safety glasses/goggles?

[mixedgas]

I've had a student kill a Vidicon based CCTV camera with a 5 mW hene. He then proceeded to carve his initials into the sensor surface. Then he brought me my camera showing me the neat damage. That was about five years ago. So I bet I hold the record for a low end kill.

Steve

[buffo]

So wait i can damage my camera not only when beam hits it but also when i record a projection on wall?

So long as the wall isn't highly reflective (like a glass window pane), and your camera is a reasonable distance away (say, more than 3 or 4 meters), you should be OK filming a projected image on the wall, even at the full rated output of 2 watts. The reflection off a painted surface is diffuse enough that it should not pose any hazard to your camera.

Now, if you want to film a beam show (where the camera would be pointed directly at the output aperture of the projector), then you had better make sure the beam can't hit the camera, because if it does, it is very likely to cause damage.

Adam

[laserlackey]

EDIT: I do have one question though. How do you line beams up with goggles that block the beam???

See my reply to cipher0 above. You can still see the beam profile on the right surface. In my case, a 445nm beam showed up as a yellow glow on a white projection surface. I was able to do the alignment without a problem, even with goggles rated OD7 in that wavelength.

Attached is a picture through a set of lower-rated goggles (OD3, I think) shot from my iphone. As you can see, the beams are clearly visible, but are so dim that it doesn't strain the eyes to look at them for long periods. (This is pre-alignment. I'll have you know that I'm not that terrible at aligning beams )

[norty303]

How do you line beams up with goggles that block the beam???

I don't, as it's counter intuituitive to have to turn up your laser power in order to see the beam through your safety goggles.
It also makes it much more dangerous for anyone who isn't wearing goggles.

Right time, right place for goggles imho

[swamidog]

use fog for low power near field alignment. use goggles for high power far field alignment.

I don't, as it's counter intuituitive to have to turn up your laser power in order to see the beam through your safety goggles.
It also makes it much more dangerous for anyone who isn't wearing goggles.

Right time, right place for goggles imho

[laserlackey]

So long as the wall isn't highly reflective (like a glass window pane), and your camera is a reasonable distance away (say, more than 3 or 4 meters), you should be OK filming a projected image on the wall, even at the full rated output of 2 watts. The reflection off a painted surface is diffuse enough that it should not pose any hazard to your camera.

Now, if you want to film a beam show (where the camera would be pointed directly at the output aperture of the projector), then you had better make sure the beam can't hit the camera, because if it does, it is very likely to cause damage.

Adam

Here's a picture I took with my iphone. It's part of a BUNCH of pictures I took while this projector was running. This is somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-10W when this picture was taken. Granted, this isn't getting that much power since it's essentially just scatter off of dust and the little bit of light that doesn't pass through my optics, but still... The scatter off a 6-10W projector is likely the same as looking at a projected image from a 2-3W projector, and this didn't damage my phone at all. I was taking pictures for probably an hour.

[TechJunkie]

I've had a student kill a Vidicon based CCTV camera with a 5 mW hene. He then proceeded to carve his initials into the sensor surface. Then he brought me my camera showing me the neat damage. That was about five years ago. So I bet I hold the record for a low end kill.

Steve

I'm not sure if those CCTV cameras used CCD chips. I think we have some miscommunication here. When I say wipe the CCD I mean total optic failure, not scribe lines in the chip. Obviously the camera still works if you can still see an image. When you burn the chip correctly there are only faint monochromic images mostly. You cant make out the image.

What we kept getting on the other forum was n00bs who thought they could take a simple pen laser and kill security cameras. Thats the myth. They conjure all kinds of stories why they want to do it, but we all know the truth.

It doesnt take much to turn off street light sensors though. Just make sure you're pointing at it from the East.