Light table - suitable lights for

Small fluorescent tubes such as found in kitchens etc? Sand blasted glass could be better for a screen as it is more durable.

I have a 60W circular fluorescent I use face up for such a purpose. It's an old type with flat translucent cover rather than the modern fancy etched glass saucer. I can get about 45 2x2 slides on its 18" diameter. It's slightly dimmer in the middle than at the edges -- of no consequence for viewing, but might be if you're going to photograph the slides en masse.

I doubt if you can buy one like mine other than in a junk shop, as IIRC translucent covers are illegal under current lighting regs, but this may give you some ideas. Other than a circular tube, a couple of modern B-shaped fluorescents under a sheet of plastic would probably work.

Chris

Shallow boxes are much too difficult to make. Make a deep box instead, give the inside a coat of good white gloss and use reflected light to illuminate things. A couple of small fluo tubes with ply or MDF lids over them to stop direct light will give a much more even lighting than a shallow box and direct line-of-sight to a bulb, even with a diffuser.

Can you beg, borrow or steal an X-ray viewing box from somewhere?

They seem to be the right size and sort of light for you.

They're usually lit with fluorescent tubes.

A good look at this one

I like the idea of deeper white painted box but I'd use matt white rather than gloss otherwise you will get a highlight from the light source at some points.

No need to go for lids a strip along the back of the tube/fitting wide enough so that no direct light can reach the viewing glass. Everything inside painted white including the strips.

Use a fluorescent - if you have a large source you can avoid the hot spot problems.

There's about four stops brightness difference between typical matt and gloss white paints.

I know you're into stained glass (from your other posts).....

I wonder if you've ever tried to make a lightbox to show off stained glass...

With the new Craft Fair season coming along - I was thinking about better ways of displaying stained glass suncatchers - and was wondering about some sort of fold out lightbox display - but concerned that it shouldn't be too bright and 'dazzle' people....

Can't always rely on sunlight to show off the glass - and it does need light from behind for best effect...

Any experience of this ? TIA

Adrian

======return email munged================= take out the papers and the trash to reply

Yes, several. Deep boxes with straight fluo tubes and no diffuser.

Some of this depends on the glass - some looks better with more diffuse light, highly textured glass needs a bit of a point source or you lose the variation in brightness with angle. Hanging the piece from a short chain and allowing it all to wobble a bit can help too - movement adds sparkle.

Our "suncatchers" are mainly Swarovskis and beads, rather than flat glass. Spot lighting from the front is important to get a good sparkle. I've been using 12V dichroic spots, and with metal foil snoots or even lens systems to get a spot beam.

Helen prefers a simple approach of halogen floods at about half a kilowatt / metre of shopfront. Keeps the stall warm in Winter too!

With translucent 'perspex' on the front ? You don't find that you get too much 'glare' ?

At the last show I did back in December I had a lovely lighting setup

- 8ft x 4ft window high up in the wall with the sunlight streaming in

- lit everything up a treat. The the people on the next stall complained that it was too bright - so the organisers stuck some cardboard over the window - darn ! Need my own 'portable' sunlight

Slightly different to me - but you're right - needs a combination of lighting to get the best.

I've got this image of the snow 2" thick around the stall, but yourselves there in straw hat & sunglasses .

I suppose if there's 'enough' light around (from the floods) then a light-coloured material behind the hanging glass will give some 'back-lighting' - maybe I'll try that before doing anything more elaborate. I've got a couple of 150watt floods - I'll have a play.

Need to think generally about displays - it didn't matter so much when you were only paying a tenner or £20 a table - but when stand fees get up, (and beyond) the £100 mark then 'every little helps!'

Thanks for the advice. BTW - you don't know where I can buy those 'double-headed pins' that they use to hold jewelley on display stands, do you ??

Take care Adrian ======return email munged================= take out the papers and the trash to reply

You can still get a flare from gloss and fluories. Perhaps my choice of the word "points" wasn't descriptive enough. A linear fluory will produce a linear flare. A 2D type might be better but making the mask will be harder. One to covering the entire back of the tube area I think you be to big and produce a dark area.

Shouldn't imagine that is a problem for a light box for view slides.