In total darkness you can see fairly well at short distances. I like Night Owl Pro Nexgen Night Vision Binocular (check out http://www.nightowloptics.com/) and some of ATN NV optics like night vision goggles. These are are mostly lightweight and comfortable when compared to binoculars. They used to be only for military use, but as the technology matured and became affordable, these goggles entered the consumer market.
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night vision binoculars (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter nixjax
- Start date
WJC
Well-known member
Hicither, welcome to BF!
For the benefit of onlookers, I feel I must offer a caveat to, "In total darkness." In TOTAL darkness, you can't see at all. Night vision devices AMPLIFY available light, only. What might seem total darkness to the human eye is not to a device that amplifies light from 20,000 to 50,000 times. There are different degrees of almost everything under the Sun.
Cheers,
Bill
For the benefit of onlookers, I feel I must offer a caveat to, "In total darkness." In TOTAL darkness, you can't see at all. Night vision devices AMPLIFY available light, only. What might seem total darkness to the human eye is not to a device that amplifies light from 20,000 to 50,000 times. There are different degrees of almost everything under the Sun.
Cheers,
Bill
A bit late but I'd like to correct that most NVs can be used in total darkness as they come with IR spot lights. If they do not, then they can be complemented by an IR spotlight or laser.
IR spot lights are of less interest for military use as they can easily be detected, but for us civilian users it is actually quite fun with the IR lamps as their light is strongly reflected by most animals eyes also to great distances. It makes it posible to spot animals far away without yourself being seen as would be the case with a regular spot light.
Cheers!
IR spot lights are of less interest for military use as they can easily be detected, but for us civilian users it is actually quite fun with the IR lamps as their light is strongly reflected by most animals eyes also to great distances. It makes it posible to spot animals far away without yourself being seen as would be the case with a regular spot light.
Cheers!
WJC
Well-known member
Being a headstrong kind ‘a guy, I will have to maintain my position. Having repaired and calibrated thousands of them for Ft. Lewis, I think I’m on fairly sound ground.
“In TOTAL darkness, you can't see at all.”
They DON’T all come with IR spotlights or lasers. And, if they did, they STILL wouldn’t be working in total darkness, as you would be artificially lighting the scene.
Just a thought.
Bill
“In TOTAL darkness, you can't see at all.”
They DON’T all come with IR spotlights or lasers. And, if they did, they STILL wouldn’t be working in total darkness, as you would be artificially lighting the scene.
Just a thought.
Bill
wachipilotes
Well-known member
It´s good for astronomy observations? I am curious!!
Thank you
Wachi
Thank you
Wachi
Generation 2 plus gives fair observations of Jupiter's moons, equivalent to about an 80mm telescope.
Generation 3 or 3 plus may be better, but not allowed for civilians in U.K.
However, the resolution of Generation 2 plus is not very good.
FOV not large.
Modern digital devices are quite good. And getting better.
Also, say, a Sony Alpha 7S or Mk2 7S shows 8th magnitude stars in 1/13th second in JPEG with an 85mm lens at f/1.4 and mag 7 in corners. 51,000 or 102,00 ISO. Single exposure. Sharp stars even in corners. This is in severe light pollution where only 3rd mag stars are seen unaided eyes. The viewfinder shows an amazing number of stars when none are visible with unaided eyes.
The Mk 2 with body stabilisation probably does this hand held.
However, stacking or longer exposures would show perhaps coma etc. in stars recorded.
There was a generation 3 i3 eyepiece but not allowed now in U.K.
Thermal imaging does not require any light at all as it picks up heat, although heat is of course radiation.
Military image intensifiers only need starlight.
Nikon cameras now go up to 1.6m and 3.2m ISO.
Modern real time video low light cameras are amazing. Canon and Sony.
Good cameras around £5,000 Thermal, video and still.
However, a 10 inch Newtonian still hard to beat. Breath oxygen if you want to see fainter.
Digital cameras can record well with no visible light at all, as they are sensitive in the infra red. Even more so with infra red filter removed.
Many years ago, my friend made a sensitive camera for Aurorae research that recorded well in apparent total darkness to the human eye. Used Canon 50mm f/0.95 transfer lens and maybe 6 Konica 135mm f/2.8 recording lenses.
Generation 3 or 3 plus may be better, but not allowed for civilians in U.K.
However, the resolution of Generation 2 plus is not very good.
FOV not large.
Modern digital devices are quite good. And getting better.
Also, say, a Sony Alpha 7S or Mk2 7S shows 8th magnitude stars in 1/13th second in JPEG with an 85mm lens at f/1.4 and mag 7 in corners. 51,000 or 102,00 ISO. Single exposure. Sharp stars even in corners. This is in severe light pollution where only 3rd mag stars are seen unaided eyes. The viewfinder shows an amazing number of stars when none are visible with unaided eyes.
The Mk 2 with body stabilisation probably does this hand held.
However, stacking or longer exposures would show perhaps coma etc. in stars recorded.
There was a generation 3 i3 eyepiece but not allowed now in U.K.
Thermal imaging does not require any light at all as it picks up heat, although heat is of course radiation.
Military image intensifiers only need starlight.
Nikon cameras now go up to 1.6m and 3.2m ISO.
Modern real time video low light cameras are amazing. Canon and Sony.
Good cameras around £5,000 Thermal, video and still.
However, a 10 inch Newtonian still hard to beat. Breath oxygen if you want to see fainter.
Digital cameras can record well with no visible light at all, as they are sensitive in the infra red. Even more so with infra red filter removed.
Many years ago, my friend made a sensitive camera for Aurorae research that recorded well in apparent total darkness to the human eye. Used Canon 50mm f/0.95 transfer lens and maybe 6 Konica 135mm f/2.8 recording lenses.
Last edited:
Maverick777
Member
Top 5 recommended night sights between £150-500?
Hi,
Re:Top 5 recommended night sights between £150-500?
I have read through the various comments and I may have missed the answer. But could we have the Top 5 recommended night sights between £150-500? please. Either from personnel use or on different reviews. I have googled and seen various threads showing the top 10 for 2016, but it fails to mention why they are in the top ten.
Kind Regards Maverick
:scribe:
Hi,
Re:Top 5 recommended night sights between £150-500?
I have read through the various comments and I may have missed the answer. But could we have the Top 5 recommended night sights between £150-500? please. Either from personnel use or on different reviews. I have googled and seen various threads showing the top 10 for 2016, but it fails to mention why they are in the top ten.
Kind Regards Maverick
:scribe:
JabaliHunter
Well-known member
While this is an older thread, in that kind of price range I would look at some of the hand held digital night vision monoculars such as Pulsar. Some good people to talk to would be scottcountry.co.uk as they have a wide range and quite a bit of experience in this area
