Building a Light Tent

[Richard Clompus <rclompus@voicenet.com>]

Dear Fellow LUGnuts,

I am photographing some very small hand instruments for eye work.  They are
only 3-5 inches long.  I went out today and bought a roll of translucent
mylar and hope to wrap it into a cone.  I'll illuminate the sides with 5500
degree Kelvin fluorescent lamps and shoot through the top of the cone.
Hopefully I'll get beautifully diffused lighting without glare.  

The instruments are almost the size of a pen.  Since I'll be varying the
background (using different paper textures) underneath the instruments, I
need some advice on metering. I thought I'd just put down an 18% grey card
and determine the exposure that way.  I also may put a light box under the
instrtuments - the same light box I use to view slides.  Hopefully the
color temperature of the slide viewer will be the same as the 5500 degree
Kelvin lights on my copy stand.  

Is there a better way to meter for this type of still life?

Thanks for the advice.  I know this may be dull stuff - but my photos will
be used to lecture to 500+ docs at a time and also end up in professional
publications and probably an ad or two for the manufacturer.  Someday I
hope to publish my personal photography work and not just my professional
work.

Richard
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Richard Clompus, OD
West Chester, PA, USA