Light Table + Loupe
November 11, 2006
I really wish I had a small light table and loupe right now. :\
Oh, can anyone recommend a nice, and reasonably priced, light table and loupe? The prices seem to range from $15 to around $90, and beyond temperature controlled lights, I can’t really tell the difference.
For slide viewing or shooting?
I’m ordering one of these for shooting:
http://store.tabletopstudio-store.com/ilflpa.html
Mostly slide / negative viewing before scanning, to confirm the focus of the image, etc.
That’s a nice idea for shooting, though… By the way, what’s your eBay ID? I’m just kinda curious, because you talk so much about selling stuff on there.
B&H has most of the usual brands. Just got the latest catalog so I’ll take a look for one in the am.
I’m gpsauctions on ebay. Just about all my sales come from my store listings so you won’t see too many auctions.
Ha, I just realized that the latest B&H catalog is sitting right next to me, under one of the slide boxes.
I’d also check Adorama. They normally have the best price you’ll find anywhere.
for a loupe, get a nice one at any photo store.. it’s just a lens, so get one that is the size you want.
For the light table, there are two things you can do that I can think of:
1. take an old laptop or TFT screen, remove the LCD, and drive the CCFT from any CCFT driver. Perhaps throw a piece of frosted glass or plexi on top of that so that the thing you’re viewing doesn’t get caught or scratched on the edge.
2. build the lightbox as seen in Make recently; a white storage bin with a light bulb in it, with the piece of plexi on top of that. I’d add vent holes so that the plastics involved don’t melt.
Either shouldn’t cost more than $20.
Yeah, that’s true… I can get daylight colored bulbs all over the place, and building the starter + ballast + bulb combo is easy. Hopefully a decent loupe won’t be more than $20 – $30.
http://www.apexelectronic.com/light_box.htm