Originally posted by Nick Siebers Does anyone know if one can use a white computer screen for a light box? Since I have one of those handy...
The pixels might cause some sort of interference appear if using white screen directly.
I'd recommend CRT because of more even light BUT, one must carefully find a good shutter speed, slower than screen 1/fps. Probably even slower to average out screen scan brightness differences (the place where pixel is drawn is brighter on CRT and fades gradually). If single scan is visible you can see the differences of brightness.
On both - CRT and LCD i'd recommend some sort of diffusion layer (like white plastic sheet). Especially on LCD where the pixels are very near the surface of the screen (so both, negative and they would be in focus).
You could try to canibalize old LCD, by removing all image displaying layers and leaving only backligh and light diffusing layers. Just keep in mind that old flourescent tubes tend to produce "worse" colour (more discrete light spectrum, stronger colour cast etc).