Outdoor Show

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Originally Posted by mixedgas

finding ways of killing the power to car dealerships on commercial gigs.

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I think a lot of promoters would pay real money for this!

JeroenVDV, you do not have the level of light pollution that we have here. In my subdivision (which is quite dark to begin with due to the large number of tall trees) you can read a newspaper outside at night even when the entire block is out of power and all the houses are dark. (We actually had a power failure this past weekend, so I was able to demonstrate this. While trying to get my generator started, I was able to read the owners manual without a flashlight.) How can this be, you ask? Because even in a medium sized city of 300,000 people (Charleston), there is enough light given off from the commercial district alone to light up the sky for MILES in every direction. You don't see that very often in Europe, but *EVERY* city in the US is like this.

That is why you want more power for an outdoor show. 3 watts just doesn't cut it around here. 5 watts is minimal, but if you've got a lot of good fog it can work. 10 watts is enough to guarantee a good show even with lousy light conditions.

Adam

You might have car dealers, we have sodium lighted greenhouses filled with hemp and tomatoes lighting the sky. No real difference there. :p

Aren't we forgetting something crucial here ?
As we (all) know visibility is greatly affected by the angle beams are observed.

I think carlos is referring to outdoor without audience scanning.
And he is right, if the sky is his only background, he'll might just need those powerlevels.

I think Jeroen refers to outdoor with audience scanning.
If he does audience scanning, his background can be a stage, a building, a hillside, edge of a forest, etc.
So he might just be right with his claimed powerlevels.

But since the topic starter is located in the usa, he'll just have to fork out some extra.

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Originally Posted by -bart-

I think carlos is referring to outdoor without audience scanning.

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That's what I've just realised. I think Carlos (and others) is referring to outdoor beam shows above a city or other shows like that. I was thinking about stadium shows, outdoor dance festivals, etcetera.

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I think Jeroen refers to outdoor with audience scanning.

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Doesn't have to be with audience scanning. But I refer to shows where people are watching one way (to a stage).

I did the show with 2x1.6W RGB and 1xUnique2 hazer for 1800 people. Ok, it was inside, but it was more than enough!
5W OPSL for 2500 - superb!

when the OP was asking for opinions..... he said outdoor shows, NOT in a TENT with controlled hazing / lighting, in that situation, then yes, 5 watt yag is plenty.

but OUTDOOR Show is OUTDOOR show,, now your little 5 watt OPSL is working against, ambient lighting / intelligent lighting / etc. , then you have to figure out a way to control smoke/ haze outdoors.....

so yea, forget about doing OUTDOOR show with 5 watts, unless its just static beams.

On a side note:
if 5 watts is enough for outdoors,, then whats with all these 20-40watt vajayjay burners, that the big laser guns use ??

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Originally Posted by carlos3621

when the OP was asking for opinions..... he said outdoor shows, NOT in a TENT with controlled hazing / lighting, in that situation, then yes, 5 watt yag is plenty.

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Pardon me? Who is talking about a TENT?!?!

First have a look here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUgBA...layer_embedded

Yes, 5W 532nm. 20.000 people outdoor with NO tent.

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but OUTDOOR Show is OUTDOOR show,, now your little 5 watt OPSL is working against, ambient lighting / intelligent lighting / etc. , then you have to figure out a way to control smoke/ haze outdoors.....

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Against intelligent lighting is no problem. Only (8light) blinders are a bit of a problem. That's a matter of communication with the lighting operator (you make the show together, not alone). Control smoke/haze? Some MDG3000/MDG5000 machines surrounding the area depending on the wind with big blowers. No problem again.

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so yea, forget about doing OUTDOOR show with 5 watts, unless its just static beams.

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Simply not true. Watch the posted video (just an example, I can give you 10 more examples if you need) again.

damn, if i had known what you know, i would have placed a bid to do , the superbowl laser light show, just done recently.

apparenty they used 40 watt yags, what a bunch of morons they are huh?
they didnt know the Jeroen here on PL, could have dont it much cheaper ,,, with a 5 watt yag, and maybe a couple of your special laser pointers ?

there are alooot of laserguys out there , doing outdoor events with 20- 40 watt yags,, you should tell them your secret mr lasergod Jeroen... LOL!

I know it's very small potatoes, but just for the sake of showing it here's a really crappy video of an old 200mW green projector and a ~500mW full color projector at my buddy's house last 4th of July. This is near a residential area with LOTS of ambient lighting (hell, his street lights are even on). the only "fog" in the air was smoke from fireworks which was nowhere near as thick as a fogger or hazer can do.. The video is shot from the other side of his property, about 175' or more. There was heavy low cloud cover, so we felt safe using the systems outdoors since his property is quite large.

The only reason I'm showing this is to point out that even low-powered lasers are visible outdoors with a little haze. I don't think that tens of watts are really always necessary when I've seen that these are easily visible across an area big enough to hold a couple thousand people. Obviously these systems wouldn't work at all outdoors professionally, but the video should demonstrate that even low-powered (especially green) systems can be clearly seen over a lit sky, and there are no static beams used in the vid. If 200mW of green is clearly visible with a little fireworks smoke in the air, then 2-5W should easily work for a smaller professional show. Of course, if you're in an outdoor stadium you'll likely need much more, maybe 5-10W. I don't feel that 20-40W is ever really "necessary" unless you're doing a "beams over the whole city" kind of thing but it is damn cool, that's for sure.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j1...how-7-4-09.jpg

Stop being sarcastic Carlos. Give Hugo B. or Jeroen W. a call at Laser Image and ask them for their experienced opinion. For years they've done almost all their outdoor (!!!!!) shows with max. 5W 532nm. Have you ever done a show outdoor using 5W 532nm? If not, then stop talking like you have done that. Start learning about using fogmachines in a good way.

Companies still using 20-40W YAG's are the companies that don't have the money to invest in more safe, modern laser devices.

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damn, if i had known what you know, i would have placed a bid to do , the superbowl laser light show, just done recently.

apparenty they used 40 watt yags, what a bunch of morons they are huh?
they didnt know the Jeroen here on PL, could have dont it much cheaper ,,, with a 5 watt yag, and maybe a couple of your special laser pointers ?

there are alooot of laserguys out there , doing outdoor events with 20- 40 watt yags,, you should tell them your secret mr lasergod Jeroen... LOL!

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The OP asked how big he'd need to do outdoor shows, not what was everyone else using, or indeed how big would he need to do the Superbowl.

Your childish response isn't really very convincing for the OP either, I know who I'd be most inclined to be listening to...