A clever way of taking PCB pictures that captures important details

I like taking PCB pictures that we produce. It is nice to give you a view of what we are working on. Like they say a picture is worth a thousand words and it seems that I type enough words. The problem is getting a good picture. Something that shows the details and allows you to read the part number of the processor we are using. That has been my goal. The contrast of the printing on some of the chips isn’t good.

I have read articles on how to do it properly and taken many pictures. I don’t have an expensive camera. I have been using a Panasonic DMC-LX2 point and shoot. I put it in the macro mode so that it can focus at the distance I’m using it at which is about 7-8 inches from the PCB. The articles talk about a light box to produce a soft light on the subject without hot spots. I looked at some of the do-it-yourself articles on light boxes. I looked at commercial boxes, willing to spend a bit but, nothing gave me access to the subject directly overhead.

I decided I needed to make one myself but, not like any I have seen. Some of my requirements were to have access to an overhead view of the subject so, the top had to be open. I needed access to the camera from the side also as the base I use to hold the camera requires that. I wanted to illuminate the subject from three sides to help eliminate the shadow that is created by one light source. So, with these requirements I came up with the following design.

Yes, it is a Digi-Key box. We receive so many parts from them that we have a lot of their boxes laying around. Not that I’m trying to plug Digi-Key they do provide a great service. If you need something the next day they are very reliable if you can order before the deadline. You can see that I have three light sources and that my camera stand requires the slit I made in the box. The rest of the sides have been cut out and covered with tissue paper. This gives some very uniform lighting which has improved my PCB picture taking a lot.

The resulting pictures can be found on the site. Take a look at them and hope you found this interesting. I did a lot of experimentation before I settled on this.