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DIY Night Vision builds

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ateallthepies

ateallthepies

Native
Aug 11, 2011
1,558
0
hertfordshire
A couple of years ago I got into a bit of night vision and bought a couple of Gen 1 tubed scopes. Anyway to cut a long story I found them to be a bit rubbish for the money even though they were just above entry level scopes but a couple hundred squid per unit is a lot of money.

Any way I'm now delving into Digital night vision. And from what I've seen so far for the same kind of money I'm blown away at the image quality!

So I bought some bits and so far have come up with this.....



I will say that others have come up with this kind of build well before me so I've done nothing new, well almost nothing, I'm adding my own touches here and there.

So this will be part of my add on nv scope for my rifle. I'm using a 5" screen for now as I'm waiting on a camcorder view finder to use as the eye screen however many hunters use the large screen bolted to their guns.

Will add details and more if there is interest. I hope to be able to make the device compact and able to easily go from a spotter scope to the add on scope and to a head mounted general purpose night sight akin to using a head torch!
 
Last edited:
Thats a cracking basis for any build mate.
The camcorder viewfinder will be a good bit lower resolution than the 5" screen you have now mate. The best resolution/value for money near eye display is the kopin vf-2c at 640x480
have you thought about i.r yet?
 
Ta for the view finder advice, I'm waiting on some old Panasonic camera to take apart that I bid £9 for! Will look into your suggestion but I am wanting to keep things reasonably cheap.
Yes on the IR front I already bought a T20 850nm torch, the 38mm one? I also have several really cheap cctv illuminators that pack a good light out to 50 yards! Also have some old 800nm stuff from back in my tubed gear days.

I was really impressed when I viewed the area with just the camera with no zoom! With these ir sources it was like daytime!! I'm also looking at some 940nm illuminators for use with my head mounted gear idea!
 
ateallthepies said:
Ta for the view finder advice, I'm waiting on some old Panasonic camera to take apart that I bid £9 for! Will look into your suggestion but I am wanting to keep things reasonably cheap.
Yes on the IR front I already bought a T20 850nm torch, the 38mm one? I also have several really cheap cctv illuminators that pack a good light out to 50 yards! Also have some old 800nm stuff from back in my tubed gear days.

I was really impressed when I viewed the area with just the camera with no zoom! With these ir sources it was like daytime!! I'm also looking at some 940nm illuminators for use with my head mounted gear idea!
Click to expand...


Yeah, t20 is a 38mm lens. I use one on an E700 addon out to 150yrds on a good night. T20's are all you need for anything other than fox
If mess up that veiw finder you bought giz a shout. I'v got one in a bits box somewhere i can stick in the post for ya
Give that screen set up a fair chance though. I was dead against them for years but they arent bad at all really
 
Ta for the offer, I may take you up on that if I can't get mine to work!

Actually im only using 12 ftlb Air so these ranges are a bit academic to say the least lol! It's nice to see tho how far these gadgets can reach if I ever get a rimmy etc... I may have to look at a 4 or 6 mag scope to replace my fixed MTC Viper for ratting but I now know the view should be even clearer with less mag?
 
Yeah they can get the distance these days. Using the same camera as you with a big boy illuminator i can see way further than i want to shoot with a center fire
I'd go for 4-16 at most mate, you will really appreciate the wider f.o.v, esp when ratting
 
The sure 24 kit is really good stuff. With the camcorder screen you will probably find it quite grainy compared to the sure24 screen. Get yourself some red lighting gel to place over the screen to make it easier on the eyes. If you turn the brightness down on the screen your image will suffer(not sure how to explain what I mean)
 
Well the viewfinder from that Panasonic camcorder turned out not to work.

d012e67c0c7a65e029274d737c13969b_zpszgmomm9e.jpg


The view screen lit up with 6volts to the red and black but with the video wire bodged to my E700 there was no picture to speak off, just interference squiggles so I reckon its kaput!
 
Cool stuff goodjob I like all this stuff although never get hands on with it so I'm interested in how this all pans out and what you end up with, keep it coming
 
Very interesting to see this pan out!
I've got the parts to a similar build lying around in the garage. I got everything connected but grew tired of it. I got the feeling that the viewfindter CRT was a powerhungry beast, and I didn't succeed with any useful illumination. I wanted to power everythin of a USB power-pack, and they weren't powerful enough a few years back, but this thread got me interested again.
What are the illuminators you're using? I tried to use halogen flashlights with IR pass filters, and flashlights with IR-cree LED's but no luck. Chances are the CCTV chip I used wasn't sensitive enough too.
 
Tonight's testing saw me with a new scope that arrived from JSR this afternoon, a cheap SMK 4x32 compact that I thought would make a nice short rig. Turns out to get any sort of focus I had to use 4 coupler sections and the only lens that worked was the 16mm. It would have worked but was becoming a faf and the MTC Viper was better.

c6c4e5d6fdbfe49c27bf96a7f42e986c_zpsrhsyd3au.jpg


One thing I can say is that little scope is pretty tough! I managed to drop it from out of an upstairs window and it bounced off the patio and remained ok!!
 
pysen78 said:
Very interesting to see this pan out!
What are the illuminators you're using? I tried to use halogen flashlights with IR pass filters, and flashlights with IR-cree LED's but no luck. Chances are the CCTV chip I used wasn't sensitive enough too.
Click to expand...

Hi, any cheap 12 volt 850nm CCTV illuminator will give a good flood out to 50 yards with this E700 camera. As for torch style illuminators I have a T20 38mm lens torch. This is good for flood and also narrow beam out to 100 yards or so. You can get these torches with 38, 50, 67mm lenses and the range goes up the wider the lens.

I have on order a multitude of led chips in both 850 and 940 nm and bits and bobs to have a play at making my own illuminator.
 
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