Home Removal Services Blog

Holograms have become the latest buzzword of choice. From the new rumors of Michael Jackson completing tour dates in holographic form, to CNN’s “hologram” coverage of the 2008 Presidential election, holography has become very popular. So it’s not surprising to find that do-it-yourself (DIY) holograms are stepping up too, with hologram kits that are less “mad scientist” and more “science toy.”

Making holograms used to be a monumental task, with corporations in the 60s and 70s spending millions on sophisticated lasers and delicate vibration-isolation equipment. As new techniques and technologies developed, it later became possible for home hobbyists to make holograms in their own basements or garage labs for a smaller investment of only thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours. At one point or another, almost every serious holographic amateur had stolen large quantities of sand from the local beach to build the ultimate homebuilt sand table,” used to dampen minute vibrations that typically destroy holograms.

However, making holograms with these early techniques still required the dedication of a martial arts black-belt and the darkroom chemical-mixing skills of a chemistry PhD. It wasn’t until two new technologies arrived, laser diodes and “instant hologram” film, that holography began moving from dedicated hobbyists to average classrooms and homes.

The development in laser diodes has taken dramatic leaps, offering very cheap lasers with very high-quality output that is perfect for do-it-yourself holograms. At the same time, a company named Liti Holographics has recently been able to produce a very special self-developing film (think Polaroid film, but for holograms) that removes the hazardous chemicals and time-consuming processing from the making of holograms. The film is simply exposed for the proper time to laser light, and is then ready to be viewed.

The results of these two new technology developments mean that making holograms can now be affordable and easy, and well within the reach of casual technology tinkerers, grade school geeks, and serious science classrooms.

Liti Holographics, through a division called LitiHolo, makes an all-inclusive hologram kit providing an entire hologram lab in a box. Included in the kit is a special laser diode and 20 film plates for making holograms. The rig is easy to put together and compact, with laser-cut parts that fit together perfectly to line everything up.

If you are a regular gadget geek, the hologram kit lets you skip straight to the quick-start instructions, or if you prefer the detailed approach you can follow the step-by-step instructions that lead you from initial set up to finished holograms. Either way, you could be viewing your first holograms in less than an hour. The whole hologram kit from LitiHolo sells for $99 (www.litiholo.com), and can be found at distributors including ThinkGeek and Scientifics Online.

While hologram science has still not caught up to science fiction movies like Star Wars or Star Trek, the technology is touching our lives more everyday. And although a hologram kit will not make your own “holodeck” in the middle of your living room, it is a valuable step toward breeding the next generation of holographic innovations and holographic scientists. Perhaps the headline in the future will read, “Hologram Kit Leads to Hologram Breakthrough.

Your outdoor security camera uses a light sensor to create an image from the light entering through the lens. The light sensor is made up of many pixels which determine how much light is coming through and generates the corresponding number of electrons. Brighter lights generate more electrons per pixel. When it comes to image sensor technology, there are two main types.

These two types are the charge-coupled device, or CCD, and the complementary metal-oxide semiconductor, or CMOS. And despite being viewed as rivals in the camera industry, each type of image sensor really has its own strengths and weaknesses. So the better sensor depends on the situation it is to be used in.

CCD sensors were developed specifically for the camera industry while CMOS traces it’s beginnings to standard technology already in use in areas such as memory chips inside PCs. Today, modern CMOS sensors are advancing in technology and the quality is improving immensely.

CCD sensors are still slightly better in light sensitivity and produce cleaner images than CMOS sensors. Because of higher light sensitivity, the CCD produces sharper images in low light conditions than CMOS sensors.

The problem with the CCD sensor is that it makes the overall cost of a camera more expensive because it is harder to put it inside a camera. The CCD sensor also uses about 100 times more power than a CMOS sensor of equal capacity.

With the CMOS sensor, it is very quickly closing the gap in terms of image quality to the CCD sensor. Cameras that are built with CMOS sensors are lower in cost because the cameras are much easier to build.

The CMOS sensor also allows for greater integration possibilities than the CCD sensor which in comparison is designed to be more stringent in terms of function and integration. CMOS sensors have faster readouts which make a big difference in megapixel technology and you will find megapixel cameras with CMOS sensors much more than with CCD sensors simply because of the costs.

When it comes to megapixel sensors in cameras, the sensors themselves are about the same size or only slightly larger than traditional VGA sensors. This means that the size of each pixel is smaller. So while the megapixel camera can provide higher resolution and greater detail, it is less light sensitive since the pixel size is smaller and light reflected from an object is spread to more pixels.