Electroluminescent Light Panel

[BlueAstra]

Made up a light panel for flats using an A3 panel from here:

EL Panels

and two opel perspex sheets from here:

OPAL 5MM ACRYLIC PERSPEX PLASTIC SHEET 297 x 420mm A3 on eBay (end time 29-Mar-10 08:15:11 BST)

Put the panel between the perspex sheets and sealed the edges with masking tape. Taped the connector to the back of the sheet to protect it. Oh well, there goes another excuse for duff photos

[Ford Prefect]

Looks exactly the same as mine One word of caution though, the connector sticking out the side of the Perspex can be fragile, I managed to snap mine and had to replace the ELsheet

Another tip is if you are attending a star party its worth taking a thick blanket with you to cover the elsheet when you’re taking flats as so not to disturb other imagers

cheers Jon

[steppenwolf]

Looks very smart indeed - mine is just double-sided taped to a piece of Corex.

[BlueAstra]

Looks exactly the same as mine One word of caution though, the connector sticking out the side of the Perspex can be fragile, I managed to snap mine and had to replace the ELsheet

Another tip is if you are attending a star party its worth taking a thick blanket with you to cover the elsheet when you’re taking flats as so not to disturb other imagers

cheers Jon

Yep, read your thread before buying and followed your experience

[afm038]

Please forgive my ignorance on these things, I'm just wondering about light panels, do they have to cover the full aperture of the scope ? What would happen if the light panel left a couple of small un-illuminated strips down each side of the scope aperture ?

Thanks, Andy

[BlueAstra]

Not sure what would happen in that case. It would depend on the exact nature of the optical system. I think the important thing is to create a uniform illumination across the aperture to take out vignetting (light beam clipping) with the flat that gives dark corners in the photos. The flat also records dust and other defects that can be subtracted from the final image.