how much $$ are those crazy lazers like...

[Enercity]

how much do those crazy lazer beam things like. in...well...the only thing I can think of is the Usher "yeah" video.

[Shantanu]

from 800 to 3 grand if im thinking of the right lazers... the cost depends on the color, red being cheapest, blue being most expensive

[RandomBeat]

Those are quite expensive, probably rental. Some lazers (argon) can run in the thousands to rent!


you can buy inexspensive lazers tho too, ADJ makes a couple low end, such as the black widow, that can be found for around $65.

You will see some in the $300 range, generally similar to the black widow in different colors such as green or blue, however, a red in the $300 range will probably be a nicer buy.

I would opt for the green once you get into the $800 range, some nice ones can be found around this price range, Generally, if you go to your local club and see a lazer, its probably around 800-1000, hopefully, . :) .

[DJNaviss]

How cool, Lazer's are a kick ass effect for any event...

Lazer's, Are DMX controlled right?

All my lighting is Chauvet... Mainly because I trust them, And they have given me great help, And support, As with the fixing of one of my unit's break, And also when they let me change 3/4 of my lighting for different.. :)

I was looking at the Chauvet Lazer Scanner's... Them look neat. (http://chauvetlighting.com/system/fixtures/laserscanlaser.html) Haven't really checked the price...

Does anyone have or tried a Yoke Luminaires? They look alot bigger, But I think the scanner's would be a better buy?

For mobile use anyway.... I mean who would need a light that go all over, When you really can't "hang" the Yoke, Upside down like it's really meant to be.

[Monomer]

How cool, Lazer's are a kick ass effect for any event...

Lazer's, Are DMX controlled right?

All my lighting is Chauvet... Mainly because I trust them, And they have given me great help, And support, As with the fixing of one of my unit's break, And also when they let me change 3/4 of my lighting for different.. :)

I was looking at the Chauvet Lazer Scanner's... Them look neat. (http://chauvetlighting.com/system/fixtures/laserscanlaser.html) Haven't really checked the price...

Does anyone have or tried a Yoke Luminaires? They look alot bigger, But I think the scanner's would be a better buy?

For mobile use anyway.... I mean who would need a light that go all over, When you really can't "hang" the Yoke, Upside down like it's really meant to be.


$500 at www.audiolines.com

[Designer]

That looks great. By the looks of it all the DMX control is for is to control the pan/tilt of the mirror and to select the inbuilt program in use.

I own 3 yokes/moving heads (when they eventually get delivered), it does'nt really matter is you cant hand them upside down as they work just as well sideways. Obviously working them hanging from the ceiling like we do in the club gives a better appearance but for a mobile rig the prices are comparable with scanners although the response is'nt quite as fast. The main deciding factor for me was that the yokes i've bought for a very good price have 15 gobo's, variable mechanical shutter strobe and 12 colours + open. And they were much cheaper than the nearest scanner with equivalent specs.

[DJNaviss]

Designer,
What kind of Yoke's did you get? I looked at the Chauvet mini one's, And They seemed like when they wasn't hung, They was 3/4 of the time pointing in the air....

Chauvet, Cut me a good deal on my 2 Navigator's, Because I wasn't happy with the Effect lighting I sent back...
I believe they gave them to me for around 280$, And that's not with shipping..
And they said, If or whenever I want to buy two more, They will give me them at the same price.

Right now, I have both of them hooked up to a Easy Controller.

What I don't like is when I push the strobe botton, They will sometime's strobe (If I'm lucky) But only strobe for a few sec's, even with me still holding the button.
And when I tell it to switch gobo's, It doesn't work, It only goes back to the white (clear). :cry:

[Designer]

There's a picture of my yokes in the post pic's thread:

I've listed their features below:

5 DMX channels (pan, tilt, colour, gobo, shutter)
Pan 540 degrees in 3.0 secs, tilt 270 degrees in 1.8 seconds
11 dichroic colours + white
15 gobo's + open
Blackout & variable strobe

RE: Navigator's
That sounds like a problem with the controller rather than the fixtures, does the controller connect to the DMX input? and are they linked through the DMX port's. If the 1st one works but the 2nd does'nt work properly you might be getting garbage data going through so it's worth taking them into a store where someone can check them out with a DMX tester for you.

[DJNaviss]

Ok, Tell me this.. What does Shutter do? And Blackout? And there was one more, But I forgot.


And, I'm using a Easy Controller (CA-6 I believe), Plugged in the master, By a 1/4 plug..
They both do the same.

[Designer]

Shutter does the strobing effects, basically it's just a fancy name for a bit of metal that covers up the light beam, blackout just either turns off the lamp or blocks the lightbeam.

I'm assuming the Navigators have a 1/4" jack plug like that used on a headphones lead. If that's the case, try finding a store that sells your lights and ask if they can try your controller on their lights and their controller on your lights. I think that's probably the easiest way to determine what's not working properly.

[DJNaviss]

Nobody around me sell's my kind of lighting... Not that's anywhere close anyway.

Here it is.

http://www.springtree.net/Chauvet/chauvet_lighting/ca-6.html

[danks]

I got a nice deal on a laser from www.extremelasers.com, picked up the rock star, as they call it. was also thinking of picking up a pair of those chauvet insignia's, seem like they would go well with the laser.

[jamesnet]

All lasers aren't DMX controlled, when you get up to the 2-50K range lots of them use Pangolin software and a computer to design animations, and they can be synced to external sources like video/audio (SMPTE). Remember anything over 4.95mW requires a Variance from the FDA to even own it, let alone use it, I have to notify them 30 days in advance of a show, plus the local office.
Gotta love the FDA...

[Designer]

Thats gotta be a pain, as far as i'm aware in the UK we have no real regulations regarding laser power output, there must be some but I can't find any info on it.

Is audience scanning still prohibited in the U.S?

[jamesnet]

You can specify that you are going to use scanning, but I bet they wouldn't approve the variance.. Scanning can be done right..
Generally if you haven't had an incident, you wil get approved.

[Designer]

I just remembered reading it somewhere (think it was an article written by a U.S Lighting designer), someone wanted to do it but the aggro for getting approval and the additional safety equipment they demanded like intensity measurement sensors in the crowd to auto shut-down the laser should a problem arise really outweighted the good points of doing it. :moon:

[jamesnet]

Let me know how that work out for them :smash: I can't see!

[DJNaviss]

Audience Scanning? With what laser's?

[Designer]

Yeah, it looks cool when your on the dancefloor, looks best with a horizontal sheet type effect sweeping along the dancefloor but i've heard certain legislations prevent you from being able to do it in the U.S but the U.K legislations don't appear to be so stringent.

[DJNaviss]

I see... Why wouldn't you be able to do it in the US? Because they could blind you or something?

[Designer]

Yeah, I read it somewhere, I think it was on a lighting designers website. That the guy faced so much red-tape because he wanted to do audience scanning. It's something to do with safety like it could cause retinal damage to dancers or something should a laser malfunction occur. Mind you this was using quite high powered lasers.

Gotta get me one of these:

Dual 30mW green laser, called twinscan. Only downside is it costs over £600. Does some wicked time tunnels.

[DJNaviss]

Well, Eh... I can understand that... And really I think the laser's are alot better in the air over everyone's head... Give's everyone a chance to see it....

Plus, That's what scanner's are for. :smash:

By the way, That's a cool looking laser... Aren't there laser's you can buy that are more then just one color?

And 600 isn't as bad as I thought... Now another question I just thought of.
What type of bulb's do laser's use? And how much are they? And how many hour's do they last? The same ammount as just a reg light?

[Designer]

Lasers don't use bulbs, they normally use a laser diode, which generates the light beam, they have an extensive lifetime so I'd doubt it'd ever fail on you. I've heard of RGB full colour lasers but they cost an absolute mint (something like 15K +) normally the red's are cheapest, followed by green and then blue price wise.

[DJNaviss]

15k? DAMN. I think I would rather buy all 3 colored laser's, And hook them up. LOL Only spend maybe 1/9th of the cost!

Well, That's nice, Never have to change the bulb in them.. Or having to worry about them.

And they are a really cool effect, Some of the video's I've seen of club's that use them, Just one laser would light up that huge building, And didn't even need any other light. *On Anyway*

[Designer]

Pricey eh,

Lasers do look great though. With a green laser that does horizontal sheet patterns you can give a great effect if you use it with a fogger, just blow the fog over the laser sheet and provided there's no external light other than the laser people on the ndancefloor looking up will see what looks like clouds in the laser sheet.

[jamesnet]

I was gone for too long, Anything over 4.95mW supposedly causes instant (or could cause) retinal damage. We have classes over here class 3a is under 4.95 class 3b is over 4.95 and then there is class 4 and 5 when you get way up there..
I am selling a 4.95 red/green stinger laser in the classifieds, it does red/green/gold.. 120v/240v.. DMX stand alone, it is pretty cool.
I just bought a 140mW stinger, holy hell can you imagine the red tape...
That twinscan, it is cool, I found the actual manufacturer in asia that makes them, and I can get them for a steal, however I am waiting to see if I get my 140mW first before I get to excited.

[Designer]

I use a large UK retailer that's got a huge demo room set up like a nightclub. Got invited to spin at their showroom opening event and got a demo on them at the same time, looked great, theyve got a massive number of internal sequences.