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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Video: 1 Watt Pocket Blue Laser Beam from Eiffel Tower

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With the help of a friend I got some cool beam shot video of shining one of my 1 Watt Blue pocket lasers down from the top and 2nd level of the Eiffel Tower as well as a couple of beam shots towards the tower. This was the first time that I have ever attempted something like this and so it was a bit of an experiment to see what I'd get. The embedded video here does not do this justice. For those curious to have a better look at the beam I highly recommend following the HD link below:



HD version and Twitter/Facebook/Blogs/Forums/Email/Etc. Share Link http://d.ro/lasertower

Cheers!

-Scott
 

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drevil

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Re: Video: 1 Watt Pocket Blue Laser Shining Down from the Eiffel Tower

something just dose not seem right about shining that all over Paris . The beam looks pretty unfocused but I hope your friend isn't blind now. I wish I was able to go up in the tower when I was in Paris last summer :(
 
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Re: Video: 1 Watt Pocket Blue Laser Shining Down from the Eiffel Tower

Great clip.

:)
 
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Re: Video: 1 Watt Pocket Blue Laser Shining Down from the Eiffel Tower

something just dose not seem right about shining that all over Paris . The beam looks pretty unfocused but I hope your friend isn't blind now. I wish I was able to go up in the tower when I was in Paris last summer :(

There was virtually no one around in the area that I shined the laser and those that were there were very easy to miss. If you pay attention you'll note that I am not waving the beam around wildly but rather keep it in a very tight circle relative to the camera so as to avoid people. In order to limit even the limited exposure of the extremely wide beam at this distance I expressly went to the top at the very last possible moment (the tower closes at 23:45) in order to avoid having masses of people around, in fact 1 minute after I purchased my ticket the booth closed. As can be seen, the beam was in fact so weak by the time it reached the ground that it was not even visible to the camera.

-Scott
 

X FLY

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Re: Video: 1 Watt Pocket Blue Laser Shining Down from the Eiffel Tower

Nice clip but you should be more carefull where you point that laser:

fhdhd.jpg

at 1:02 you can see the beam hitting those guys
 
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Re: Video: 1 Watt Pocket Blue Laser Shining Down from the Eiffel Tower

Nice clip but you should be more carefull where you point that laser:

fhdhd.jpg

at 1:02 you can see the beam hitting those guys

I appreciate your concern but let me explain to how I arrived at determining that even if people were to experience a brief flash there would be no danger to their eyes.

This map shows where those folks are in relationship to where I was:

laser position to people position - Google Maps

With my being near the top of a 300 meter structure the distance from me that those folks in the image are at is approximately 800 meters.
This laser's specs are essentially:
Optical power @ aperture: 1,000 mW
Beam Diameter: 1.5mm @ aperture
Beam Divergence: <1.5mRad

This mRad bit is the key part. Essentially with these specs it means that after 1 meter the strength of the light is half as strong as it was at the aperture. At 2 meters the beam density is one third the aperture power, at 99 meters it is a hundredth. So after 100 meters the same 1.5 mm area has roughly the power of a 10 mW beam. Now expand that out to 800 meters and you see that we're talking not even 1 mW of power (which helps explain why the beam doesn't even show up as far out as the camera unless directed into its aperture).

-Scott
 
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X FLY

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Re: Video: 1 Watt Pocket Blue Laser Shining Down from the Eiffel Tower

Yes I know the light was not intense enough to cause permanent damage probably just flash them. Sorry if my comment was too whiny (<--can't find a better sentence atm im really tired and my english starts to cripple :))
 
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Re: Video: 1 Watt Pocket Blue Laser Shining Down from the Eiffel Tower

Yes I know the light was not intense enough to cause permanent damage probably just flash them. Sorry if my comment was too whiny (<--can't find a better sentence atm im really tired and my english starts to cripple :))

Funny enough those people were talking to my friend as they were curious about the laser as it was obvious by how I was tightly circling her and the camera that she was connected to it (I had her signal me her position with a bright flashlight). They just got done speaking with her and were walking away in that shot. Although I was confident from a safety standpoint about what I was doing, I never-the-less did not want to disturb passers by. This is why I made these recordings at the last possible moment that I could. In fact when I went to purchase my ticket at the bottom to go all the way to the top, they refused me saying that it was already too late. I was only able to purchase a ticket to the top after arriving on the 2nd level and only with their clearance.

-Scott
 
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drevil

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Re: Video: 1 Watt Pocket Blue Laser Shining Down from the Eiffel Tower

There was virtually no one around in the area that I shined the laser and those that were there were very easy to miss. If you pay attention you'll note that I am not waving the beam around wildly but rather keep it in a very tight circle relative to the camera so as to avoid people. In order to limit even the limited exposure of the extremely wide beam at this distance I expressly went to the top at the very last possible moment (the tower closes at 23:45) in order to avoid having masses of people around, in fact 1 minute after I purchased my ticket the booth closed. As can be seen, the beam was in fact so weak by the time it reached the ground that it was not even visible to the camera.

-Scott

I trust your judgement . I just hope you also accounted for vehicles on the road nearby. I would think a laser would have a similar effect on a car as on a plane.
 

ZapU

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Re: Video: 1 Watt Pocket Blue Laser Shining Down from the Eiffel Tower

I trust your judgement . I just hope you also accounted for vehicles on the road nearby. I would think a laser would have a similar effect on a car as on a plane.

This is what a direct hit looks like. Wouldn't like that if I was driving. :yabbmad:


YouTube-Pocket1000mWBlueLaserBeamingfromEiffelTower-MozillaFirefox10142010101649AMbmp.jpg
 
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There were no traffic bearing roads within 30 to 40 meters of the circle where I was shining the laser so no vehicles were hit even in passing. What appears to be roads alongside where the camera was positioned on the map are in fact access dirt roads that are used for walking and occasional park maintenance vehicle traffic.

If people reading this thread haven't determined already from my responses here that what I did in making this video was carefully considered, planned and executed then nothing I explain additionally is going to make that clear.

-Scott
 
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Its been determined that damage from such a laser with similar output power and divergence can actually do damage from ~3 miles away. Those people were ~1 mile. away. To be fair, if they didn't blink and for some reason decided to stare at the light source, they might be alright. The thing is, its not their to job to be on the lookout for incoming laser beams.
 
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I like the video... at the same time though I wouldn't have risked that. If you would have done that type of thing over in the US on the Statue Of Liberty without a permit man! oh man! I wouldn't want to be in those shoes.

personally I think it's kick butt. Good job!
 
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Its been determined that damage from such a laser with similar output power and divergence can actually do damage from ~3 miles away.

By all means cite your source(s) for this where it was documented that a 1 watt visible laser of similar divergence not specifically trained and maintained on a person's bare eyes caused optic damage 3 miles out. Honestly, if you can manage that I will be very surprised as right now I highly highly doubt this claim. You should be able to support that claim. If you are unable to then please come talk about claims that you are able to support.

In the sections of the video where I actually flashed the camera I directed my friend (via cell phone) to close her eyes. Not out of fear of damaging them but to maintain her night vision and also to not 'flash' them.

-Scott
 
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@netscott you can't honestly think you would have posted such a thing without some backlash. Lasers are dangerous and at 1W anything is possible YOU could have at the least sent someone into an epileptic seizure, again I did like everything about the vid and I feel I'm one of the more saftey concience here.
 
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@netscott you can't honestly think you would have posted such a thing without some backlash. Lasers are dangerous and at 1W anything is possible YOU could have at the least sent someone into an epileptic seizure, again I did like everything about the vid and I feel I'm one of the more saftey concience here.

Epileptic seizure? Give me a break! There's more risk of that from the occasional flash going off from people taking photos of the tower.
People get too nervous when the word 'laser' is bandied about. The optical power emitted from a camera flash into the eyes of a person at 2 meters is going to blow away anything a 1 watt laser flashing by out at 800 meters is going to put out. If you were to isolate the flash of a camera at 2 meters from a video frame do you realize what you would see on the frame of video? Essentially nothing but pure white from the flash.

I realize some people are going to be critical but honestly I would expect more criticism from uninformed clueless individuals who are less familiar with lasers and how their power works (especially over relatively long distances).

-Scott
 




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