Re: filmscanners: Re: Solux lights

["Dave King" <kingphoto@mindspring.com>]

Joseph Holmes writes:

My favorite viewing light solution costs only about one seventh as
much as
the GTI desktop lightbox with dimmers, takes up no desk space, doesn't
flicker, and has colorimetrically better quality light, as well as
good
color temperature, but it is not very useful for viewing
transparencies.
For that I use a mini-5000 Just Normlicht box. The print viewing light
consists of the following items:

One SoLux 4700K, 50 watt, 12 volt, 37 degree beam angle, halogen spot
(MR16
type). Go to soluxtli.com for more information. Retail price $15. This
is the best quality artificial light that I know of in the world and
has a
CRI of 99+ in the main part of the beam. Or call Tailored Lighting in
Rochester, NY, which created this wonderful lamp, at (716) 647-3199.

One length of Halo brand track (basic, single circuit type). Mine is
parallel to the wall behind my monitor and positioned 21 or 22" off
the
wall (my 19" monitor is twisted at a 20 degree angle and almost
touches the
wall). My track is hardwired and has its own wall switch. Cost maybe
ten
or twenty dollars for the track. Halo Lighting (847) 956-1537 in Elk
Grove
Village, Illinois (corporate headquarters, find a dealer).

Either a Halo L950 "Cord and Plug Connector" (12-foot three-wire cord
with
grounded plug, ten amp rating) or a hardwired setup. Probably about
fifteen bucks for the cord goodie.

One Halo fixture, model number L2770 P (P is the color code which is
white.
They also make black which has the color code: MB). Fixture costs
between
about $127 and $179 depending on the store and it is the ONLY one I
have
found that will make this work right. Beware of using the wrong one
(any
other one) for reasons that I may explain later!

One Halo L111 Soft Focus Lens, cost about $10 to $15, which is a glass
disk
with a bumpy surface to put into the fixture in front of the lamp to
get
superior beam smoothness.

Mount the fixture right over the monitor's left side and point it down
and
to the right to illuminate prints held just to the right of the
monitor,
and put a bit of black mat board across the top of the monitor to keep
your
dust from being lit up on the face of the monitor. The top of the
track
(i.e. the ceiling) should be about 45 inches straight up from the
center of
the monitor to get the intensity right with the 36 degree SoLux lamp.
I
think they also make both 24 and 12 degree beam angle versions which
would
need to be mounted further away and might accommodate a much higher
ceiling.

Total cost about $200 and maybe three hours of work, including
mounting the
track and getting the parts. The lamp works by letting amber light out
the
back of the lamp with its dielectric reflector coating and by
reflecting
more bluish light out the front, accounting for the color temp far
above
that of the filament. This amber light coming out of the back must be
totally absorbed by the fixture so as not to pollute the room with the
wrong color of light (about 2000K), and the light coming out the
front, but
at a wide angle to the beam, which is coming directly from the
filament,
must also be absorbed by the fixture because it is about 3000K. Only
the
model L2770 fixture achieves sufficient absorbtion of this unwanted
light
coming from the lamp.

If you want to illuminate a print as large as a full sheet of IRIS
output,
all you need to do is have two fixtures and adjust them accordingly.
This
is a wonderful solution to an obnoxious problem, that I love using
every
day.

Joseph Holmes