Recording laser scanners

[lamborgini8]

I have tried recording my laser scanner loads of times now, I have noticed that during day time when there is light and there is enough smoke in the air it will record it no problems...

Problem is I am trying to record videos like you can find on youtube, pitch black room and only thing you can see is the beams. When I try this my 100mw red laser just glairs the camera and just turns everything red almost no mater where the beam is pointed and putting my green 75mw in there I have a similar problem just its so bright the camera can pick up part of it but when it gets to tunnel effects there is just no chance at it getting it.

I mostly use my phones camera (Samsung D600, 2 Mega Pixels) which is fine in day light. I have my other digital camera but tha can only see a dot and for some reason wont pick up the beams no mater how much smoke is in the air.

How exactly should I record them to get those professional looking videos?

 

[pseudonomen137]

How exactly should I record them to get those professional looking videos?

Get a professional camera .

Sounds like you're oversaturating the sensor and your cell phone is just too dumb to compensate. Really, the right solution is to get a better camera. I'm guessing you're not going to like that answer though, so you're gunna have to try working around it if you can. If there's a way to adjust the brightness of the image on the camera, that would be your first option - your camera is trying to compensate for an abnormal situation, and it seems like neither is doing the job right. Perhaps add some light to the image besides the lasers so it doesn't try compensating as much. Or perhaps use less fog so the lasers aren't as bright relative the dark surroundings. Its hard to say exactly what's going on with your camera though, so you're going to have to try experimenting with different environments and settings until you get the result you want. And if you want the quick and easy solution, I'll sell you my Canon Xh A1 for $3k

 

[lamborgini8]

[quote author=lamborgini8 link=1196947987/0#0 date=1196947986]How exactly should I record them to get those professional looking videos?

Get a professional camera  .

Sounds like you're oversaturating the sensor and your cell phone is just too dumb to compensate. Really, the right solution is to get a better camera. I'm guessing you're not going to like that answer though, so you're gunna have to try working around it if you can. If there's a way to adjust the brightness of the image on the camera, that would be your first option - your camera is trying to compensate for an abnormal situation, and it seems like neither is doing the job right. Perhaps add some light to the image besides the lasers so it doesn't try compensating as much. Or perhaps use less fog so the lasers aren't as bright relative the dark surroundings. Its hard to say exactly what's going on with your camera though, so you're going to have to try experimenting with different environments and settings until you get the result you want. And if you want the quick and easy solution, I'll sell you my Canon Xh A1 for $3k  [/quote]

Well as far as I know I am getting a new camera for xmas but I am not sure...

My current digital camera is just rubbish, if the room is lit with an artificia light it can only just make out objects. For some reason it only works in natural light.

I trie different brightness settings on my phone but it diddnt make much of a difference. At the moment there is onlya 100mw red laser in my scanner so if I change the brightness to darker it cant see it yet if I make it brighter its like night vision and can make out objects just not the beam...

Thanks, but no thanks for the Canon camera. Spent £380 total so far on half home made scanner and the fog machine.

 

[timelord]

I use a 10mp Samsung D103 and they come in at £89.99 these days. For a point and shoot they do very well with recording AVI videos of lasers etc as well

 

[lamborgini8]

Hmm, will look into that camera... and spy on what I have for xmas haha.

That gave my an idea as well, my dads camera is 5mp. Will see if I can borrow it tonight if it records videos.

Another problem I have is the ones I have managed to capture on my phone before I had my fog machine, when I was using hair spray, had to be converted to a different file format so I could edit it which lost even more quality that it didnt have in the first place.

 

[timelord]

AVI will be able to be used straight into windows movie maker

 

[lamborgini8]

AVI will be able to be used straight into windows movie maker  

Movie maker is for newbies! I use Adobe Premiere Pro and Sony Vegas 9.

My phone records in MP4 which I then need to convert to AVI which for some reason the converted file wont open in Premiere or Vegas so I have to open it in Movie Maker and save it as wmv and then open it in Premiere just so I can cut out the parts I dont want and add good titles.

Obviously there is quite a quality loss there.

 

[timelord]

I did send you a link for converting MP4 some while back didn't I??? :-?

 

[lamborgini8]

I did send you a link for converting MP4 some while back didn't I???  :-?

You did, yes. But after a while it stopped working on my gaming computer (I use it for graphics and video editing, powerful machine ) When I open the converted file in Vegas or Premiere and try playing it I just get a screen full of... crap basically. No picture, just completly broken up.

If I try the convertor on my laptop it just doesnt seam to work at all.

 

[timelord]

WOW I have no trouble with it at all if I find another converter I'll let you know mate

 

[lamborgini8]

WOW I have no trouble with it at all if I find another converter I'll let you know mate

Nah its ok, unless you have some magic powers you will be spending hours to find one. Like I say I think I have a new camera for xmas so hopefully that will work.

 

[timelord]

As long as the video format is AVI because MP4 is a complete pain in arse

 

[Benm]

Most (photo)cameras will not do a good job making videos like these. Even compact cameras that have manual exposure settings for photo's, lack that function for movies.

You can 'trick' most compacts to use certain exposure settings for movies though: most fix the exposure when you half-press the shutter button to the conditions at that time. If your movies appear over-exposed, try half-pressing the shutter with some ambient light, turn the light off and then start your laser show.

 

[lamborgini8]

Most (photo)cameras will not do a good job making videos like these. Even compact cameras that have manual exposure settings for photo's, lack that function for movies.

You can 'trick' most compacts to use certain exposure settings for movies though: most fix the exposure when you half-press the shutter button to the conditions at that time. If your movies appear over-exposed, try half-pressing the shutter with some ambient light, turn the light off and then start your laser show.

My digital camera is just as the name describes... Point and snap... it doesn't have any control over the exposure or anything. Only thing I can control is the zoom.

As I said I use my phones camera, it seams to work better than my digital camera yet still not very good. Obviously my phone doesn't have those kind of features.

 

[danielbriggs]

If you want some converting software, use Super C. It's free! and it can convert just about anything to anything!
http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html


Dan

 

[lamborgini8]

If you want some converting software, use Super C. It's free! and it can convert just about anything to anything!
http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html


Dan

Tried it and nope, it don't work.

Just tried recording the lasers with a lot more smoke than I would usually use. Phone picked it up but still not very good... I found that if I use my thumb to cover up the main point where the laser is coming from then the glair problem stops.