Reccomend me a lightbox

Asha

Asha

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Asha
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As the title.
Space is very much a premium so not after anything large.
So long as I can view a couple of 5x4 negs side by side that will suffice….something small/ portable/ easy to pack and store away.
Mains, Battery or USB powered are all possible so open to suggestions
 
I have heard some people use a laptop with a background image of plain white.
 
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medwaygreen said:
These are used by crafter,s for tracing, stencil and drawing work,but,would be great for negs and low cost as well.USB power.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/A4-Ultra...m2cec09b06a:g:JKUAAOSwUDlc9jbi&frcectupt=true

Let me know if you would like to try and I will get one for when you come over, or you can maybe get them in France if needed sooner.
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That will do the job perfectly….Cheers Rich!

France is on the ecluded list of countries for overseas delivery so if you would be kind enough to buy one Rich, I'll collect it and sort monies out with you when I see you in a few weeks.
 
All done.
 
medwaygreen said:
These are used by crafter,s for tracing, stencil and drawing work,but,would be great for negs and low cost as well.USB power.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/A4-Ultra...m2cec09b06a:g:JKUAAOSwUDlc9jbi&frcectupt=true
Click to expand...

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but I want to try "scanning" film with my digicam again. This fleabay link didn't lead anywhere, unsurprisingly, but a search on there found several under a tenner. So @Asha how well did it work?

I ask because of this post in another thread:
thewiccaman said:
There's a lot of YT videos on this very subject: I was watching this one today and have just bought this lightbox to try out 'scanning' negatives with my DSLR - the reviews say that no pixels show through, that the light is uniform. I'll wait and see if that's true.
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The light panel in the second link in that quote comes via ama$on, and is a bit under £20, but I've seen several suggestions that it works well for this task. I don't usually buy from them, but I have a temporary Prime membership that I have to cancel in a couple of days.

So, any advice on whether I should get the more expensive version, or the cheaper ones? BTW I think A5 would be fine for the purpose...
 
ChrisR said:
Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but I want to try "scanning" film with my digicam again. This fleabay link didn't lead anywhere, unsurprisingly, but a search on there found several under a tenner. So @Asha how well did it work?

I ask because of this post in another thread:


The light panel in the second link in that quote comes via ama$on, and is a bit under £20, but I've seen several suggestions that it works well for this task. I don't usually buy from them, but I have a temporary Prime membership that I have to cancel in a couple of days.

So, any advice on whether I should get the more expensive version, or the cheaper ones? BTW I think A5 would be fine for the purpose...
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Hi Chris.
Sadly that cheap lightbox was pretty useless.
I didn’t expect wonders given the price but the continual flickering of the light source made viewing negatives frustratingly difficult.
I have since reverted to my original way to assess negs…… by holding them up to the daylight sky.
 
Thanks @Asha decision made!
 
Wow, both of those are much more expensive... and presumably better. I have ordered an A5 one via the A company (bad me), should arrive tomorrow, so if it's no good I can still return, order the A4 one linked from post #6 above just before my membership lapses, then if necessary return that and have another rethink!

Would either of you (@RaglanSurf or @Sky ) like to add a post to the Big Scanner Thread describing your setups? I'm interested in things like the nature of the support, whether you mask off stray light, how close you need to get to the negative in order to more or less fill the frame, can you get away with AF or do you need manual focus, what inversion software you use, etc.

The "fill the frame" thing is presumably less of an issue if you have a quality digicam with many many pixels, so can afford to crop! The max I can get with mine is 12 Mp.
 
I bought a used X-ray panel from eBay, it wasn't very expensive as I remember. It uses fluorescent tubes so can only be used with slower shutter speeds, I realised this last time I used it as the scans of some large negatives showed a banding effect. Not sure if it is colour balanced for daylight, I image it might be as it is a medical device. I've only used it to view black and white negatives.
 
ChrisR said:
Wow, both of those are much more expensive... and presumably better. I have ordered an A5 one via the A company (bad me), should arrive tomorrow, so if it's no good I can still return, order the A4 one linked from post #6 above just before my membership lapses, then if necessary return that and have another rethink!

Would either of you (@RaglanSurf or @Sky ) like to add a post to the Big Scanner Thread describing your setups? I'm interested in things like the nature of the support, whether you mask off stray light, how close you need to get to the negative in order to more or less fill the frame, can you get away with AF or do you need manual focus, what inversion software you use, etc.

The "fill the frame" thing is presumably less of an issue if you have a quality digicam with many many pixels, so can afford to crop! The max I can get with mine is 12 Mp.
Click to expand...
I will once I get round to using it properly, I've only used it to pick negs to scan. I'm in the process of a complete re-hash of my scanner method, I'm going to try out the DSLR/Pixl-Latr/lightbox system and if successful I'm going to ditch the dedicated scanners and flatbed, once I've done some tests I'll post up the set up.
 
So my A5 light pad arrived today. The light seems very even, and I won't be sending it back. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to use it for scanning negatives at the moment. I only have a Fujifilm X10, which does have nice macro and super macro modes that allow focus within an inch or two, close enough to fill the frame with the negative. However, my first quick tests indicate that the close macro modes only work at the widest setting of the zoom lens, where they exhibit really poor barrel distortion. I'll have a read of the book I've got, and experiment a bit more, but I'm not hopeful.

Now off to cancel that free Prime subscription before I have to pay any $$!
 
ChrisR said:
Now off to cancel that free Prime subscription before I have to pay any $$!
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Slightly off topic but be sure that you have completed the procedure and ticked every box etc etc.

I inadvertently set myself with prime a few months ago not realising until I was billed for it.

I cancelled tbe agreement through tbe Amazon website genuinely believing that all was good.
The following month I was billed again.

Just as it is very easy to accidentally set up the prime subscription , it is also too easy to cancel it unsuccessfully!
 
Asha said:
Slightly off topic but be sure that you have completed the procedure and ticked every box etc etc.

I inadvertently set myself with prime a few months ago not realising until I was billed for it.

I cancelled tbe agreement through tbe Amazon website genuinely believing that all was good.
The following month I was billed again.

Just as it is very easy to accidentally set up the prime subscription , it is also too easy to cancel it unsuccessfully!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the warning. I think I've been successful, having negotiated the 5 separate things offering me options to keep the benefits of my membership. There is an emai saying it's cancelled, anyway!
 
BTW I scanned a film yesterday, and for the first time I was able to examine the negatives with a loupe after loading the film strip holder. Found that very interesting, comparing what I saw with the scans! The scanner can certainly dig a lot more detail out of the thin areas than my old eyes can.
 
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