Laser...Photograph

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chemelec

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I was curious to see what would happen, Taking a Picture Direct on from a Laser pen.

I Took Quite a few and all turned out Simular to this.

Any one have any idea, Why the Bumps on the top, Bottom and sides.
The Side ones don't show as well, but they are there.

Good way to BLANK Out these Cameras where there atching you in Public!

Gary
 

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What you are seeing is your camera lens' "flaws". Every lens with multiple glass elements will produce some amount of flare, ghosting and other optical distortions when submitted to too strong a light, which bounces anarchically inside the lens barrel before reaching the film or sensor.

I think you need to clean your lens' front element, there's a fingerprint-like pattern showing in the image :lol:
 
Like Joel said, the bumps on the top, sides, bottom, etc. are likely diffractions and reflections from the various lens elements in your camera.
But -- the fingerprint-like image is actually an interference pattern caused by the coherent light from your laser pointer. These patterns are often called interference fringes and they result from the summing effects of the phase relationships of the laser energy. Laser energy is quite a bit different than regular light from lamps, etc. It is (usually) of one wavelength (sometimes more, depends on the laser) where all the light waves are in-phase, where a regular lamp creates a broad spectrum of optical radiation, basically a hodge-podge of wavelengths and phases. When the laser light hits an object, the perfect in-phase relationship of the waves is disturbed. When this light went into your camera lens, all kinds of interference between these light waves occurred. If two light waves arrive at the image sensor in-phase, they will sum, creating a bright area. If they arrive slightly out-of-phase, a difference will be created, making a dimmer area. If they arrive 180 degrees out-of-phase, they will cancel, leaving the area dark. These effects are used in holography to make 3D images and in interferometry to make measurements with a high degree of precision.
Here's a link to a web page which shows the math of this interference (in excruciating detail) and has a photo at the bottom of a HeNe laser interference pattern (look familiar?): **broken link removed**
JB
 

Cool, thanks for the precision
 
I bought a laser diode when they first became available through Maplins, anyway after much fun playing and experimenting (and taking to the pub, which back then was such a novelty people would smile in amazment rather than get annoyed) I guess the inevitable happened, and the beam ended up pointing into my right eye :shock: The picture you have posted looks incredably similar to the image I remember burning its way into my retina! Just doesn't hurt so much :lol:
Have to say I didn't get the multiple blobs but I remember the fringes very well! Consider myself remarkably lucky in that so far I have not suffered any obvious damage to my sight so my blink response must have saved the day
Did your camera survive the experience?
 
olly_k said:
Consider myself remarkably lucky in that so far I have not suffered any obvious damage to my sight so my blink response must have saved the day

Perhaps not?, you may have a blind spot (or just a spot of reduced sensitivity) on the back of your eye.
 
olly_k Wrote: Did your camera survive the experience?

I tried it on Two Different HP Digital cameras.
Basically Same results and No Problems.
Cameras are still fine.

Gary
 
Back in the day some 20 years ago when I got my first HeNe (a Spectra-Physics 157, 632.8nm @ 3mW -- visible diode lasers weren't available yet), I was fooling around and got careless, too. The beam hit me square in the eye - brightest light I think I've ever seen short of the sun. Scared the hell out of me and my eye watered like crazy, but as far as I know, no damage either. I had an eye exam not too long afterward, and the doc said there was nothing out of the ordinary. (I didn't mention the laser incident )
I'm a lot more careful these days. My American 60x argon puts out >125mW multi-line. They do retinal surgery with less power than that. I had originally intended to use it as special-effects for rock bands, but found out there is lots of paperwork and liability involved there. So, now I get it out every so often and experiment with it, but not much more than that.
JB
 

Pigeons in my area would have a good reason to be scared if I ever got ahold of one of these. :lol: Just kidding... I think :lol:
 
Wow thats one big ass laser. 125mW must be hell of a bright beam.

Oh and did you guys see that super powerful green diode laser that poped balons wen pointed at.
 
Someone Electro said:
Wow thats one big ass laser. 125mW must be hell of a bright beam..
Yeah, I puts out quite a bright beam. It's multi-line, so you can use a prism or diffaction grating to seperate the colors. Turquoise blue @488nm is the strongest line, but it produces green @514nm and a few weaker lines in the violet region, too.
Someone Electro said:
Oh and did you guys see that super powerful green diode laser that poped balons wen pointed at.
I did see that. That's a powerful device - mine won't do even that. I'm not sure I would trust something like that in the hands of just anyone.
JB
 
Pointing an normal laser pointer is at someones eye os nothing.Beocse he will blink to protect the eye.But if you shyne this at someones eye there is most certanly to be damage.
 
Someone Electro said:
Oh and did you guys see that super powerful green diode laser that poped balons wen pointed at.

How many milliwatts was it?? Ive seen 15mw green ones on ebay, but to pop a balloon the best would be in the infrared spectrum. ( i think)
 
I know the CO2 lasers that can cut stuff emit IR.So you cant see the beam but if it hits you in the eye you can go blind.

But who wants an IR laser if you cant see it (Unles you use an camera whith an pour IR filter)
 
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