Recent content by ChromeCaviar

Great review! I also bought a 488 Valkyrie, and I agree with everything you said. The color looks sky-blue to me as well, I was expecting more teal, but I love the pure light blue. I find the color looks like a deeper blue at night, but closer to teal during the day. I had the same thoughts...

You're totally right about using a known wavelength, the manual for the spectroscope suggests doing exactly that, and offsetting the readings by the known error value. It's funny you mention cylindrical lenses, I just got a 7mmx5.8mm rod lens this morning, to play around with line-generating...

This thread inspired me to attempt a wavelength measurement using a cheap Amazon spectroscope. I don't think I got an accurate measurement, but it was fun to try. The lasers are 488, 505 and 591 nominally.

Plants and Fungi are fair game too

I love macro photography for that reason, making the small world look giant. I especially enjoy photographing bugs, trying to take their portraits. The best advice I got was "only work with willing subjects" aka, don't waste time chasing fleeing bugs. Despite the cactus thorns, ant bites, and...

Thanks for sharing the info on those specimens! Here's another pic of my vanadinite. Unfortunately I can't find the spessartine pics... The largest crystal is about 12mm, the other chunky ones are about 5 to 8 mm

Here's that Vanadinite!

@CurtisOliver That's an incredible collection! I love how diverse it is. Your fossils are really cool, I would love to add that category to my collection someday. And your fluorescent minerals are awesome too, what's that bright pink one on the right? I'd love to hear more about that meteorite...

Thanks, you have an eye for the good ones! I hadn't heard of Painite, but Google tells me it's rare. Do you like collecting the uncommon ones? Mine aren't rare, but I enjoy finding a nice specimen of each species. I was really inspired by the Gems and Minerals Hall at the Perot Museum in Dallas...

I took a quick pic of my small collection. I have Amethyst, couple Fluorites on Quartz, Prehnite, Sulphur, Spessartine Garnet, Vanadinite, Aquamarine, Dioptase, and a few Opals. My favorite specimen is the Spessartine Garnet cluster, because it has deep orange, gemmy crystals with sharp edges...

Hello! I'm a hobbyist from the Hill Country of Texas. I am interested in RC planes, photography, collecting mineral crystals, flashlights, and lasers! My interest in lasers started with Star Wars, I loved the movies growing up. I used to drool over the Wicked Lasers website, thinking about...