Night Vision

[Mindwaave]

Hey PL, I need your expert opinions on an idea of mine.

For a massive end-of-year project, I need to shoot a 20 minute documentary movie. The big dilemma is that half of it will need to be shot outside during the night, and my camera's crappy built-in IR nightvision LED doesn't do much good. I was wondering if it would be a better solution to use an IR laser pointer, like this one, remove the focusing/collimation lens so that just the diode is exposed (or just focus it to a massive dot), and use it as my new nightvision illuminator.

Plausible? Genius? Retarded? Input please Thanks guys.

[Doc]

You would be better off buying cheap IR leds, current limiting resistors and some perf board; you could make a pretty powerful IR illuminator.

If you operate a naked laser diode the diode will have a very short life; they actually attract dust like a magnet, the dust sticks to the mirror facet and burns, this burns the facet.

Not only that but you will have a load of speckle to contend with and low light shooting has plenty of noise of its own.

[mixedgas]

How big a scene do you need to illuminate?

Tungsten lamps with IR filters work fine.

Steve

[Vidal Wolf]

I agree with mixedgas.or use L.E.D.s .
works far better and isnt a hassle.
unfocused raw laser diode *beams* are not evenly distributed,are generally rectangular and produce generally less than stellar illumination. I know this because Ive allready done it. I went with a Q beam spotlight and an IR filter from a millitary surplus supply store. I threw out the IR laser diode setup after popping a few balloons and lighting a cigarette with it.
Better yet... why make things difficult? Just shoot it during the daytime!

[Mindwaave]

so maybe something like this instead?

thanks guys, you may have just saved my project

[Vidal Wolf]

yup, thats what I used. you can get cheap ones for around 20 dollars at an auto supply store.
You also may want a1/8th inch thick piece of rough/clouded glass or plastic sheet placed *after* the ir filter to diffuse and spread and even out the light. a Q-beam spotlight is pretty bright for starters but it also has a fairly tight beam.
Experiment around. test it out. Were curious about the results.
Nate.

[flecom]

your better off using an LED... thats how the IR illuminator on my toys work... IR LED for illuminator, IR laser for aiming

[White-Light]

Also at laser powers think of the danger to your subject.

Probably fine when shooting at distance but close up could be a different matter. Just because you can't see the light doesn't mean it's not dangerous.

I'd either go with IR LED illumination (there are loads of these made for security lighting that give a claimed 30 metre illumination) - something like this:

http://www.securitycamera2000.com/pr...TV-Camera.html

or a powerful visible light torch.

You can get up to 10 Million Candlepower in a visible light torch (I've seen these in the UK) but just be aware that operating time is often down into minutes before they require re-charging. There are some with external leads you can attach to a car battery instead but working time is still around 1 hour and you need a spare car bettery. I have some experience of these high power torches as my friend has a 2 million CP one for shooting. Total run time is around 20 minutes with at least an hours charge (I forget the exact recharging period).

If you're shooting within mains lead distance then you could try stand style flood lights as these give a lot of light:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Greenbrook-T5-...d22892fe77c89e

However, remember that using visible light will destroy some of the night time effect, at least at higher levels so you might need to experiment with the distance to the subject to achieve the correct balance. Obviously if your going to chasing someone with the camera, then you need something more portable.

[Tormod]

If you requre the spot nightvision look go for IR leds.

For general illumination I'd just bring the genset and tungsten lights (you can add ir filters to these).

[Mindwaave]

yup, I ended up going with a few cheapy IR LED flashlights that I ducttaped together. It doesn't have that great of a throw (50 feet or so) but it is very bright in combination with other units. Thanks again for the help