Mirrors/cubes/door viewer/Remote Phosphor

I was having some fun with my lasers and camera - I'm very slowly getting better. Although still finding 405nm impossible to photograph.

The mirrors and cubes are what I got from projectors as described in this thread: "http://laserpointerforums.com/f57/newbie-experiments-get-optics-projector-nec-mt1030-91369.html"

Mirrors with 4 lasers (405/445/532/650nm):


More mirrors with 4 lasers (405/445/532/650nm):


Using a door peek hole as a beam expander:


Cubes with 3 lasers (445/532/650nm):


More cubes with 3 lasers (445/532/650nm):


Remote phosphor with a 445nm:

Phosphor details: CL-927-LR-PC | Intematix ChromaLit Round 61.5mm Remote Phosphor Lens, 115 °, 2700K, CRI:90 | Intematix

That's some well nice photography there. Be careful though and watch for stray beams, they can catch you by surprise especially when splitting them! Also if you terminate your beams on something black it will save washing the room with colour. I have to do this with my 445 as it just dominates anything else in the frame.

trencheel303 said:

Also if you terminate your beams on something black it will save washing the room with colour. I have to do this with my 445 as it just dominates anything else in the frame.

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Yes, you're right. I'm embarrassed that I didn't think about that! It's what's great about these forums, when people use their knowledge/insight to help others - thanks!

I'm still at the stage where there seems to be too many things to think about:
* camera:
** focusing in the dark
** depth of view (I wanted to use my compact because of this but I was hoping using raw on my DSLR might help me correct the 405nm beams)
* lasers:
** not keeping them on too much
** not getting hit in the eye
** repositioning them every time; as my cheap clamps still have too much movement
* smoke:
** waiting for right level (not too much, not too little). I found the incense worked well here but my son objects to the smell in his room, so now use a smoke machine.

Another thing that surprised me last night was that I put on my laser glasses but I was completely unable to position the beam with them on - I couldn't see the dot on the mirror nor figure out where it bounced to; I had to go to great lengths to reduce risk without them. I think I may need some weaker glasses - OD4 is too high for < 100mW lasers.

Nice photos. Now you just need to get Catherine Zeta-Jones to slink between the beams.

What I sometimes do re glasses is hold them in front of my eyes about a foot away while positioning a laser so I can see roughly where in the room the beam is travelling, but if it comes close to my face the glasses would block it. You can also use a phone or tablet screen to see.

If you have very powerful lasers you can consider moving the equipment rather than the laser. I actually limit use of my 445 quite a bit because at 1.6Watts even a beam split many times could still be enough to damage an eye, and I have had close calls. Even 1.6 which is low nowadays for a 445, is stupidly powerful and you realise that when it starts burning holes in things!

yup terminate on dark stuff, or better, terminate in another room, though obviously you want to use non-burnable dark stuff. I swear by glycerin fog. keep trying. I too find 405 hard to capture, as well as 660. the best 405 I've managed to capture is this'n here:

Tried to take the tips I've received on board and have had another try. I'm happier with the results this time Thanks all for your help!

Hey Clansley, there you go! I really like the second to last one. Nice amount of fog/ smoke to perfectly highlight the beams

brucemir said:

Hey Clansley, there you go! I really like the second to last one. Nice amount of fog/ smoke to perfectly highlight the beams

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Hi Bruce, Of a multi-hour session that one is the best I managed to get. You're my inspiration, I have no hope of gaining your level of skill but I'm having fun with lasers and would like to be able to capture what I see!

Mirrors are fun - your latest set on photobucket are great (as always!)

hey clansley,
Ahh, the multi hour laser photo sessions, I know them well. Based on your above photos, it looks like you have the photography side well under control as all of the photos are exposed very nicely, right amount of fog (at least for my taste), and you now have your black background set up. You are ready to roll! Now comes the fun part, thinking of different set ups, and then brings those ideas to reality.
Keep on experimenting and shooting!

Nice shots clansley! The colors are vivid.

Looking good clansley!
That's a great idea of using the door peep hole as a B.E.; also, your second group of photos are really sharp looking, can't wait to see what's next!
You are definitely going to want to get a fog machine now.

Really nice pictures.
Interesting how in your post #7, second picture, it looks like you can see the beam get weaker from absorption of the mirror.
It looks like that to me... might just be an illusion though.
Good job.

I love your pics!! Im gonna steal your peep hole idea for sure just to try!!! How long/how much work did it take to line that up?

Thanks all for kind words.

10fenny said:

Im gonna steal your peep hole idea for sure just to try!!! How long/how much work did it take to line that up?

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I'm lucky that when I was first lining up the laser that it worked briefly - I then knew it would work once I got it lined back up. It took about 30 seconds of moving the laser around to find the right spot.
[Although I may have made it harder for myself as I didn't want to put the laser directly facing it as I wanted to minimize the chances of reflections going back into the diode].

Mattronium said:

Interesting how in your post #7, second picture, it looks like you can see the beam get weaker from absorption of the mirror.
It looks like that to me... might just be an illusion though.

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Hi Mattronium, I decided to get the beam to bounce more times to see if the effect is more clearly shown. I didn't have two large mirrors so I angled the mirrors so the beam went up and then down the mirror:



It's clearly visible But no surprise as my mirrors let some light through them which can be seen on this side shot:



I'm glad you made your comment, as it got me playing more with mirrors and I found you can get some funky curves: