# Infrared Spotlight



## tony (Oct 3, 2006)

I'm looking for an infrared spotlight I wold like to use with my ir-sensible camera to film wildlife at night.
I tried several options, but nothing gave me good results.
What I was looking for is a good illumination at 30-40 metres (100-150 feet). At that distance the spot should be about 2-5 metres.
Price is not a problem, i need the definitive solution. I was looking at the maxabeam with ir filters. But are there any other solutions ? Are there ir filters for the megaray or the x990 or whatever you would suggest ?
Any of you have tried this lights with ir filters on ?
Thans in advance for your help
Tony


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## LumenHound (Oct 3, 2006)

Why not just get a IR filter like this 5½ inch one and slip it over the front of a common ordinary 55-100watt halogen bulbed 12 volt portable spotlight?

There are plenty of dedicated IR spotlights available, just google "infrared spotlight" to see all the different models out there.


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## tony (Oct 4, 2006)

Thanks a lot for your reply. I forgot to say I'm also looking for completely covert operations, and I've tried different spotlight/filter combinations. The filter you suggest is a 840nm filter, which surely does emit a cleraly visible red glow. The best filter I tried is a WWII filter, used for fero51 binoculars, which presumibly has got a cutoff frequence of about 950/1.000nm. Even with that high cutoff, in the complete darkness you can cleraly see a faint red glow. But that's the best filter I found up to now. With such a filter you need a very powerfull light, because ccd are less sensitive to 950/1000nm. This is the reason I was looking at something like maxabeam or other equivalent light. In the maxabeam catalog I also noticed there are three kind of ir filters. The 950nm one is stated to be completly covert. I don't want to spend several K$ without beeing sure the maxabeam is the right solution. Any alternatives ? Anyone has tried it ?

Thanks a lot
Tony


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## pyro (Oct 4, 2006)

You can rent a maxabeam, but not exactly cheap i think. 
Maybe a dealer sents you the filter to try out for some fee?


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## billhess (Oct 4, 2006)

If you are acually filming wildlife who would care if a little red shows? Most animals are color blind.


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## Meduza (Oct 4, 2006)

Buy a IR Filter, then you put a sheet of:
http://www.rosco.com/images/filters/roscolux/74.gif

That should block evrything up to ~800 with less than 15% transmission, over that i dont know, but most lightning filters let IR pass...


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## LumenHound (Oct 5, 2006)

billhess said:


> If you are acually filming wildlife who would care if a little red shows? Most animals are color blind.


My thoughts exactly.
Maybe the wildlife in question are cougars on the prowl? 

Instead of fussing with a spotlight/filter combo, why not just get a Gen2 nightscope and mate it to the front your camera? It's well within your budget.


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## CM (Oct 5, 2006)

How bout this? (Yeah I know, not a spotlight, but I think it works better, it's lighter, and will run flat and longer)












It's a modified PM6 with a McModule and 27mm reflector, using a high power Osram Golden Dragon IR LED. It's biased at 1A (yes, it's within spec) Using Generation III NV, I can light up a house about 150 yards away. It's 850nm which gives off a *very* faint glow so this is a drawback for you. This particular light will run from 2x123, 2xRCR123, 1x17670 Li-Ion. It never fails to impress. Everytime I hand the NV monocular to someone and then tell them to point at a distant target, I hit the switch and the words are usually "holy ****!!"

Another option is a KL1 with a TIR optic. I made one a few weeks ago (I gotta get a picture up) and while the TIR really accentuates the shape of the die, the emission pattern is very tight and is great if you want to illuminate a specific area. Sidespill can sometimes get in the way with IR if you know what I mean. The NV equipment (or camera) will adjust its gain (or "aperture") due to sidespill which may be undesireable.

IR filters for incandescents are no match to LED solutions since the IR content of even a 10W incandescent is miniscule. This LED will run about 2 hours on a single 17670 (Pila 168s) Li-ion or about three hours on 2x123. It does not run very hot since Vf of IR LED's are around 1.8V so we're talking less than 2W dissipated in the LED. Radiant flux is quoted at 440mW so this is NOT a toy and one should not look directly into the LED since you will not have the usual blink reflex from the very dim visible emission.


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## Myself (Oct 13, 2006)

Check out some of the illuminator kits over at BG Micro. They use a gaggle of regular 5mm LEDs, and are available in 940 or 850nm wavelength to suit your application. Power is simply 12v from whatever, and regulation is a resistor. It's a little ghetto compared to the other solutions proposed, but it's simple, cheap, and effective.

It looks goofy but I think it has two advantages. First, the plethora of LEDs means that beam artifacts generally average out. If you were to bend them around you could customize the beam shape without needing a new reflector or anything. Most circular reflectors won't let you do an oblong "horizontal" beam shape anyway. Handy if you're trying to observe a section of ground or something and don't care to waste light into the sky over the center of your field.

Second, and more importantly, the light coming from 72 individual dice means there's no single "hot spot" of visible light leakage. It's likely that any visible photons coming off this sucker are too diffuse to see. Only testing could confirm that, but I think it's something to consider.

I have no relationship to BG Micro other than as an occasional customer. They're cheap, and so am I.


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