Next FLEM on March 1st, 2014

[buffo]

Glad to hear you had a good time, Brad. I rolled into town last night at around 6:30 and I was really wiped out. (Remember, I worked Wednesday night and then drove here Thursday.)

Got a good night's rest last night though, so I'm good to go for today. Should be ready to head to the venue in an hour or so.

Not sure if we will have cell service in the building or not, but if we do we may be able to set up a live broadcast via ustream if someone can tether their phone to a PC for Internet access. If not, we will try to be sure to record some of the highlights for later. (I brought my gopro this time.)

Adam

[buffo]

Last night was a blast! The Z5 analog console is clearly a hit. I think just about everyone took a turn at the controls. It was so popular that DZ set up a second console in the back of the room so more people could play!

Mark (Imagelight) turns out to be an analog console master. Within 20 minutes he had the thing doing stuff I've only ever seen in a Planetarium, and all beat-matched to changing music! (I just had my I-pod on shuffle...) Damn, but that guy is good on the console!

Later in the evening, Ash showed up and went over a few things, but he's going to save the major tutorial for tomorrow so we can be sure to have multiple recordings of it. (I had my go pro with me, but the battery was dead - must have bumped the ON button when I packed it!) No worries though, as the battery is fully topped off now and ready to go. Several other people will have cameras too, so we should get some good video.

It's pretty clear that with these new, higher power projectors we are starting to out-grow the Triangle Boat Club meeting room. With 3 of the 2.5 watt Pluto II RGB's running, it was as bright as if you had the room lights on! (Those are some really nice units - can't wait to see them at SELEM!) Maybe in another year or so I'll have to start looking for another place. (Sure hope I can find one this cheap and this secluded though...)

Plenty of quad-copter fun was had, and Chris (Lazerjock) managed to repair my collective pitch bird for me (replaced a bad tail rotor motor), so now I can fly it. Very cool! Of course, then he showed us his "Ninja" quad that he build for aerobatics. All metal frame (roughly 2 lbs), and 10" diameter carbon-fiber blades! Wicked! Flies like a dream, but it's STUPID fast. The kind of thing that could get away from you in a hurry! Today he plans to bring his other large quad with the GPS auto-pilot (including a barometer for precise altitude hold) and the pan-tilt video head so he can shoot some video of the area around (and above) the venue. Man, he's got some awesome toys...

I left my little point-and-shoot camera at the venue, so I don't have anything to upload this morning, but I'll try to get something on-line later. And for those of you who couldn't make it - DAMN... You're missing a ton of fun!

FLEM will rock on in about 90 minutes from now. (Gotta get breakfast going...)

Adam

[buffo]

Wow!

It's nearly 3 AM, and I just got to my Mom's house. (Which is conveniently located less than 500 yards from the FLEM venue.) I think several attendees are still standing around in the parking lot chatting. No one wanted this event to end! (Really, we need to start thinking about making FLEM a 3 day event instead of a 1.5 to 2 day one!)

What an awesome time though... Without a doubt the Z5 analog console was the star of the show. I think we spent more time playing with it than everything else combined! And everyone agreed that it's waaaaay cool.

Coming in a close second was the insanity with all the helicopters earlier this evening. Who knew we could have so much fun if only we had more people flying at once! Hilarity ensued when DZ asked to fly my collective-pitch mini. I promised him pretty much anything he wanted if he could keep it in the air for at least 30 seconds at full throttle. He lasted about, what, 2 seconds - maybe? (I knew it was a safe bet!) Unfortunately, the ensuing crash, while funny as hell to watch, had an unfortunate casualty, as the blades of my Wasp Nano sliced right through one of the rotor blades on his coaxial bird. Oops! Fortunately nothing else got broken... (Damned but it was funny though!)

Bill Benner's scanner demo was quite interesting, and showcases what I feel are going to be some very popular scanners in hobby projectors in the coming months. Sure hope the video I shot of his presentation on my Go Pro comes out OK. But to summarize: the Saturn 1 scanners will do 60K all day long at very reasonable scan angles, and will do the ILDA test pattern at 30 K at well over 30 degrees! The real surprise was to see them running at 90 K speeds! Even though the scan angle was lower, it was still on par with what most people would consider more than adequate for graphics shows.

The real surprise though was the far less expensive 506 scanner max units, which at 30K are truly game-changing in terms of how wide they would scan. He had them thrashing at more than triple the width that I've ever seen any scanners running at (while doing a graphics show anyway), and after the show, the scanners weren't even warm! (My Scan-pro 50's would have been hot enough to leave blisters if pushed even half that hard.) So yeah, those new units will be of great interest to hobbyists, especially considering the new all-digital amps and the super-affordable price-point (on par with a new set of DT-40's)!

I owe a huge thanks to Chris Tate for taking Brad and I for a ride in his plane. What fun! I'm surprised more people didn't volunteer for that, because it was great! Of course, now he's got me wondering if I should think about getting my pilot's license. (Just what I need: another money-pit hobby!) Sure wish we had more time to play after we got back from the airport, but it was getting late and they still had to fly back to Orlando, park the plane, and then drive home... (Next time, buddy!)

People ask me why they would ever want to drive several hours to attend a LEM like this. And it's really hard to put it all into words. Maybe someone else can explain it better than I can. But I promise you that everyone there felt it was well worth the trip, no matter if they only drove 30 min (like Aaron did), or 19 hours (like Ed did). I know I speak for everyone when I say that we all had a great time, and if we could do it again next weekend, we would all be up for it!

Anyway, I'm off to get some sleep. When I get home (later today), if I have time I'll try to upload some of the pictures and video I shot during the event. Until then, you'll just have to take my word for it that we had a lot of fun. (At least until some of the other attendees chime in here with their own stories.)

Thanks again for everyone who made the effort! It was a great event! (And now I really can't wait until SELEM....)

Adam

[Bradfo69]

I certainly have to echo everything that Adam said above. LEM's in general cannot simply be put into words when it comes to the fun and learning. If you have any interest in lasers, you really need to try and make an event such as one of these. Thanks again Chris... I was much more comfortable flying with you that I was on my first lesson and you can count me in for another ride at SELEM, provided you fly there this year.

I still maintain I'm not worthy of having a device as magical as David's Z-5 and in all honesty, I got it as much for ImageLight's benefit as mine. Masterful from the get go so, at least I have an "instructor" who's 15 minutes away. Who knows... maybe with some diligent practice I'll be comfortable with using the term "laserist". I've got "spendmoneyist" down to an art but...laserist? Nah. Not yet.

Video and pics to follow but, I need a couple hours sleep before leaving for the airport to return to.... 10-14"+ of snow tonight?!?! Will this winter ever end?

[Pangolin]

Hi all,

I echo what Adam wrote! I would have stayed, but had to pick up an Intern at 6:05, and then get him settled into temporary quarters where he will be staying. Due to some kind of mixup, the normal place where we have them stay (a lone-term hotel type organization) was all booked up, and so I had to drive him all around the city to find one that had an opening (and then came to learn of practices which surely must be against the law -- I am looking into this now and will write an article for the Orlando Sentinel as well as reporting them to the Florida State Attorney's office if I am correct).

Anyway, I got him settled by around 10PM and contemplated driving back up, but figured surely everyone would have dissipated by then. I guess I should have called...

What Adam wrote about our scanners is true! The morning before I came up with a 90K tuning that actually works, especially for longer throw applications. What I showed at FLEM didn't work as well, because there is apparently some kind of heat problem with the amp. Some component is drifting, which is causing the tuning to change. Since there aren't many analog components on the amp in the first place, identifying which component is drifting shouldn't be hard. (The amp was just sitting on the projector, with no heat conduction path, and at my office I tested it with a fan blowing on it, but still, I'm curious as to what's going on...)

I also noticed Guido's post about LaserFreak in Germany. If it's possible to attend, I would recommend it. So far I've attended every single Laser Freak meeting (and even spoke at a few too) but might miss this one due to a scheduling conflict.

It's great to see everyone and keep in touch, outside the forum environment!

Bill

[ImageLight]

Lol... I can honestly say I've found the complete cure for depression... For me anyway it's called Z-5..
The funny thing is, I'm still seeing abstracts in my head when I close my eyes... The crazy thing is, I literally
had to go take breaks just to come down from the adrenaline highs I was getting just having fun playing the Z-5 console
creating the vary images that got me addicted to lasers in the first place.. I'm proud to say I'm #7 on the list to
own one.. Huge thanks goes out to Ash for creating the P-4 and David for updating the design (Z-5) and bringing the concept of analog image synthesizers back to life.. Pangolin has truly hit the ball out of the park with all the new scanners
and amps they've developed.. Other Pro scanner companies need to be worried that when news of the Saturn series goes viral, they're in deep shit sales wise and better have a plan B to stay in business.. I can easily see Compact 506's in every entry level to advanced laser projector in the world.. Including mine!!! Thanks to everyone who came out to play laser this weekend... You guys are awesome and I always learn a lot from all of you.. Thanks Adam for planning all these events.. Thanks Brad for splitting hotel costs and buying a Z-5 for me to play on Thanks Greg and Adam for all the real life talks..
I really appreciate it!!! All in all, this FLEM was an amazing success... Getting ready for SELEM and some warmer weather..

[Lazerjock]

As usual I had a great time! Thank you Adam for picking me and my Dad up at the airport and Ed for driving us back. Transportation to and from the airport is the biggest problem with flying somewhere.
I was nervous about bringing my Dad since he had no idea what FLEM was about. I tried to explain it, but like everyone says you just have to experience it. Well, he loved it and talked about it all the way home.
Looking forward to SELEM.
Chris

[buffo]

So, who's up for another FLEM sometime around the middle of May?

Adam

[swamidog]

i feel like there's been a profound lack of photos and videos.

hint.. hint

[buffo]

I'm working a 12 hr shift today and another 12 hr shift tomorrow, so I can't promise anything, but I do have about an hour's worth of stuff on the gopro (including Bill Benner's entire presentation), plus several shorter clips from the quad-copter camera and my little point-and-shoot camera. Will try to get some of it put up soon!

Adam