| Many people think that usable night vision technology is | | | | Add on illuminators range from accessory units |
| only available to the military or through the purchase of | | | | available from your camcorder manufacturer to |
| very expensive and high tech equipment. Today, | | | | extremely powerful individual units from OEM sources. |
| however, the situation is rapidly changing and many | | | | The standard add on lights are not high priced, and |
| cameras and camcorders have excellent built in low | | | | higher level battery powered external light kits that |
| light and infrared vision capabilities. | | | | allow illumination in the 100 foot range can be found in |
| The most common and least expensive method of | | | | the two to three hundred dollar price range. |
| capturing video or images in the dark is by using near | | | | By using an external IR light source of adequate |
| infrared illumination. One example is the Sony Night | | | | power, it's possible to set up a useful night vision |
| Shot camcorder that first introduced this method over | | | | system without a huge cost outlay. For wildlife |
| ten years ago. | | | | enthusiasts, the advantage of using your camcorder in |
| The internal CCD recorder in many modern video | | | | this way is that you can set up in total darkness. The |
| cameras is capable of capturing IR light. This enables | | | | additional infrared illumination that you use can't be |
| the unit to record better quality video in low light | | | | seen, but you can see through the LCD viewfinder on |
| situations. And on some models, an internal near | | | | your camera and view in the scene in what will look |
| infrared light source is built into the camera to increase | | | | like near daylight conditions. The images using near |
| the quality of images taken in low light. | | | | infrared will be monochrome, and don't show colors, |
| For close up work or in low light interiors, this system | | | | but by adding a stronger light source your camera can |
| performs very well. People find, however, that the | | | | record extremely detailed images. Adding extra IR light |
| cameras seem to perform poorly in extremely low | | | | greatly reduces or eliminates the 'graininess' typically |
| light situations, such as filming wildlife at night. There just | | | | associated with low light photography. |
| is not enough of an infrared light source to light an | | | | One other interesting option to consider if you want to |
| outdoor scene using only the somewhat limited built in | | | | experiment with IR photography is to use an IR or |
| unit. But, by adding an additional external near infrared | | | | infrared flashlight. These are quite inexpensive and |
| light source, excellent night time footage can be taken. | | | | while they won't give you as much illumination as full |
| If you add more infrared light to the area where you | | | | light kits, they are fun to use and really do show what |
| are shooting, it still seems totally dark to the eye. But | | | | some of the capabilities of your camcorder are. |
| the camera now has a large additional source of | | | | Try some experimenting in low light situations. You |
| infrared illumination. There are a number of different | | | | might find that your camera or camcorder has more |
| types of LED illuminators that use a group or sets of | | | | built in features that you thought. |
| banks of infrared light emitting diodes. | | | | |