Hazer out of a cheap party fogger!

Shawn Philip Nelson

Shawn Philip Nelson

Veteran
I am a genius! So I've wanted a hazer for some time, but haven't had the funds to drop $1000 for one. For those that don't know the difference, a fogger puts out clouds of visibles smoke and are rather cheap. A hazer on the other hand, puts out a haze of fine mist that's barely visible to the eye and won't register on camera, but gives the lighting texture and feeling (makes a big difference). The painful way, like on my last short 'Deja Vecu', is to have party foggers and stand around waving flags to get it to even out, even then it still has a tendency to be smoky and not so much hazy.

Soo, I thought about it, and while this isn't quite a hazer, it's WAY better than just pooping fog out of a party fogger and having grips waft away.

Here's what I did, I bought a nice directional fan from Home Depot that has all of its air intake from a 5" round vent on the side, then I bought an 8' section of dryer ducting and connected it from the output of the party fogger into the input of the fan.

Then, wait for the fogger to warm up, turn the fan to the medium setting, point it at the ceiling and turn on fan and then release the fog! The fan breaks up the fog and disperses it like crazy. After about a minute of settling, the room was almost perfectly hazed off just one blast from a cheapo party fogger.

Wooohoo! Here's a pic.
 

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I can't wait to try this out.
You just saved me a ton of time and effort.
I've got a 'party fogger' sitting in my garage that I haven't used more than a few times because I got sick of doing exactly what you said...standing around waving flags trying to disperse the fog.

Thanks for the tip.
:thumbsup:
 
wouldn't sticking an ordinary personal fan next to the fogger do pretty much the same thing? I can see the ducting giving more control though...
 
I like the hose idea... so much better than having to move the fog machine around...

but...

just dilute your fog solution with distilled water ... does the same thing, thins out the the fog, creates a haze that lasts, and doesn't dissipate fast like normal fog (this is for the party type foggers because they use a water-based juice.

plus you get more juice for the buck!
 
I'm also looking for a hazer -- none in this part of the world. I think I'll try adding water to the fogger solution AND the dryer fan idea. Crazy, I know. If spacetime fractures, you'll know why...
 
I want to try this diluting the fog solution idea. I've wanted to do some fogged scenes for a while, but never had the means to do it.
 
NOMADIC said:
I like the hose idea... so much better than having to move the fog machine around...

but...

just dilute your fog solution with distilled water ... does the same thing, thins out the the fog, creates a haze that lasts, and doesn't dissipate fast like normal fog (this is for the party type foggers because they use a water-based juice.

plus you get more juice for the buck!
Click to expand...

Do you know if there is a specific ratio that works best?
 
I tried just shooting the fog through a fan the other day. Didn't really work. Dissipated too quickly. Need to try diluting the solution next time.
 
Technicaly speaking, this isnt a hazer. there is a difference between smoke and haze, its something to do with the way it diffuses in the air. If you turn a real hazer on and leave it on, eventualy the air int he room will saturate, at which point, it wont get any more hazy, it will stay hazed at a constant level. You dont get swirls or clouds of mist with real haze.

However, ive done this myself and it works quite well to spread the smoke nice and thinly in the air...
 
Hazer

Hazer

Those are some great tips on the Hazer...Directing it and diluting it. Excellent. Do you have any still photos from using it this way? I have a Fog machine and I bought a $250 Hazer machine from Chauvet. I would not recommend this unit as it failed the very first time I used it. A couple of weeks ago I tried it again and we had to keep jiggling the remote connection to get it to work sporatically. It is basically a piece of junk in my opinion. When it works though, it does seem to put out a thinner type of smoke/haze but one needs to let it settle also. I am getting close to chucking this thing in my dumpster soon if I can't fix it. I do have a smoke machine that does work well though. Maybe I will try the Home Depot fan tip, for haze effects.

In the meantime though, for backup and insurance, I will buy a few cans of "Diffusion In A Can" for Haze, should the machines fail on set. Thanks again for the tips.
Steve
www.sjbaraophoto.com
 
Jim Brennan said:
Are we talking 50/50, 90/10.....?
Click to expand...

I would say anything over a 50water/50juice ratio would be good for a hazer type effect. My timer for my fogger even on max time and duration little is still to much for a 50/50 mix so I have to thin it out a bit more in order to leave it on all the time like 70water/30juice.
 
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