Thread: Red filters, do they make a difference?

Was thinking of picking up a red filter for my spotlight for possum shooting because i've heard they make the eye reflections easier to see and spook the animals less.
Anyone have experience with them to confirm or debunk this?

Definately spook animals less, not so sure about the eye reflection part. Use a red lease on my maxtorch when kiwispotting, well worth it, think it's was a camera lens that I got of trade me.

No experience, but I have wasted a lot of time reading about this lately, so take it with a pinch of salt. Yes/no/maybe is the answer. If animals are used to being spooked by white light, then an alternative colour will buy you more time, doesn't have to be red. Having said that, red doesn't affect your night vision as much as other colours so is a good choice. Also, note that if you put a red filter on a white LED torch, you lose a lot of the the output. A red LED is a better option, but red LEDs are comparatively weak in terms of light output. In the end I went for a Maxtoch red LED. First trial tomorrow evening.

I tried a red filter on a lightforce non hid for deer and rabbits on private property, i think it did help on the rabbits but no more than using a lesser powered spotlight helped and it was a major hindrance on deer as it halved the range effectively.
used a couple of times...You can have it if you have the biggest lighforce to put it on.

I used play around with a red filter on a lightfoce ,didn’t seem to make much of a diff other than to rob you of light , I tried different colours to but for my experiment on the different colours I got some of that cheap sellafane stuff they use it for rapping up flowers /florist craft shop etc you can use a rubber band or tape to hold it on also you can play around with 1 or 2 layers .

Originally Posted by Boaraxa

I used play around with a red filter on a lightfoce ,didn’t seem to make much of a diff other than to rob you of light , I tried different colours to but for my experiment on the different colours I got some of that cheap sellafane stuff they use it for rapping up flowers /florist craft shop etc you can use a rubber band or tape to hold it on also you can play around with 1 or 2 layers .

My boss was using that cellophane stuff and I tried it out, was walking along being quiet, sniff sniff something burning... Sure enough the maxtorch was doing its best to put a hole through the stuff I did have it on high for a few minutes before I figured it out

iv got some 'colour gels' (proper coloured plastic for lighting tech stuff) ill post you some if you like, all sorts of colours.

Originally Posted by 40mm

iv got some 'colour gels' (proper coloured plastic for lighting tech stuff) ill post you some if you like, all sorts of colours.

If you wouldn't mind that'd be cool, thankyou!

righto, pm me a postal address and ill send some. just red or a few other colours? and what size lens do you need to cover?

red for rabbits, amber for deer.
but if using on an led unit you have already lose all the infra red output which seems to be the main reason they stare at the light

Originally Posted by 40mm

righto, pm me a postal address and ill send some. just red or a few other colours? and what size lens do you need to cover?

Pretty sure it's a 140mm reflector but i'll check my trademe history to confirm that. Cheers.

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....tml#post707073

I have a place I shoot rabbits less than 25m distance but are spooky around the farm buildings. I will use a red LED light under the barrel of the 22. Rabbits don't get up and run off.
Not worth using farther out.

WF301B from Aliexpress.

We used to use the red light force filters on the 140 and 170 for deer 15-20 years ago.
great for walking tracks and close in stuff. little red energizer for walking, cheap compared to then quoted gen night vis at 25k.
otherwise we used 110 - 130 watt bulbs for every thing else which were bloody bright for the time, rabbits seemed to hold better compared to the 100watters

Spotlighting walking tracks??