Light Box

Like many eBay sellers, we do not have room for a photographic studio for taking pictures of the items we put up for sale. The back porch has become our "studio" because it receives diffused sunlight afternoons and on overcast days. To get the same quality indoors, extra time must be spent setting up special lighting, and then after each session returning everything to its normal use. A better system is needed that will permit us to take good quality pictures inside or outside, day or night, and which is convenient to use.

Most of the objects we photograph are small, such as cameras and camera filters. Tests of conventional ring flashes mounted on the camera lens have proven unsatisfactory for this application due to bright reflections. Winding a 5-foot long LED rope light into a spiral about 8 inches in diameter and mounting on a plate with a central hole for the camera works better but is still not satisfactory due mainly to falloff of brightness in the background and difficulty in getting good color balance and fidelity.

The light box shown in the pictures using a fluorescent ring lamp produces good photographic results, is inexpensive and easy to make, and doesn't take much space for storage. Illumination is provided by a Philips FC12T9/CW Circline 12-inch diameter 32 Watt Cool White fluorescent lamp. Actually this provides relatively "warm" light at 3000 degrees Kelvin, and has a good color quality index of 85. A standard quick-start magnetic ballast for this type lamp was purchased on eBay. Total cost of both items was about $25.

The lamp and ballast were mounted in a white plastic lawn chair with the back and arms sawed off. White art board about 1/8-inch thick was cut to fit the openings between the legs on the sides and in back. These were glued in place with silicone adhesive with duct tape covering remaining gaps. After testing, the ballast was secured to the under side of the chair with the same adhesive. Hard foam blocks were cut to size and secured to the under side of the chair with the same adhesive, and the lamp was fixed with a drop of adhesive on each block. Flat white spray paint was used mainly on the outside to cover the duct tape. Finally a hole was drilled for the electric cable and wiring was completed. Total time to make this was about 3 hours not counting drying time.

The front uncovered opening through which the pictures are made is approximately 15 inches wide at the bottom, and 10 inches at the top. The front-to-back distance between the legs is approximately 17 inches. Interior width at the back is about 4 inches wider than in front. Practically all of the inner surface is white, so that a substantial portion of light arriving at the base of the enclosure is diffused rather than direct from the lamp. Objects to be photographed are normally placed on a roll of white paper under the box, further increasing the diffusion. Although the photos do not show it, the base paper can extend inside up the back wall to hide the rear base-wall junction line.

Our photographic tests have been made with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 digital camera in Manual mode at f/1:11 and sensitivity at ASA 80. This results in shutter speeds between 1/80 and 1/200 second for most objects. White balance can be set using the camera's "set" control aimed at the inner illuminated white surface, and it is dead accurate. Provided there is not bright light behind the camera shining into the enclosure, external illumination, whether sunlight or artificial or complete darkness, seems to have little or no effect on the results.

Starting January 23, 2009, all of our photos of small items on our QUANTORUM eBay store will have been made with this light box. One of these is the Nikon microscope part shown above, which clearly demonstrates the quality which can be obtained. We hope this information will be useful to other eBay sellers.