Re: building a viewing box (long)
2003-01-18 by Andrew Rodney
> From: "steven0356 <stevenr@...>" <stevenr@...> > Subject: > > I would like to build a viewing box. My office is windowless and I > keep it fairly dark when I am printing or working in Photoshop. I > think I have heard that you can buy day light balanced florescent > bulbs. If so, It seems like you could just buy a fixture at Home Depot, > build a wooden box, wire it up and away you go. > > Although, how would you know if the box was to big or to small for > the light source? > > If you can buy day light balanced florescent bulb were is a good > source? > > Any suggestions or recommendation would be appreciated. Here's an archive post from Joe Holms from the ColorSync list that you may find useful. Credit to Mr. Holmes! Andrew Rodney --- My favorite viewing light solution costs only about one seventh as much as the GTI desktop lightbox with dimmers, takes up no desk space, doesn't flicker, and has colorimetrically better quality light, as well as good color temperature, but it is not very useful for viewing transparencies. For that I use a mini-5000 Just Normlicht box. The print viewing light consists of the following items: One SoLux 4700K, 50 watt, 12 volt, 37 degree beam angle, halogen spot (MR16 type). Go to soluxtli.com for more information. Retail price $15. This is the best quality artificial light that I know of in the world and has a CRI of 99+ in the main part of the beam. Or call Tailored Lighting in Rochester, NY, which created this wonderful lamp, at (716) 647-3199. One length of Halo brand track (basic, single circuit type). Mine is parallel to the wall behind my monitor and positioned 21 or 22" off the wall (my 19" monitor is twisted at a 20 degree angle and almost touches the wall). My track is hardwired and has its own wall switch. Cost maybe ten or twenty dollars for the track. Halo Lighting (847) 956-1537 in Elk Grove Village, Illinois (corporate headquarters, find a dealer). Either a Halo L950 "Cord and Plug Connector" (12-foot three-wire cord with grounded plug, ten amp rating) or a hardwired setup. Probably about fifteen bucks for the cord goodie. One Halo fixture, model number L2770 P (P is the color code which is white. They also make black which has the color code: MB). Fixture costs between about $127 and $179 depending on the store and it is the ONLY one I have found that will make this work right. Beware of using the wrong one (any other one) for reasons that I may explain later! One Halo L111 Soft Focus Lens, cost about $10 to $15, which is a glass disk with a bumpy surface to put into the fixture in front of the lamp to get superior beam smoothness. Mount the fixture right over the monitor's left side and point it down and to the right to illuminate prints held just to the right of the monitor, and put a bit of black mat board across the top of the monitor to keep your dust from being lit up on the face of the monitor. The top of the track (i.e. the ceiling) should be about 45 inches straight up from the center of the monitor to get the intensity right with the 36 degree SoLux lamp. I think they also make both 24 and 12 degree beam angle versions which would need to be mounted further away and might accommodate a much higher ceiling. Total cost about $200 and maybe three hours of work, including mounting the track and getting the parts. The lamp works by letting amber light out the back of the lamp with its dielectric reflector coating and by reflecting more bluish light out the front, accounting for the color temp far above that of the filament. This amber light coming out of the back must be totally absorbed by the fixture so as not to pollute the room with the wrong color of light (about 2000K), and the light coming out the front, but at a wide angle to the beam, which is coming directly from the filament, must also be absorbed by the fixture because it is about 3000K. Only the model L2770 fixture achieves sufficient absorbtion of this unwanted light coming from the lamp. If you want to illuminate a print as large as a full sheet of IRIS output, all you need to do is have two fixtures and adjust them accordingly. This is a wonderful solution to an obnoxious problem, that I love using every day. Prove it! has lots of features for making soft proofing really work... Joseph Holmes Natural Light Photography Kensington, California