filming on a disco with laser lights

[ricardo de gracia]

any warnings or advices or tricks on shooting several sequences on a discotheque inlcuding LASER LIGHTS coming straight to the lenses in some cases???

[David Mullen ASC]

Don’t let the lasers hit the lens.

[Randy J Tomlinson]

Don’t let the lasers hit the lens.

 

David, the Question is if he was serious about this? I can't believe someone seriously asking for advice :D

[David Mullen ASC]

Its a valid question.

[Tyler Purcell]

Laser lights can blow out the image pretty heavily. I've had issues with them on digital, but with film they don't look bad at all.

[Daniel D. Teoli Jr.]

Someone on a still photo forum said it messed up their sensor.

[Jaron Berman]

Depending on the strength of the laser and the pattern the laser is tracing, it will kill the sensor very quickly. Especially slow scans of short lines (narrow fans) or what they call "hot beams" which are just dots of full-strength laser where it turns on in one spot, turns off, moves and turns back on again in another spot. We did a follow doc in clubs, often no control over lasers and toasted a few C300. When you get "scanned" it looks like a hair, editors start kicking back to the AC's for hair or dust on the sensor. But it's not recoverable, it's a burn on some part of the sensor assembly. A lot of clubs use 1w or greater lasers (even some up to 5-10w indoors which is insane if they're scanning the crowd) - which will set fire to dark paper if held in one position. So yes, David's advice is sound - don't let it hit the lens! (Also consider what it will do to your eyes if you get scanned).