Perceived brightness 12watt vs 3 watt

[andy_con]

bradders,

when you have two lasers in a small room, both very different powers they both pretty much look the same.

take them into a bigger venue, a festival or outside and the powerful will blow the low powered one away.

you cant compare two projectors of different powers in a small room

[Bradfo69]

No, it's not a Super Seahorse. It's a Lark. In searching, I was able to find this picture online although it says Evinrude. I would have sworn the Larson had a Johnson though. I'd have to go pull the tarp to check. The 6 horse I have IS a Johnson Seahorse though but, probably a mid 80's vintage.



Next question.... if you switch optics in an effort to decrease divergence, and it's going to be a beam projector (because who does graphics with 12 watts??) and it robs say a half watt or so of power, are you better off as 12+ watts at 1.6mR or, 11-11.5 at 1.1mR? I'm thinking the 1.1mR with lower power. Priced the same.
(The offer has been extended.)

[Bradfo69]

bradders,

when you have two lasers in a small room, both very different powers they both pretty much look the same.

take them into a bigger venue, a festival or outside and the powerful will blow the low powered one away.

you cant compare two projectors of different powers in a small room

Thanks Andy! That basically sums it up in a nutshell, based on everything I've been hearing.

[norty303]

Brad, I've got to the point where I can understand how much it is worth spending on a projector and get it to earn its keep. For my work model it means that its currently around 3 to 4W projectors.
Obviously, that will creep up over time (or jump sometimes!) but buying big at excessive cost is only going to be a loss in the long run.

There is a trend with my work, that means that the bigger the projector, the less work they get, so the smart money is going into the 3-4W region.
I suspect the big ones may never pay for themselves effectively, but they are a 'way in' to some of the work. Next year I'll likely be hiring some more bigger units for some jobs, as its simply not worth me taking the financial hit on them. They'll probably only break even on the show for the hired in kit, but they will allow me to make profit on MY kit that I'm supplying, so just an enabler really.

The lasers and technology are the simple bits now, its the business bits thats are hard!

P.S. when i'm not at work and able to access my FB account I'll post a couple of pics from a festival stage i did this year with a mixture of 3W up to 8W projectors. Stood in front of the stage you'd be hard pressed to call them, but a shot taken at distance from the approach to the stage through the woods and POW, the 8W ones totally take it.

[andy_con]

Thanks Andy! That basically sums it up in a nutshell, based on everything I've been hearing.

when dan brings his 12w RTI pikos to a meet, in the hall they look as bright as a 1w green (pikos have 8w opsl green in)

when we move outdoors the pikos blow everything away

[sbk]

There is a trend with my work, that means that the bigger the projector, the less work they get, so the smart money is going into the 3-4W region.
I suspect the big ones may never pay for themselves effectively, but they are a 'way in' to some of the work. Next year I'll likely be hiring some more bigger units for some jobs, as its simply not worth me taking the financial hit on them. They'll probably only break even on the show for the hired in kit, but they will allow me to make profit on MY kit that I'm supplying, so just an enabler really.

I have a suggestion to address this, just been there done that and decided to still invest into big projectors instead of smaller ones. And for smaller jobs, I just limit the power of the big projectors to what the customer can afford, and that's it

I do that power limiting in a hardware manner, with an electronic board into which I can upload custom modulation curves according to the max power I need, so I can even dry rent the hardware and customer can't just turn a pot to get more power. I just plug a USB cable and in 10 seconds I can switch between 4-10-25W RGB or whatever you want!

[norty303]

I have a suggestion to address this, just been there done that and decided to still invest into big projectors instead of smaller ones. And for smaller jobs, I just limit the power of the big projectors to what the customer can afford, and that's it

Your suggestion only really works if you also carry less stock overall. At which point having 'only' 4 big projectors doesn't really help when you need 8 on the show.

If you want to carry the same number of big projectors as I might have a mixture of large and medium, then I need much deeper pockets to get the stock, AND be happy to rent them for less than they need to go out for to earn their keep.

[sbk]

Your suggestion only really works if you also carry less stock overall. At which point having 'only' 4 big projectors doesn't really help when you need 8 on the show.

If you want to carry the same number of big projectors as I might have a mixture of large and medium, then I need much deeper pockets to get the stock, AND be happy to rent them for less than they need to go out for to earn their keep.

Yes of course you need to make the best compromise between projector numbers and power when you don't have enough money to own several of each type. But investing into more smaller projectors get you away from bigger jobs, and this is where there is usually more money to earn

[norty303]

But investing into more smaller projectors get you away from bigger jobs, and this is where there is usually more money to earn

Hence why i have the bigger projectors on my stock

I suspect the big ones may never pay for themselves effectively, but they are a 'way in' to some of the work.

[drm916]

what are you guys considering small and what are considered big? what is a 3 watt? What is a 7 watt? what is a 12 watt?