Re: DIY light source for 10X10" enlarger.

On 4/9/2008 9:23 AM jjs spake thus:

> First, I am limited to ~110V AC power although converting to DC is an 
> option. How about a simple array of 'white' LEDs at the top, pointing
down 
> over the typical sheet of plastic translucent material found in home
supply 
> places?  Or should it be fine ground glass?

Fine ground glass, definitely. Which you can easily make yourself out of 
any ordinary window glass. (You know how to do that, right? using 
valve-grinding compound, etc.)

I got my old Elwood 5x7 illuminating very sweetly by "tweaking" the 
glass diffusers that came with it (it had 3 sheets of glass in a 
sandwich). I ended up grinding one of them on both sides, which made a 
remarkable difference. "Tuned" it by making blank exposures (no neg) and 
checking for consistent gray tone across the field. (Most of the 
"tuning" consisted of rotating the light bulb with respect to the 
enlarger, so if you use a LED array, you probably won't have to do this.)


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