use a light box?

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to review your negs?

i hate having to hold up a sheet of negs and then hold a loupe to it to view.
does anyone use a light box for this?
i would like one but i'm not handy enough to make a good one and any i have seen for sale are either pretty poor or too expensive for me.

what do you do?

joe
 
I have an 11x14" sheet of white transluscent plexi that I put on a table top easel with a desk lamp behind it - I use binder clips and a movable clip on straight-edge to hold negs while I break out the loupe.

Before that I used a $19 premade under counter kitchen florescent light with a color corrected bulb - it was just the right size for a half roll of 120 uncut.

Neither is particularly elegant - but a lot cheaper than getting a proper light table. I'd rather spend the money on film. :)
 
I use a light box. I bought it quite a few years ago so I can't remember how much I payed. It's a Futura by Logan. It's nothing special but I find it to be invaluable. I just can't look critically at negatives without that even lighting. I know that some people tape their negatives to their computer screens and use a blank white screen for light. Apparently, it works quite well.
 
I use a lightbox for slides (nothing beats it in my opinion).

For negatives, I generally just scan it and view in PS.

Bought mine new at B&H a few years ago, wasn't more than $200 if I remember correctly.
 
I have also been thinking about buying a lightbox for viewing 6x6 slides.

What does one have to look out for when buying a lightbox? Should those using batteries be avoided?
 
I use a Porta-Trace Model 1012. It has a 10" x 12" viewing area. Excellent lightbox. I also use a Peak 8x loupe, around US$30.
 
I couldn't do without my lightbox. I have a small 11x14 that usues batteries so I can just sit around and review negatives.
 
I use a color control box and think sinar sold it for a whild. I con't know what i would do without it. Go on evilbay and look at x-ray viewere. You should be able to get an 11x17 for thirty or so dollars or possibly cheaper. There's little to no market for them today. I bought a new gov. surplus safelight with a 4x8 white plex backlit viewer built in for twenty five bucks and it mounts on the wall. It probably cost the gov. a couple of hundred bucks.
 
I have a thin Logan 8x10" lightpad that I got from B&H, and I think it cost around $60 at the time. It's not as nice as a Cabin or Just Normlicht, but it's quite functional.
 
A cheap substitute would be a under the counter fluorecent light fixture commonly found in hardware stores for $20. It's not color accurate but good for black and white.
 
Joe. Go to thrift stores, or toy shops. Buy a tracing table. They have a florescent light under a white hazed plastic.

They are for children to trace drawings with so there's more than sufficient light. I got one for 5$ CAD. What the ****.. 200$ for a box with a light in it? Jeez.
 
The more expensive boxes have more uniform light distribution and 5000K lamps, and are thinner. Aside from being better for judging color transparencies, you can also use them with a copy stand and another camera (film or digital) for duping transparencies or negatives in any format up to the size of the light box.
 
My cheap but limited solution:
A big sheet of white paper taped to my window. I then tape the very edge of negs I want to look at to that. It only works during the daytime, though.
For general sorting and non-critical looking, I have a no name slide viewer.
Rob
 
I think I'll be making one shortly. I'm just gonna use an under cabinet light fixture, some wood to build a box around the unit and some white (opaque) plexiglass. I'll work on it sometime this week.
 
I use a 30 x 36 inch light box for viewing slides and negs.
 
I have a 6x9 or so one, paid £17 at 7daysshop. Works wonder, and I even use it for "studio" shots as a very convenient softbox...
 
It's one of those things I need to get, but it's far down on the list. I used one at the darkroom I use to hire, it was in something like A3 size. Really nice to be able to get a whole sheet up and still have space left. The tracing tables are a good idea, as long as you only do B/W as I do. Much estate for little money. Gotta get my priorities re-arranged, I think!
 
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