Light box/table opinions

[Drew Wiley]

Just depends on how accurate you need the color to be. High CRI tubes way up there in the CRI 98 5000K range are pricey and hard to find. Then you need exactly the right kind of diffusion plastic and even a special reflectance paint inside the box. VERY few commercial units actually live up to that full set of standards. But if that kind of critical accuracy is not a priority, and you just want to casually examine your film, it's pretty darn easy to make these things or buy them any number of places, or
get them downright free from some old graphics firm or print shop shutting down.

[Jmarmck]

Drew, I definitely do not need color corrections. I just need a portable, well lit, flat surface ........ rather than me holding the neg up to some light bulb. I figure that the price of the one I just ordered was less than my time to fabricate one. Maybe not as fulfilling though. Besides my shop area, like my darkroom are, well, not functional. The space is allotted just not utilized yet. How long has it been allocated we will not discuss.

I hope it will be everything I dreamt of. .

[Tin Can]

It will be fine. Time and money.

[wiggywag]

These Super Bright LED light tables, are they not too bright? Im looking for something like that my elf but unsure if I will find them annoyingly bright. I think there is a sweetpoint of brightness when you evaluate a negative?

[John Kasaian]

IMHO a See-Rite (or similar) from Michael's or other crafts/artsy fartsy store works just fine.

[scheinfluger_77]

Just received an L4S Huion for Christmas. It’s pretty cool but i think it’s the basic model without a battery. Haven’t had a chance to look at negatives yet but it should be fine. I expect with the proper sized mask i can use this as a quick and dirty light source for my Epson 3200. Starting 5x7 but did not want to upgrade just yet. Thought this might be a temporary work-around.

[Paul Ron]

ive been looking at these....

https://www.amazon.com/negative-view...%20light%20box

[angusparker]

The LED versions are the best these days, the old tube design is bulkier and not portable as it needs to be plugged in. I have two different sizes of these: https://www.amazon.com/Kaiser-Slimli.../dp/B01LTGVRLE

Kaiser is one of the better brands for a specific light wavelength. I’d avoid the ones design for tracing even though they are cheaper. Probably also matters if you are doing just B&W or color transparencies.

[Pieter]

I have one of these, works well for B&W. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Dimmer sometimes gets hit accidentally while moving a negative page around on the lightbox, but for the price, it's pretty good.