Does anyone actually use light tables?

I don't any more. I think there's one around here in storage somewhere that was used mostly for slides.

I use a light table all the time. For one thing, it's really easy to look at 4"x5" negatives on it. Second, using one makes it so much easier to mat photos when framing.

amusingly everyone is talking about electric light tables. i think that might be your answer when people don't even realise you're talking about a feature of Aperture.

I personally don't use this feature either.

What would be even more amazing is if this guy didn't even know what a light table originally referred to.

I use that feature to compare images from different projects, but there's probably some easier way that I don't know about.

You kids get off my lawn! In MY day we had light tables that were lit up with candles!

Westside guy said:

You kids get off my lawn! In MY day we had light tables that were lit up with candles!

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And to reach it you walked two hours in the snow...uphill...both ways...

Phrasikleia said:

And to reach it you walked two hours in the snow...uphill...both ways...

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At 4am and the snow was just over half a meter deep and kind of wet and heavy. And you did it after you milked the cows. And on the way back you had to carry firewood for the night. And there were wolfs in the forest.

chriscorbin said:

What the hell is a light table actually for?

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It seems that you must have never shoot film.

If you want to look at a negative or transparency and check for focus or exposure how else can you except to place it on a light table and then look using a loupe?

I still have a light table and I use it to sort my film. I'm in the process of scanning all of the film and I need to look at it to know which frames to scan.

I plan on getting back into film one day. It will likely be 4x5 and then I'll need the light table to judge the film again. So I'm keeping mine.

If you mean the "light table" in Aperture. It's just a qick and easy way to test out some layout ideas and see if pictures "go together".

ChrisA said:

It seems that you must have never shoot film.

If you want to look at a negative or transparency and check for focus or exposure how else can you except to place it on a light table and then look using a loupe?

I still have a light table and I use it to sort my film. I'm in the process of scanning all of the film and I need to look at it to know which frames to scan.

I plan on getting back into film one day. It will likely be 4x5 and then I'll need the light table to judge the film again. So I'm keeping mine.

If you mean the "light table" in Aperture. It's just a qick and easy way to test out some layout ideas and see if pictures "go together".

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[points to post #4]

Westside guy said:

You kids get off my lawn! In MY day we had light tables that were lit up with candles!

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Whatever you whipper-snapper. Tables weren't even invented yet... we just had slabs of rock, the blood of a slaughtered pig, and our fingers.

Anyway... I use light-tables in Aperture to make the layout of my books, and to compare images. If you have a large screen or dual monitors it's very helpful and allows you to actually use your computer like a light-table. Much better than selecting multiple images and comparing statically.

Try comparing five to eight or more images by selecting them all and bringing them up in the viewer... then try dropping them into a light-table and zooming into them, resizing them, moving them aside and so forth.

It's quite a useful tool for editing.

p.s. My first photo.

Westside guy said:

You kids get off my lawn! In MY day we had light tables that were lit up with candles!

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I don't have Aperture and I don't use Adobe's virtual light table either. But I can claim to have looked through a mica window backlit by open flames.

I used to use light tables when I did B/W photography.

Dear me, this thread is hilarious for two completely different reasons. Thanks for the laughs to those who intended them and likewise to those who won't understand this post at all.

Light tables in Aperture: no, I haven't had the need to use them yet
Light tables in real life: yes, I use them frequently.

seenew said:

Light tables in Aperture: no, I haven't had the need to use them yet
Light tables in real life: yes, I use them frequently.

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x2

I don't have Aperture, but I have a light table for slides.