DIY Light Tent?

[Ragnarak]

I wondered whether anyone had had a go at making their own light tent?

There's some great tutorials on how to go about this online and I'm very tempted to give it a go.

http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/light_box_light_tent

http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/19002.html

Anyone ever tried this?

Also, does anyone have any recommendations for cheap lights that I can use different colour filters on? I assume a normal desk lamp and some coloured transparent plastic would work ok?

[Sam]

For £20 you can buy a small one Home > Computers > Digital Cameras / Camcorders > Photography Accessories > Portable Soft Lighting Studio (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-582776-10297371)

[Boink!]

I bought the Portable Soft Lighting Studio from Maplin (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-582776-10297371), part no A03BL for under £20, though to be honest I still haven't used it yet.

[Leigh]

Really like the light tent idea, got a few things i need to photograph myself like that, dead easy to build as well. Cheers.

[danek]

Not sure if this is the same thing or not, but a fellow Flickrer just passed this link on:

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-diy-10-macro-photo-studio.html

[johndavis0]

I bought the Portable Soft Lighting Studio from Maplin (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-582776-10297371), part no A03BL for under £20, though to be honest I still haven't used it yet.
I bought the same one and thing that I still have to use in anger

[Leigh]

So i actually built one of these today. Didnt follow the instructions TBH and only glued the elbows and tee's together. The elbows in B&Q dont allow them to go straight into the tee's so i had to add a piece of pipe first. I also got some black, white and blue paper and added washers (they were in the shed) around the holes to re-inforce them, probably better to use those sticky reinforcers TBH. Having not glued the main poles I can nake the frame wider or change the depth if i need to with a bit more tubing. Cost me £18 for the frame and paper and then another £20 for lights as the ones we had at home werent bright enough. Just got some cheapo £10 anglepoise lights from Ikea.

Took me about 30 minutes to make and most of that was punching the holes in the paper in the right place.

Very pleased with how its turned out :)

http://razer.smugmug.com/photos/83411591-L.jpg

http://razer.smugmug.com/photos/83411598-L.jpg

http://razer.smugmug.com/photos/83411597-L.jpg

http://razer.smugmug.com/photos/83411595-L.jpg

http://razer.smugmug.com/photos/83411594-L.jpg

[johnrevill]

Leigh - looks good. I like the bulb one.

[chrisns]

Looks good! What sort of material are you using to diffuse the light? It looks like a bed sheet!

[Leigh]

It is a bed sheet! :D

[Boink!]

Nicely done, the robot looks like it's in blue screen film fx shot.

[Leigh]

One of my sons Pirakas (Lego) ;)

[Ragnarak]

Very nice.

How well do the lights work? I don't know that much about lighting still but a few of the bits I read go on about expensive balanaced lights etc. Are normal desk lights working ok for you?

[Highlander]

Interested in the lighting too.
Is it best to go for halogen bulbs, rather than normal household bulbs? Do they give a whiter light?

I've got something similar to the portable lighting studio from Maplin (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-582776-10297371), but bought from eBay (http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-582776-5826355) for just over £10 delivered.

[Boink!]

I use three Espressivo (http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10103&storeId=7&langId=-20&productId=10788) lamps from IKEA at £3.99 each. They are small, adjustable and provide a lot of light. Only drawback is that the halogen bulbs get very hot.

[Leigh]

The lights are standard 60w bulbs (again lights from Ikea) they would have been £6 if i had wanted to clip them onto a table, but i wanted a steady base, which was an extra £4

I would probably say that halogen would be better but a bright halogen with a decent light spread angle was about £20 and upwards and i didnt want to pay that. The photos taken above are only using the two 60w lamps (note that the buls im using are pearl type, could possibly be brighter with clear bulbs)

[sworrall]

I use three Espressivo (http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10103&storeId=7&langId=-20&productId=10788) lamps from IKEA at £3.99 each. They are small, adjustable and provide a lot of light. Only drawback is that the halogen bulbs get very hot.
not sure if anyone else is after these but i picked up some exact copies of the ikea lights from WH Smith yesterday. They were half price at £3.99 each.

[Art Vanderlay]

Thought I would bump this thread from the dead to let people know that the Maplin (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump2.php?url=http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-582776-10297371) light tent is half price at the moment and is now £9.99

Search for 'Portable Studio'

I picked one up from my local Maplin at lunchtime

[spickee]

I got one off ebay. Bigger than I was expecting, thinking the 50cm one wouldn't be big enough I went for the 80cm and it was great.

Only about £15 delivered and got a load of inserts as well.

[Boink!]

Good work Leigh. :thumbs:

[tdodd]

It might be worth browsing this thread over on POTN....

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=281524