Any thoughts on building a light testing booth?

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Permalink Reply by igz on June 17, 2010 at 1:25pm

are you talking about building a light proof room?

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Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on June 17, 2010 at 1:48pm

You can make a tear down booth out of black gatorboard for testing the lights.

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Permalink Reply by millenial removing Bernie tattoo on June 17, 2010 at 1:51pm

Ask here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 17, 2010 at 1:53pm

I think what OP is looking for is called an integrating sphere

iggi said:

are you talking about building a light proof room?

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 17, 2010 at 1:55pm

Or here.

More chance you will get the answer you are looking for.

envane x said:

Ask here:

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/

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Permalink Reply by igz on June 17, 2010 at 2:35pm

im not sure how easy access to inegrating spheres is. but doesnt a quality light meter provide with accurate light output of lumens, candlepower, color temperature, etc?

Duppie said:

I think what OP is looking for is called an integrating sphere

iggi said:

are you talking about building a light proof room?

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 17, 2010 at 2:59pm

A lightmeter will measure the light output in one particular direction or spot (Lux), where as an integrating sphere measures all output from a light (Lumens) by equally distributing the light across the sphere and then measuring it.

Generally total Lumens without any other specs is considered somewhat useless, since it is not only important what the total output of a light is, but also how effective it uses those Lumens. This is where reflectors and lenses come in. They define the “throw” of the light.
That is why on enthusiast sites like the one envane mentioned a good light review will be accompanied by pictures of the light output, ideally compared with some commonly used lights. This helps readers determine what a light will look like when used in real life.

Wikipedia entry on Lux

iggi said:

im not sure how easy access to inegrating spheres is. but doesnt a quality light meter provide with accurate light output of lumens, candlepower, color temperature, etc?

Duppie said:

I think what OP is looking for is called an integrating sphere

iggi said:

are you talking about building a light proof room?

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Permalink Reply by Mike Seskauskas on June 19, 2010 at 4:45pm

Thanks everyone for the input. At the moment were going to try and utilize a small office room for the booth. I figured we could block out the windows with black foam core board (like Juan mentioned) and make some small markings on the ground to denote distance and on the wall to denote the distance the light spreads. It seems like this would be a suitable set up to measure Lux. I think we'll try and build a small integrating sphere (if any of you are interested here's a great link on how to make one: http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=200334) to measure lumens. I'll keep you all updated on how these things work out.

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