Night Vision Equipment

R

razor777

Messages
854
Name
Mark
Edit My Images
Yes
Hello all,

for a while now I've noticed that unless there is some movement it can sometimes be quite hard to detect wildlife within woodlands. This includes birds, squirrels and even larger objects such as deer that may be off into the distance within the mirky tree line.

My question is - has anyone attempted to use night vision equipment such as NV binoculars to aid you in tracking wildlife or would it be a waste of time and money going down such a route?

Any tips/experience as aways most appreciated.

Mark
 
I've used it in Florida. Out and out night vision (green image) is pretty useless for wildlife photography as although it will help you see stuff at night, it only works at night...when you can't actually photograph anything because it's too dark lol

What you want is infrared or whatever it is, the stuff that shows up heat sources (with red, yellow etc depending on heat) and works during the day too. It's really expensive technology still at the moment though.
 
The gear you would need is really, really expensive to buy (think current military spec) and even then it has its limitations for the daylight use of hunting small animals.

Don't get caught up in watching some sort of TV show and imagine its quite as good as they show you (well, unless you are looking at some MEGA expensive recon drone gear or similar!)
 
I've used a night vision scope to look at animals in darkness. Can't say to watch animals since you can't really see much - think very grainy B&W through a green filter (1st gen scope). The thing you want to help you spot things in the woods would be a thermal imaging system - horrendously expensive even to hire.
 
Nod said:
The thing you want to help you spot things in the woods would be a thermal imaging system - horrendously expensive even to hire.
Click to expand...
Yes that's the name I couldn't think of lol. You can buy this stuff from about £4k upwards I think, although you get a 'very' tiny screen to view with for entry level stuff.
 
I have used a rifle nightscope,it was very expensive and not very good to be honest. I would wait a while until the technology gets passed down from the military,gets better and gets cheaper.
 
razor777 said:
Hello all,

for a while now I've noticed that unless there is some movement it can sometimes be quite hard to detect wildlife within woodlands. This includes birds, squirrels and even larger objects such as deer that may be off into the distance within the mirky tree line.

My question is - has anyone attempted to use night vision equipment such as NV binoculars to aid you in tracking wildlife or would it be a waste of time and money going down such a route?

Any tips/experience as aways most appreciated.

Mark
Click to expand...
You need a Stealth Cam which triggers automatically if any critters appear there's loads about and start around £70.
Just strap it onto a tree/post where you have spotted wildlife and leave it to it, ok image quality isn't brilliant but they are great for catching the deer/fox/otter/badgers etc in total darkness.
Night vision gear is pretty useless unless you buy £1000's worth as per Springwatch/Army etc.
 
Are you talking about complete darkness, or just poor/low light levels in the woods? Good binocs extend your visibility a lot. You want an exit pupil of at least 5, and preferably 7 (standard spec for night glasses) for poor light. This means 7 x 50, 8 x 56 (both big and heavy), or possibly 8 x 40 or even 6 x 30, as a guideline. You get the exit pupil by dividing the larger number by the smaller number and rounding it off, so 7 x 50 = 7 etc. Avoid high magnification, it narrows your field of view and makes it harder to pick up the subject, and x 8 is plenty. It's probably more than you need in this application. High quality, coated, lenses also improve performance quite a lot but are expensive, and you're talking about several hundred quid, at least. I'm sure there are far cheaper options if you don't need/want the best, providing you stick to a fairly low magnification (smaller number) compared with the diameter of the objective lenses (larger number). Does this help?
 
Hi all,

many thanks for the responses, looks like a non starter then. I was hoping for some form of device that could pick up heat traces as opposed to pure infra red / light multipliers. So it looks like thermal imaging equipment is the answer but I was only prepared to pay upto a certain amount approx 1000-1500 absolute max if the results were going to be worth it.

Fracster: Yeah, I was looking at prices for 2nd gen equipment and they've came down hugely over the last few years.

Martyn: That was the alternative, I was hoping for some device that would highlight bodyprints against vegetation / trees for easier location. It would have been done in daytime but even then it can sometimes be hard to locate stuff in the woods (off into the distance).

Claymore: Thanks, however this was for just general wandering about in the woods so I could a get fix on some wildlife (see them before they see me :D ) and then attempt to approach until range was at an acceptable level to take the shot.

Again thanks all much appreciated.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top