Let there be affordable Light Box's! - Page 2

bluescope · #21 14-11-2008, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by h0ughy

lol ordered the A3 and the customiseable one for 33 dollars - all work off 12v -- should have them monday

Hi Dave

Do you mean you bought an A3 sheet and the custom sizeable sheet both for $33 ?

h0ughy (David) · #22 14-11-2008, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluescope

Hi Dave

Do you mean you bought an A3 sheet and the custom sizeable sheet both for $33 ?

no the A3 sheet is 150, the customisable one is 33 - dont get your hopes up LOL

AlexN · #23 14-11-2008, 04:26 PM

I ordered the customisable one for now.. I'll see how well it works on the APO's if its all good, I'll pay up for the A3 one for the C11

bluescope · #24 14-11-2008, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by h0ughy

no the A3 sheet is 150, the customisable one is 33 - dont get your hopes up LOL

That's what I thought Dave ....

Looks like a great techno gizmo that could be perfect due to it's light construction and low power needs etc. Would be easy to fashion a custom built frame for a scope just like a solar filter.

monoxide · #25 14-11-2008, 06:21 PM

nice!
be sure to post some flats guys

RB (Andrew) · #26 14-11-2008, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monoxide

nice!
be sure to post some flats guys

Will do, as soon as we get a chance.
I'm very interested to see how bright these are.
The cuttable version would be ideal for use on camera lenses when doing widefields (flats).

monoxide · #27 14-11-2008, 06:34 PM

im interested in the exposure times too, although i do have a gadget here for my QHY8 when running off a battery to dial the voltage down, mabee it could be used to adjust the brightness of the screen?

AlexN · #28 14-11-2008, 06:56 PM

apparently they can be run from a 9v battery for around 3hrs, this lowers their brightness.. so yes, a voltage regulator would be great

netwolf · #29 14-11-2008, 07:40 PM

Wow this thread really took off and good going finding a local source Alex.
I too intially found this chap through the QHY Site and seems he has made it to APOD and another on SkyantTelescopes editors Choice . So i thought he must to know what is doing, and wanted to look at his equipment list and thats when i found what he was usign for flats. Once i get my act together and get back out there i will certainly be looking at getting one of these.

Have a look at his APOD work
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081107.html
This was done with a Tokina 300mm f2.8 lens.

AlexN · #30 14-11-2008, 08:24 PM

Fahim, I must admit, I didnt find the local source...

It was Hagar (Doug) who pointed me to it 1 day before you posted this thread... I was stoked to think that for $33 I could start taking flats, and better my images...

I'll be sure to post up a few flats as soon as it arrives.

J-P's spent a hell of a lot of time on his setup, and its paid of brilliantly.. The 300mm F/2.8 lens is perfect for what he needs, and at F/2.8, shooting 20 minute subs... The man goes DEEP!

The first time I looked at the pics on his site and saw the light board, I didnt read the text right, and assumed he back lit the white sheet with a difuse light source...

Hagar (Doug) · #31 14-11-2008, 09:26 PM

Hi Guys, Just found this thread. I have ordered an A3 with inverter and 12V socket. Cost $140 + GST + Post from a source in Melbourne www.elau.com.au I have spent quite some time looking into to this item and had many email discussions with users in Europe. It appears the true colour of the light source is almost irrelevant. The real power in the sheet is the fact that the light source is of equal intensity accross the entire surface. The European users all seem to be of the opinion that these sheets are bu far the greatest light source for flats any of them have ever used.
I may be wrong but I am under the impression that flats are converted into monochrome images when being setup to make a master flat frame for calibration. Most software also carries out a few other processes on the base images to soften the image prior to combining. If the intensity of the sheet is uniform the final image created will be much better than say a sky flat which will always exhibit a slight gradient accross the field due to small changes in the earth/sun position.
I was actually waiting to firstly make the purchase and test the sheets before starting a thread. Looks like Fahim is following the same tak as me.

All I can say is if the results I get are as good as the European results I will be over the moon and will have a ready source of flat frames which can be rolled uo and stored in a post tube or fitted to a flat panel with double sided tape and will run on 12 volts at a fraction of the cost of custom made light boxes and probably give a more even illuminated flat frame.

I will post some images as soon as it arrives.

There are quite a few suppliers in Australia so you should be able to find one in your own area. Just google "Electro Luminous sheets"

citivolus (Ric) · #32 16-11-2008, 02:32 PM

My biggest concern with these is that they are driven by (relatively) high voltage AC. Combine that with dew & moist ground and you could get a bit of a buzz when you bump your scope, or it could potentially feed back through your mount electronics. Make sure you isolate your terminals well!

h0ughy (David) · #33 16-11-2008, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by citivolus

My biggest concern with these is that they are driven by (relatively) high voltage AC. Combine that with dew & moist ground and you could get a bit of a buzz when you bump your scope, or it could potentially feed back through your mount electronics. Make sure you isolate your terminals well!

12 VOLTS WITH A CIG LIGHTER SOCKET?

AlexN · #34 16-11-2008, 02:45 PM

they can be powered through 12v Ric... As a matter of fact, the small customizable one only comes with 12v power option.. The bigger ones come with the choice of either..

MrB (Simon) · #35 16-11-2008, 03:01 PM

Yes, but the 12v is bumped up with an inverter unit to hv ac.
Having said that, I can't see any problem with it, as long as everything is well sealed/insulated.

RB (Andrew) · #36 16-11-2008, 06:29 PM

Also, it doesn't take that long to take flats, so I don't see dew being too much of a problem especially if the unit is placed in a box enclosure of some sort.
Normal precautions should suffice.

AlexN · #37 16-11-2008, 06:32 PM

yeah, my small one will be laminated, the placed into a plastic frame of some sort, I'll silicone up the area where the cables come out of it, and bobs your uncle!

RB (Andrew) · #38 16-11-2008, 06:42 PM

Hopefully they'll arrive in the next day or two, can't wait to see if they'll perform well for flats.

AlexN · #39 16-11-2008, 06:45 PM

indeed! (will be my first time taking flats! fingers crossed it works well

JohnH · #40 16-11-2008, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

Exposures shouldn't be too short Alex. 2-10 sec is what is usually recommended, though lots of people use shorter. I suppose the old T shirt trick could be used with it.

Any reason why a flat needs exposures to be 2-10s long? I must admit to using my laptop screen set to display a pure white 1024*768 image to take flats. So long as focus and imaging train are not adjusted it seems to work ok from nigh to night...my exposures are typically .05 secs though!