Forums » Investigation Tools & Equipment

• Wes Forsythe

  

  • 60 posts
   

  February 7, 2012 3:50:47 PM CST

  I am preparing a tutorial/seminar on how night vision cameras work and how to best deploy the current consumer grade technology. Think of it as a beginner's guide to night vision.

   

  If anyone has any ideas or questions that they think should be addressed in such a presentation please post them here. I am doing the presentation in Power Point/Video format. Once it is finished it will be posted on my web site for review and available for download free for groups to use.

   

  I am just explaining in layman's terms how IR and UV cameras work. I want to make sure all of the common questions/mistakes get addressed without getting too technical.

   

  Any advice would be appreciated.

• Jim Brown

  

  • 192 posts
   

  February 9, 2012 10:52:57 AM CST

  Strong emphasis should be placed on the problems associated with this and the fact most consumer grade IR / UV cameras do not use proper lenses for those wavelengths. Plus consider the inability of most people to recognize how different materials react under those wavelengths and how that leads to false positives Thus my opinion is that work in this area is not "beginner" material. For those experienced in photography and have worked this area, fine. But beginners should stick to visible light until they have gained sufficient experience and have studied before going into IR / UV and giving us still more poor quality evidence.

  
  This post was edited by Jim Brown at February 9, 2012 10:54:20 AM CST
• Wes Forsythe

  

  • 60 posts
   

  February 9, 2012 1:22:59 PM CST

  Great points all, Jim. In your opinion do any IR video or still cameras other than Sony on the consumer market (ignoring so-called deep IR conversions) properly process IR?
  
  The presentation covers the fact that IR and UV conversion cameras do not have the proper lens system due to those spectrums having different focal points than visible. I also touched on the "x-ray effect" and how different materials reflect those spectrums leading to false positives (and theoretically missed evidence also).
  
  I also recommend working in visible light whenever possible and practical. But since your average person wants to "go dark" like they see on TV, the presentation is geared more to heading off the common mistakes (my own included) and getting people to understand that IR and UV are in fact very different from what they are used to.
• Jim Brown

  

  • 192 posts
   

  February 9, 2012 6:54:58 PM CST

  I am not aware of any consumer grade cameras that are equipped with the proper lenses to process wide band widths. It may be that Sony makes some that do, others may too. The important thing would be to check the specs for that specific capability and not be fooled by a camera that simply says "IR Filter" or UV Filter. While filters are essential that can also be used as a marketing ploy to suck in the unwary. I would say anyone considering buying a camera with that capability simply do their research ahead of time and choose the make / model carefully.And be prepared to pay; lenses designed for IR / UV are not cheap!