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Lasers and cameras

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HudzonHawk

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It's a bit of a silly question, but I'm curious as to what the answer is.

If you point a powerful laser, say 100mw, into the eye of a human it will result in the eye suffering severe damage.

However, what if you point the laser directly into a camera, tape it, and show that tape to a human?
Will it still damage the eye, even if only slightly?

Whatever the answer is please explain the logic behind it!
 
HudzonHawk said:
It's a bit of a silly question, but I'm curious as to what the answer is.

If you point a powerful laser, say 100mw, into the eye of a human it will result in the eye suffering severe damage.

However, what if you point the laser directly into a camera, tape it, and show that tape to a human?
Will it still damage the eye, even if only slightly?

No it won't.

Whatever the answer is please explain the logic behind it!

It's the power of the laser in a small area which does the damage, there's no power from the TV screen - so it's in no way an accurate rendition of the laser. It would also probably kill a spot in the camera, just as it would your eye!.
 
yep, a 100mw laser will definately leave a dark spot on your camera. 100mw of laser can burn garbage bags if focused correctly!!!
 
A laser pointer, a couple of milliwatts, will instantly burn a spot on one of the old vidicon tube cameras. I don't have a laser big enough to damage a solid state camera.
 
Thanks for the explanation!

A friend was recording himself pop balloons with a similar laser and I got a bit paranoid. Glad to know my worries were unjustified.
 
However you can still be blinded by looking at a laser though a mirror.
 
HudzonHawk said:
It's a bit of a silly question, but I'm curious as to what the answer is.

If you point a powerful laser, say 100mw, into the eye of a human it will result in the eye suffering severe damage.

However, what if you point the laser directly into a camera, tape it, and show that tape to a human?
Will it still damage the eye, even if only slightly?

Whatever the answer is please explain the logic behind it!

Silly? Well it's not unlike asking if you shot a gun into a video camera would it harm anyone watching the replay :rolleyes:

Lefty
 
Leftyretro said:
Silly? Well it's not unlike asking if you shot a gun into a video camera would it harm anyone watching the replay :rolleyes:
It is deadly.
A gullable person will die from fright.
A smart person will die laughing.
 
as long as you are not pointing the laser directly into the camera, you should be right. taking video's of a laser popping a balloon is fine.
 
A videotape that kills?

Wow, that's almost a concept you could make a movie out of.

**broken link removed**
 
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