Page 1 of 2

Night vision

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 6:28 pm
by singularity
i had this idea a while a go but i not sure if its worth actually worth developing, anyways heres the concept....

all modern digital camera web cams or video cameras have inferred filters in the lens assembly. if that filter is removed most CCD censors are able to pick up the inferred rays and translate them into light. now if i were to build an array of inferred leds and mount it on the camera could i essentially use it as an inferred flash light hooked up to a camera to illuminate targets? or do ir rays react different then visible light rays do they not reflect like light does?
should i go and spend a bunch of money just to play with shinny electronics?
will it work?

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 6:35 pm
by paaiyan
There are a lot of security cameras that work in this manner, they have some at my college. And there are how-to's on instructables.com for how to take the filters out.

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 7:03 pm
by singularity
instructables is what gave me this idea, i saw once the inferred filter was removed the light from tv remotes could be seen. so from thats i figured some form of inferred flashlight would work but i wasn't sure if inferred light reflected the same way as visible light.

ps- victory just found <a href="http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/fea ... l">this</a> pretty much my idea exactly down to the part where a cheap cvs camera is used

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 7:16 pm
by Freefall
It's spelled infrared, not inferred. "Inferred" is the past-tense form of the verb "infer", meaning "to conclude from evidence or premises".

Yes, you could convert your camera to infrared use by removing the infrared filter and placing an infrared pass filter in front of the lens (lets infrared through but blocks most other light, usually found covering the LED on your TV remote control).

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 7:41 pm
by paaiyan
Yes you would want to use the pass filter, unless you want a really funky looking picture. Although it can look pretty cool sometimes.

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 9:28 pm
by Killjoy
yeah this will work, ive made a pair of poor man's night vision goggles based on this idea, and it works better then the cheap nightvision goggles and cost a good bit less. Its cheap and easy to do too.
You can also cut the extra off of the negatives from camera film you get back after you develop you pics. Get a few layers and it shoudl work fine.

Heres the link to mine (hope it points you in the right direction):http://www.spudfiles.com/forums/homemad ... t6308.html

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 10:27 pm
by singularity
yea sorry about spelling infrared wrong i have auto spell check on and it just automatically sets it to that, killjoy that thing looks sweet, im thinking about putting some sort of focusing lens on the led array like in a real flashlight, it should hopefully increase its range. thanks for the input im heading to cvs tomorrow and im gonna hit the hardware store on the way (hopefully finish my bic pen sniper)

Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 10:40 pm
by jackssmirkingrevenge
have a look here ;)

I have me one of these mounted on my HW97K:

Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 12:18 am
by shud_b_rite
The camera on my phone and many other phones can pick up IR light, just point it at a tv remote and press some buttons to find out. This idea would work well inside, but unless you have some kind of super powerful IR emitter then you wont be able to see much past bout 20metres.

Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 12:23 am
by experament-u2
jackssmirkingrevenge wrote:have a look here ;)

I have me one of these mounted on my HW97K:
that scope looks so nice jack :D

Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 2:02 am
by jackssmirkingrevenge
experament-u2 wrote:that scope looks so nice jack :D
It is, shame that zeroing the laser is such a hassle - ah well, good ol' soviet technology :D

Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 9:35 pm
by singularity
got the camera today generic $30 cvs video camera, removed the ir filter but i had to do it with sand paper. if you look at the instruction it says just remove ir filter but the changed the lens assembly so its actually on one of the lenses. in the process i managed to scratch the lense to the point were everything is a blob (even though used 1500 grit sand paper) good news when ever i put a tv remote in front of the lenses it turn the hole screen white.

so... anyone no how to remove very shallow scratches from glass?

Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 10:44 pm
by Killjoy
Im pretty sure you should be able to pop the filter out (it looks like a lens), and the actual camera part should be seperate. Maybe your camera is different though, but i can't see it so i don't know.

Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 11:00 pm
by paaiyan
singularity wrote:got the camera today generic $30 cvs video camera, removed the ir filter but i had to do it with sand paper. if you look at the instruction it says just remove ir filter but the changed the lens assembly so its actually on one of the lenses. in the process i managed to scratch the lense to the point were everything is a blob (even though used 1500 grit sand paper) good news when ever i put a tv remote in front of the lenses it turn the hole screen white.

so... anyone no how to remove very shallow scratches from glass?
I know there's some stuff you can buy for glasses, you basically paint it on then wipe it with the cloth. The liquid fills all the scratches and dries in them without altering the lens shape. I just don't remember what it's called.

Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 2:00 pm
by singularity
killjoy- yes sort of if i had the last generation camera it would just be a lens i could remove, but i go got "lucky" and managed to get a "new" model. this version has a coating on one of the lenses that need to be scraped off

paaiyan- if i can go to walmart ill look to see if they have any of the stuff