Model Railroading > Lighting for Light Box

I am going to build a light box to photograph my models, and though there are plenty of instructions on the Net (including videos) on a DIY light box, there is nothing on the kind of light used. Has anyone built a light box and, if so, what kind of lighting do you use? I know I have choices of LED, flourescent, incandescent, etc., and that digital cameras can make adjustments, but would prefer something practical, economical and flexible. 

I am NOT asking about layout lighting, just lighting for the two lights for a light box. I posed this question on the Model Railroader forum and the thread quickly progressed to layout lighting.

Thanks in Advance
Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/15 17:14 by wabash2800.

Cooler is better. I would look at led lights especially the flouredcent tube replacements. Costco has a complete fixture with two 4' tubes for $37. The color temp is stable over the lifetime measured in tens of thousands of hours and if you knock them over or drop them the tubes will not break.

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Thanks fbe but a light box is not that large and typically a stand is using on each side with a lamp on it.

A freind of mine has built a light box using white Gator board type  material.  For his lighting he has used old camera tripods, rigged up a mount using some old bits of plywood for mounting on the tripod and then went into the cleaning section of a Home Depot equivalent and bought some shallow plastic pans (for light deflection) and mounted some light bulb housings in there. 

I do not have photos as he lives in another city here in Australia but does all of the photos for his model import business and all of them are on their website of good quality.

Rick

I've used flash, hot lights, halogen in the past.  Home Depot at one time had a work light with stand and a halogen light included for a reasonable amount.  Set the temp to 5500 kelvin and your good to go.  If you can't set the temp in your camera use the sunny setting.
john

There are some smaller led lights to be used under cupboards for counter top lighting which might work well.

Halogens have been a standard for a long time but they are hot. I would prefer not to have all that heat on fine detail parts and thin, soft handrails.

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I used lightboxes for awhile, but transitioned to remote flashes with reflecting umbrellas. My lightbox set up was also designed to be portable, and was for photographing larger items. 

The main way that I have done lightboxes has been with standard lamps. They have to be VERY bright, in order to have usable light. In other words, a 65W bulb from Walmart will not do the job. 

For the lamps, I used a simple kit from Smith Victor. They are basically 10-12" reflectors on a tripod. Nothing really special. I also used standard cheap lamps from the big box store.
You do have to be careful though, as the cheaper lamps  will have plastic sockets. Because some bulbs (will cover that later) get very hot, it can actually melt the plastic sockets. So, porcelain sockets are the way to go. 

 The bulbs, the old way to go was tungsten bulbs. They were bright enough (want to say like 500W) but they get very hot, use allot of electricity, and the color is weird. Basically, they are kind of yellowish. Later, I migrated to compact fluorescents. These have a white color, burn cooler and cheaper.. The big thing is that they are VERY bright. Equivilent to 500W worked for me. These fit a standard houshold E27 socket. 

Regardless of how you go, the most important thing is color temperature. I used 5000K as that was bright white sunlight. Most standard bulbs are in the 2700K range and will make everything yellow. 

Light boxes take beatiful pictures. I went away from them though as the exposure times were to long. That means a tripod for the camera, and even a remote switch for the camera. Many of the exposures were still 2-3 seconds. I transitioned to useing flash as the exposure times were allot less, which meant I could still hold the camera in hand, and move around to different view points. 

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/15 01:33 by Stottman.

Stottman:

I assume you use one flash but make multiple flashes with one exposure to do away with shadows?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/15 22:57 by wabash2800.

I use two. 

My subject is on the floor (actually white paper), the two battery operated flash units are on individual tripod/stands about 4 feet apart. The reflecting umbrellas are at about 45 degree angles. 

The subject is in the middle, in the sweet spot. I dont use the light box at all. 

The downside to the flash is that don't really get the depth of field I would with a light box. 

I am out at Home Depot now. They have some Lithonia 11" and 14" low profile light led fixtures in round and square. They have built in bulbs with a frosted cover. They are 1100 lumens (75 w) and 1600 lumens for about 100 w. They are approved for full time commercial service. The 11 inchers are $49.97 and 14 inches will be $59.97. There should not be any hot spots.

Let us know how your project works out.

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