Dozens of ravers partially blinded at Moscow party after their retinas are burned by laser light show. Click here (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23516104-details/Dozens+of+ravers+blinded+at+Moscow+party+after+their+retinas +are+burned+by+laser+light+show/article.do) for the story.
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/509/article-1034973-01F24E8A00000578-517_468x312_popup.jpg
Lasers like these were erected inside giant tents at the Aquamarine Open Air Festival in Kirzhach, Russia, after heavy rain. Up to 30 ravers suffered permanent damage to their vision.

I dont see a single shark anywhere...it was probably the Vodka

I dont see ...

You must have looked into the light:)

Now that is one huge cross hatch pattern! :) Who knew calibrating could put an eye out?Perhaps we should all learn a valuable lesson here and leave our setups alone. At least we can save a ton of money at the opthomologist and even more importantly keep our vision so we can enjoy our projector purchases for years to come.

Ignoring my own advice here but i can't stand not tweaking their setup. They need to do some serious work on convergence. That thing looks WAY out of whack. :eek:

Wow, that's awful. So not only were the lasers overpowered for the venue, they were improperly installed.

You'll never see this class of laser in HT projectors though.

Lasers used as a light source for DLP, LCD, or LCOS will be no more dangerous than a regular bulb. No one is going to look directly into a laser beam. Looking into any 1000+ lumen projector is not good for the eyes.

IB

The other day I had fired up my RS2 and was walking around the front of the room waiting for it to kick in. I looked back at the projector, the lamp was still dim through the lens and just as I started to look away full brightness kicked in. I was blinded for a good five minutes. All I could see was a large spot on the center of both eyes. I agree your typical lamp driven projector is enough to do damage if you were to look into the lens for any given time.

Wow, reminds me of when I lived in Gainseville Florida in 1979 and a spectator of the homecoming celebration at the University of Florida Headlined by by Bob Hope. Huge state of the art laser light show planned but subsequently cancelled due to fears/risk of permanent eye damage and I was completely devastated, good to see there's been progress since then.:D Consoled myself with the memorable "blow up the car" and "burned his lips on the tail-pipe" joke however.:rolleyes:

Talk about a small world. In 1979 I was a freshman at the University of Florida and was at that Gator Growl with Bob Hope. I don't recall the cancelled laser show, but I do recall getting seriously drunk for the first (and last) time on tequilla at the show and was sick for 3 days. It was at least 10 years before I could even smell tequilla without feeling nauseous. Ahhh, the good old days :)

I always reinforce the "don't look into the light rule" when my kids are in the home cinema ( which is often). Along with the "don't touch the screen" rule.

Although often its their mates that are the problem.

The sun can make you go blind. It is all about self preservation. Microvision make displays that work by scanning your retina. People get to hung up on the abbreviation LASER.

They were improperly installed. Rock concerts have used them for years.

I remember how darned bright the light was when I glanced directly at a projector beam.
This thread reminds me I'll have to impress upon my kids not to stare directly into the projector light, especially as the projector will be mounted at a height just above the viewing sofa.

I dont see a single shark anywhere...it was probably the Vodka

Not vodka, too much cocaine for noses and little bit for eyes:eek:

maybe they were drinking Absinthe, saw the Green Fairy and went blind

That is an unfortunate event that injured these people! I would be furious to say the least. It doesn't look promising for them to regain the vision they lost, but one can always hope that things turn out better than the prognosis.

They certainly are going to have to make those "Do not look into the lens when projector is on" stickers a LOT more noticeable when laser projectors arrive. :D

http://chrislawson.net/img/laser_eye.pdf sorry the PDF was the only one I could find.

:-)

I like that warning poster. :)

Kids are going to look into the projector. It will happen and there is no way to prevent it.

Almost every kid will look into the lens at least once.

It has to be safe or there will be injuries.

I know these are not eh same laser, but I have to wonder about how they could be made safe.

Doug

Pi the Movie says it all...

Heavy rain had forced organizers of the event, which took place on July 5 in the town 50 miles outside Moscow, to put up tents for the all-night dance party.

The lasers, which are designed to illuminate the sky, were reflected by the canopy into the eyes of the ravers, burning their retinas.

An eye expert who treated some of the cases said the chance of regaining vision is 'already impossible'.
Really sucks to be them right now.

Really sucks to be them right now.

Probably would't be as bad if it were in the US...I'm sure they'd have a major amount of cash coming there way. :D

IMHO no amount of money could make up for lost vision.

On a related note, I started watching the BBC miniseries "The Day of the Triffids" last night.

Ya, the point was that they were meant for an open air concert where they would be pointed up at the sky. Apparently at the last minute rain forced them to get into tents and they pretty much beamed them lasers into the people’s eyes.

IMHO no amount of money could make up for lost vision.

especially with laser FP appearing on the horizon!

what the f%^* is wrong with you people. This is awful news and not joking matter.
What kind of a forum is this?

Frederic

what the f%^* is wrong with you people. This is awful news and not joking matter.
What kind of a forum is this?

Frederic

It certainly is a tragic event, but I don't really see anyone in this thread poking fun at their tragedy. I see a little bit of typical Internet goofing around of a relatively light variety, but certainly nothing to get worked up about.

I think if you asked all of these posters if they thought this was a tragic event, most of them would say yes.

We have our trolls on AVS, but the FP forum is generally a good crowd.

When faced with a tragic event where one is powerless to help, there are several options;

1) Cry.

2) Distance yourself from the pain through the use of irreverent comedy.

3) Cry, then distance with irreverent comedy.

4) Distance with irreverent comedy, then cry later.

5) Look about for those who are coping through laughter and make yourself feel better by reprimanding them, making it even more irreverent (and funny -- think Dick Smothers) to distance through the use of comedy.

Four of them involve laughter.

One involves simply crying.

Take your pick.

what the f%^* is wrong with you people. This is awful news and not joking matter.
What kind of a forum is this?


It's not like they can read what we're writing.. (couldn't resist!)

Oddly enough, lasers improved my vision! But, I think they were designed to do a different job, and under a much more controlled environment with my eye being suctioned into this cup thing..

<that was the comedy part, well sort of.. so here's the crying part>

It really is sad. If I had to pick senses to lose, vision would certainly be near the bottom of the list. The whole ordeal seems like it should have been predictable and avoided to me.

It's not like they can read what we're writing.. (couldn't resist!)

Oddly enough, lasers improved my vision! But, I think they were designed to do a different job, and under a much more controlled environment with my eye being suctioned into this cup thing..

<that was the comedy part, well sort of.. so here's the crying part>

It really is sad. If I had to pick senses to lose, vision would certainly be near the bottom of the list. The whole ordeal seems like it should have been predictable and avoided to me.
It's likely that someone in "Marketing/Sales" made the decision to have this inside the "tented dome" versus consulting with the Engineers to assess any risk in doing this.