make your own infra red digital camera, very cool geeky thing! Options

[Nightwing]

http://www.uscav.com/Productinfo.aspx?prod...1&CatID=412
Opps!
Edited to put in CORRECT url!!

Click here for plans to convert an old digital camera to a night vision camera!
http://geektechnique.org/index.php?id=254

[ozman]

http://www.uscav.com/Productinfo.aspx?prod...1&CatID=412

NW,

I've worked with those IR chemlights. They barely give off enough for NVG's. I don't think they'ed be much help for cams unless you had a whole bunch of them. IR filters for your flash work better, or IR LED flashlights / illuminators -- pricey, but reusable unlike the pricey, single use chemlights.

They also make the IR chemlights w/ an adhesive pad -- used for signaling markers in NVG house serches.

[Nightwing]

http://www.uscav.com/Productinfo.aspx?prod...1&CatID=412

NW,

I've worked with those IR chemlights. They barely give off enough for NVG's. I don't think they'ed be much help for cams unless you had a whole bunch of them. IR filters for your flash work better, or IR LED flashlights / illuminators -- pricey, but reusable unlike the pricey, single use chemlights.

They also make the IR chemlights w/ an adhesive pad -- used for signaling markers in NVG house serches.

Oz, I wondered about that..but more importantly, I put the WRONG url in my first post!
That was supposed to be a link to plans to build a night vision camera out of any old digital!
See the new URL above:D

[MooseMan]

Pretty cool.

[Bitter Monk]

I don't see the purpose of adding an IR filter unless you only wanted to shoot IR. Leaving the IR filter off would allow the camera to make use of any light source (and not just IR).

[Nightwing]

I don't see the purpose of adding an IR filter unless you only wanted to shoot IR. Leaving the IR filter off would allow the camera to make use of any light source (and not just IR).

Yep Sam, I noticed the same thing in reading the article. With the CCD chip on ALL digitals perfectly capable using any light source...it makes more sense to just leave the "IR only" filter off, and have a duo-use camera.
Indeed, I've realised that our IR digitals are simply REGULAR digitals that did not have the "anti-IR" filter placed in front of the CCD chip when made..that's how they work day and night.
Heck..you could take one of the cheap digital stealth cameras(now available for well under $100), and if you are carefull, just remove the IR filter from behind the lense, and replace the regular flash with an IR emiting diode.
(the latter would be more involved, as you would have to use Ohms law to figure out the resistance and likely put in a resistor..but your neighborhood radio shack geek could likely help out there!).

[Bitter Monk]

If you search around eBay you can find IR lights for security cameras for fairly cheap. It would be a better bet to use one of those rigged as a slave flash than trying to rebuild the stock unit (or filtering it).

[Bitter Monk]

I got some IR goodies recently. Hopefully after our week long outing I'll be able to post up some comparisons and examples.

[Nightwing]

I got some IR goodies recently. Hopefully after our week long outing I'll be able to post up some comparisons and examples.

Cool, looking forward to it!
This is the IR flashlight I am currently looking at(or at least something equivelent).

http://www.unitednuclear.com/ircannon.htm

From what I am reading, you have to get IR emmiting L.E.D.'s or diodes in the 950 nm range in order for them to bt TOTALLY invisible to mammal vision. The on board IR emitters on night vision usually runs from 750 to 850 nm, which leaves some spill over into the visible spectrum, which is seen as a red glow of varying degrees.
The thought is that perhaps, if we can see it, so can "they"..and it's not impossible.
However, as far as can be determined, nothing can see into the 900 plus NM range...so these (or equivelent), should be safe for total stealth field use.

[Bitter Monk]

The filters I purchased are 850nm. With just a 3 D cell Maglite (with a Xenon bulb) in my backyard I was able to fully illuminate objects at a 60-70 yard range when I tried it out.

[Stacy Flowers]

I want one!

Gonna have to start wearing some kind of utility belt just to carry all my crap....

[Nightwing]

The filters I purchased are 850nm. With just a 3 D cell Maglite (with a Xenon bulb) in my backyard I was able to fully illuminate objects at a 60-70 yard range when I tried it out.

Sam, if you turn on the light and look directly into is, is there any kind of red glow at all?
If not, that sounds like a great alternative!
I'm tring to completely eliminate any spill over into the visible spectrum.(of course, we can only go by our known visible spectrum..but if we are dealing with a primate, that spectrum is well known, and does not seem to vary much to speak of from one species to the next).

[Bitter Monk]

The lens does not remain completely black. There is a very, very faint reddish tinge to the filter, but there is no visible light coming out, and the glow of the filter is barely noticeable (much much less than the IR on my night vision). That said I'm not taking the "Predator" approach of ultimate concealment so the increased illumination of the 850nm lights suits my needs much better.

[GuitarCrazyo]

I tried it and my AV picked up right away. Is it your own trick? But anyway thanks for the very good trick.

[Grazhopprr]

I was doing this to camcorders years ago. One of the things I found missing in this one, is that the process described, is for that specific camera. Each cam will have a different setup and you need to be ready for it. Some cams have a thicker piece of glass/filter to change out. The thickest one I worked with was 1/16th inch thick of solid IR filter, in a full sized VHS cam. You don't need to put a visible light filter inside the cam. Just add one for the outside when you need it. You just have to be extremely sure of the thickness of the replacement glass, because of focal length. If it's off even a tiny bit, you won't be able to focus completely. I used high quality plexi, in my replacements, and it worked fine.

The real advantage of these hacks, is the higher quality of night vision, when you get into the megapixel range. I still have those older cams, because they have manual settings for exposure. The new cams are point and shoot, with exposure "categories", that they preset into algorityms of the firmware. Snow, Golf, Indoors, etc. You need to experiment with those settings for the best use at the need.

These hacked cams can also be used in the daytime, when you're under a canopy of trees trying to record something hiding in a dark area, that a regular cam can't see into. No filter, just the open CCD, because, the sun is supplying all the hidden infrared you need, to zoom into deep dark areas like a million candle spot was on it.