Light Panel Recommendations

[Bobonli]

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Please suggest an LED light panel to be used as a light box to look at negatives and slides. There are dozens on Amazon by brands that don't sound familiar and, as such, I'm not sure I'd be getting something suitable for what I want to do, versus a dimly lit box for tracing art projects. I'd like one with adjustable color temp, A4. USB -C would be nice but not essential

I tried Google searching and the results were all advert-orials; for example, "Best Light Panels of 2023." Useless. I'm  a serious amateur, so I don't need a $500 device that a production studio would use.

Thank you. 

[250swb]

Kaiser Slimlite Plano although the colour temp is set to 5000k

[Sandokan]

I bought one of the cheap ones from Amazon but luckily they gave me my money back. Pushing the power button had no effect, nothing lit up when charging it, it was so light, I really doubt there were any electronics inside. 

[Bobonli]

I found my old lightbox in the basement, so I'll use that although I'd prefer something a bit slimmer/compact, saving seen what modern technology has brought to the game! I looked at the reviews on the Amazon products...even the Slimline Plano has some negative reviews. But I'm also not willing to pay $$$ for a professional grade studio device like those on B&H. I'll keep my eyes peeled and content myself with my 30 year old Porta View.

[Xícara de Café]

I use this cheap Chinese daylight-temperature LED panel which I bought from a local lighting shop:

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It does produce tiny hotspots, so if used by itself you'd need to raise the negative holder to render the hotspots out of focus. But the solution for me has been to use the Pixl-latr negative holder which has a diffuser panel at its base. So it can be placed directly on the LED panel. I've been really happy with it. See: https://www.pixl-latr.com

[hansvons]

I use an iPad and MyLight (app). 

[250swb]

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On 2/21/2024 at 12:07 PM, jerrybro said:

I was in the same boat needing a good LED light panel, not just for looking at negatives and slides but also for some photography work. Finding the right one was tricky because there are so many options out there, and like you, I didn't want to end up with something meant for tracing that's too dim. 

It's only a tricky decision if you are trying to buy something exceptionally cheap. Even an iPad as suggested can give you enough light, but if that light is diffused enough so it doesn't show the underlying LED's is another thing, as is colour temperature. And if a Kaiser SlimLite Plano isn't bright enough (as some people claim) then they haven't got a stable enough copying setup in the first place given the shutter speed difference for copying is only likely to be a stop or two between a good basic light source and an ultra bright bespoke light source.

[LocalHero1953]

My exposures for negative copying with a Kaiser Slimlite are of the order of a second or under at f/8.