Build Your own Light Box

A light box, the bigger the better, is essential to slide handling.

A light box is a must for laying out large numbers of slides for shows and other editing. The best way to tell whether a slide is sharp or not, is by viewing it on a lightbox with a X 8 loupe.

However, commercially produced lightboxes are expensive! Especially larger ones. Fortunately, with a little knowledge, it is relatively easy and cheap to make your own.

How to make your own light box

Old drawers are easy to come by, line one with reflective foil. Get a piece of 3-5mm opal perspex cut to size. Put an appropriate number of fluorescent fittings with colour corrected tubes inside, spaced a foot apart. Drill holes for ventilation and bring a flex out, put a plug on it and you have a light box at one-fifth commercial cost. You may not be able to note the scale across the top and along the side from this picture. The scale is for easy reference to calculate the number of slides on the box.

Ideally, the fluorescent light fittings chosen should be High Frequency type with colour 93 or 94 Triphosphor tubes. Alternatively, as these fittings are expensive, conventional fittings with Northlite 55 or Trucolour 38 tubes affords a good compromise. The number after the name is the percentage of the visible spectrum that a tube emits, higher numbers being better of course.

The number of lights required in your light-box can be determined by metering with your camera. At 100ASA you should get F8 to F11 at 125^th with the lens pointing downward and resting on the diffuser.