Welcome guest, is this your first visit? Create Account now to join.
  • Login:

Welcome to the NZ Hunting and Shooting Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed.

Ammo Direct Terminator


User Tag List

+ Reply to Thread
Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 16 to 25 of 25
Like Tree5Likes

Thread: Diy cheap night vision scope?

  1. #16
    Walking my rifle
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Hamilton
    Posts
    1,296
    how much would you want for that ATN X sight? @gonetropo or @223nut
    If you can't kill it with bullets, dont f*ck with it.

  2. #17
    Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    christchurch
    Posts
    17,973
    sold it

  3. #18
    Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Stewart island / canterbury
    Posts
    9,186
    Pm incoming

  4. #19
    Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    South Canterbury
    Posts
    167
    I have a ir iluminated digiscope as new that I would pass on for a song foy a diy project. Works as is but would be interesting to have a play with it.

  5. #20
    Member canross's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    Chch
    Posts
    603
    Something of a necrothread, but back to what to what chippychow was asking - it's entirely possible to make a DIY NV system using most digital cameras. Most digital cameras can see short wave IR as well as the visible light spectrum, but the good ones have an IR filter inside them, and the cheap ones just get a purple smear or tint in strong IR light. That purple is the camera "seeing" the IR light. Whether or not it ends up cheap is pretty dependent on how you do it. The better the components the better the end product, but more expensive

    A fiddly but straight forward way to make a NV system is to open up a smart phone, remove the IR filter from the camera in the phone, then put it back together. Mount the phone in a VR headset (or on to a helmet, whatever works) with the camera lens peeking through the front of the VR headset, run the phone on video and no time-out on the screen, and get an IR light source to illuminate for the camera to see (this' an active system). You can get an auxiliary battery for the phone so it doesn't run through the battery as quickly. It'll also probably overheat relatively quickly, so a heat sink on the back of the phone helps. Mounting a small IR light source on the headset helps avoid having to point your rifle at things to see them clearly. The main light source can be mounted to the gun. The camera can see through a scope, but it will probably have trouble focusing, and correct head placement is difficult at best - alternate systems use the camera mounted to the scope, but they usually can't take much recoil. A pistol scope and scout setup might make this easier. That or limit your your shots to close/known range and use an IR laser on the gun and just point and shoot.

    I built a setup like this to test the idea and it worked well. Biggest problem is disassembling and reassembling the camera without damaging any of the lenses or the focusing mechanism. A strong IR light source is really helpful as it helps make up for grainy image a bit. An IR laser or focused beam light is great on a firearm, but you really need a good power floodlight mounted around the camera to find your target first. A modern smart phone will give less delay in image than an older cheap phone, and the camera will probably be better. I built mine using a old cheap android so camera quality was poor to begin with, the screen was low-res, and the phone itself was never that fast, but it was good enough to move around in the dark and spot animals. It would probably be quite a nice setup with a more modern phone, and the cameras can be plugged in and out and are cheap on amazon, so you aren't making any permanent modifications unless you break something in assembly/disassembly. Your camera will see see shortwave IR in daytime though, so any photos taken with IR light present will be purple tinged.

    Also you'll look like an idiot with what looks like an inside-out radio strapped to your head in the middle of the night

  6. #21
    Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    Omaru
    Posts
    565
    Quote Originally Posted by canross View Post
    Something of a necrothread, but back to what to what chippychow was asking - it's entirely possible to make a DIY NV system using most digital cameras. Most digital cameras can see short wave IR as well as the visible light spectrum, but the good ones have an IR filter inside them, and the cheap ones just get a purple smear or tint in strong IR light. That purple is the camera "seeing" the IR light. Whether or not it ends up cheap is pretty dependent on how you do it. The better the components the better the end product, but more expensive

    A fiddly but straight forward way to make a NV system is to open up a smart phone, remove the IR filter from the camera in the phone, then put it back together. Mount the phone in a VR headset (or on to a helmet, whatever works) with the camera lens peeking through the front of the VR headset, run the phone on video and no time-out on the screen, and get an IR light source to illuminate for the camera to see (this' an active system). You can get an auxiliary battery for the phone so it doesn't run through the battery as quickly. It'll also probably overheat relatively quickly, so a heat sink on the back of the phone helps. Mounting a small IR light source on the headset helps avoid having to point your rifle at things to see them clearly. The main light source can be mounted to the gun. The camera can see through a scope, but it will probably have trouble focusing, and correct head placement is difficult at best - alternate systems use the camera mounted to the scope, but they usually can't take much recoil. A pistol scope and scout setup might make this easier. That or limit your your shots to close/known range and use an IR laser on the gun and just point and shoot.

    I built a setup like this to test the idea and it worked well. Biggest problem is disassembling and reassembling the camera without damaging any of the lenses or the focusing mechanism. A strong IR light source is really helpful as it helps make up for grainy image a bit. An IR laser or focused beam light is great on a firearm, but you really need a good power floodlight mounted around the camera to find your target first. A modern smart phone will give less delay in image than an older cheap phone, and the camera will probably be better. I built mine using a old cheap android so camera quality was poor to begin with, the screen was low-res, and the phone itself was never that fast, but it was good enough to move around in the dark and spot animals. It would probably be quite a nice setup with a more modern phone, and the cameras can be plugged in and out and are cheap on amazon, so you aren't making any permanent modifications unless you break something in assembly/disassembly. Your camera will see see shortwave IR in daytime though, so any photos taken with IR light present will be purple tinged.

    Also you'll look like an idiot with what looks like an inside-out radio strapped to your head in the middle of the night
    Or you can start with a CCTV camera remove the IR filter and use a reversing camera screen, some of the cameras also have privacy regions in the firmware/on board menus that can be used to make a cross so no additional scope is needed

  7. #22
    Member canross's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    Chch
    Posts
    603
    Quote Originally Posted by Chilli_Dog View Post
    Or you can start with a CCTV camera remove the IR filter and use a reversing camera screen, some of the cameras also have privacy regions in the firmware/on board menus that can be used to make a cross so no additional scope is needed
    Now that sounds better. Only downside to me is it's less compact.

  8. #23
    Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    Omaru
    Posts
    565
    Quote Originally Posted by canross View Post
    Now that sounds better. Only downside to me is it's less compact.
    Possibly a bit less compact, mine is 115mm *55mm * 40mm excluding the screen and doesnt use a scope, that is including the mounts with a 50mm lens. The biggest problem with it is the amount of light given off by the screen which I haven't managed to sort out yet

  9. #24
    Member Sasquatch's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
    Location
    The Forest
    Posts
    3,035
    I have been watching a few vids on the ATN x sight II lately - Is anyone using one?

    How did you find your old one @gonetropo? Did they come in for repair often?

  10. #25
    Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    christchurch
    Posts
    17,973
    only time i had to repair them was they had been dropped/ leaky batteries and one with a stuck sim card.
    they work well but are on the heavy side and very power hungry. 6-8 hours on a set of lithium batteries is the most you will get

 

 

Similar Threads

  1. ATN X-Sight II HD3-14X Night Vision Scope
    By bequ in forum Firearms, Optics and Accessories
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 20-01-2017, 07:17 PM
  2. Night Vision scope
    By Wirehunt in forum Firearms, Optics and Accessories
    Replies: 34
    Last Post: 21-06-2013, 04:54 PM

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
Welcome to NZ Hunting and Shooting Forums! We see you're new here, or arn't logged in. Create an account, and Login for full access including our FREE BUY and SELL section Register NOW!!