Lasers And Weddings

[DJ Barney 0]

Ofcourse every circumstance is differnt but in general?

 

Im looking to buy a 100mw blue laser crab, can get them for £135ish shipped from china! If anyone else is interested please let met know via PM.

 

Would this crab look out of place?

[dh140770 0]

I said no, but it does depend.

 

To me, lasers and the type of effect they produce are for night clubs. If you are looking to create that effect, then go for it. I own a laser myself but I wouldn't use it at a wedding. I would use it at an 18th or 21st if I thought the music played justified it's use.

 

You need smoke too, to make the best of it.

[Robster 0]

just my opinion

The star cluster or diffraction type lasers can look really nice , i am not too keen on the cheap crab type lasers which sometimes do not meet CE etc. requirements i also don't like the visual effect they give..the star clusters in a large room pointed at the ceiling can make a really nice effect without smoke.

[Kingy 0]

I agree, the clusterlaser set to be on the roof is nice, but I wouldn't use any others, I think they are far too busy and likely to generate more negatives than posatives.

 

Conversly, if the client asked for them I would oblige.

[TonyB 0]

Initially I was going to vote bad idea thinking of the type of laser used at teenage parties shooting beams of lights everywhere but I have seen a Star Cluster laser used at a wedding to very good effect so I voted good idea but it depends on the type of laser.

[McCardle 1]

Does smoke need to be used to enhance the effect?. If so bear in mind that most council run venues and certainly a lot of top end hotels will forbid the use of smoke and so you may not get the full effect.

 

A high-ish T-bar would also be required for the height I would imagine, so check ceilings and allow for this in your initial costing.

 

Also carry out market research. Asking Deejays for advice is good but they aren't the ones booking you are they . I'm sure I read on the forum last year about somebody who had bought a laser and was disappointed that there was no interest in it and little client demand. Why not do a search?, not only to read his / her post but also to see if they want to sell it.

Edited January 23, 2009 by McCardle

[Dream Catchers 0]

I think you will find you are very disappointed.

100mW of 473nm blue laser will cost about £1k.

Blue is very hard to generate hence the expense. Anybody offering 100mW for £135 is either a total con or are missleading you as to what you are buying, please post a link to the one you are considering.

 

As far as lasers at weddings, the cheaper end of the laser market are only of use for laser tunnels and fans etc, these require quite a bit of smoke/haze to be effective and with venues (especially the hotels where most weddings are) not allowing the use of smoke/haze, you aren't going to get to use them.

 

I do use lasers but the only one that tends to get used at weddings is a powerful full colour laser that is computer controlled.

 

Jim

Edited January 23, 2009 by JimBoylan

[Dukesy 0]

Surely this is a windup Barney?

[Bouncy Dancefloor 0]

any laser described as a crab, has got to be a toy right?

 

are you even sure this laser is legal??

[deejaymitch 0]

Some people may like it. If over the course of the planning with the bride and groom they suggest it, or they appear inteested when you mention the different lighting effects you have, then why not? It's their day. Not all weddings are the same, and not all have large extended families of varying ages in attendance.

[DJ Barney 0]

I kid you not amigos...

 

A contact in china takes apart the £20 poor 4.3mw red laser crabs, puts in a small circuit and a blue diode (of which i think i has come from a Blue-Ray drive, but could be wrong) and presto a very cheap and simple laser crab. Which also opporates on a 9v batter for 2 hours, although must be turned off every 2 hours either way to avoide over heating.... 2 hours of lasering ur crowd must be enough anyway!

 

But yea, so its is a pretty powerful and unique unit... cheap from china :) probably wont last long... but at that price, cant complain!

[Dukesy 0]

Yes - lots of sites offering ideas on how to tear apart your blueray device and make a gun sight and other stuff...the disco laser is a new one on me, but I'm not really surprised.

One site perused recently suggested that the Xbox360 laser can be turned into a cool laser pen - to pop balloons for fun.

DOH! :ouch:

Shipping!

[Dream Catchers 0]

I think you will find the cheap diodes are 405nm rather than 473nm.

405nm is very close to ultra violet, so the beem you get is close to invisible until it hits some form of flourescing medium.

Think of your UV tubes and how they only light up flourescent colours and white objects. The 405nm diodes do the same.

Another MAJOR danger with these is because it is "black light" your eyes will not respond with the blink reflex to protect your sight.

You also should look at what frequency of light we can actually see.

http://www.acculinepro.com/ap/images/visible_light_spectrum(1).png

As you can see 405nm is virtually invisible, you would need about 1W of 405nm for it to appear as bright as 100mW of red (650nm) or blue (473nm) and 8W of 405nm to appear the same as 100mW of green (532nm).

 

BTW I use 150mW of blue (473nm) in my projector.

 

Jim

[dj will 0]

Why have a blue laser anyway? A red or green equivalent would be much cheaper. I must say it brings to mind pictures of an explosion in the middle of a wedding, that is if it works at all. I would really warn against buying it anyway, as if doesn't work....what are you going to do about it? There is no warranty, as you've torn the original laser apart!

[DJ Barney 0]

I think you will find the cheap diodes are 405nm rather than 473nm.

405nm is very close to ultra violet, so the beem you get is close to invisible until it hits some form of flourescing medium.

Think of your UV tubes and how they only light up flourescent colours and white objects. The 405nm diodes do the same.

Another MAJOR danger with these is because it is "black light" your eyes will not respond with the blink reflex to protect your sight.

You also should look at what frequency of light we can actually see.

 

As you can see 405nm is virtually invisible, you would need about 1W of 405nm for it to appear as bright as 100mW of red (650nm) or blue (473nm) and 8W of 405nm to appear the same as 100mW of green (532nm).

 

BTW I use 150mW of blue (473nm) in my projector.

 

Jim

 

Thank you all for your advice, i think it would be better offer investing in maybe KAM LED800

 

Special thanks to jim for the excellent explanation

 

[Norfolk DJ 0]

Lasers are not for weddings. It's just like using barrell scanners are weddings. Avoid in your face style lighting. They are fine for 18 & 21 parties.

Edited January 24, 2009 by Norfolk DJ

[Kingy 0]

Dear Mr Norfolk DJ,

 

What exactly have you found up your nose in your avitar??

 

Yours faithfully,

Concerned of Aldridge.

[vokf 0]

Dear Mr Norfolk DJ,

 

What exactly have you found up your nose in your avitar??

 

Yours faithfully,

Concerned of Aldridge.

 

 

Using the latest in image enhancement tools, we're excited to reveal;

 

Those pesky things get everywhere...

[dj will 0]

:bouncy: :bouncy:

[Norfolk DJ 0]

Dear Mr Norfolk DJ,

 

What exactly have you found up your nose in your avitar??

 

Yours faithfully,

Concerned of Aldridge.

 

it was too big for my handkerchief :bouncy:

[Dream Catchers 0]

Lasers are not for weddings. It's just like using barrell scanners are weddings. Avoid in your face style lighting. They are fine for 18 & 21 parties.

It does depend on the type of laser really.

The cheap chinese lasers that only produce beam effects (tunnels, fans, etc) do belong to the younger 18th type birthday parties IMO.

With the more expensive ones that are computer controlled (don't read that as DMX) then they can add something to weddings. Not only can they do complicated graphics and animations, but I find having personal messages, dedications and announcements does go down well.

 

Jim

[Dukesy 0]

Lasers are not for weddings.

 

:lol2: LOL!!

 

And a DJ is not for life...it just seems like it! :bouncy:

[deejaymitch 0]

Lasers are not for weddings.

 

Cos all weddings are the same of course.

[DJF 0]

i use a kam dmx star cluster but only use it as a ceiling effect or back light at weddings

[lasershows 0]

From my experience as a laser show producer with over 600 events under the belt from small parties to large football stadiums, the guests soon get [EDIT] with even a 50mw beam hitting them in the eye.

 

One point is the cheap chinese automatic lasers can be more anoying than more professional laser systems as the cheaper units tend to not have so much position control. a professional system allows the beams to be placed in a less anoying location like away from the guests eyes.

 

 

We have lasers upto 80watts

 

Andy

 

[EDIT]

9) Do not substitute letters within vulgar/obscene/forbidden words with punctuation marks or other symbols. Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) parental software controls and School or Company networks still recognise many of the disguised words and may block access to the forum from their networks.

Edited January 30, 2009 by Dukesy