Digital vs traditional night vision

[FloggedSynapse]

I've been going berserk this morning trying to locate information about the digital night vision stuff, which is now cheap and easy to find, compared to the older 'analog' tube intensifiers.

How does the digital stuff compare to traditional technology (Gen 1-3) without any IR light to assist? Only ambient light amplification. The digital is much less expensive.. tho the traditional has much better battery life.

For example Alibaba has a ~$130.00 CCD camera which is supposedly good to .00001 lux. So starlight alone should be enough to image, however I'm dubious.

I've about $300.00 to spend. I'm thinking of getting an 'old fashioned' gen1 monocular (I like the green look).. however if a similarly priced digital unit will outperform it I'll go with that. Again I want to compare the two devices using only ambient light amplification - no IR light assist.

I found it annoyingly difficult to find any useful information about these technologies. Any help appreciated.

 

[AnAppleSnail]

I can't help you with the night vision cameras, but I can tell you that you're missing some important parameters. If I choose certain values, I could use a single camera and give you several lux ratings, from 10 to 0.00001. this page breaks it down. In short, without knowing F-stop, IRE (Like ISO) level, and reflectance, you have absolutely no idea what that lux value means.

If I can throw more links... AR15.com has a loooong article comparing several Gen3, a few gen2, and one Gen1 monocular. They have pitch-dark, illuminated, external-illuminated, and dim scenes. My WAG is that the park scene is around 0.005 lux. Their chosen Gen1 monocular seems to only show black frames under low-light conditions.

 

[Vinniec5]

Take some advice from a NVG Nut and general Optics fan and steer way clear of Gen1 gear. Save your pennies and get Gen2 minimum. There's a lot of reasonably priced stuff around from known makers and prices have even come down.

 

[gwtx]

I know this is an older thread, and I can't speak to the digital nv stuff. I hunt hogs and varmints, and I use an older model Firefield(Yukon) monocular bought at Sam's club for about $140 several years ago. I have mounted on top of it a "Hog Light Destroyer" red LED flashlight for illumination. I can spot and positively identify hogs at 250 to 300 yards depending on the quality of the air. Fog, haze, and high humidity of course cut down on range. The image is like green tinted daylight. This setup cost about $275. I could not/would not spend what it cost for gen 2 or later equipment when my setup works this well. I can't/ don't shoot at anything over 175 yards generally. Unfortunately, they don't sell the same light I'm using, they have newer/better models. If you're interested, google 'SniperHogLights'. I have to wonder how well the light would work with some of the newer model NV monoculars.