My business partner and I have built a UV lightbox, using commercial
grade, uncoated blacklight florescent tubes. It works great, but
we've been having a "discussion" about the output of the tubes. He
feels that the tubes have a "warm-up" time and ought to be on for at
least 5 minutes before use. I put the box on a darkroom timer, so
that it turns on at the start and off as the time ends. Now, I don't
have a proper light meter to measure which way is better, but I'm
hoping that one of you gentle folk out there can tell me if there's
any kind of a differance in our methodology? Are there surges in the
electrical output at the start of the timer, surges that would
negatively affect the image? Do the bulbs "warm up" over time and
sort of "stabilize" their output, or is it fairly consistant right
from the start?
Thanks all.
Glenn Cannon
glennon@netcom.com
http://www.newart.com/cannon
Platinum Portraiture Studios
Huntington Beach, California, USA