Hi all I'm new
I'm half-new to this - have played with laser modules on and off since I could work a screwdriver and done a fair job at understanding and misunderstanding what was going on at various points. Coming back to it as an adult to find the diodes and assemblies actually affordable is a joy and the chasing the haze-dragon too tempting
So before getting all DIY I've taken the plunge with an RGB LIDA max 50 kpps 1.3W all analogue diode Netline - not here yet but best I can determine from here and trying to read foren it's respectable chinese parts and might actually output it's minimum rated 0.8W. It has a scanfail system, a key and interlock.
The idea is to see whether I can safely do small shows just scraping that 3m clearance for the low hundreds of audience size involving audience scanning. I've learnt about luminous flux and MPEs and beam characteristics and the use of optics and scanfails and interlocks and not using the remaining good eye etc (though those got laser ablated on purpose by the pros) and I'd like to check if I've got those ideas right
If I'm aiming for 10mW/cm
2 then for ~1w my beam would need to be at least 12cm diam right? Which would need a +4 diopter correction to achieve at 3m? Assuming cheapo M5 beam characteristics as per that laser type
My thinking was to use a +2 across the whole field and a +2 safetyscan to avoid a huge jump (or a full-frame +4 in my standard roof-height home where 3m height is a dream) is that about right?
I will invest in a proper power meter if this does work out for public H&S documentation, but just want to experiment safely for myself for now. Any advice is hugely appreciated - it's scared me a little how easily I could have bought a 3-5w laser and set it on auto in the corner of the room
while I'd want to learn to do that scale safely I feel many miles from it yet.
Secondly though what's with the Phoenix 4 demo? I'm very interested in live control (if you've got to have a trained operator there why not?) so it's name keeps rearing up but the demo is a massive turn-off to spending hundreds of pounds when it shouts DEMO across all it's screens and has a persistent pop-up that crashes the whole thing out terminally if you're doing anything when it pops? Just completely disable the output interface on the whole product please Mr. Pangolin, I don't feel I am able to make a comparison between it and QS fairly
That said QS seems to be winning for the atmospherics I'd like to focus on - delicate tendrils of light, subtle colour blends, fading to stretch the light out from a point and interpolation between effects is what I want so I have acres of headroom before getting to big beams for drama. Think this might mean starting with a blank slate. Any pointers also appreciated