immense flash range... theory

[thes3raph1m]

ok so cameras take pictures in RGB... and a flash which is white, only goes so far, 7m being the longest i can imagine without a separate flash kit


now, lasers, which come in red, blue and green can go a long way... either a set of 3 lasers with an adjustable "decolumator" (basically a lens) to spread the beam to the size you want at the distance you want... and lo and behold tri colour photos?

now i know that may not work

so i have a backup theory...

3 photos taken at high speed, one with the red laser, one with the blue laser and one with the green laser taken with a B&W filter... then combine the 3 B&W channels to make a colour picture...


what do you think? potentially expensive addon, but perhaps workable?

[nightshade]

I had a quick look around the garage but ..............

[Hobjob]

There are very, very strict controls on lasers and where you can shine them - even if diffused out I suspect they would not be allowed.

Try googling for laser and eye damage and see what you come up with.

[paulthomas]

It sounds like an ideal method for blinding wildlife

[eeyore]

i agree , an interesting idea in theory , sadly unworkable in practice

the best bet if you do require long range flash is to get a flash extender - basically a fresnell lens that mounts in front of your hammer head flash gun and focusses the pulse - i have one and mine gives ranges out to about 25m

[HowlinWolf]

Originally Posted by thes3raph1m

3 photos taken at high speed, one with the red laser, one with the blue laser and one with the green laser taken with a B&W filter... then combine the 3 B&W channels to make a colour picture...

An old process updated for the 21st century. The Technicolor process using lasers instead of filters. I like it!

HW

[DuncanE]

Yay a subject I can excel at! (Well should do anyway as its my job )

The problem is with visible light lasers other than burning holes or blinding. (Then the non visible can do the same too).

If it did work (assuming no hazards) the exitting light beam would be such a fine angle that there wouldn't be much coverage. I suppose a similar idea to a telephoto lense.

The other problem is the lasers may burn a hole through the sensor (or film) and therefore probably have black spots form the burning when being developed.

If it were to the done, probably the Best way of doing this would be to use a mix of red green and blue high efficiency LEDs. Like all LEDs these are lasers but without the lazing capability. High efficiency LEDs can have a big range. I have a set of 10 light blue LEDs on a bit of kit that can light up a wall 10m away, so it could be done.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by DuncanE

Yay a subject I can excel at! (Well should do anyway as its my job )


If it were to the done, probably the Best way of doing this would be to use a mix of red green and blue high efficiency LEDs. Like all LEDs these are lasers but without the lazing capability. High efficiency LEDs can have a big range. I have a set of 10 light blue LEDs on a bit of kit that can light up a wall 10m away, so it could be done.

as a matter of interest what sort of price are you looking at for HE LEDs ?

[DuncanE]

Originally Posted by eeyore

as a matter of interest what sort of price are you looking at for HE LEDs ?

Anything from pence to lots of pounds, depending on how flash - excuse the pun - you want it. It also depends on if you want an SMD, Panel mount or circuit mount. There are plenty of electronics parts sellers online, just watch out for the MOQs you could need to buy 10s or 100s instead of 1 or 2.. Oh and buy ROhS its better for the environment.

[DuncanE]

At the risk of sounding nerdy I have had more thought to this.

An option could be to use infrared LEDs to make a night-time flash - you can definatly get IR torches. I'm sure there are many light intensities, then you can adjust that by sticking a nominal resistor value with it. timing may also be an issue.

I have been thinking about making a IR torch just so I can do some night time filming to aid the built in IR light I have on my video camera. Maybe I should look harder into it.