Help With Ir Illuminator

[eat4peace 21]

Hi there, I have begun constructing a simple NV unit with a Sony Handy-cam with Night-Shot which I have fitted to my scope through the use of step up rings and thread adapters.
I've been looking for a fairly inexpensive IR light source to mount on the scope as an illuminator.
Ideally I want as much range as possible which would allow me to use it on my .22lr as well as my air rifles but it can't be too heavy/cumbersome.
I'm sure you guys will be able to point me in the right direction.
Cheers,
Ed

[Guest scramble]

what sensor is in your handy cam mate? the less sensitive the more IR you'll need to throw at it.

[eat4peace 21]

Not too sure, it's got 'night shot plus' so I'm assuming that's fairly good.
Basically I want the best IR source I can get for low cost because the more range the better for scanning around for eyes etc.

[Guest scramble]

Check your inbox pal

[weebster 17]

I've played around with 2 sony cams in the past,both with the biggest chip size in ccd and cmos that sony did at the time.(not including the latest sony cam)

Nightshot plus is a waste of time and won't work as well as plain old 'nightshot' mode,you should have both with an option in the menu to switch off nightshot+....also switch off the built in ir light on the cam in the menu.

You need a lot of ir light if using an led type,camcorders work better with ir lasers then they do with ir led,unless it's a decent led like the oslon black but even then once attached to a scope they won't match a 1/3rd ccd cctv cam board

I found the 1/3.0 ccd sensor in the sony cam to be very slightly better than the sony 1/2.9 cmos sensor with led ir,no idea which one of those would be better with a laser though.

 

I'm messing with a sony cam at the moment filming a modded ir torch and hopefully will be able to post some footage using just the cam itself and using a watec 902h spotter.

Edited April 8, 2013 by weebster

[Guest scramble]

oslon blacks are the way ahead for IR LED's.

hows your spotter constructed?? im trying to find a nice (cheap) lens to build a spotter with a 902h.

[weebster 17]

oslon blacks are the way ahead for IR LED's.

hows your spotter constructed?? im trying to find a nice (cheap) lens to build a spotter with a 902h.

 

The 902 is off the rifle set up,just lashed together with leccy tape,battery and screen etc.....funny thing is the sony cam I borrowed of the bro and although it filmed the screen last night when the 902 was attached to a 10x44 viper it would not focus on just the 902 and screen tonight....god knows why,the daughter was doing the filming and I'm sure she mucked up the settings

Last night's footage was of a tree 204 yds away,pic was a bit grainy using 10x and would have been far better using 5 or 6x mag,but unfortunately both scopes I own are 10x which are ok out to 50yds for shooting but at 200yds they begin to struggle

[hotshot2me 31]

Weebster why don't you buy one of the cheap end scopes with 3-9x50 AO as they have less coating on the optics they work fine, for spotting i have a Bresser Monocular with the added IR of the Oslon Black Illuminator i get good range: Dave

[weebster 17]

Weebster why don't you buy one of the cheap end scopes with 3-9x50 AO as they have less coating on the optics they work fine, for spotting i have a Bresser Monocular with the added IR of the Oslon Black Illuminator i get good range: Dave

For two reasons....I already have probably one of the better scopes for this kind of nv in the mtc viper,albeit a fixed 10x but due to decent camera and good ir I can get away with 10x easy to airgun range

Reason 2 is the 25mm is of a good quality and accepts a 30.5mm camera filter step up ring,using other rings I'm able to screw the camera onto the ocular lens on the mtc and hawke tac 30

Like so.... http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/af220/weebster6419/night%20vision/Photo731_zpsf35b4841.jpg

 

http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/af220/weebster6419/night%20vision/Photo732_zps66a86387.jpg

 

And mounting the zoom ir under the mod avoids any ir splash of the rifle metal work

http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/af220/weebster6419/night%20vision/Photo733_zpsc265f174.jpg

 

Not forgetting the tree was 200 yds away and using a 10x scope it wasn't that bad,had there been birds roosting in the tree they would have stood out...and before anyway jumps on sprouting the law,yes I know it's illegal to shoot birds at night with the exception of flying rats,besides all I had was scope/cam/screen....no rifle.

 

And I've sussed out the problem filming with the sonycam.....I had it on nightshot and the spotter screen was to bright to get a good picture

Downloading to pc from it is a different matter and something brother has to do because none of the pc's we have has the i-link connection.....dv tape cams,give me hd or flash any day.

Edited April 12, 2013 by weebster