Finished my DIY light table.

sk66

sk66

Suspended / Banned
Messages
9,557
Name
Steven
Edit My Images
Yes
I'd gotten tired of hobbling together a setup for product photography and started looking at commercially available tables... I have to say that most seem to be pretty crappy for a lot of money. So I decided to build my own. I don't have a lot of space to dedicate to it so I decided to make it "foldable" and on wheels. Set up is easy, just pull the front down and the legs drop into place w/ gravity.

The footprint is ~ 5ft x 3.5ft when folded. The table is 48" deep x 57" wide 1/2" lexan (to allow lighting from below). Frame is primarily 1.5 x 3" aluminum box. There are two holders for standard 54" wide BG rolls that slot in. I only spent ~$350 but I scavenged a lot... the aluminum box is "second" with a lot of little scratches/dings and the lexan was a "drop" (scrap) from a shop nearby (polycarbonate would have been better).

Making something like this from wood would be a lot cheaper, but a lot heavier. To build it with 1st quality box and polycarbonate would cost about 2x what I spent. I considered bolting the uprights to a wall making the whole thing wall mounted; but that would eliminate some advanced lighting possibilities (like cutout backlighting).

Anyways, here it is!

Set-up

DSCF2463 by sk66 on Talk Photography

Folded

DSCF2464 by sk66 on Talk Photography
 
Wow! I thought it was going to be a small table. That's impressive. Let's see it in action.
 
Now that is excellent:clap: nice simple build design but spot on.

can i copy it:)
 
Nice job Steven (y)

Won't that crossbar get in the way of under-lighting? Can it be made removable? I'd just say about my own product table (nothing special) its most useful feature is adjustable height.
 
HoppyUK said:
Nice job Steven (y)

Won't that crossbar get in the way of under-lighting? Can it be made removable? I'd just say about my own product table (nothing special) its most useful feature is adjustable height.
Click to expand...
It may in some instances. That's why I biased it towards the back; I've got ~ 2.5ft clear in front of it. Unfortunately 1/2" lexan is not rigid enough to make that span without bowing (polycarbonate probably would have been), so it's not removable.

I considered ways of making it height adjustable for the occasional overhead shot but I couldn't come up with anything stable enough. So I settled on a slightly lower height and will just have deal w/ it on the rare occasion.
 
sk66 said:
It may in some instances. That's why I biased it towards the back; I've got ~ 2.5ft clear in front of it. Unfortunately 1/2" lexan is not rigid enough to make that span without bowing (polycarbonate probably would have been), so it's not removable.
I considered ways of making it height adjustable for the occasional overhead shot but I couldn't come up with anything stable enough. So I settled on a slightly lower height and will just have deal w/ it on the rare occasion.
Click to expand...

:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top