Would my fog chamber be of any use testing flashlights?

I've constructed an impromptu fog chamber, consisting of the Ultrasonic misting core from a Discovery Channel store misting fountain placed inside a 2.5 gallon fish tank with glass lid, i've been using it to test the corrosion resistance of some of my knives, i'm currently waiting for a source of small steel samples from my favorite knife company, it may or may not work out, in the interim, i was wondering if i could put it to use testing the water resistance of flashlights....

It might be useful for looking at beam patterns in flashlights.

I've got an outdoor patio fireplace. Once when I was outside at night, I was shining the beam through the smoke for fun. I found that when I got the light in the base of the column of smoke, that the smoke showed the pattern of the beam very well. I've experimented with a few different lights, looking at the beam profiles. It works well enough to see how some reflectors bounce the light; some bounce from the led emitter into an x crossing over before continuing on in the beam. Very interesting.

I've considered taking pictures for reviews of lights, etc., but the constantly moving smoke makes it challenging.

A fog chamber might work quite well.

Excellent idea, the fog in the chamber is as thick as the proverbial pea soup, beamshots should show up brilliantly

lets put it this way, here's a QuickTime vid showing how quickly the fog builds up watch how my green laser pointer's beam rapidly transforms from a sharp beam to a wide flood....

MacTech said:

beamshots should show up brilliantly

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Looks perfect. Just set a flashlight in the bottom (or even hanging from the top) so the beam is vertical, then take a picture from the side - thus showing the "cross-section" of the beam.

Mac, you're a riot, I love it, have fun. :lolsign:

(you'll have to move onto watches next.......):huh:

I'd sure like to see some beamshots in the fog....that would be a really neat experiment.

I'd sure like to see some beamshots in the fog

Click to expand...

in the fog

more here http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/mdocod/pea soup/



in the snow

more here http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b72/mdocod/snow beams/

yea... it's FUN!!! enjoy!

You might test lights by putting a target on one side, and the light on the other, in order to see how well lights penetrate the fog. It seems like the times you need a flashlight outdoors are when it is nasty. There is a big difference between illuminating an indoor area and an outdoor one, esp. in bad conditions. That may qive you a way to quantify the difference between different light sources, colors, and reflectors.

Jeez! What is that light? Is it a thor?

I think the fog chamber might be *too* effective, the fog it produces is *so* thick that it's impossible to make out a beam pattern, it just washes out, incan, LED, no difference, total washout