Camera Laser Goggles (idea)

I AM SURE THAT SOMEONE ALREADY THINKED ABOUT THIS,
AND I'M NOT A MASTER IN ELECTRONICS,
AND I DON'T KNOW IF IT WOULD BE CHEAP EXPENSIVE ETC... BUT...
I would like to share this, maybe someone find it useable. :beer:




I had this idea at least 1 year ago.

Mixing the I-Theatre LCD with a common camera, so what you see is what the camera sees, and use these instead of using laser protection goggles.
I had the idea when I looked at IR with an camera, so I thought, 'if the camera sees, why not something to make people see it too?'...

Better than goggles why...
- Not wavelength / OD specific
- Available to see beam/dot
- Digital funcionality (recording, USB)
- 100mw (webcam test result ) damage threshold
- Makes IR visible
- Does not expose your eyes to excessive laser radiation in any ways

worst than goggles why...
- Battery operated (they end)
- burn't CCD = replacement of the camera
- heavy, fragile and maybe big...
- dual camera (2 cameras instead of 1) = 2x cost 2x battery drain
- More expensive

But I think this would be very useable for people that like to see the beam of they lasers, and I don't think there are goggles for white lasers (white fusion kit ).

I was thinking to do it myself, but I do not have time anymore for trying it... But I was planning to make it with replaceable batteries (just like the batteries that R/C helicopters use.. lightweight), USB/AC charging and replaceable cameras ('eye modules') just in cause of CCD burns.
Maybe a "Photo" and a "Start/Stop recording" and a SD slot would be cool, but not that required

maybe... it would be that good?

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/indirect-viewing-laser-safety-48622.html

Epicness.

-Trevor

lol a pretty heavy thing to hold on the face with duct tape :crackup::crackup::crackup::crackup:

Damn Trevor, how did you find that thread in 3 minutes?

:crackup::crackup: was thinking about that too.

anyways, any (brighter) ideas? ^^

:sold::takeit:

lets do it first, please. Waiting for some ideas/replies...
c'mon people! Let the eletronics specialists deal with it :666:

Ignis Fatuus said:

Damn Trevor, how did you find that thread in 3 minutes?

Click to expand...

I remembered posting this in it: http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/indirect-viewing-laser-safety-48622.html#post685525

...and remembered it was Dvorhagen's thread.

It remains one of the more epic threads I've seen on LPF...

-Trevor

Costly, but an awesome idea non the less.

You can buy some of those TV glasses and then feed a webcam to it. The real problem is that while your eyes have awesome resolution, focus, and light-gathering abilities, even the best cameras aren't up to snuff. You'd be busy trying to get the goggles to focus and deal with low frame rates when things are even somewhat dark. Plus, when things get really bright you see bloom or everything is overexposed.

It'd be decent protection, but I'd just rather use my real eyes.

Heheh - goggles, cardboard, and an iPhone, and you're all set! Thanks for the nod, TWight!

Seriously, Bionic-Badger's right. I only built those things because at the time I had no goggles and I wanted to play with lasers without searing my retinas. The bloom when using any sort of CCD-based device makes it pretty impractical. It's virtually impossible to properly focus your laser when you're looking through one of these things. I guess it might work better if you had a way of finely adjusting the aperture setting/light level....

I suppose this has been proposed and explored many times, but the concept of it still seems viable.

One problem is in crappy equipment used: things like webcams or iphones that don't even have an aperture to control exposure, and have to rely on sensor gain (iso value) for a usable exposure. That means either a noisy or a dark image, and mostly both.

What you would actually need is a DSLR that shoots 30 pics a second with fstop and exposure time of your choice, and outputs those pictures live onto a display. This is not technically impossible to do, but with current consumer equipment it won't be a pair of wearable goggles either.

And even with that, its not nearly as good as human vision is - with a bit depth of 8 or even 12 bits, no camera sensor compares to the dynamic range of human vision. In terms of bits, the human eye has about 20 bits of dynamic range, allowing us to see the pinprick of a focussed laser without overexposure, while still being able to see the environment pretty well. There is no camera that comes even close to that.

Ya - and there's a noticeable lag with such things, even at 30 fps. Not to mention that it sort of sucks not to have stereo vision when you're trying to hit something at the focal point of a laser beam.

When it comes down to it, I think a practical video system just wouldn't be economical. It'd be cheaper just to buy a good pair of appropriate goggles -- or even several pairs of goggles to accommodate your various lasers' wavelengths.

using the same idea, attach an IR LED array as a light source and you have a nightvision "scope". Works fine but my phone turns off the camera after a minute if you don't take a picture...only annoying part. If the camera has enough memory, start capturing a video and the nightvision will work until you run out of space.

I have a webcam mounted to the ceiling above my workspace and run the output to my laptop. I don't use it for anything requiring a lot of precision but it's nice to be able to watch the beams, or burning dot without needing my goggles. Also useful for doing IR stuff (remove the IR filter from the webcam)

**Edit** the "next generation" for this idea: http://hacknmod.com/hack/diy-virtual-reality-helmet-rig/
video camera and a monitor with the proper input is all you need
M-

Thanks people! Good to know that it is still viable
I was thinking about it and, it would be good to have a exposure setting on the goggles arm (near your ear) with a "+" and a "-". I think it would be cheaper than laser goggles (you would need many goggles - green blue red and infrared - and differents OD for viewing where are you pointing). Everything should cost much money: something like 3 green goggles, 3 blue goggles, 3 red goggles and 1 infrared goggles (optional).
The camera goggles would substitute all of them.

I would make a prototype, but I don't have much money neither electronics knowledge for it. But I'm willing to learn...