SpudFiles

frankly, for that little power, its too much effort. It would be easier to focus sunlight or a torch light. I can burn papaer with the sun and a snowglobe, and thats with a huge snowman in the middle. Binoculers work well too (dont look in to it to find the sun....).

Have a look at this. It uses similar ideas but carries a little (200w/cm) more power, I am always on the lookout for a suitable lens http://www.instructables.com/id/Giant-F ... t-in-Opti/

With a good enough lens setup there is the possibility of making a "laser" but realisticly you probably wont get fire further than 30m away

no i don't want to light stuff on fire from a distance.

turbo super pretty much knew exactly what I meant.

I just want a really really bright and short flashlight. heat isntt important. I just want to make a fairly directional, very bright flash.

I really don't think it should be that hard. I just don't know any place that sells lenses or suitable reflectors.

enigmacipher wrote:turbo super pretty much knew exactly what I meant.

I just want a really really bright and short flashlight. heat isntt important. I just want to make a fairly directional, very bright flash.

Then it was a lucky guess because you weren't clear on what exactly you really wanted.

What real world use did you have in mind for a short burst, directional, very bright light "flash gun".

It was more than luck. I used to have an old computer game called "Dr. Brain", where one of the weapons you had was a "flash gun" that blinded the bad guy. It was pretty cool, and kind of stuck with me

The one in the video game had a parabolic reflector...that could probably work, but your range will be limited to at or around the focal point. May be easier to find then quality lenses, though.

You can buy cheap ass lenses here.
(great shop with no shipping costs)