Gary Briggs
mamiyaDude
How long has it been since you looked at your slides on the lightbox?
I was trying to get some old ones into sleeves and noticed how wonderful they looked while held up to a window (so I could label them).
So I grabbed a glass of wine and headed to the basement and put them on the LB. WOW it has been a couple years since I have used it, it's so convenient to look at the scan on the screen.
I would guess the projector would be 2nd best, hard to find one in medium format.
Also doesn't the intense light damage the film?
Anyway step away from those damn computers and dust off your LB !
I was trying to get some old ones into sleeves and noticed how wonderful they looked while held up to a window (so I could label them).
So I grabbed a glass of wine and headed to the basement and put them on the LB. WOW it has been a couple years since I have used it, it's so convenient to look at the scan on the screen.
I would guess the projector would be 2nd best, hard to find one in medium format.
Also doesn't the intense light damage the film?
Anyway step away from those damn computers and dust off your LB !
kmallick
Well-known
Its an intense pleasure for me to lay out MF slides on a lightbox. I have some ready to be sleeved in the next few days. I think I am gonna enjoy the next few evenings of my quiet time in the man cave.
ckeith
Newbie
I all ways love it when I get some 8x10 Provia back from developing and get my first look on a light table.
Denverdad
Established
I love looking at my rollfilm images on the light table, but I can only imagine what those 8x10's look like!
HHPhoto
Well-known
Hi Gary,
Yesterday evening
.
I am shooting slide film on a regular basis. I send my film for development to a professsinal lab via mail, two days later the developed film is back.
And then I look at my slides on a daylight lighttable with an excellent slide loupe.
The quality with an excellent slide loupe is outstanding:
Excellent sharpness and resolution, no distortion, the full tonality the slide offers (in contrast to computer monitors), and an almost three-dimensional effect.
I am using the Schneider 4x (for 35mm) and 3x (for medium format 4,5x6, 6x6, 6x7 and even 6x9: the image field is 8cm x 8cm, so with 6x9 you only loose some millimeters left and right, which is irrelevant).
I am very satiesfied and can highly recommend them. You can also use them for negatives and prints (there is a transparent foot for prints and a dark one for slides included, the foot is changeable).
http://www.schneider-kreuznach.com/foto_e/zubehoer_lupen.htm
The Rodenstock loupes are also very good:
http://www.rodenstock-photo.com/en/main/products/magnifiers/aspherical-magnifiers/
From my experience (in my environment) it is much easier and convenient to use the lightbox and loupe instead of the computer:
- no need to scan (saves lots of time)
- much faster: To look at the slide I just have to take the slide and the lightbox. It's just a few seconds.
With computer monitor I first have to boot my computer, which takes much more time.
- much better quality with the loupe and lighttable: The computer monitor only delivers an extremely low resolution of 1-2 MP, with the original slide you have the full package.
And you have the full color brillance and tonality with the slide on the lighttable. No losses like with the monitor.
With a little patience you will find a good one. We've recently discussed exactly this topic here, you may have a look at it:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119669
Projection is not 2nd best, it is first best. That's what slides are made for. Slides on a lighttable with a very good loupe are excellent, but slide projection on a screen is even much more impressive. Outstanding brillance, sharpness, resolution, tonality. It is like you are back in the scene just at the moment you've made the shot.
No, not with modern projectors (well, modern, all those younger than 30-35 years). They all have effective heat filters and cooling systems. And before colors start to fade you can project them about more than 1500x, if you calculate a time of 30 seconds projection time per slide if you run a magazine through your projector.
Modern slide films are very robust.
Even my several decades old slides which have often been projected didn't fade.
+1.
In my daily job I have to sit in front of a computer monitor several hours a day.
I don't want to have also my spare leisure time dominated by computers.
It is so much more relaxing and enjoyable to use real, tangible stuff: Real pictures / slides on a lightbox, impressive slides projected on a screen and parallel listening to good music; looking at the real prints I've made with my own hands in my darkroom.
Leave the digital grind behind.
Cheers, Jan
Yesterday evening
.I am shooting slide film on a regular basis. I send my film for development to a professsinal lab via mail, two days later the developed film is back.
And then I look at my slides on a daylight lighttable with an excellent slide loupe.
The quality with an excellent slide loupe is outstanding:
Excellent sharpness and resolution, no distortion, the full tonality the slide offers (in contrast to computer monitors), and an almost three-dimensional effect.
I am using the Schneider 4x (for 35mm) and 3x (for medium format 4,5x6, 6x6, 6x7 and even 6x9: the image field is 8cm x 8cm, so with 6x9 you only loose some millimeters left and right, which is irrelevant).
I am very satiesfied and can highly recommend them. You can also use them for negatives and prints (there is a transparent foot for prints and a dark one for slides included, the foot is changeable).
http://www.schneider-kreuznach.com/foto_e/zubehoer_lupen.htm
The Rodenstock loupes are also very good:
http://www.rodenstock-photo.com/en/main/products/magnifiers/aspherical-magnifiers/
From my experience (in my environment) it is much easier and convenient to use the lightbox and loupe instead of the computer:
- no need to scan (saves lots of time)
- much faster: To look at the slide I just have to take the slide and the lightbox. It's just a few seconds.
With computer monitor I first have to boot my computer, which takes much more time.
- much better quality with the loupe and lighttable: The computer monitor only delivers an extremely low resolution of 1-2 MP, with the original slide you have the full package.
And you have the full color brillance and tonality with the slide on the lighttable. No losses like with the monitor.
With a little patience you will find a good one. We've recently discussed exactly this topic here, you may have a look at it:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119669
Projection is not 2nd best, it is first best. That's what slides are made for. Slides on a lighttable with a very good loupe are excellent, but slide projection on a screen is even much more impressive. Outstanding brillance, sharpness, resolution, tonality. It is like you are back in the scene just at the moment you've made the shot.
No, not with modern projectors (well, modern, all those younger than 30-35 years
). They all have effective heat filters and cooling systems. And before colors start to fade you can project them about more than 1500x, if you calculate a time of 30 seconds projection time per slide if you run a magazine through your projector.Modern slide films are very robust.
Even my several decades old slides which have often been projected didn't fade.
+1.
In my daily job I have to sit in front of a computer monitor several hours a day.
I don't want to have also my spare leisure time dominated by computers.
It is so much more relaxing and enjoyable to use real, tangible stuff: Real pictures / slides on a lightbox, impressive slides projected on a screen and parallel listening to good music; looking at the real prints I've made with my own hands in my darkroom.
Leave the digital grind behind.
Cheers, Jan
Noll
Well-known
What options are out there for the lightbox-less? Anyone know of some good DIY plans or affordable new/used boxes? Thanks in advance...
Sylvester
Well-known
I use a lightbox instead of contact sheets for my black and white negatives, I really should try using slide film just for the experience.
HHPhoto
Well-known
Good new daylight lightboxes / lighttables are quite cheap.
Therefore no need for DIY.
Just buy one, new or used.
Examples:
http://www.kaiser-fototechnik.de/en/produkte/2_1_sortiment.asp?w=5
http://www.doerrfoto.de/Produkte/index.html
They are not only excellent for viewing color and BW slides, and BW negatives.
They are also excellent for calibrating BW film / developer combinations (taking the shots for the Zone series / evaluating the characteristic curve).
A daylight lighttable (with about 5600°K color temperature) and a very good loupe should be in every film photographers household.
Cheers, Jan
HHPhoto
Well-known
Hi,
just a short addition:
Another possibility to view slides on a lightbox is using a normal 50mm lens as a loupe. The magnification is about 4x.
The advantages of this solution:
- excellent optical quality
- most photographers already have one, therefore often the 'lowest/zero cost solution'.
Disadvantages:
- you have to use it handhold, so dependent on the "calmness / stability" in your hand the distance between the slide (or print) and the lens is a bit varying, therefore the sharpness is also a bit varying;
if you look at more than a few pictures this way you probably realize fatigue both with your eyes and hand
- with the closed/dark foot of a Schneider/Rodenstock slide loupe you have a better brillance with viewing slides, because there is only the light from the lightbox shining through the slide, and no light from the sides reducing brillance as with the 50mm lens solution.
Cheers, Jan
Film explorer
Member
Thanks for that as I need to get a lightbox!!