I made a flat frame panel for the C9.25 SCT today.

Making the flat-frame light box for the SV80 involved a fair amount of construction, of a box and a set of diffusers for an LED light source. For the C9.25 I took a different approach and it was simple.

I ordered an electroluminescent panel from GlowHut. This is amazing – a thin sheet of flexible plastic that is a dull pink colour on one side and dull gray on the other. When 100V voltage is applied, using the supplied transformer, the pink side lights up a bright flat white.

I just sandwiched this sheet between two pieces of lexan and taped it shut with duct tape, then put some peel-n-stick foam strips on the illuminated side to make spacers that will hold it against the C9.25 tube. It took about 30 minutes to do the whole thing.

I’m hoping I can just point the C9.25 upwards and sit the frame on top for taking flats.

I’m not in a position to test it yet. It looks like it will work very well as a flat light source, but I’m a little worried that it may be too bright and require some kind of further masking to reduce the intensity – we’ll see once the weather allows me to try it out. If it does require further masking, I’ll just put some sheets of vellum over the illuminated side.