IR Pickup with Interesting Camera

[Kartracer00]

Hey there LPF! Kartracer00 here with some interesting information

So it started 12/08/2012 when I received a 532nm pointer from a forum member recently. Long story short, it died in just a couple of minutes. As you can see here, this laser is very dead.

Or is it?! :tsk:

I remembered the next day that some cameras pick up inferred light. Not sure if all cameras can or not. Not a camera guy. Anyways. I decided to slam out my iPhone 3gs and shoot the camera down the aperture with the button held and batteries loaded. I was excited by the results.

So kids, the lesson is, if its dead, don't look down the aperture. Just don't look down the aperture of anything while we are at it.

I'm wondering if the camera isn't picking up all the IR though. Which is very plausible. Input?

Thanks for looking!

 

[TheDukeAnumber1]

That's pretty neat. GJ

 

[Bionic-Badger]

Definitely don't look down that barrel!

CCD sensors detect IR very well, which is why they almost always have IR cut filters in them, even crappy webcams from DX.

So what this means for your camera and your case is that the IR output is probably a lot stronger than your camera photo would lead you to believe because it has an IR cut filter blocking most of that IR.

 

[Laser Smith]

Probably knocked your magic crystal out of place. I say slap on some IR goggle and turn it into a burner, it's near impossible to realign a dpss in a pen by hand

 

[Benm]

Definitely don't look down that barrel!

CCD sensors detect IR very well, which is why they almost always have IR cut filters in them, even crappy webcams from DX.

So what this means for your camera and your case is that the IR output is probably a lot stronger than your camera photo would lead you to believe because it has an IR cut filter blocking most of that IR.

Every color camera will have a IR filter in it, otherwise the image produced doesn't have lifelike color even under normal conditions. How strongly it drops 808 or 1064 nm varies between cameras though, especially 808 may not the surpressed that much.

The point of never staring down the barrel is still valid though, sometimes defective green laser pointers emit so much 808 that it is visible even als a reflection if you point it at a piece of paper and look closely in a dim room.

But don't take pictures down the barrel either, if you value your camera. The IR pump light is dangerous to your eyes, but also to a camera sensor and could easily blow out a bunch of pixels.