It is often thought that night vision camcorder technology is only accessible to the military or by having the ability to buy the latest high tech night vision equipment. Currently, however, things are rapidly changing and many cameras and camcorders have truly exceptional built in low light and infrared vision capacity.

The current usual and lowest cost method of capturing video or images in no or low light is by using infrared illuminators. One camcorder example is the Sony Night Shot camcorder which pioneered this technique over ten years ago.

The recording surface used inside the video cameras can record IR light. This enables the unit to capture high quality video at times when there is no light. And on a number of models, an internal near infrared light source is built into the camcorder to give better results when recording when there is low or no visible light.

When shooting indoors where there is some visible light, this system performs very well. People find, however, that the cameras seem to perform poorly in very low light situations, such as shooting outdoors in the dark. There is a lack of a strong infrared light source to illuminate an outdoor scene using only the somewhat limited internal IR light. But, by adding an additional external near infrared light source, very good low or no light footage can be taken.

Add on illuminators range from accessory units you can get from the company who manufactured your camera to very high powered units from other suppliers. Many external illuminators are fairly inexpensive, and more powerful battery powered external light kits that will give adequate extra IR light in the 100 foot range can be found for a few hundred dollars.

By using an added IR illuminator of adequate power, it’s possible to set up a useful night vision video camera without a huge cost outlay. The additional infrared invisible light that you use is invisible to the naked eye, but you can see through the LCD viewfinder on your camera and view in the scene in what will look like near daylight conditions. The use of additional IR light really takes away the ‘graininess’ you often see with low light photography.

Give this a go yourself in low light situations. It will be surprising to find that the camcorder you use can do a lot more than you thought.

Still cameras also have a place in night vision photography. Long time exposures in dim or dark lighting conditions is a technique often used to create some unusual and sometimes stunning night photos.

There is talk of a new subculture called Urban Exploration. It is no longer the time of Lewis and Clark. It seems that there is very little in the natural world that has been unexplored or undocumented. And many natural areas are acres and acres of mostly the same repeating and uninspiring scenery. Natural areas and undeveloped land is important to our ecology and must be preserved, but for the aspiring photographer or film maker there is sometimes a real lack of interesting images to capture.

And just as we are decrying the spread of urban blight and modernization, there are those that have found inspiration and art in some of the most sordid examples of our 20th century man made waste and desolation.

A photographer name Troy Paiva has made a name for himself creating night time photos of abandoned factories, military bases and other unused buildings and sites. A few minutes spent browsing the amazing collection of photos on his web site will definitely allow you to understand what the ‘Urban Exploration’ movement is about.

Using the techniques of long time exposures and adding colored lighting to dramatize or enhance the scene can create amazing effects.

Anyone can try this simply and easily. It doesn’t take a lot of equipment to give it a go. And now with digital camera you can experiment and come up with excelling shots quickly and without a lot of cost.

Use a tripod for your camera and vary your exposure time until you get a usable image. Many times these exposures will be in the range of a few to many minutes long. For the enhanced lighting, you can use a flashlight with colored film or plastic over the lens. In a long time exposure, you can walk through the picture without being picked up on the camera. Just use your colored light to highlight different areas. As you practice this technique, you will find what works best. And if you want to further push the envelope, you can add remote flash units and more sophisticated coloring techniques to your bag of tricks.

I’ve practiced photography for many years, and it seems many people are always putting off going out for a shoot because the lighting is not right. It’s too cloudy or it’s midday and too bright or some other reason. After seeing some of Troy’s photos it makes me realize that if we change our mindset a little and realize that there is always enough light for a night photo we could probably capture some amazing shots. The camera doesn’t care. It can keep it’s ‘eyes’ open for as long a necessary to grab enough light to make an image. And if it’s really dark, we can add a little artificial light to just ‘help it along’.

You can do this. Give some night photography a try and let me know what you think. It would be great to see your amazing night time shots!

We are very happy to have you here visiting us!

We have recently been bitten by the camcorder bug. And one of the things we both find very interesting is the night vision or low light possibilities that can be done.

We’ve always been interested in outdoor and wildlife photography. But there are many things that happen after dark, and still photos just don’t seem to work as well as video does. While we don’t have footage that we think is ready for the world, it is a plan we are working on. And while we search around and find the info that we need, we thought we’d share it here.

Hopefully, in the not too distant future, we can have this site as a place to share ‘no visible light’ video that both we and others have taken and learn more about using a ‘night vision video camera‘.

If you have any comments or suggestions for the site, please take a second to let us know. You can email us at mbaker9999 (at) gmail [dot] com or use the form on our contact page. Any feedback, both good or some constructive help, is really welcome.

Thanks for visiting. We think you’ll find lots of interesting things.