Laser eye damage.

[bigclive]

A friend has just suffered permanent retinal damage from a laser. Not some big show laser, but a humble Xmas laser starfield projector.

The lasers were cutting in and out so he opened it and was checking for loose connections by wiggling connectors when the green laser came on as it was aligned with his eye.

 

He thought he'd just been dazzled, but when his vision in that eye remained blurry (with floater) for a couple of days he went to an eye specialist.

 

They told him that the retina is permanently damaged and it will get worse over the next few weeks as it heals.

 

It's left him with a dull patch in his vision and difficulty focussing on things.

 

A stark reminder that even small lasers can pose a significant eye damage risk. Something to keep in mind as clueless DJs blast higher and higher power disco lasers directly into crowds of people.

[ninjadingle]

Thank you for sharing this - unfortunately I feel messages like this won't reach the people it truly needs to on this forum (I find the users here are a little more safety orientated than the average DJ). Mind if I put this out onto some Facebook groups where the audience would be wider and it might have a greater impact?

[pigeon_boy]

sorry to hear for your friend!

I also didn't take the laser eye damage too seriously on these things either. Then my sister (who's good with electronics) told me I need to be very careful, she was surprised I even had a class 4 laser (beamz pandora 600) in my bedroom just pointing across the room. I forgot about the whole bouncing of laser beams so I either need to rethink where I place the laser or get special googles when it's on.

 

I've seen videos of those fairground waltzers where they've got lasers going into the crowd, maybe they don't know either! I can't remember what she said but I think anything from class 3b up is dangerous.

[alistermorton]

Even a high power blue LED can do a lot of damage if it's focussed. Doesn't have to be a laser.

[Ynot]

I've been saying this for years, and have spoken to several DJs I know about this increasingly risky practice - though sadly with most of them the conversation fell on deaf ears.

I just make sure that wherever possible if I'm at an event where the DJ has one me and mine are sitting out of the field and my family in particular are wary of the dangers...

[sandall]

...., she was surprised I even had a class 4 laser (beamz pandora 600) in my bedroom just pointing across the room. I forgot about the whole bouncing of laser beams so I either need to rethink where I place the laser or get special googles when it's on.

That's a pretty dangerous bit of kit to use as bedroom decoration !!

 

Quote from user manual - "International laser safety regulations require that lasers must be operated ........ with a minimum of 3 meters (9.8 ft) of vertical separation between the floor and the lowest laser light vertically. Additionally, 2.5 meters of horizontal separation is required between laser light and audience or other public spaces." That's quite a big bedroom !!

[dosxuk]

A stark reminder that even small lasers can pose a significant eye damage risk. Something to keep in mind as clueless DJs blast higher and higher power disco lasers directly into crowds of people.

 

Have you considered doing a "serious face on" video about this subject. I know more people will come across the information on YouTube than here, and if even a handful of the idiots actually pay attention it can only be a good thing.

 

I've had numerous arguments with mobile DJs over the years about lasers, and they all seem to be under the impression that they wouldn't be able to buy it they were dangerous, and that all the rules about laser exposure (some of them have actually heard of them) are only for the big stuff like you see on TV. They simply don't believe they're putting people at risk.

[sleah]

I recently saw an article and yoootoobe video where a drone at some festival or something was allegedly brought down by the crowd pointing green laser pointers at it.

 

I was far more freaked out by the sheer number of people carrying high power laser pointers than the rest of nonsense discussed and talk of whether or not the points could disable the drone.

[bigclive]

I've been saying this for years, and have spoken to several DJs I know about this increasingly risky practice - though sadly with most of them the conversation fell on deaf ears.

I just make sure that wherever possible if I'm at an event where the DJ has one me and mine are sitting out of the field and my family in particular are wary of the dangers...

 

Yup. If I'm at an event where a laser is being indiscriminately fired at eye height then I'll intuitively avoid eye contact and warn others with me to avoid it too.

 

Have you considered doing a "serious face on" video about this subject. I know more people will come across the information on YouTube than here, and if even a handful of the idiots actually pay attention it can only be a good thing.

 

I've had numerous arguments with mobile DJs over the years about lasers, and they all seem to be under the impression that they wouldn't be able to buy it they were dangerous, and that all the rules about laser exposure (some of them have actually heard of them) are only for the big stuff like you see on TV. They simply don't believe they're putting people at risk.

 

I am considering making a video describing what the person experienced. I may even try to get the unit that caused the eye damage.

[alistermorton]

I think that would be useful, Clive. I'm continually (pleasantly) surprised at the number of my friends, both real and online, who are familiar with the Big Clive channel, and will often answer technical recommendation questions with "what ever bigclive uses is what I'd use" or "you ought to see what bigclive says about that" so I do think you have generated quite a reach and you are taken seriously when need be.

[pigeon_boy]

there's that popular disco light channel dude called Briansred. that American. I reckon he should do a video on it people will listen to him I guess.

 

I don't know of many other lighting channels, there's hardly any. doesn't seem to be a popular hobby for some reason ** laughs out loud **

[Jivemaster]

Sadly I watched (a while ago) a YT vid of some kid well prepared for big lasers, using them. He actually said that you buy them from China by ebay and the high power ones usually say "Not Over nn watts" but his finding was that all of them are well over their rated wattage.

[KevinE]

I have a mobile DJ client who is mad on graphics lasers, and a few weeks back he brought me a 'little' RGB 3W disco laser for repair. I had to really shout at him to stop staring into the laser window at a distance of about 6 inches while he showed me the fault. (luckily it was dead). The philosophy seems to me, they're cheap and easy to obtain, so they can't be that dangerous.

Some shoebox sized ebay disco lasers are quite able to burn skin at 3 feet.

[pigeon_boy]

...., she was surprised I even had a class 4 laser (beamz pandora 600) in my bedroom just pointing across the room. I forgot about the whole bouncing of laser beams so I either need to rethink where I place the laser or get special googles when it's on.

That's a pretty dangerous bit of kit to use as bedroom decoration !!

 

Quote from user manual - "International laser safety regulations require that lasers must be operated ........ with a minimum of 3 meters (9.8 ft) of vertical separation between the floor and the lowest laser light vertically. Additionally, 2.5 meters of horizontal separation is required between laser light and audience or other public spaces." That's quite a big bedroom !!

 

yeah. don't worry I've taken it down for now.

Reason I got that pandora was... I had that £100 beamz laser they do, and the blue's and reds on it were terrible so I thought, if I save my pennies for something better. The 600 was like nearly £300!!! it should look better and to be fair it did. but sister was not impressed with the whole no safety. Also I passed my driving test this year and apparently if you're blind in one eye you're not allowed to drive anymore so I might actually sell the pandora 600 and find a way of doing some digital video editing trickery to make the cheapo laser look cooler.

[sunray]

I've been saying this for years, and have spoken to several DJs I know about this increasingly risky practice - though sadly with most of them the conversation fell on deaf ears.

 

Well it would fall on deaf ears, aren't all DJ's deaf?