Who Owns Night Vision?

[Exerd]

My all time favorite nighttime toy, I must admit, is night vision. (Lasers come in a very close second.)

Anyone else here have a set? What do you think?

I assembled a pair of ITT PVS-14 monoculars together to make a set of binoculars. There is a plastic block with 1/4-20 studs and cog wheels which bind the two units together and they can quick detach. They are gen III+ autogated Pinnacle tubes.

I had some beam photos taken through one while shining that 808nm pen, but I deleted them it seems. I will take some more soon and post.

 

[SMIDSY]

Ive always wondered what does a laser look like through nightvision. If they are IR then I woudldexpect no change- alternatively I would expect beam enhancement with light amplifying...

am I right?

 

[Exerd]

Ive always wondered what does a laser look like through nightvision. If they are IR then I woudldexpect no change- alternatively I would expect beam enhancement with light amplifying...

am I right?

Well I don't have a laser power meter, but the 808nm diode I'm using is probably putting out around 50-60mW based on burning capability (it came from an old 5mw 532nm, I pulled crystal and installed collimating lens). At that power, the 808nm beam looks extremely powerful, like maybe 500mW-1W of 532nm light roughly. But even then it's not a good comparison, because it looks like daytime out and you are seeing the beam, so it's an uncommon sight to be seeing.

I would hold it out the door and shoot a beam photo at the sky, but I'm at my office in town and there are lights all around that will dim the NV. So I will shoot some photos at my country house when I get a chance.

Here is a storm 60 miles away I filmed through it and put on youtube: YouTube - Lightning Storm through Nightvision. To the unaided eye, you could just barely see the lightning flickers. It actually looks way better in person, I had to dim the shutter way down on the video camera so that the lightning would not bloom in the video, and that made the scene look dimmer than it appeared in person. At 2:15 in the video, you can see a car driving down below the bluff at about 600 yards away, and then there is another car across the river at around 2200 yards away. The headlights are really amplified.

 

[SMIDSY]

no chance of a video of your laser? Through the goggles?

 

[Exerd]

no chance of a video of your laser? Through the goggles?

Yes, I can certainly film a video.

 

[Dusty]

That is a sweet set of NV goggles you have there, I love the vid of the storm at night looks awsome!! I just have a little gen1 monoclular, is pretty poor in comparison to yours, lol. Those things must have cost a fair bit as a pair...

 

[HIMNL9]

Actually i have only one of those old ex-militar russian nightvision scope ..... it was probably used for rifles, but i'm not sure, anyway it need an IR source or IR presence, cause it's just a converter, not an intensifier (no photomultiplier)

Times ago i found in an electronic fair a "strange person" (those that always have militar parts that, officially, you can't see out from a militar deposit ), that had for sale a third gen intensifier/riflescope, but he was asking so much money, that you have to sell a lung, and maybe also an eye, for buy it

One of these units remain my dream ..... maybe, first or after .....

 

[vitalyx]

OMG! Definitely cool, but I can buy a decent used car for the price of this set.

 

[Exerd]

OMG! Definitely cool, but I can buy a decent used car for the price of this set.

NV is one of the few things which has not seemed to come down in price at all. Each year, the models don't get any better; technology seems to be at a stand still (some companies advertise Gen 4, which is a marketing lie and does not exist). Yet, the price remains the same. The good thing about that is they hold a very high value, so there's little risk in getting a set. Just turn 'em back in when your fun is done.

 

[HIMNL9]

4th gen is not on the market ..... and i doubt that it become available for years, and also if it happens, it can have suicide prices

Anyway, i've seen a military unit under test, few times ago (don't ask) ..... can't say any detail, ofcourse, and i still don't know what the hell it was with precision (they not let me examine it , i was there for another work and just seen part of the test), but can say you some things ..... it was big like an old TV camera, it had an external box (suppose an image processor, other than the PSU), and it was clearly tracing the shapes from background to objects in different levels, from half degree of difference of the temperatures from objects and background, in absolute darkness (a shielded test bunker) ..... if it was not a 4th gen, for sure it was the more damn big and sensitive 3rd gen unit that i've ever seen

Just a pity that i can't put my hands on anything also just similar ..... :drool:

 

[Exerd]

4th gen is not on the market ..... and i doubt that it become available for years, and also if it happens, it can have suicide prices

Anyway, i've seen a military unit under test, few times ago (don't ask) ..... can't say any detail, ofcourse, and i still don't know what the hell it was with precision (they not let me examine it , i was there for another work and just seen part of the test), but can say you some things ..... it was big like an old TV camera, it had an external box (suppose an image processor, other than the PSU), and it was clearly tracing the shapes from background to objects in different levels, from half degree of difference of the temperatures from objects and background, in absolute darkness (a shielded test bunker) ..... if it was not a 4th gen, for sure it was the more damn big and sensitive 3rd gen unit that i've ever seen

Just a pity that i can't put my hands on anything also just similar ..... :drool:

What some companies claim as 4th gen tubes (like cruddy ATN models), are really just ITT-Litton gen III thin-filmed tubes. That's what these are. These are also the same model that is issued to US troops, only the troops don't get binoculars but monoculars.

What you are describing is not night vision, but rather thermal vision. Thermal vision is best when you are trying to shoot at a heat signature, like night hunting. NV is used when it is required to see the detail of your environment, such as having to read maps.

 

[vitalyx]

OMG! Definitely cool, but I can buy a decent used car for the price of this set.

NV is one of the few things which has not seemed to come down in price at all. Each year, the models don't get any better; technology seems to be at a stand still (some companies advertise Gen 4, which is a marketing lie and does not exist). Yet, the price remains the same. The good thing about that is they hold a very high value, so there's little risk in getting a set. Just turn 'em back in when your fun is done.

Yeah, I'd rather bought this pair (let alone a used car) than lost equivalent sum in stock market. At least they don't go down in price like stocks Too late now :banghead:

 

[Exerd]

Re: 808nm Video

I filmed a scene tonight of the laser and nightvision. It was very cold wind so I just took one quick video. After I watched it I realized the camera was zoomed in a little much, and I had the NV focus not quite at infinity, so it's a tad blurry.

YouTube - 808nm Laser through Nightvision

I'll get a better vid soon hopefully with someone holding the laser next to the camera a few feet to the side. I was having to hold the laser in the same hand as the NV and hold the camera behind it with the other hand. Also, I can vary the beam focus and will try to show what a more diverged/collimated beam looks like next time.

 

[ZRTMWA]

I think there were a couple different people selling Gen 1's in the B/S/T section a month or so back.

 

[f22warzone]

Wow I only have Gen 1..... 3 must be amazing i am guessing you hardly ever need an IR illumination ?

 

[Exerd]

Wow I only have Gen 1..... 3 must be amazing i am guessing you hardly ever need an IR illumination ?

The IR is only needed indoors when there is close to zero light.

Gen 1 will magnify light somewhere around 10,000x, and gen 3 is over 40,000x at full gain. Gen 3 tubes have a higher line resolution also, so the image isn't just brighter, but it has a good amount more resolution over the lower gens.