Is 150mw bright enough for laser show?

[lightman10]

when you mean very visible do you mean that if its pretty dark and not other christmas lights are on it would be very visible to see the actual beams as well?

 

[Grix]

The graphics would be very visible in the dark, but not the beams without smoke.

 

[carmangary]

Until you start getting into high powers (watts) you can forget about beams outdoors unless there is natural fog in the area. For just seeing images, you don't need too much. Like I said, I had no problem at all projecting with only 50mw green on trees 100 yrds away. 150-200mw would work nicely in that situation. So my advice is to forget about the beams.

 

[lightman10]

what if i up the power to 300mw? would that be enough to see a solid beam in low light to no light at all?

 

[ElektroFreak]

what if i up the power to 300mw? would that be enough to see a solid beam in low light to no light at all?

In order to see the beams themselves you need fog, and that applies on up to multi-watt projectors. In order to see beams relatively clearly outdoors with no fog at all you'll need at least 2-3W at a bare minimum, but you'll still want fog even then. Green beams are somewhat visible indoors without fog at powers from about 750mW, but they are very dim and so fog is still needed for any kind of good effect.

 

[lightman10]

Since i am going to be projecting this during Christmas time, maybe I can rely on the snow to act as my fog and that will probably work great. Usually it’s a little foggy out and im sure that will also help identify the beam clearly enough.

 

[ElektroFreak]

Sounds like you've got a plan! Let us know how your show goes.. we do love pics and video around here.

 

[lightman10]

i am a big video person! so when i have the show all fired up i will glady upload great video clips of the beams

 

[chipdouglas]

when my scanner is finally finished i cant wait to project it on to mosquito netting. somebody her posted it and its one of the nicest things ive ever seen.

michael