Camera with night vision?

RileyTheFox · October 19, 2017

Hey. I'm looking at getting a night vision camera (not too expensive, around £100 - £150) that uses Infrared light. I'm specifically looking for one that has the green filter thing on the night vision and not thermal-like black and white. It MUST have a place where you can attach external and third-party IR lights. It'd also be nice if it would let the IR light to run off of the camera's battery instead of a built-in one in the Infrared LED. I'm not too great on cameras and the sort so I wanted to come here for help.

If it helps, the night vision must be like what you see in Outlast 2. I much prefer the green looking image rather than black and white.

Thanks for your help!

AkiraDaarkst · October 19, 2017

Do you want it in a DSLR/Mirrorless type of camera? There are some camcorders which come with Night mode using IR lights.

Proper night vision video/photo cameras, you either buy a standard one and try to modify yourself or buy a ready made one that may be expensive.

RileyTheFox · October 19, 2017

33 minutes ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

Do you want it in a DSLR/Mirrorless type of camera? There are some camcorders which come with Night mode using IR lights.

Proper night vision video/photo cameras, you either buy a standard one and try to modify yourself or buy a ready made one that may be expensive.

I'm not too good on cameras so I don't know the difference but I want one of those where you flip the screen out. I've seen cameras with built in IR lights but some cameras have screw hole type things where you can put in your own, more powerful IR light

AkiraDaarkst · October 19, 2017

16 minutes ago, EvilCat70 said:

I'm not too good on cameras so I don't know the difference but I want one of those where you flip the screen out. I've seen cameras with built in IR lights but some cameras have screw hole type things where you can put in your own, more powerful IR light

As long as the sensor of the camera is designed to detect IR light and "view" the image using only that light, you don't have to worry about whether the camera comes with IR lamp built in or you need to use a third party IR lamp. The main issue is whether the camera is designed to be able to "film" with only such a light source.

You can do a Google search for night vision cameras/camcorders and find options in various price points. But know that not every camera available on the market offers such a mode and there may be some "privacy" concerns because in some conditions or the material of the clothes being worn by a person the camera can have a sort of "see-through" effect.

Additionally, and it may be obvious but know that the performance of cheap "night-vision enabled" cameras feel gimmicky and if you're looking to buy ones that work like you see in movies they may potentially be very pricey.

Another additionally, you can buy a camera like the Sony A7s II which lets you boost the ISO sensitivity of the camera to insanely high levels that you can practically take a photo or film using moon or star light.

RileyTheFox · October 19, 2017

6 minutes ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

As long as the sensor of the camera is designed to detect IR light and "view" the image using only that light, you don't have to worry about whether the camera comes with IR lamp built in or you need to use a third party IR lamp. The main issue is whether the camera is designed to be able to "film" with only such a light source.

You can do a Google search for night vision cameras/camcorders and find options in various price points. But know that not every camera available on the market offers such a mode and there may be some "privacy" concerns because in some conditions or the material of the clothes being worn by a person the camera can have a sort of "see-through" effect.

Additionally, and it may be obvious but know that the performance of cheap "night-vision enabled" cameras feel gimmicky and if you're looking to buy ones that work like you see in movies they may potentially be very pricey.

Another additionally, you can buy a camera like the Sony A7s II which lets you boost the ISO sensitivity of the camera to insanely high levels that you can practically take a photo or film using moon or star light.

I've seen a few cameras where they have built in IR lights but they just aren't bright enough. Adding an external one will make it much easier to see as I'm planning to go out in near pitch black.

I've seen plenty of cameras with the green night vision thing from companies like Sony, Panasonic and some smaller companies but I'm mainly wondering if these cameras have spots where I can mount additional IR lights.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/253141618771

I spotted this particular one on eBay. It's relatively cheap but I dont know what the features are like. Such as possibilities for mounting additional IR lights or what the night vision is like (as I said, I'm looking for the green looking night vision)

I'm not too fussed about 60fps or 4K sort of stuff. As long as the photo/video is clear and the night vision is really good I don't mind.

I guess I could always clamp an IR Light onto the camera and just use an external battery. So maybe the feature of mounting an IR Light isn't necessary but would be a nice touch.

If if I settle on a camera I'll probably buy it in the next few months. I'm mainly going to use this for adventures and some YouTube stuff so that's the reason I want this.

I know there's a lot of specifics but I'm trying to get the most good looking and authentic one.