Pangolin Discoscan 2.0

[swamidog]

a good rule of thumb is to avoid anyone who calls themselves DJ ________.

By now dubstep is already over really or it should be...a lot of it is kinda "the same deal" and what worse is these preset.. very bland sounding wubs.
Thats why a lot of the "mainstream wanna be" guys are usually not the guys you should look for if you want cool music but the explorers who only use material to inspire and then make their own destinct sounds.

I think thats what more people also should do..not promote the mainstream and chew it over and over again but create the mainstream!

I asked a friend of mine to make something christmas styled and this is what he came up with: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...k_da_man_2.mp3

[masterpj]

Good point Swami! Couldn't agree more.
You'd be better off looking for an actual producer

[norty303]

It looks as if the stick on mountings are the same as used for the SafetyScan lens mount.
Can anyone advise if they use the same hole spacings, and whether a single pair of pots can be fixed in a position that allows either Discoscan or Safetyscan mounts to be affixed, depending on the job?

[Bradfo69]

We had a Discoscan 2 at SELEM in a proper mount in a Kvant projector. We hung it from truss about 12' high and aimed it straight down at the floor. We stood directly underneath it and it was "kinda" cool but, we were all a bit afraid to look up. It was more the uniqueness of seeing what you normally see on a back wall, swirling out and around your feet. I can't imagine how this is supposed to be used in a "disco" situation with any degree of safety unless it's a pretty low powered projector. I don't think it's certainly anything you could do in the US.

From what I can see, the two advantages of a Discoscan are: 1) If you own a planetarium/do shows in a plantarium and want the show to cover most of the dome you could point it straight up. Or... 2) If you are either rear projecting abstracts/graphics through scrim and don't have much throw OR, you're front projecting abstract/graphics on a screen without much throw distance. If I recall, the lens itself diverged the beam and geometric properties some so those graphics/abstracts probably won't be as sharp or straight as they would otherwise be straight from scanners. That to me seems to be a limited niche. Am I just mentally missing ways to use this thing? Maybe that's just because I'm in the US.

[LaserCo]

I'm not sure you have much if any control over that Keith as I understand it uses either a brand specific lens mount (Kvant and some LW products) or a universal mount for other brands, and where in both cases the lens screws into the secondary part of the mount.

There's some possibility of adjustment maybe by how far you screw it onto the mount thread. However, one thing is certain, you're never going to get it nearer than the rather chunky looking fixed bracket allows so it's always going to be some distance from the scanner aperture.

You can get a better look at the mount here for LW projectors:



Judging from the thickness of the aperture bracket the actual lens screws into, I'd say there's no additional adjustment, as you'd need to fully screw it in by the looks of it just to secure it. You don't want a $280 lens falling off the projector! If there is any scope, it looks like very little as the entire threaded part of the lens holding bracket only looks around 10mm (?) thick at an estimate from the photo.

I too would like some more info on these though with regards to scanning. I was always impressed by the 1.0 version in terms of its ability to go wide and 360 degrees, but I believe from memory when I asked a long time ago, that I was also told that this was at the expense of some of the more conventional scans and that just as the name suggests, the disco scan was most suited to disco style effects rather than traditional laser effects. Whether the 2.0 alters that, I don't know.

Hot link to a picture:

go down to the Galaxian 3D model, it has two outputs, are these like what pangolin sells to increase the deflection?
This model has a very high number for the deflection coverage.
https://parts.americandj.com/Categor...cription=LASER EFFECTS

if you click into them the parts are not expensive for these, does anyone know at a glance (if)-which what models can do ilda?

[White-Light]

1. It depends on what you call deflection ie safety or widescan angle

2. In any event, the safety lens used by Pangolin are custom designed with very expensive hi tech coatings. They're nothing like cheap lenses you can buy on the open market from China. The discoscan, I couldn't comment on manufacture wise as I'm not familiar with it. I do know that the 1st version had years of design behind it, so I'd be very surprised if there was an equivalent quality product you could simply buy off the shelf.

Their safety lens are like this:

http://www.lvrlimited.com/safety-scan-lenses.php

The discoscan as posted above.

To be clear on the safety aspect, there is no lens you can simply bolt to the front of a projector that automatically renders it safe. You need to take measurements with anything Class III or above.

[norty303]

I see a lot of projectors build which distance the galvo block from the apperture mirror quite a bit and leave a gap in between.... I honestly don't get that design choice..

Have you ever built a projector? If so, how did you get the beam onto the first galvo mirror?

I use a steering mirror on a very small mount and I'm always limited by how far to the front of the projector I can place that mirror, so that the beam comes in perpendicular to the mirror and therefore correctly onto the Y mirror. In all cases, the galvo block has to go a bit back from the output aperture to allow that beam entry.

[Pangolin]

Hi guys,

A few points:

First let me say that this is not a "fisheye lens" in the classic sense of the word. When I was first getting into lasers, I (no doubt like many of you) shone the laser through everything I could get my hands on. Also, at the time I got into lasers I was, coincidentally, also into photography. I had a large array of lenses for Cannon A1, F1 and AE1. When you shine the laser through any of these lenses, what you will get out is a fuzzy blob -- nothing more. So classic "fisheye lenses" that work with cameras definitely won't work with lasers.

Second, nearly all of our lenses are designed by a lens designer who formerly worked for Lockheed Martin and Kodak where (among other things) he designed spy satellite lenses capable of reading license plates from space... (By the way, this same guy designed the original Omniscan lens and also the Lumisphere lens and also our Dazzler lens and reflector -- so, as far as I can tell, basically every wide angle lens successfully applied in this industry... He also participated in the development of the tables in our SafetyScan Lens documentation and developed software we use to prescribe SafetyScan lenses to clients.) Our wide angle lenses are what amounts to a "telescope". They are "afocal" in nature, having only telescope properties. The design increases scan angle, but also increases the divergence because they actually decrease the diameter (as it exits from the lens). Decreasing diameter will increase divergence.

Third, this new little lens design is less expensive for us to manufacture, because it has fewer elements (4 instead of 5 as our last design had) and also is smaller, having less glass. The end-user cost is around 1/4 or 1/5 of the previous end-user cost, so it's a big difference!

Fourth, the ultimate "scan angle" is not decreased compared to the previous version as another poster indicated. What is decreased is the "scan angle magnification". Our previous version increased scan angle by a factor of 5.1. The new one increases scan angle by 4.2. Angle magnification is less, meaning you need a larger incoming scan angle if you want the whole 180 degrees out of it. But also, as a positive consequence, divergence increase is less compared to the last one as well.

This new Discoscan 2.0 lens design also has a larger input aperture, Much larger -- like 2 or 3 times what the other one was. This allows for larger incoming beams to be used (more powerful lasers, or pre-upcollimated input for lower outgoing divergence) and also as a consequence, provides better overlap of the colors throughout the scan field.

So let's see, the new one is a) smaller; b) lighter; c) cheaper; d) providing lower divergence; e) providing better overlap of colors (better image quality); f) allowing larger incoming beams; g) easier and more secure to mount... I'm sure I am forgetting something. It's just a neat little lens...

Pangolin has sold these wide angle lenses for 11 years. The new version is just a lot easier and less expensive for people, and so I am hoping that this new lens will bring wider scanning to a broader audience.

Best regards,

William Benner

PS: We have another, larger, wide-angle lens design that only increases scan angle by a factor of 3, and so divergence increase is less than any of our other wide angle lenses. It's the best lens we've ever seen for 180-degree projections and gives absolutely beautiful results, but the cost is much higher, so this is only applicable for certain clients. Nevertheless, contact me if you are interested...

[ImageLight]

Off topic/
Interesting to know that Bill and I were into photography around the same time.. I still have most of my Canon AE-1 bodies, lenses and equipment but, hardly ever use it anymore.. Sold all my darkroom equipment though.
Digital is just so much more convenient and less expensive these days but, I'll always love film too..
Ok, Back on topic/

[White-Light]

Keith I came upon this video by accident tonight that I think may be of some use to you - it's a full instructional step by step setup video.

It shows some interesting views / detail of the Kvant designed bracket and it's adjustments and at the very least, it appears to be an excellent instructional video for anyone with a discoscan.

Looks like the Kvant bracket has some adjustment as well: