Is it really worth it? 445nm diode inside

[p1t8ull]

Adam, out of interest did the 445nm projectors in question have the palette dialed in using the advanced setup method? (assuming they were Pango'd)

[greenalien]

The only time I've seen 445 and 473 side by side is at last week's UKLEM 4.5 meeting. As far as I could see, you could get an acceptable light blue that looked like the 473 from a 445 by mixing in a little green. I was not the only person to have noticed this. When the projected image has a full spectrum of colours, my projector with the 445 in it seemed to have a wider, more saturated range of colours - although I have to admit some bias for obvious reasons!

If I'd been buying a blue module last year, it would have been a 473. Now the 445 units are more affordable (it's relative, all blues seem to cost an arm and a leg...) I'd rather have a diode than a DPSS device - simpler, less likely to go out of adjustment, better modulation - and I am very partial to that deep blue colour.

[sbk]

Hi Buffo, I realize that it is a prediction based on a model of human color perception - and I have never seen a 445 blue before. But before we throw theory out of the window, would you consider the following - and share your thoughts.

If the software doing the shows you saw did a simple 1:1 RGB-color to RGB-laser mapping I'm not surprised that the blue comes out wrong / different. The software has to mix a bit of green with the blue, or the blue color definition of the frames has to be 'hue-ed' more towards cyan. Because 445 is still relatively new, not everyone may do this properly. Others have reported to see the most beautiful blue ever so there may be some color tuning issues going on.

Well, that's what I'm thinking too. If we want a projector with 445nm to do the same brightness in the blue of another projector with a 473nm, we have to adapt the colors palette for the entire show, to have a little green added in every part we want the right brightness (at the expense of the deeper blue). Pure blue can be used too but at equal power, 445nm will look way dimmer.

But still, in reality I doubt 1W 445 has a comparable brightness of 1.8W of 473, with only 200mW of 532nm in it.
According that 200mW of 532 equal ~400mW of 473, and 1W 445 equal ~500mW of 473, that will more looks like 1W of 473 !

That's still theory. I think you'll have to make some serious experiments at the next LEM

[buffo]

The two projectors I saw were both running Pangolin. I didn't set up the palletes myself, so I don't really know how they were done, but I assume the Pangolin color wizard was used in both cases.

At SELEM, Aaron will have his 1 watt KVANT unit set up. We should take some power measurements and see what sort of colors he can create with it when it's running at, say, 400 mw of 445 and 50 to 100 mw of 532...

Adam

[andy_con]

ill post some beam pics of john's projectors from the meet when i get home tonight

[Doc]

Well, that's what I'm thinking too. If we want a projector with 445nm to do the same brightness in the blue of another projector with a 473nm, we have to adapt the colors palette for the entire show, to have a little green added in every part we want the right brightness (at the expense of the deeper blue). Pure blue can be used too but at equal power, 445nm will look way dimmer.

But still, in reality I doubt 1W 445 has a comparable brightness of 1.8W of 473, with only 200mW of 532nm in it.
According that 200mW of 532 equal ~400mW of 473, and 1W 445 equal ~500mW of 473, that will more looks like 1W of 473 !

That's still theory. I think you'll have to make some serious experiments at the next LEM

That analogy doesn't quite work. Blue/green mix has an apparent brightness greater then the sum of their collective power.

[greenalien]

If anyone's interested, there are now photos of my new 3.2W projector in the 'john' folder in the UKLM4.5 folder on the Ildaswap ftp, courtesy of andy con.

Those with sharp eyes will notice that the 1W blue module is labelled 'Class 3B' - Martin assures me that this was an error by Kvant and a 'Class 4' label is on its way...

[sbk]

Great pictures, thanks!

The DSC00590 picture shows what I think is a good example of the kind of color and power we can obtain with a mix of 445 and 532, not? Looks pretty bright, and still seems to be a deeper blue than 473nm, so we can add even more green!

[Mille]

Wow that's a really beautiful color

[dar303]

Oh my god!

*note to self: remember to buy lottery ticket*