge distortion when it should be viewed at close >> distance. >> >> Regards, >> Alan Chan >> http://www.pbase.com/wlachan >> >> >I did some research on the Pentax 5,5x lupe. Judging by the specs it seems >> >to be one of the best alternatives for a photographer with glasses - >> >mainly because of it�s big eye relief. The thing is that there are totally >> >contradictory verdicts on a possible distortion problem. Three reviews on >> >the net say there is huge pincushion distortion and two say there is none. >> >Is there a quality control issue with Pentax or whats going on here? Any >> >comments? >> > >> > -Matti >> >> _________________________________________________________________ >> MSN Premium with Virus Guard and Firewall* from McAfee� Security : 2 months >> FREE* >> http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-ca&page=byoa/prem&xAPID=1994&DI=1034&SU=http://hotmail.com/enca&HL=Market_MSNIS_Taglines
